Our man
Mehdi Hasan came up with an article in 'New Statesman'. Like a good
journalist he tried to ensure that the title gives an adequate single
line summary of the article generating enough curiosity to read
further. This brings us to one of those instances when titles says
all, here it is “As a Muslim, I struggle with the idea ofhomosexuality – but I oppose homophobia”. Now, does he attempt to
say that homophobia is bad but as a muslim he is not comfortable with
the idea of homosexuality. To clarify, Mehdi hasan is a practising
Muslim, who believes that (historically & factually speaking)
Prophet Muhammad went to heaven on a flying horse because its is
written in Qu'ran. Thus he can be taken as an example of a person,
who is a real believer that is a person who believe Qu'ran and
Prophet to be perfect and transcendental.
The
edifice of Islam depends upon the believe that the Qur'an is god
given. To judge the validity of Qur'ans claims we have to resort to
some other moral/ ethical structure (other than Qur'ans). If even a
single verse in Qur'an is accepted to be wrong in this manner, it
evidently means that Qur'an is not perfect. Thus a muslim can never
accept homosexuality as a valid position. Once one verse in Qur'an is
accepted to be invalid then whole text looses divinity and all the
verses can be taken up analyzed and discards, if found to be wrong.
The nature of Qur'an as a valid source of knowledge and proof if
challenged. Ultimately it challenges the validity of islam itself.
Let us see some of the verses from Qur'an which are explicitly
against homosexuality.
"...For ye practice your lusts on men in preference to women, ye are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds And we rained down on them a shower (of brimstone). See now the nature of the consequence of evil-doers! " (Qur'an 7:81 & 84)
"What! Of all creatures do ye come unto the males, And leave the wives your Lord created for you? Nay, but ye are forward folk. They said: If thou cease not, O Lot, thou wilt soon be of the outcast." (Qur'an 26:165-167)
"Would ye really approach men in your lusts rather than women? Nay, ye are a people (grossly) ignorant!" (Qur'an 27:55)
"And Lot! (Remember) when he said unto his folk: Lo! ye commit lewdness such as no creature did before you. For come ye not in unto males, and cut ye not the road (for travellers)" (Qur'an 29:28-29)
Islam just does not say that "homosexuals can live their lives freely outside the fold of Islam." Islam in itself is an ideology which has a universal message and presents a truth/moral claim before the world. This truth/moral claim is universal not particular, thus any statement in Qur'an is aimed at all of human beings irrespective of whether you are European, Arab, Persian or any other ethic group. Quran is revealed to humans so that they act according to it. The assumption is any righteous person with right knowledge will became a Muslim and follow Qur'an. It is Qur'an which provides the right knowledge. So any righteous person with right knowledge will undeniable accept the above mentioned verses. Thus from the point of view of Islam, a person who does not accept these are those who are:
"...For ye practice your lusts on men in preference to women, ye are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds And we rained down on them a shower (of brimstone). See now the nature of the consequence of evil-doers! " (Qur'an 7:81 & 84)
"What! Of all creatures do ye come unto the males, And leave the wives your Lord created for you? Nay, but ye are forward folk. They said: If thou cease not, O Lot, thou wilt soon be of the outcast." (Qur'an 26:165-167)
"Would ye really approach men in your lusts rather than women? Nay, ye are a people (grossly) ignorant!" (Qur'an 27:55)
"And Lot! (Remember) when he said unto his folk: Lo! ye commit lewdness such as no creature did before you. For come ye not in unto males, and cut ye not the road (for travellers)" (Qur'an 29:28-29)
Islam just does not say that "homosexuals can live their lives freely outside the fold of Islam." Islam in itself is an ideology which has a universal message and presents a truth/moral claim before the world. This truth/moral claim is universal not particular, thus any statement in Qur'an is aimed at all of human beings irrespective of whether you are European, Arab, Persian or any other ethic group. Quran is revealed to humans so that they act according to it. The assumption is any righteous person with right knowledge will became a Muslim and follow Qur'an. It is Qur'an which provides the right knowledge. So any righteous person with right knowledge will undeniable accept the above mentioned verses. Thus from the point of view of Islam, a person who does not accept these are those who are:
- Not righteous but possess right knowledge,
- Righteous but does not possess right knowledge and
- Neither rightness nor do they possess right knowledge.
Last two groups should be made aware of Qur'an, the embodiment of right knowledge, and those who still does not follow Islamic injunction will obviously suffer after their death(!). Our dear Hasan rightly ask us to not worry as "out of the 114 chapters of the Quran, 113 begin by introducing the God of Islam as a God of mercy and compassion". So if Homosexuals stop being homosexuals they will be forgiven by the God.
Therefore its impossible for a muslim to accept homosexuality as a valid position, rather they could only view it as an immoral action. Thus Homosexuality is an act which is against the will of the god, but under the overarching power of certain liberal democratic states (which allows for gay rights), all muslims are forced to tolerate. Hasan goes on and on about secularism and tolerance, fact of the matter is he could never give up secularism. There exists no reasonable person who would talk against secularism and religious tolerance in a society where his/her religion is a minority. Probably its the only perspective from which Hasan is able to accept the idea of homosexuality, a sin according to the book he consider as god given and unchallengeable.
We should look at factors that makes a person like Mehdi Hasan, well educated journalist exposed to all world views struggle with the idea of homosexuality. It because of his believe in Islam. If he leave the religious believes then the issue will become much more clear to him.
