America's Openly Gay Imam

[jsteele]

Interesting article about an openly gay Imam:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/21/and-now-america-an-openly-gay-imam.html

So if there’s no discussion of sexuality in the Koran—why do some punish or kill gays under the guise of Islam? Abdullah explained that “it’s based on culture, mythology, and pre-Islamic laws, with the goal being power and control over people.” And when he says pre-Islamic rules, we are talking laws based on Bible passages such as in Leviticus, where it states that if men engage in homosexual acts, they are to be put to death.” (Islam was founded around 700 years after Christ’s time, and Leviticus was written probably 1,400 years before that.)

[Muslima]

I think he had a mosque in DC at some point, not sure if he still has it. I disagree with some of his views but the Qur'an and sunnah' s stance on homosexuality is much more complex than many muslims realize. I think a lot of gay Muslims are starting to live more openly especially in the West. There was an article a few months ago about 2 Muslim gay women getting married. Most mainstream Muslim scholars consider homosexuality to be a sin, and I think there aren't many resources in the Muslim communities to deal with these issues or even talk openly about homosexuality. It's usually the elephant in the room, people don't want to discuss it, know about it or even think about it. This in return causes many issues and further widens the gap between the 2 groups. Some Muslims believe it is even sinful to sit in the same room as someone who has a different sexual orientation. Going forward, more discussion is needed, more tolerance and of course more education of Muslim scholars about these issues. We can't just keep ignoring them!

[Anonymous]

There are Muslim gays but this is the first I've heard of a Muslim gay Imam. In Islam, there isn't a leader or leading organization that has the power to rescind an Imam's status after learning of some kind of impropriety. This Imam may have become an Imam without disclosing that he was gay. Or he may have become an Imam and then came out of the closet.

Either way, mainstream Islam considers homosexuality a grievous sin. This is evidenced quite clearly in the story of Prophet Lot in the Quran in which Allah destroyed the entire town of homosexuals or those who supported homosexuality but saved Lot and his daughters.

The best writeup I have found on the subject of WHY Islam prohibits homosexuality is here:

http://islamicresponse.blogspot.com/2009/12/islamic-view-on-homsexuality.html

Just my humble opinion, but I agree that homosexuality is a great sin in Islam. It is not punishable by death as per the Quran. The Quran says Allah punished homosexuals with death in the story of Prophet Lot, true. But this does not necessarily translate to Allah giving mankind the authority to carry out the same punishment on homosexuals. The Quran is pretty clear on which crimes or sins are punishable by death and which crimes or sin are punishable in other ways. So if it hasn't explicitly mentioned homosexuality as punishable by death, it can not be assumed that Islam expects communities to punish homosexuality by death. The decision by certain Islamic governments to punish homosexuality by death is largely culturally influenced.