Yasir Qadhi is the Dean of Academic Affairs at AlMaghrib Institute in Houston, Texas.
In a video on AlMaghrib Institute Facebook page on December 14, 2018 Yasir Qadhi said:
So how exactly should Muslims react to this recent ruling where in our own country of America same-sex marriage has now become legal, it’s now the other federal law. How exactly should Muslims react to this? Well, the fact of the matter is that a more nuanced reaction is called for. First and foremost, we as Muslims understand that the country that were living in is not going to drive its laws from any Scripture and in fact, the fact of the matter is in some ways it’s better for us that it doesn’t. We actually do want the government to basically not to get involved in theology. It’s not the role of the government to get involved in morality, in ethics, in theology. So that having being said, we also need to realize that as Muslims we have our own ethics, we have our own religious law [Shariah] and that’s independent of any law of any land, and from a religious perspective, we of course believe like many other faith traditions that the only type of actual intercourse that is allowed is between a husband and a wife, between a husband and wife. That is really the only intercourse within the confines of marriage. So not just same-sex, I mean premarital, extramarital, I mean anything that is outside the bounds of a normal marriage we view this as being something that is unethical and immoral. That’s harmful to the soul. Now, that having being said, the question arises that well should we be opposed or in support of this institution, of the the people that are following this type of lifestyle, and the fact of the matter once again, a more nuanced perspective is called for. Again, on the one hand we understand that freedoms for anyone’s group translates as freedoms for us. The more free any group is the more free we are. The same freedom that allows them to do what they’re doing allows us to do what we’re doing. If the dominant majority had the power to ban an alternative lifestyle they could also have the power to ban our lifestyle. So that’s definitely what we need to keep in mind. At the same time, we should not shy away from saying that certain things we believe to be harmful to the body and to the soul. For example, alcohol. For example, drugs. So the fact of the matter is that even if alcohol is allowed here in this land, in the Western world, even if drugs are permissible. In these days marijuana is being more and more legal in many states. We as Muslims are going to continue to believe that consuming these substances is harmful to us, and the same applies to pornography, to the objectification of a woman that even a man’s body to pre an extra and yes to even same-sex relations. We’re not going to shy away from saying that we do believe it is unethical, unhealthy and immoral, but hey, in the end of the day all we have the right to speak and to believe, and we do not have the right to force other people to conform to what we believe as ethical and moral. You asked us, we’ll tell you, but at the same time it’s in the end of the day it’s your business and you have to answer to God on the day of judgment and that’s basically bwtween you and your Creator. All we can say is to tell you what we believe. Now, we also need to point out a final point and that is that in Islam we’re not required, we’re not obliged to basically hate people that disagree with us. In fact you’re allowed to show love to a person who worships an idol if they’re your mother, your relative, you’re allowed to genuinely respect and love them. This is by the explicit testimony of the Koran. So the worst sin in Islam is to worship a false God, to worship an idol, and the Koran allows one to be kind and loving to an idol worshipper who is kind and loving to you. If that is the case with an idol worshipper then how about somebody who is taking drugs, who is smoking weed or whatever ,who’s, you know, engaging in this type of lifestyle [LGBTQ] the fact of the matter is, we disagree and we don’t like this action, but that doesn’t mean that we have to treat or mistreat or dehumanize anybody. And that’s our right to think that it’s unethical and immoral. It’s there right to do as they please and the bottom line, we have to navigate between what our ethical and religious values say and what the law of the land allows. American Muslims have done easily when it comes to let’s say alcohol. We all know that alcohol is legal, we all know Islamically it is illegal for us in the ethical, in the religious sense. The same applies for premarital an extramarital and the same should also apply for same-sex relations.