Browsing by Author "Abdullatif, Hussein"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Homosexuality: the emerging new battleground in Islam
    (2018) Jahangir, Junaid; Abdullatif, Hussein
    As in the case of Jews and Christians, the topic of homosexuality is not easy for Muslims. Amongst various Christian denominations, it has led to rifts within congregations. The conversation in Christian and Jewish circles in North America has happened in the context of the LGBTQ and civil rights movements over several decades. However, the conversation in Islam, specifically in the North American context, is relatively new. In Muslim countries, homosexuality has conventionally been viewed as a behavioural trait in the context of pederasty and aggressive desire in gender-segregated societies. This, however, is being challenged by a growing number of Muslim youth, especially in the West, who do not wish to perpetuate a behavioural paradigm, in which one marries to keep face and have sexual encounters with members of the same gender on the side. Muslim LGBTQ groups and individuals have increasingly become socially and politically visible as technology and media have allowed them to network and share resources.
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    Investigating the Islamic perspective on homosexuality
    (2016) Jahangir, Junaid; Abdullatif, Hussein
    In his 2006 article in the Journal of the Islamic Medical Association of North America (JIMA), Dr. Ahmed qualified the predominant psychiatric view on “homosexuality” by recourse to opinions prevalent within reparative therapy circles. Conservative Muslim thinkers, online counselors and other professionals continue to hold opinions similar to those delineated by Dr. Ahmed in his journal article. We use his paper as a focal point to critique the general opinions upheld by conservative Muslim thinkers by alluding to the harms associated with reparative therapy and by rejecting the unreasonable prescription of permanent celibacy. We critique Dr. Ahmed’s association of “homosexuality” with mental health issues, fatal diseases, alcoholism and illicit sexual intercourse. Investigating the Muslim tradition, we encourage conservative Muslim leaders to facilitate Muslim gays and lesbians in their legitimate human need for intimacy, affection and companionship.
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    Islamic law and Muslim same-sex unions
    (2016) Jahangir, Junaid; Abdullatif, Hussein
    This book is written with the objective of reasonably addressing the need of Muslim gays and lesbians for a life which involves intimacy, affection and companionship within the confines of a legal contract. Contemporary conservative Muslim leaders unreasonably promote false marriages with straight spouses, failing which they prescribe the “solution” of permanent celibacy as a “test.” This book delves into an extensive scholarship on the same sources that conservative Muslim leaders draw on—the Qur'an, Hadith and jurisprudence. It is argued that the primary sources of Muslim knowledge addressed sexual acts between the same gender in the context of inhospitality, exploitation, coercion and disease, but not true same-sex unions; past Muslim scholarship is silent on the issue of sexual orientation and Muslim same-sex unions. The arguments of contemporary conservative Muslim leaders are deconstructed and the case for Muslim same-sex unions is made based on jurisprudential principles and thorough arguments from within the Muslim tradition.
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    Same-sex unions in Islam
    (2018) Jahangir, Junaid; Abdullatif, Hussein
    The objective of this paper is to streamline the case for Muslim same-sex unions that was comprehensively made in Jahangir and Abdullatif (2016). Additionally, we try to address same-sex unions on the basis of non-binary gender, gender expression and sexual orientation. Based on our work, we argue that the case for Muslim same-sex unions can be made on the basis of broad principles of human dignity and affection and therefore through marriage or through the specific arguments of repelling harm and legal authority. In this regard, going beyond the overarching Islamic value of human dignity, we specifically argue that the case for same-sex unions can be anchored on verse 4:28 on facilitating a legal outlet for sexual expression.