Chechen Authorities Allegedly Tell Parents: ‘Kill Your Gay Sons Or We Will’
Is This a Demand of Islamic Shari’ah?
or
Is it a denigration of Muslims and Islam?
I was shocked to read an article in the Huffpost of May 4, 2017 by James Michael Nichols Chechen Authorities Allegedly Tell Parents: "Kill Your Gay Sons or We Will" . It tells of very sordid state of affairs. Among other things it reports:
“Throughout the course of April, different reports from Russia media claimed that gay men were being rounded up and held in “concentration camps” in the republic of Chechnya, with detainees subjected to torture and death………….“They tell the parents to kill their child,” one survivor states in the above video. “They say: ‘Either you do it or we will.’ They call it: ‘Cleaning your honor with blood.’……………“They tortured a man for two weeks. They summoned his parents and brothers who all came. They said to them: ‘your son is a homosexual. Sort it out or we’ll do it ourselves.’ They replied: ‘It’s our family, we’ll do it.’ The family took him and killed him in the forest. They buried him there. They didn’t even give him a funeral. If I go home my own family will kill me.”
How do you feel on reading it? I feel small and ashamed. I hope this turns out to be a fake news. I share with most of my Muslims brothers and sisters a feeling of disgust and loathing at homosexuality. It is the result of centuries of the dominant view of Islamic scholarship. Rise above these emotions, and one feels immediately that something is amiss. It does not seem right. At least the punishment suggested and given sounds severe and unjust and therefore un-Islamic
It is noteworthy that Shari’-ate Mohammedi (the law that Prophet Mohammed enforced) is silent on the status of homosexuality and its punishment. We have not received any direct commandments on this subject in the Quran or from our beloved Prophet. The Quran mentions clearly that the followers of Prophet Lut were guilty of this sin and that they were punished. However, there is so much of new God-given information on this subject since then. Our scholars need to re-assess the problem and guide us on this.
I had discussed this problem in my blog few years earlier: Is Muslim Fixation About Homosexuality Supported by the Quran and Shari'ah. Later in April 2014 I revisited the issue in another blog Rethinking Homosexuality: Fiqh and Shari'ah v/s Modern Knowledge and Trend with the following opening remarks: “We have discussed this Ayah in October 2012. Since then the topic of Homosexuality has gathered tremendous momentum, specially in US. I feel we ought to re-visit, revise and update this issue to confidently and rationally work out the Islamic attitude on this burning topic”. I would like to share with you the “conclusions” I had made in that article hoping that it may help you in a small manner to analyse the problem of Homosexuality in the light of Theological and Shari’ah guidelines of our Deen while standing firmly in the twenty first century and resolutely fighting all attempts to be pushed back into the seventh. I have stated in my blog:
“My conclusions are the following:
• The Quran refers to homosexuality many times as the practice of People of Lut living in 2000 BC in the Shari’ah of Prophet Lut and squarely condemns it
• The folks of Lut were annihilated as they refused to give up this “wicked, perverse and disobedient” practice
• There is no direct commandment in our Holy Book for Muslims about homosexuality
• A rule of Shari’ah of the previous Prophets is binding on us unless it has been abrogated by the Holy Prophet
• Hence, Islam considers homosexuality a sin and forbids it
• It is KUFR even to challenge, let alone disobey a clear injunction in the Quran
• However scholarly opinions based on interpretation of and/or deduction from Quranic ayahs are open to scrutiny and critique
• There was no occasion for indictment or punishment for this vice during the life span of the Holy Prophet; hence he is silent on it.
• The Hadith literature is replete with very harsh punishment for this practice.
• Most of us Muslims have grown up with an innate disgust for this practice.
• The Islamic attitude towards homosexuals is complex, diverse and uncertain and needs a serious attention of our scholars and imams in the light of current scientific knowledge and cultural and social demands and practices
• There is no reliable and authentic scientific evidence to prove that homosexuality is a normal occurrence in the spectrum of human sexual orientation. If ever there is one, a Muslim is obliged to consider it.
• It remains controversial, if this practice can be altered or “cured.”
• It is a wrong approach to make homosexuality an issue of Human Rights or Individual freedom. It is a religious, ethical and philosophical problem for the civilised society.
• The LGBT should not be allowed to destroy the sacred, basic and fundamental Institution of heterosexual Marriage recognised since known human history.”
