This limit was especially important for women at a time when men had more opportunities to work and earn money. This limit helps ensure that children will be cared for and supported by both parents. *In Islam, men and women should not have sex if they do not have a known, clear relationship with each other. This limit prevents men and women who are closely related from creating children who may have serious health risks. There are verses of the Qur’an that specifically mention who can and can not marry. *In Islam, brothers and sisters cannot marry. The limits don’t have to do with the sex acts themselves, though. Most of those limits have to do with relationships between people who have sex. SO, IN ISLAM, IS IT “ANYTHING GOES” WHEN IT COMES TO SEX? “Sexual “play” does not necessarily lead to making children, so this indicates that sex is considered good and healthy whether or not it is for the purpose of creating children. Some people understand it to mean sex acts other than intercourse. In fact, in one hadith, Muhammad said that God rewards people for “sexual play.” The term “sexual play” is not defined in the Qur’an or Hadith. The Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) and early scholars said that “sexual play” is a good thing. IS SEXUALITY ONLY CONSIDERED “GOOD” IF IT IS USED TO CREATE CHILDREN? There is a well-known hadith, or story about the life of the Prophet Muhammad(PBUH), in which the Prophet said “Three things were made beloved to me in this world of yours: women, perfume and prayer.” This hadith indicates that sexual desire is something the Prophet cherished. It’s important to realize, too, that desire itself is not a bad thing in Islam. It affects how people relate to each other. Sexuality is about a lot more than desire or “lust.” Sexuality involves desire, but also includes thoughts, acts, and how one sees oneself and others. Heaven is described as containing “rewards” such as rivers of milk and honey that make it appealing to the senses-including sexual desires. Even the Qur’an (the Muslim holy book) describes heaven as a paradise of a physical kind. Al-Ghazali, a Muslim scholar who lived more than 900 years ago, called sexual pleasure a blessing from God. Early Muslim scholars talked about sex in a very straight-forward way as a normal, positive part of life. The Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) helped people see that spiritual life and sexual life are connected. In early Islamic history, sex was seen as a positive part of human life. MPV thanks the generous contribution of the Human Rights Campaign for making this adaptation possible.ĬHAPTER 1 - UNDERSTANDING SEXUAL DIVERSITY IN ISLAM SOME RELIGIONS SEEM TO VIEW SEX AS SHAMEFUL OR UNCLEAN. If you’re not sure what a word or phrase means, please refer to the Notes section. We have chosen to use the widely-used Common Era (also known as Christian or Gregorian) calendar, rather than the Islamic Hijri (AH) calendar. It can not provide a perfect equivalent, however, because some Arabic sounds do not exist in English. The pronunciation key is intended to give English-speaking readers a close approximation of the word in Arabic. Kugle’s work shows that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Muslims do indeed deserve a place in Islam. He shows that common punishments for homosexuality in Islamic countries have no basis in the Qur’an or sunnah (the record of the exemplary life of the Prophet Muhammad). Kugle shows that Islam supports many kinds of diversity-and that sexual and gender diversity in particular were acknowledged in the Qur’an and by the Prophet Muhammad(PBUH). Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle in Progressive Muslims (ed. This is adapted from the chapter “Sexuality, Diversity, and Ethics in the Agenda of Progressive Muslims” by Dr. Generously funded by Human Rights Campaign PREFACE
Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle | Adapted for MPV by Tynan Power Sexual diversity in Islam: IS THERE ROOM IN ISLAM FOR LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER MUSLIMS?īy Dr.