Ibrahim Hindy is a religious director at Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, imam at Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Centre, chairman of the Muslim Council of Peel and Toronto Star contributing columnist.
On June 10, 2023, Ibrahim Hindy delivered a sermon titled “Addressing the LGBT Challenge and the right to believe in Islamic morality.” In this sermon Ibrahim Hindy stated:
- It becomes incredibly important that Muslims center themselves first and foremost on the Quranic understanding of morality of the Quranic understanding of gender and sexual ethics
- Prophet Lut… was addressing fornication… a very specific type of perversion
- Some people try to reinterpret these verses because of the societal pressure. All of the scholars have agreed that these verses show us that homosexuality is haram (forbidden)
- There is a clear consensus in our religion that these verses are explicit in their prohibition of homosexual behavior
- [Mohammad] is prohibiting the imitation of the opposite gender… this is haram (forbidden) in our religion
- We have to state the obvious, there’s only two genders. They claim there are 72 genders, 84 genders… it is un-Islamic. number two, it is unscientific, and number three, it is unhealthy for society
- Those who are gender dysphoria, who have this idea that they are in the wrong body, they suffer extremely high levels of psychiatric comorbidity, meaning they’re also suffering from extreme depression anxiety, self-harm. Many of them, a very large percentage of them, are on the autism spectrum disorder
- Many people are suffering a psychological problem where they think they’re in the wrong body, and this society is telling them, go and have irreversible surgery, destroying your body
- Some Muslims as we said, who want to reinterpret Islam and say that there’s nothing wrong with homosexuality or cross-dressing or transitioning genders, this is completely wrong, and our religion does not give room to it
- We are seeing that the LGBTQ movement as a political movement is becoming tyrannical
- I will not ever march in a Pride Parade. I will never wear a rainbow badge and I will never teach my children that this is healthier moral behavior
- We don’t shift and change. What we believe today to be moral, the same that the first Muslims believed fourteen hundred years ago
Ibrahim Hindy’s sermon
It has become impossible in this month of June [2023] that we aren’t subjected to this question of LGBTQ. Not just subjected to a brother challenged by it. Not knowing how to navigate against it with our faith. How do I navigate in my workplace? How do I navigate my child’s school? Just recently there was audio released of a teacher here in Canada berating a young Muslim child for daring to not attend Pride events at school.
And while this movement and its constant evolution of rapidly changing sexual and gender wars and norms all based on very particular theories cooked up by gender theory professors in Western academia is pushed on us. It becomes incredibly important that Muslims center themselves first and foremost on the Quranic understanding of morality of the Quranic understanding of gender and sexual ethics.
As we know in the Quranic Allah, Exalted be He, gives us the stories of many prophets and each of these prophets came with a mission their mission first and foremost to call the people to the worship of Allah alone. There is no god but Allah (لا اله الا الله) to worship none besides God, but every prophet also came to rectify the morality of his people.
Prophet Shuaib (شعيب), peace be upon him, came to a people who would cheat so he called them to the worship of Allah alone and to change their immorality when it came to cheating. Prophet Musa called pharaoh (فرعون) to the worship of one God, but also stood up against the effects of tyranny and racism and the enslavement of the Israelites (بنو اسرائيل) and our Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing be upon him, also addressed the ills of his society, the abandonment of the worship of God, but the other ills in their society, the burying of female babies, the drinking of alcohol and the gambling and the usury.
So the prophets were not only sent to correct their beliefs about God but to reform their morality and of course the two are connected. But there is a prophet mentioned in the Qur’an, and more than a hundred verses, yet we often don’t speak about him Prophet Lut, peace be upon him, was sent to correct the moral ills of his society he was addressing, the sexual immorality which was the main issue of his time. And realize that intimacy is mentioned in the Qur’an in many places but often in a very respectful and honorable way. And this shows us, because I know there are children here that sheltering our kids completely from this topic. Until they reach an age of adulthood is not a good idea. We just have to approach it in a way that is wise, and in a way that is age appropriate.
Prophet Lut, peace be upon him, was addressing fornication. We are just having a relationship outside of marriage but not only fornication but a very specific type of perversion in relationships that they were having.
So what did prophet Lut, peace be upon him, say in the Qur’an? what does he criticize? Allah, Exalted be He, mentions to us ولوطا إذ قال لقومه أتأتون الفاحشة ما سبقكم بها من أحد من العالمين [Quran 29:28], He said to his people: We sent Lut to say to his people: Do you commit such an immoral act that no one before you from amongst the world has done? Maybe there were individuals who did this action before the people of Lut, but never before had there been a قوم, a nation to do this action and to celebrate it.
He tells them إنكم لتأتون الرجال شهوة من دون النساء بل أنتم قوم مسرفون [Quran 7:81] He said: you are going to men with desire rather than to women, rather you are a people who are transgressing, meaning there are limits and you are transgressing the limits. What are these limits? Allah, Exalted be He, is defining for us how a person fulfills the desire (شهوة) that they may have. It has to be within the definition that Allah gives us, which is the marriage between a man and a woman manبل أنتم قوم مسرفون rather you are a people going beyond the pale of what Allah has permitted.
Now some people try to reinterpret these verses because of the societal pressure. All of the scholars have agreed that these verses show us that homosexuality is haram (forbidden) and these people try to reinterpret these verses and say: No, no, no, this is about rape. But read the verses: لتأتون الرجال شهوة من دون النساء Are you going to the men in desire rather than to the women. Is prophet Lut telling them don’t rape the men, rape the women?
And another verse. He says هؤلاء بناتي [Quran 15:71] these are my daughters, meaning marry the daughters. It is explicitly clear what he is saying in these verses and that Allah, Exalted be He, is condemning this action. أتأتون الذكران من العالمين [Quran 26:165] He tells them: Are you going to the men? Are you approaching the men? وتذرون ما خلق لكم ربكم من أزواجكم [Quran 26:166] and leaving behind those who Allah has created for you to be your mates, to be your wives بل أنتم قوم عادون [Quran 26:166] and rather you are transgressing people. He is explaining that there is something wrong with what they are doing, that it is immoral and Allah, Exalted be He, destroys that people as he has destroyed other people who rejected their prophets.
There is a clear consensus (اجماع – Ijma’) in our religion that these verses are explicit in their prohibition of homosexual behavior Ijma’ is a consensus, Ijma’ is a form of divine law. Allah has given us the Qur’an, and He has given us the sunnah. He has also given us Ijma’, the consensus of the scholars and qiyas (قياس) analogies, and the form of analogies that Allah teaches us, and the Prophet [Mohammad] teaches us through the Qur’an and sunnah. These are sources of divine law.
And so when we have an explicit consensus from the time of the companions in our scholarly tradition, and someone tries to negate this, they are negating something that is explicit in our faith. A religion that does not have a book that is protected. We have the Qur’an that is protected and establish context for that book which, is the sunnah of our Prophet [Mohammad, peace and blessing be upon him, a mechanism to entrench the consensus of its scholars in particularly of its early Muslims, which is Ijma’. A religion that does not have these mechanisms is nothing. It’s a religion without boundaries. Yes, there is scope, ability to have difference of opinion on certain matters of our religion. Yes there is a dissimilarity (اختلاف) that happens in our religion. for sure. but there has to be clear boundaries of what is inside the religion, and what is outside of the religion, and if you do not have those boundaries guess what? You don’t have a religion, because the religion can be anything, and this is why the scholars speak about a concept called المعلوم من الدين بالضرورة that which is known in the religion by necessity, that which is axiomatically true, meaning it is necessary.
In order for someone to accept the Qur’an you must accept certain premises for example, prayer is mandatory (صلاة is واجب), charity is mandatory (زكاة is واجب), fornication is forbidden (زنا is حرام), drinking wine is forbidden (drinking خمر is حرام), and amongst that also, that homosexuality is haram (forbidden).
These are not matters that are acquired by deduction. These are matters that are understood by necessity, and to deny these matters is to deny the premise of the Qur’an to begin with, and to reject the revelation ultimately.
And this is very important, because this challenge is unique. We’ve always had Muslims, for example, who have drunk alcohol, Muslims who don’t practice their faith, Muslims who sell alcohol, but it’s incredibly rare that someone says this action of drinking or selling alcohol is halal (permissible), and let us radically reinterpret the Qur’an to make it halal (permissible) and moral. Yet, this is a movement that seeks to change all religious traditions, not even just Islam, and to radically reinterpret them to fit into their notions of what they believe to be correct and moral.
The story of prophet Lut, peace be upon him, it has set the stance of our religion when it comes to homosexuality in three ways. One, that it is explicitly haram (forbidden), it is prohibited. Two, that it is immoral behaviour (منكر) which تأتون في ناديكم المنكر [Quran 29:29], he tells them: You are doing immoral behaviour (منكر), that which is immoral and rejected in your clubs, and that three this is not how a law intends for us to live our lives. This is one aspect of this LGBTQ movement.
Another aspect of it is what is called gender nonconformity. This is when a man wants to be a woman and vice versa, and our Prophet [Mohammad], peace and blessing be upon him, said in many different hadiths [corpus of the sayings or traditions of the Prophet Muhammad], one of themلعن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم لعن الله المتشبهات من النساء بالرجال والمتشبهين من الرجال بالنساء The Prophet [Mohammad], peace and blessing be upon him, cursed the women who imitate the men and the men who imitate the women. And imitation here means when it comes to their dress, their way of speech, their way of talking and walking their gates. This is an authentic hadith, and there are many hadiths similar to this.
What is the Prophet [Mohammad], peace and blessing be upon him, saying? He [Mohammad] is prohibiting the imitation of the opposite gender. Why does this happen? There’s different reasons. Sometimes people would do this cross-dressing in order to be funny as a joke. This would happen in this society going back maybe to the 1950s and 60s, and this is haram (forbidden) in our religion.
But also there is this concept of gender dysphoria where there are people who legitimately think that they are in the wrong body, that they are born male, and they think that they are female, they are born female, they think that they are male. And a popular example of this is someone by the name of Bruce Jenner who was an Olympic athlete, and then he says no, I am actually a woman, and calls himself Caitlyn Jenner, and did surgery, and took hormones, and all of these things.
And they go even beyond this, and they say, you have the gender of male and female, and then you have non-binary people, who don’t have a gender. They are neither male nor female.
And the Quran tells us وليس الذكر كالأنثى [Quran 3:36] men are not like women يهب لمن يشاء إناثا ويهب لمن يشاء الذكور [Quran 42:49] Allah gives to whom he wills males, and gives to whom he wills females. Very clear in our religion that there are two genders, that there is men and women, and so it’s odd that in today’s day and age, we have to state the obvious, there’s only two genders. They claim there are 72 genders 84 genders, even more than that. Some have said, every individual has their own gender. This is a type of hyper individualism, the hyper focus on the self (نفس nafs), we talked about the self (نفس), centering the self (نفس) in our lives, and [in] the other sermon (خطبة), and the problem with this is many. Number one, it is un-Islamic. number two, it is unscientific, and number three, it is unhealthy for society.
And there are peer-reviewed studies by the way who show that those who are gender dysphoria, who have this idea that they are in the wrong body, they suffer extremely high levels of psychiatric comorbidity, meaning they’re also suffering from extreme depression anxiety, self-harm. Many of them, a very large percentage of them, are on the autism spectrum disorder. but they never talk about these issues, and the fact that this also exists.
One example is a man by the name of James Schupp. He was a man who lived as a woman for two years, then, he lived as non-binary for another three years. He was the first American who fought against the government until they changed his ID, his driver’s license, his passport, to change his gender to become non-binary. in 2019 he reverted back to being a man, and said: I am a man, and I can only be a man. And this entire movement to tell people to transition to another gender is wrong, and that it affected him physically on a major stage, and he’s not alone. There are many people like this. They just never speak about this in the mainstream, but this is a reality. Many people are suffering a psychological problem where they think they’re in the wrong body, and this society is telling them, go and have irreversible surgery, destroying your body.
There are some common questions that arise when we talk about this topic. The first question: Is the same sex attraction natural? Are people born this way? And the short answer is, it actually doesn’t matter, because this life is a test and Allah, Exalted be He, can test us with whatever he wants including the desires within us. So if Allah, Exalted be He, decreed that someone is tested with this, this is your test in the this life (دنيا). They used to push in the 80s and the 90s the idea of a gay gene, that a person is born within their DNA that they are gay, and of course all the latest studies say there is no such gene, but even if they could prove this, so what?
Does it change the ruling (حكم)? Does it change what the Quran is saying about this? No, it is not, and if you wanted to go down that road you might be able to prove that people are just born with a disposition to a variety of different behaviors. Some people may be predisposed to have arguments and fights, some people might be predisposed to get divorced some people might be predisposed to steal, some people might be predisposed to many different characters and behaviors, that doesn’t mean anything in the end the ruling (حكم) of the Quran is clear, and if Allah chooses to cause someone to be tested in this form in their life, this is the decree of Allah, Exalted be He.
As Muslims we know that everything is in the hands of Allah, the Mighty and the Majestic, but here is the more important question. Is having these feelings haram (forbidden)? And here we have to be very clear. Having an attraction in and of itself is not necessarily haram (forbidden). Having a desire to do something is not necessarily haram (forbidden). What is haram (forbidden) is acting upon it, is the action, is the behavior.
In our religion, if you want to drink alcohol, if you want to do it, but you don’t do it, Allah is not going to hold you accountable. If you want to commit zina (fornication) and you have the desire to do so, and you don’t do so, Allah is not going to hold you accountable for it, and in fact if you resist that attraction Allah, Exalted be He, for resisting that desire the Prophet [Mohammad], peace and blessing be upon him, said من هم بالسيئة فلم يعملها، كتب ألله عنده حسنة كاملة if somebody desires to do an evil and does not do so, Allah will record it as a full good deed for this person. And so every time you are tempted to do something and you stop, you are actually getting rewards for it.
So some people might have the attraction, but if they overcome it, and if they resist it, they are actually being rewarded for it, and what Allah, Exalted be He, made haram (forbidden) is acting upon it. And what is worse than even acting upon it, is what we talked about earlier, those who try to change the religion to make it halal (permissible).
This sermon (خطبة) was difficult to prepare, because I think many people often are afraid to talk about this topic. Allah, Exalted be He, mentions to us in the story of Lut فما كان جواب قومه إلا أن قالوا أخرجوا آل لوط من قريتكم إنهم أناس يتطهرون the answer of the people of Lut to his dawah (propagating the message of Islam) was only, expel the family of Lut from your city. Indeed, they are people who want to be pure. They insult him, mock him for his morality, and they threaten him with banishment, kicking him out.
And the truth is that now there’s a lot of fear talking about these topics as well and I want to mention a few points. Number one, some Muslims as we said, who want to reinterpret Islam and say that there’s nothing wrong with homosexuality or cross-dressing or transitioning genders, this is completely wrong, and our religion does not give room to it. It’s like saying eating pork is not haram (forbidden) when it is explicit in the Quran.
A person, the other day, actually accepted Islam. When I asked him, why did you accept Islam, he has a very interesting phrase. He said, Islam is the last religion, because if religion is always reinterpreted to fit into whatever society wants, then that religion has no meaning. He said, Islam is the last religion because it has its principles and Muslims are obliged to stick to that no matter how popular or unpopular it is.
The second point, there’s a statement signed by over 300 imams and scholars in North America, called navigating differences on sexual and gender ethics. and it explicitly explains the Islamic position on sexual and gender ethics. And the intent of this statement and crafting, it was to help people, particularly parents and employees, when they feel like they are being forced to participate in celebrating pride is going against their faith.
And so, I want to encourage you those of you who are parents, and you have your children in the public school system, where they are exposed to these things, to go and speak with this school admin, and to speak to teachers, and be respectful, but also be clear about what your faith says, and what is best for your child and, Allah Willing, we are planning on organizing a town hall here with some lawyers, where we can talk about some of these topics, and what you can say, what is legal, what is not legal, what is the best approach, and Allah Willing, will be doing so soon, and I’ll announce to, Allah Willing, the dates once we have it.
The third point, we do need to show sympathy, and some Muslims don’t like to hear this, but it is important. There are Muslims who struggle with feelings. They struggle with the feelings of same-sex attraction. They struggle with the feelings of gender dysphoria. They don’t want these feelings. They don’t know why it happens to them. They are not responsible for these feelings, and so we have to understand that we have to have some sympathy for these Muslims.
There is actually a discord channel with over 800 members called straight struggle go straightstruggle.com where they are all Muslims trying to support each other, to help each other through having these feelings. They are not changing the religion. They are not saying, this is halal (permissble), and they are supporting each other to not act upon these feelings. There is a popular podcast as well, called Away Beyond the Rainbow by a Muslim brother named Waheed Jensen. It’s a fake name, but he has this podcast he himself says, I have these feelings, and he was going to go down that road of saying this is actually halal (permissible), but he changed, and he realized, nom this is haram (forbidden), and it’s a very good podcast for others, who are struggling with this feeling as well.
And they released the statement as well, and they wrote a letter and released the statement as well, supporting the statement of the scholars put out, and they said one of the things that they mentioned is, they said the LGBTQ movement says that this act of sex is an identity, it’s, quote unquote, who we are, they say, we reject this, we reject even the terms gay and queer, because we say, this action is an action, it’s not an identity.
That’s a very fundamental difference. It’s a difference in ideology, in how we see the world. They say, this action is who we are. We say, no, I as a Muslim. I commit sins. I’ve committed sins before. Am I my sin? Is my identity my sin? No. I seek refuge with Allah [from Satan]. So, they say we reject this and they recommend for people to check out that podcast. These are Muslims. Yes, they have same sex attraction, but they recognize that it’s haram (forbidden) to act upon it, and they struggle against it, and some of them preach tahajjud [the recitation of the Qurʾan and prayers during the night] every night, and some of them fast every Mondays and Thursdays. They are our Muslim brothers and sisters in Islam. We love them for the sake of Allah, right, and we ask Allah, Exalted be He, to help them, and to help us that we have empathy for Muslims, who are struggling and we ask Allah, Exalted be He, to make us firm and steadfast upon his religion…
There are three important points that we can take from the story of prophet Lut. The first is what did Lut, peace be upon him, say to his people he said, إني لعملكم من القالين [Quran: 26:168]. I am of those who strongly disapprove of your action. He condemns their action. He says he strongly disapproves of it. He doesn’t attack them physically. He doesn’t threaten them physically. He just says firmly what his position is, what his morality is, that those actions are immoral.
So what did they say to him? لئن لم تنته يا لوط لتكونن من المخرجين [Quran 26:167] If you don’t stop O Lut, you will be of those we kick out, and we see that when the angels came to visit Lut, peace be upon him, they said to him: Didn’t we forbid you from dealing with all of the other people? They had a rule against Lut, peace be upon him, you are not allowed to speak to anyone. How dare you speak to strangers who are not from our city. They put these draconian laws upon Lut, peace be upon him, more often, more and more.
We are seeing that the LGBTQ movement as a political movement is becoming tyrannical in a lot of ways. Even the slightest resistance to this movement, they will consider you a bigot and a hate-monger. I’ll give you one story. A Muslim, who actually comes to this mosque, he’s an executive at a large Canadian company. He told me this story. He said they asked all the executives of the company to participate in the pride event they were doing in their company. So, he went and he participated, and he carried the flag and everything. He didn’t ask me, he told me afterwards. If he asked me, I would have told him not to. He did this. Then they came to him, and they said, we want you to write a post on social media, on your personal social media, on your LinkedIn, write a post about you attending Pride at our company, and post your picture carrying the flag, and write it for everyone to see. He said, no, I don’t want my mother and my brothers and my family to see this, and I have to explain all of this. So, he said: No, I’m not going to do that. Someone in this company then raised a complaint against him, and said that he’s being hateful, because he’s not posting on his own personal social media that he attended a Pride event. This is somebody who went and carried the flag, and they’re still calling him a bigot, they’re still calling him hateful, and he’s an executive. Imagine if someone was junior. The slightest disagreement, and they call you a bigot.
And this is a reminder for us something to think about because the more we allow this narrative to continue the more difficult it is to push against. We have to be able to say that we can live our faith. We should be able to live our faith in this society.
And even more, they’re seeking to teach little kids this, instructing little kids to draw rainbow pictures and things along these lines. We saw, like I mentioned in the beginning of the sermon, a teacher yelling at a Muslim child for not attending Pride activities at school, telling them if you don’t believe this belief, if you don’t believe this, you’re not a Canadian, you can’t be Canadian, and I mean it. That’s what she said. This is a forced religion to believe. You have to believe in in your hearts لئن لم تنته يا لوط لتكونن من المخرجين [Quran 26:167] if you don’t stop O Lut, you will be of the people we kick you out. It’s exactly where she tells this child, we’re gonna kick you out of this country, you can’t be Canadian, you can’t be here, if you don’t believe exactly in our conception of morality.
This contravenes this concept of pluralism of diversity. They keep saying, we believe in diversity, but it seems like they only want a diversity of appearance, that we appear diverse, we have different skin colors, we wear different funny hats, that’s okay, but you can’t believe anything different. We can’t have a diversity of beliefs. We can’t even say that our conception of morality is different, and to us we say that kind of diversity is not for us. We have to be able to live our faith. We treat people as human beings. We don’t attack people physically. We don’t even insult them. But we have to be able to say what our faith is. All of us, I’m sure, have seen gay people before, even interacted with them, maybe had colleagues at work, and we can do that society where people do many things that are immoral. But you can’t force us to celebrate the actions that they do.
I will not ever march in a Pride Parade I will never wear a rainbow badge and I will never teach my children that this is healthier moral behavior.
Another point in the story of Lut is the example of his wife who was punished when she looks back in sympathy towards them. Why? because in her heart she thinks that they are moral and correct even though she never did the action that they did, but she believes that what they are doing is correct, and that prophet Lut and the revelation from Allah is incorrect. So Allah, Exalted be He, punished her, and this is a huge warning for the Muslim community, because many Muslims are following the path of the wife of Lut, peace be upon him, that they are sympathizing with people who are committing the sin, even changing the religion in order to support them. The wife of Lut, peace be upon, tells us, we cannot support sin. Her story tells us, we cannot support sin, we cannot ally in support of sin, and we cannot celebrate the act of sin. And it’s important for us because the wife of Lut comes from his own home, and this represented a very difficult test for prophet Lut peace be upon.
The most difficult test is what comes from inside of our homes. it’s important for us to own the conversation with our children, to talk to our children about this. We can’t close the door on this conversation, because then who is talking to your kids about these topics? It’s society, maybe they are teachers, maybe they are cousins, who are hearing things. We have to have the conversation with our kids. We have to tell them the story of prophet Lut, peace be upon him, in a way that they can understand, so that when they have questions about these topics related to sex and gender, they know they can come and talk to you, that you are not going to get angry and say, how dare you talk to me about this? No you gonna have a reason conversation with them, so that you can be the educator, not someone else.
And the third thing is that Allah, Exalted be He, in the Quran he swears in oath by many things. He swears in oath by the stars, by the moon, by the night, by the day, by time, but only once in the Quran does Allah swear in oath by the life of a human being, and it’s the life of our Prophet [Mohammad] peace and blessing be upon him, and he does so when he is speaking about the people of Lut, peace be upon him, لعمرك إنهم لفي سكرتهم يعمهون [Quran 15:72] Allah says, by your life, they are indeed in their blind intoxication, in intoxication wandering blindly, and that’s not speaking about intoxication of drinking alcohol, but they are intoxication of thought and of desires, overwhelming them. And that’s what society has become people who believe their God is their desires, their identity is their desires, who they are as their desires, and they are blinded by this.
And this is why the morality of this society is constantly changing, constantly shifting over and over what they are saying today. If you took it just ten years ago and said it in the mainstream, people would laugh at you, and in ten years it shifts so quickly. Fifty years ago they saw homosexuality as something that was immoral. Now they see it as something to celebrate, and we are likely to see things in the next ten, twenty years that will make what we think today seem irrelevant and minor. And that’s because there is an intoxication (سكرة), there is an intoxication when the person becomes overwhelmed by their desires.
And that’s why our religion is so so much of a guidance for us, and that it keeps us grounded. It doesn’t matter what is popular or unpopular in society. This religion keeps us grounded. This book that Allah said sent us [the Quran] keeps us grounded, keeps our morality grounded. We don’t shift and change. What we believe today to be moral the same that the first Muslims believed fourteen hundred years ago. May Allah, Exalted be He, keep us upon this religion, and not to be of those who are like the drunk person who is wandering blindly as Allah, Exalted be He, explains…