Taming The Hydra Of Muslim Homophobia
By Junaid Jahangir,
New Age Islam
3 November
2020
The hydra
is a monster with many heads in Greek mythology whom Hercules had to vanquish
as part of his twelve labours. The interesting feature about the hydra was that
cutting off one head gave rise to two more in its place. The metaphor here is
that Muslim homophobia is channeled through many arguments and not just through
the story of the people of Lut. Addressing one argument simply opens room for
other arguments to take its place. Generally, many gay Muslims online have
successfully argued that the story of the people of Lut is about the
subjugation of fellow men instead of intimacy, affection and companionship. But
here are various other ways that Muslim homophobia manifests itself based on
the religious orientation of one’s interlocutor.
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The Salafi Approach
The Salafi
approach is based on intimidation and rests on the primacy given to the Hadith
texts. Often Salafi conversation partners or rather monologue dictators copy
paste the Ibn Abbas text on killing the active and the receptive partners. This
approach is ubiquitous in online spaces because of the accessibility of
translated Hadith texts. Such folks uphold draconian weak texts by alluding to
the Salafi scholar Albani (d. 1999). One prominent example of this approach is
found in the book “The Forbiddance of Homosexuality” translated by a white
Muslim convert that assembles all the death texts in one place. However, this
approach is the easiest to address, as many traditional scholars have rejected
all such Hadith texts as inauthentic. The arguments go that these texts were
not accepted by Bukhari, Muslim and other Hadith experts, that the narrator
Ikrimah in the transmission chain has been branded as a liar, and that the Hadd
(Qur’anically prescribed punishment) is not applicable beyond the crimes
expressly stated in the Qur’an. Yet, even with such strong counter arguments, a
prominent white Muslim academic has gone to great lengths writing a paper to
show how such texts were supported by a few past jurists like Suyuti (d. 1505).
This reminds one of the observation that just as past Christian converts to
Islam brought anti-Semitic tropes to the nascent Islamic faith, so too are some
current white converts bringing in their western homophobia to Islam. To go
back to the metaphor, severing one of the heads of the Hydra only gives rise to
another, so that such ideologues rarely change their opinions or at best shift
from the Salafi to the traditional outlook.
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Also
Read: Why Gay
Muslims Are Upheld To Standards That Not Even Prophets Fulfil?
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The Traditionalist Approach
This
approach defines the mainstream Sunni Muslim position in North America as
projected by institutions like Seekers Guidance, Bayyinah, Zaytuna, Al Maghrib
and Yaqeen with popular Muslim leaders like Nouman Ali Khan, Omar Suleiman and
Yasir Qadhi amongst others. Their opinions are presented as part of a never
changing Muslim consensus on the issue. Initially, older leaders like Muzammil Siddiqi
opined that “No person is born homosexual” and that “we should not associate
with them.” Even younger leaders like Omar Suleiman expressed, “Days are very
near that disagreeing with homosexuality will be just as bad as being a racist.
... If as Muslims we don't take a clear stance on this, we will be forced to
conform and watch this disease destroy our children.” Over time, however, the
narrative shifted. Now, such leaders emphasize the trope of humanity and
express solidarity with the non-Muslim LGBTQ community on civil rights issues.
On LGBTQ Muslims they have shifted from the “no one is born gay” trope to the
counsel that LGBTQ Muslims should not act on their desires and remain patient
as a test from Allah. However, such opinions are not in concordance with verses
like 28:68, which indicate that Allah creates whatsoever He wills. The
commentary on verse 24:33 used to counsel patience shows that it was a
temporary directive for Allah takes it upon Himself to help those who seek
marriage to guard their chastity. Moreover, the test trope indicates that tests
are stronger for those with greater faith and lighter for others, which
necessitates asking that when did LGBTQ Muslims get upgraded to super normal
beings, as Ibn Taymiyyah’s (d. 1328) commentary of verse 4:28 shows that
humanity was created sexually weak. However, traditionalists have no incentive
to change their position, as several Muslims struggling with same-sex desires
only confirm their narrative by creating groups like the “Straight Struggle.”
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Also
Read: The Quran on
Homosexual Relations
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The Qur’anist Approach
The
Qur’anist approach came into vogue in the Indian subcontinent with Ghulam Ahmed
Perwez (d. 1985). While Perwez did not reject all Hadith, the same does not
hold true for those inspired by his works or by those of Syrian thinker
Muhammad Shahrur (d. 2019). The Qur’anist approach emerges from folks
negotiating with modernity but who are also shaped by the homophobia of their
times. This means in building their narrative they rejected the Hadith texts
that prescribed death but had to find a relatively softer proscription of
homosexual conduct. In order to sustain their approach, they accessed two
highly ambiguous texts from the Qur’an, verses 4:15 and 4:16. However, like the
Salafi approach, this move by the Qur’anists is easily countered for it does
not enjoy the backing of 1400 years of Islamic scholarship. Traditionally, only
the Mutazilite scholar al-Isfahani (d. 934) connected these verses to
homosexuality, otherwise a vast majority of scholars opined that these verses
related to Zina (fornication) and were later abrogated by verse 24:2.
Contemporary scholars like Moiz Amjad expressly argue that 4:15 pertained to
prostitution and 4:16 to a male and female involved in Zina. Even an
influential thinker like Maududi (d. 1979) who laid the foundations of
political Islam, analogous to Syed Qutb (d. 1966), critiqued al-Isfahani for
connecting these verses to homosexuality. Yet, despite the overwhelming weight
of tradition against them, Qur’anists are not easily dissuaded from their
narrative, as they claim everybody else got it wrong and they alone got it
right.
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Also
Read: To Sustain an
LGBTQ Affirming Islamic Discourse, Lateral Violence Must End
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The Rationalist Approach
This
rationalist approach is best signified by Javed Ahmad Ghamidi from Pakistan,
who gives primacy to the Qur’an and only accepts those Hadith that are in
concordance with the Qur’an. His approach has earned him the unreasonable
epithet of munkare Hadith (rejector of Hadith) from his reactionary detractors.
However, his viewpoints seem to be in concordance with the Hanafi jurists of
the past that used aql (reason) to derive Islamic law instead of upholding weak
Hadith texts. Such an approach has allowed him to take bold positions on the
permissibility of women leading prayers and the optionality of the headscarf in
contrast to the traditionalist position. However, on homosexuality he continues
to argue that there is no scientific proof behind such an orientation and that
the prohibition must be sustained to protect the institution of the Muslim
family system. While his opinions are not necessarily mainstream, he enjoys a
considerable following of his own across the globe. His viewpoints are actually
confirmed by radical queer activists who argue that sexuality is a social
construct and is not necessarily rooted in biology, possibly out of the fear
that biology-based arguments would simply lead conservatives to switch to cure
based approaches on homosexuality even if there is currently none.
Additionally, such activists sometimes justify open and polyamorous
relationships which lends credence to the argument that the Muslim family
system must not be allowed to weaken as it has happened in the West. Thus, it
is the confluence of the Islamic rationalist and the radical queer views that
allows for the status quo to sustain.
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Also Read: Why Accommodating Gay Rights within Islam is a Challenge?
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The Soft Patriarchy Approach
This
approach generally emerges from older sympathetic Muslim leaders who try to
reconcile the tradition with the reality of LGBTQ Muslim youth struggling with
their predicament. Zaki Badawi (d. 2006) from the U.K. and Maher Hathout (d.
2015), hailed as the father of the American Muslim identity, both exemplified
this approach. When civil partnerships were legalized in the U.K. in 2004, Dr.
Badawi encouraged two brothers or two sisters to enter into civil unions to
make use of the benefits provided they remained chaste. Similarly, Dr. Hathout
opined in a podcast in 2013 that whereas the straight person has the option of
release through marriage, the gay individual has no alternatives and that we should at least guarantee dignity
and privacy to such an individual for “whatever happens” in privacy. However,
this approach may be rejected by radical queer activists on the basis of the
argument that it sustains patriarchy. Equally, this approach may be rejected by
younger conservative Muslims who downplay the burdens of gay individuals
arguing that not every straight Muslim can afford to get married either and
therefore the prescription of life-long celibacy should be uncompromisingly
sustained.
The above
approaches show how Muslim homophobia manifests itself in various forms, and
that addressing one approach only leaves others to take its place. The status
quo is retained because of the conservative Muslim narrative, the response by
closeted gay Muslims who uphold the “Straight Struggle” and the response by radical
queer activists, whose narrative goes beyond the classical Muslim paradigm. All
of this impedes Islamic scholarship from affirming LGBTQ Muslims in Islam in a
fashion parallel to the Conservative Rabbinate when they issued their Responsa
on observant gay Jews by affirming same-sex unions in 2006 and then same-sex
marriage in 2012. Coming back to the metaphor, while Hercules was able to
vanquish the Hydra, LGBTQ Muslims will have to learn to tame it for homophobia
isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. But they do not stand alone, for they have
the liberating scholarship of Scott Kugle, Samar Habib, Junaid Jahangir and
Hussein Abdullatif, and the pastoral care of Imam Daayiee Abdullah and Sheikh
Muhsin Hendricks amongst others. Such scholarship and pastoral care from family
and friends, biological or adopted, would hopefully remind them that Allah
creates whatsoever He wills and that Allah Loves Us All.
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Junaid
Jahangir is an Assistant Professor of Economics at MacEwan University. He is
the co-author of Islamic Law and Muslim Same-Sex Unions. With Dr. Hussein
Abdullatif, a paediatric endocrinologist in Alabama, he has co-authored several
academic papers on the issue of same-sex unions in Islam. He contributed this
article to NewAgeIslam.com.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-ideology/taming-hydra-muslim-homophobia/d/123359
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