Not surprised ..... Islamic Council Wants Buggery Law To Remain

So not surprising as the sentiments were expressed in a radio interview and a call in show on radio some weeks ago during the aftermath of the Presidential visit and the euphoria following especially the LGBT hint and the hailing of Angeline Jackson activist from QCJ.

acting President of the Islamic Council of Jamaica, Al-Hajj Mekaeel Maknoon

However I would love to ask the ICJ what explains the ever increasing popping up of LGBT Islam or Muslim groups worldwide and even in our own LGBTQ populations though small in number but they see themselves as being left out of the loop in as far as being part of the faith. As per usual the cop out line is that they (ICJ) do not support violence against homosexuals.

I imagine the council is also in disagreement in principle with the position taken by The founder of Muslims for Progressive Values Ani Zonneveld when he criticized 'deviant, draconian, and hateful' variants of Islam and advocates for LGBT and gender equality. As in Christianity, some Muslims may point to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah as a justification for anti-LGBT beliefs. And as in Christianity, others disagree with that interpretation.

“It was rape; it was inhospitality; it was going against the prophet Lot’s teaching” that were the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, not homosexuality, says Ani Zonneveld. The Koran, she said, prescribes no punishment for being gay or transgender.

Zonneveld founded Muslims for Progressive Values in Los Angeles in 2007. Singer-songwriter Zonneveld felt that in many Muslim communities “a woman’s voice was forbidden,” and she wanted a progressive Muslim community to belong to. The groups has monthly spiritual gatherings, open mikes for youth, and social events for its LGBT members. In addition to the flagship L.A. chapter, MPV now has U.S. chapters in Atlanta, New York, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, and Washington, D.C. There are also MPV chapters in several other countries.

The Gleaner carried this today:

Acting President of the Islamic Council of Jamaica, Al-Hajj Mekaeel Maknoon, said yesterday that the Islamic community in Jamaica is against the repeal of the Buggery Act.

Speaking at a Gleaner Editors' Forum, he indicated that homosexuality goes against Islamic beliefs .

"The Creator has already made his judgement on that in Sodom and Gomorrah. We do not have anything to add to that, He has said it is the most unnatural act ... . His judgement is that it is unacceptable," he said.

The Imaam outlined arguments against the repeal of the Buggery Act.

"People have a right to have desires; that is the human right. It's not a human right that you have to impose your desire on other people. It is not your right to create a situation which is, in essence, by nature, diametrically opposed to the continuity of the human race," he said

According to the acting president, "the country cannot look at the situation and say you are allowed to do what you want to do until it starts to affect 90 per cent of the country and then we start to take action ... 90 per cent of Jamaicans do not engage in this behaviour and we need to respect their wishes and not legislate something like this."

Inherently Wrong

Maknoon spoke to the morality surrounding homosexuality indicating that it was inherently wrong.

"Something is either inherently wrong or right and furthermore, you cannot impose on 90 per cent of the Jamaican people, a conduct that they find abhorrent. It is unacceptable," he said.

He went on to explain, however, that Muslims do not discriminate against homosexuals.

"The man who is gay, I don't have the right over him. If he chooses to live that life, that is his life; your way is your way ... . We will not excommunicate a member who is gay, that is his life and he is accountable to the Creator of the universe," Maknoon said.

ENDS

Meanwhile in 2014 

“This new interpretation of Islam is deviant as far as I’m concerned,” says Zonneveld, pointing to the influence of Saudi Arabian Wahhabism as “a very draconian, very new teaching of Islam — very intolerant … of different cultures, very hateful, I would say, even.”

She says Saudi money has gone into every corner of the world and influenced cultural shifts in Muslim countries. For instance, she says, many mosques where men and women once worshipped together now require women to enter from the back or to worship in a separate room from the men.

“It’s a bastardization of Islam,” she says, referring to the “true spirit of Islam” as “interfaith and inclusive.”

Zonneveld emphasizes that she is calling out governments and institutions — not individual Muslims. There are progressive Muslims all over the world, she says, and in many places they face the threat of imprisonment or even death for speaking out. That’s why Zonneveld thinks that, as a Muslim in the western world, she has a duty to “highlight those voices.”

In fact, MPV obtained consulting status with the United Nations in order to advocate for the granting of individual rights regardless of cultural beliefs.

The conflicting teachings has been a source of hardening divides in the Islamic community and by extension the theologians from a Christian perspective especially on the Sodom bit and whether it was a matter of hospitality versus destruction simply due to homosexuality exclusively as is espoused by anti gay voices.

Then comes this other conflicting solution supposedly to Jamaica's problems during yesterday's Gleaner forum with the ICJ: 'Polygamy, solution to Jamaica's family crisis' this might sound good for some men seeing we raise multi-partnering as a mark of masculinity but sometimes I have to wonder.

Anyway I found another group online called Muslim Alliance which was launched January 23, 2013 at the Creating Change conference in Atlanta, GA. Building on the work of generations of LGBTQ Muslims and their allies, the new organization grew out of a working group brought together by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (The Task Force). 

The Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity (MASGD) works to support, empower and connect LGBTQ Muslims. We seek to challenge root causes of oppression, including misogyny and xenophobia. We aim to increase the acceptance of gender and sexual diversity within Muslim communities, and to promote a progressive understanding of Islam that is centered on inclusion, justice, and equality.

MASGD hosts a retreat for LGBTQ Muslims and their partners each May.

In the UK:

Imaan supports LGBT Muslim people, their families and friends, to address issues of sexual orientation within Islam. It provides a safe space and support network to address issues of common concern through sharing individual experiences and institutional resources.

Imaan promotes the Islamic values of peace, social justice and tolerance through its work, and aspires to bring about a world that is free from prejudice and discrimination against all Muslims and LGBT people.

In September 1998, a group of us were brought together in London by an advert placed in the Pink Paper by visiting founder of Al Fatiha Foundation, the US gay Muslim group.

Back then, Muslims who were gay were not part of a discernible group. If anything we were part of a larger, mostly London-based Asian presence that congregated at gay Bhangra clubs like Club Kali and Shakti - if at all.

The need to reconcile Islam with sexuality seemed to coincide with a coming-of-age of a particular generation of gay people from Muslim backgrounds born in this country that had witnessed the growth of a gay culture in England.

Peace and tolerance 

H

also see:

What Does Islam Really Say About LGBT People? (advocate magazine)

Stances of Faiths on LGBT Issues: Islam - Sunni and Shi’a

Press statement: Times article on gay Muslim terrorists sensationalist and damaging

Muslim LGBT Group Against Violence on Facebook