“O People! Those of you who live long will see great controversy, so you must keep to my sunnah and to the sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs...” - Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)
The great controversies of which the last divinely sent Messenger and Prophet from Allah spoke (Salallahu ‘alyhi wa sallam) did indeed begin during the time of those companions who lived long, and they continue to this very day! Among today’s controversies is the question of what should be the position of people of true faith (irrespective of religious creed) on some of the great social and cultural issues of the day. One such issue is “gay rights.”
Gay rights is not a human right according to Islam, it is a civil right that can be conferred by the state on the basis of majority rule. On Friday, June 24, 2011, lawmakers in Albany voted to legalize same-sex marriage in the state of New York (which now joins five other states and the District of Columbia in such recognition); but just because a practice can be made legal (in the secular sphere) doesn’t make it right.
The following ayah (verse) is one of many on the story of the Prophet Lut (peace be upon them):
“We also sent Lut. He said to his people: ‘Do you commit lewdness such as no people in creation ever committed before you? For you practice your lusts on men in preference to women; you are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds.’” – The Noble Qur’an (S. 7:81)
Prophet Lut (aka, Lot in the English Bible), the nephew of Prophet Ibrahim (or Abraham) - may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon them - was sent as a warner to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, cities that were located (according to some of the religious scholars) somewhere in the plains east of the Dead Sea. The inequities that occurred within those two ancient cities were considered so grave by Allah that the cities and their people were utterly destroyed by brimstone and fire for their sins.
“No calamity occurs except by the leave of ALLAH, and whoever believes in ALLAH, He guides his heart, and ALLAH knows all things.” – The Noble Qur’an 64:11
Two incidents, in close succession to one another, compels me to write this commentary at this time. Last night I attended a Muslim American Society (MAS) and Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA) sponsored event in Charlotte, NC., that left me feeling a little disturbed.
Before sharing the specifics on last night’s event, let me share a couple of opening paragraphs from a front page article in yesterday’s edition of the Charlotte Observer newspaper (“Unitarian Universalists Gather In Charlotte,” 6/25/11).
“First, they honored the imam who’s in the middle of plans to build an Islamic center near ground zero. Then they rallied in uptown Charlotte to support gays, lesbians and same sex marriage... The country’s most liberal collection of congregations - with no creed, but a long history of social activism - is meeting this weekend in the Bible Belt, better known for a Christian church on nearly every corner.
“The 4,000-plus UUs, as they often call themselves, are in Charlotte from around the country to attend workshops, mingle with fellow delegates, listen to nationally renowned speakers; and stand up for their causes - especially the controversial ones.”
Now, as to what happened yesterday at one of the Muslim community centers in the Charlotte area.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf [Abdul Rauf was involved with the ‘ground zero’ masjid – TML] was the featured speaker at the MAS-MLFA fundraising event last night, and during the course of his public address, he essentially made a plug on behalf of the gay rights lobby.
Imam Rauf stated that transgender folk have always been a part of human society, and that Islamic law (Shariah) has always recognized their rights to inheritance. He opined that Islamic jurists in the past wrestled with the question of whether a transgender person (a person with observable male and female tendencies) should receive their inheritance according to a male or female calculation.
While I am not an Islamic scholar, and have no knowledge of the particulars surrounding this argument, it sounds reasonable. Islam is a religion of compassion and justice; and thus, it stands to reason that any person who has a right to inherit, has a right to inherit. What came next, however, was a giant leap, on the brother’s part, down a very dangerous slippery slope!
The keynote speaker then argued that on the basis of the inheritance principle, the Muslim community needs to begin a dialogue on recognizing the transgender/homosexual community’s right to form families (essentially a call for Muslims in America to recognize, or accept, same sex marriage); a position which according to the primary Islamic sources is problematic on its face.
After the program ended, I politely challenged him for an evidentiary basis (according to Al-Qur’an and Sunnah) to support the argument that he made in his address, and advised him that in the future if he chooses to put forward such a controversial argument in the course of a public address – especially before a predominantly Muslim audience -- he should present his sources for such a position right then and there.
The thing that I found even more disturbing, however, was the fact that his hosts (and the few community leaders who were present, who had access to the mike) didn’t see the need to make any corrective statements to clarify the matter...and there were Muslims who departed confused!
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. noted over four decades ago:
“Moral principles have lost their distinctiveness. For modern man, absolute right and absolute wrong are a matter of what the majority is doing. Right and wrong are relative to the likes and dislikes and the customs of a particular community. We have unconsciously applied Einstein’s theory of relativity, which properly described the physical universe, to the moral and ethical realm.”
Dr. King’s observation was right then, and it’s even more accurate today.
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