Should Muslims Support The Right To Gay Marriage In A Country Like USA?
@UmerQureshi Thanks for your responses. I have watched these videos but I don’t think they answer the question specifically regarding the right to gay marriage. Please read my question again. Since the state should treat all citizens equally regardless of their faiths, why should it deny the right to avail government benefits available to married couples to homosexual couples on the grounds that it would improve their quality of life? Isn’t it similar to how the government shouldn’t discriminate between religions in its support for religious activites and places of worship, such as the construction of a Mandir in Pakistan, even though it considers Shirk to be a sin? Or similarly, the state’s recognition for inter-religious marriage which is also a sin in Islam. I agree that homosexuality is a sin. Muslims can continue to preach the message of Islam and its position of homosexuality to the general public. I am asking regarding the approach of the state to gay marriage, and whether its acceptable for Muslims to support that right because they want the government to not discriminate between its citizens.
To put it in more explicit terms, and let’s limit ourselves to the USA context for simplicity, and we can talk about other countries later, I think that there are two factors involved in the Muslim citizen’s decision regarding which government policy they’ll support. The first is the state’s duty to all citizens and responsibility to not discriminate in providing them government benefits, regardless of religious views. The second is the state’s responsibility to not encourage sinful behavior, which might happen if the government recognizes homosexual marriage. I feel that on the issue of construction of the temple, or inter-religious marriage, we have decided that the former consideration takes precedence. And that the appropriate forum for the latter, i.e, the discouragement of sin and the general preaching of Islam is religious institutions that can carry on either way. Should we apply the same reasoning here and support gay marriage, while considering homosexual relationships sinful. Or is there any way in which this case is different?
We can separate political support from moral support. If you vote for Democrats instead of the Republicans for the overall benefit of the Muslim community, overlooking their support for LGBTQ then it’s a matter of selecting the lesser of two evils. This is a dangerous option since political support is more POWERFUL than moral support in promoting LGBTQ activities and recognition, it should not be given to them at all. Since you are living in America, l think Republicans are the lesser of two evils as they have a lot in common with Muslims, esp the Christians amongst them who want to preserve traditional morality. The left has demonized them for long as racists and bigots. It maybe a bitter pill to swallow but they are the actual people of the book and you have a common Abrahamic heritage. Muslim community and traditional Christians should get along. As for the third option, you can choose to not participate in elections and at the same time condemn LGBTQ normalization. You are confusing a secular ideology with religion. It’s clear the bible is against homosexuality and the same goes for Quran. The Republicans are the actual Christians and they are the ones who are fighting for the freedom to practice religion. The interpretation of the liberal “Christians” doesn’t matter as they have long left the fold of Christianity by denying the clear text of bible. What you are actually promoting isn’t freedom of religion but liberalism and sexual promiscuity. This doesn’t come under the category of religion.
In my opinion, the parallel drawn here is incorrect i.e. comparing freedom of religion to freedom to define the institution of marriage. In the former part, freedom has been given by God and therefore Muslims shouldn’t have an issue with people expressing that freedom of religion ( even in the form of polytheism ). In the latter part however, marriage is an institution created and defined by God, and we Muslims cannot alter with that definition to include recognition of homosexual relationships as a parallel to the institution of marriage. Therefore, in a Muslims majority country, such a marriage can never be given recognition. Homosexual relationships at an individual level in a Muslim majority country can be tolerated to an extent since they do not invoke jurisdiction of a state unless they become so pervasive so as to actually threaten the institution of marriage as defined in Islam and disturb the socio-familial fabric of society that Islam wants to preserve in Muslim society. In that case, state level prohibition can be implemented after state justifies its jurisdiction through this acts pervasiveness in the society resulting in direct damage to the institution of family thus resulting in usurping rights of family and of society. And in extreme cases, can also suggest some punishment in this regard. As for a Muslim residing in a Non-Muslim majority country, one cannot support recognition of such marriage on the same grounds mentioned above, just the way one cannot support recognition of live-in relationships in the same country. Please also refer to the following response by Ghamidi Sahab : Discussion 56244 • Reply 57760