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HOMOSEXUALITY AND ISLAM
http://ghandchi.com/19-Homosexuality_and_Islam.htm
AAA wrote:
i dont quite follow... are you saying that if this is the year 2500, and that we can, thru some genetic test, identify those who are more susceptible to homosexuality, we should just kill them? let me get more specific. suppose sometime in the future you find that your own child has the above genetic 'defect'. do you think he/she should be removed like cancer?
BBB replied:
Being gay is different from practicing homosexuality. If one gets caught doing it, the punishment is death. I may like to do some stuff, that is not the problem. Problem is when and if I do it! If my own child was caught doing the act, it will be a great pain for me and his mother. Would I approve of his death. I am afraid I have no choice. It will be hard......
I think you are doing
yourself and your hypothetical son/daughter a disservice by thinking you have no choice. You have limited your choices a lot, even
within your religious and ideological framework. Actually within your frame of
reference, you could have more choices.
According to Borujerdi's resAleh, the act of lavAt is NOT punished by execution. So at the future time,
depending on the Marj-e of the time, the action may
not be punished with execution. Moreover, the technology may also be available
for gene alteration which can change homosexuality if it is gene-based and if
desired. Already some genetic diseases are treated this way (I am not implying
homosexuality to be a disease. I do not know enough about the biology of
homosexuality to judge it one way or the other).
But the issue of
homosexuality is a very complex issue. In the SF BAY where I live, it is a very
popular issue and even blown out of proportion. In some other parts of the
world, it is the opposite, no one talks about it and it is a taboo.
I knew a woman who went to
I believe homosexuality is
like cabbage (or loobiya). If you don't like it or if
you prefer not to associate with gays, you should have the right to be who and how you are. Not liking something does not mean that
you are prejudiced. I may not like to have friends who are grave-diggers. That
does not mean that I don't believe in their right to exist. In fact I think the
grave-diggers are necessary in the society, it is just that I am not
interested. It is a personal issue. But the prejudices
against gays is the cause of the unreal image about their actuality.
Actually homosexuality has
always been present in the human society. But it has been very marginal. I
would say about 0.05% of humans have been homosexual in all societies, whether
free to express it or not (don’t hold me to the figure,
I am just trying to show my point).
Homosexuality is not found
among the animals (I know only one exception). But in humans, this is a fact.
Why? Because sex and pro-creation are not synonymous and the
more human societies have developed, the further the separation of sex for
pleasure from sex for procreation.
Actually sex for pleasure and
not pro-creation is what constitutes the majority of sexual act in ALL human
societies, regardless of religious upbringing. Thus if the sexual act is not
for procreation, it can find other forms than a woman/man relationship. Most
these forms are NOT natural, meaning that in nature, they are not found as
such.
As I noted, homosexuality is
hardly true for any animal (Among animals only I think a certain species of
octopus shows that tendency, I don’t remember exactly. Sometimes I think it is
so silly why some people who hate homosexuals
name-call the homosexual acts as animal acts! It is almost nonexistent among
animals).
Are all forms of sexual
pleasure healthy? Well, it depends. The same question can be asked about
clothes, food, etc. Wearing clothes is also UNnatural
and artificial. I know the medical professionals have different opinion as to
whether homosexuality is healthy or not. Thus for me it is just a personal
issue. I have the right not to be a gay and the gays have the right to be what
they are. For me, it is just like liking loobya or
cabbage.
Historically, the more
advanced societies and higher classes, such as aristocracy, have shown this
tendency more. I think it was because
for them the separation of sex for pleasure from sex for procreation was more true, they had the luxury to reach it sooner than other
societies and lower classes. Of course I am just talking of homosexuality out
of choice. Homosexuality out of lack of
choice, like the cases in Saudi Arabia where because of hardships of
availability of relations with opposite sex or the cases like prisons or
sailors on ships, or army, etc. are not my interest here.
Ancient
I think homosexuality, if
free, will always be something peripheral, because although humans have separated
from animal nature per se, but as long as we live and procreate in the body we
have, we cannot go that far from the rest of animal kingdom. So homosexuality
will remain the issue of rights for a minority.
Killing people for being
homosexual is not really fair. It is like killing people for eating loobya. If I hate loobya, I can
just desire for loobya-eaters to have their own
restaurant and their own TV channel to advertise loobya,
but how can I hang them for liking loobya? I really
think there are much more creative ways to deal with the issue within the
framework of Islam than hanging people.
Sam Ghandchi
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