CAMP Spirit

Islam originates from the same "family tree" as Judaism and Christianity, that is, from the patriarch Abraham. However, whereas the other two monotheistic faiths of the world trace their origin from Abraham’s primary wife, Sarah, Muslims believe by tradition that they are descended from Sarah’s maidservant, Hagar.

The primary source of Islam—its revealed scripture, Al-Qur’an—is very explicit in its condemnation of homosexuality, leaving scarcely any loophole for a theological accommodation of homosexuals in Islam. Unlike Judaism and Christianity, one finds in Islam neither theological discussion of homosexuality nor any attempt to include gay and lesbian Muslims in the faith. Muslims believe that the precepts of their religion were directly revealed by God (Allah) to the prophet Muhammed, who then "recited" (the meaning of Qur’an) these revelations verbatim; thus, Muslims leave no room for the kind of interpretation or textual criticism found in Judaism or Christianity, since for them the words of the Qur’an are the direct, unedited, inerrant words of God. Thus, in discussing the story of Sodom, the Qur’an in Surah 26 states: "What! Do you come to the males from among the creatures, and leave what your Lord has created for you of your wives? Nay, you are a people exceeding limits." Muhammed here relates God’s view that men were not using the wives God gave them (highlighting the Muslim demand for strict fidelity in marriage). The Qur’an does not provide for a specific punishment for homosexual offenders, in contrast with other activities for which severe punishments are specified; it merely states that those guilty of homosexual acts should be punished and then left alone, for Allah is merciful.

Subsequent to Muhammed’s death, however, the religion of Islam was developed and administered by others, and two types of rules were adduced: (1) shari’a, the legal code developed by Islamic legal scholars based upon the Qur’an, which has become the civil law in countries such as Iran; and (2) hadith, sayings attributed to the Prophet which do not actually appear in the Qur’an. Both shari’a and hadith are condemnatory of homosexual acts; there are hadith that require the death penalty. Nevertheless, the prohibition seems to have applied only when both participants in an act are Muslim; since Islam means "submission" to God, for one Muslim man to "submit" to another’s penis would be idolatrous. However, part of the concept of "Holy War" (jihad) involved making non-Muslim men submit to anal intercourse, so from an outsider’s perspective there appears a deep contradiction in Islam between belief and practice.

This same contradiction is played out in actual Islamic society: Traditional and modern Arab states and non-Arab Muslim ones (except for Iran) have not attempted to remove homosexual behavior or practitioners from society. This is perhaps due to the requirement of shari’a that there be multiple (as many as four) eyewitnesses for guilt to be pronounced; only public transgression is condemned. Moreover, it is often difficult for an outsider to distinguish between what is genuinely secret and what is simply not politely discussed. The prevailing sentiment in many parts of the Muslim world seems to be "don’t ask, don’t tell" when it comes to homosexual behavior: Homosexual acts are virtually ignored unless they interfere with the continuing of the family line or the loss of property; most of those who engage in homosexual activity would not consider themselves "gay" in the Western sense. Overall, Islam is considered a rather sex-positive religion in comparison to other monotheistic faiths; however, all sexual activity must be within legal matrimony or concubinage, and chastity is regarded as the mark of a true believer.

Lesbian activity is even harder to detect in Muslim culture, inasmuch as its sexual mores are still tied up with patriarchal rules of marriage, dowry, and concubinage, in which the male (father, husband, or brother) has total control of a woman’s sexuality. Furthermore, in societies such as Iran where shari’a is the civil law, lesbianism is completely "hushed up"; to admit to lesbian desires would be an unforgivable crime since it does not respect the supposed hierarchy instituted by Allah in creation. Subsequent to the Khomeini revolution, Iran began enforcing the death penalty for homosexuality for both women and men.

Nevertheless, alongside the legal condemnation of homosexual acts, there has been the exaltation of same-sex love (especially between males as a noble ideal) in Islamic literature, especially in Sufi mysticism. Chaste romantic love seems to have been acceptable, and there is a tradition that the Prophet himself even loved young men but disapproved of any sexual manifestation of this attraction. There is thus a dichotomy in modern Islam between acts and emotions, reminiscent of the Christian "love the sinner, hate the sin" stance which allows homosexual orientation but not genital expression.

The final comment that must be made in a discussion of Islam and homosexuality is that one will probably never find the type of gay and lesbian movements in this faith that one sees in other religions. This is because of a deep-rooted suspicion of Western ideas in the Arab/Muslim world. Some devout Muslims see gay and lesbian orientation as yet another Western importation, alongside feminism, monogamy, and McDonald’s. (In Iran, such Westernization has been derided as "Westoxication.") Islamic scholar Khalid Duran, who now teaches in the West, believes that the best hope for those Muslims who self-identify as gay or lesbian is to seek "theological accommodation" by establishing a new shari’a derived from the Prophet’s teachings on justice (much like the gay and lesbian Christian apologetic which seeks to overcome the biblical prohibitions through recourse to the love ethic of Jesus).

For Further Reading:

• Shahid Dossani, "Being Muslim and Gay," in Que(e)rying Religion: A Critical Anthology, ed. Gary David Comstock and Susan E. Henking (Continuum, 1997)

• Khalid Duran, "Homosexuality and Islam," in Homosexuality and World Religions, ed. Arlene Swidler (Trinity Poress International, 1993)

• Stephen O. Murray and Will Roscoe, eds., Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History, and Literature (New York University Press, 1997)