The Anglican Church & Homosexuality: A Frank Discussion
10-07-2008
In the recent division within the Anglican Church, several
Bishops expressed the view that homosexuality is “unnatural” because it does not
occur in other species. One may ask ‘are not human beings part of nature?’
What does nature have to do with anything anyway? Is it natural to wear clothes,
drive cars, use money or fire satellites into orbit? Other species don’t do that
either. Should we therefore refrain from space travel as our sons hamster has
not reached the moon?
Some species abandon their young as infants, some eat their own babies, some
have hundreds of mates and some canabilise their husbands. Are these “natural”
traits ones we should emulate?
Human beings are part of nature, so if human’s do it then its natural by
definition!
So cannibalism, paedophilia and incest are also part of nature. Equally racism,
Nazism and communism are part of human nature. Could we not go further and claim
that war, genocide and oppression are part of human nature.
What relevance does natural or unnatural have on the actions of man. Such
arguments have no rational extension.
Islam takes a different stance on sexuality. Islam sees the human being as a
human being and so treats our human problems in an exclusively human way. From
an Islamo-psychological perspective the human being has instincts, drives and
needs. Failing to satisfy our instincts and drives can lead to misery and so the
suppression of “human nature” is seen as oppressive.
Therefore, brilliant medieval Islamic scholars described human nature including
in it three core instincts: procreation, survival and sanctification. These
encompass all human drives. So it was Islam which, many years before the likes
of Freud and Jung, actually announced the liberating position on who we are and
said “it’s ok to be human.” So Muslims do not claim that homosexuality is
unnatural.
However, Islam just like any other way of life has a frame of reference. Most
Western countries have laws that prevent the sexual abuse of children, polyandry
and cannibalism. If it were argued that these crimes were really an expression
of human nature, most would reject them as completely inappropriate actions.
Islam, like many other spiritual traditions, argues that homosexuality is not
the right way to manifest the instinct of procreation. It is a behaviour that
negates the Islamic vision of society which is one of extended families
connected by marriage between men and women. Hence Islam has viewed the public
expression of homosexuality as a crime and as a result has placed a mechanism in
which to protect its vision for society.
This doesn’t mean that homosexuals are to be seen as anything other than human.
The Islamic tradition argues that one must be just and express sincere kindness
to all people. Homosexuality is just one of many sexual practices that do not
fit with the Islamic vision of society such as sex outside of marriage,
wife-swapping and swingers parties! Many Muslims have had their own internal
struggles with expressing their procreation instinct. With their conviction in
the Islamic way of life, they have successfully re-constructed their
dispositions to be in line with what they love, agree with and submit to -
Islam.
Some people object to Islam making the public expression of homosexuality a
criminal act. This is subjective and only strikes a chord amongst those who
cannot escape the social constructs in their own societies.
There are societies past and present which accepted paedophilia and canabilism
as normal parts of human life and they would find Western society oppressive
preventing them from carrying out these practices. Like-wise some societies may
view the legalisation of abortion and the enslavement of animals for human
purposes as barbaric too.
A persons judgement is based on his or her culture and societal norms and from
these norms there can be no universal rights and wrongs.
Islam does not change with the tide or the fashion of the day. It treats the
sons and daughters of Adam and Eve as human beings until the end of time. In the
United States and Denmark there is an association called NAMBLA whose goal is“…
to end the oppression of men and boys who have mutually consensual
relationships”, in other words to allow paedophilia. One wonders whether this
type of expression of the procreation instinct will one day be allowed as social
norms and our understanding of genetics and nature gradually change. Who draws
the line and where should it be drawn?
To end it must be pointed out that Islam strongly reprimands those who spy on
their neighbours, back-bite or falsely accuse people of crimes without evidence.
Islam is not concerned with spying on people’s private lives. To keep things in
context, those who believe in Islam will generally agree that there are bigger
fish to fry than a disagreement about homosexuality. At a time when billions of
Muslims and non-Muslims – human beings – are starving, destitute and ravaged
with curable diseases and are overlooked in the name of liberal democracy and
laissez faire economics, the focus must be on solving these important disasters
of our generation.
Submitted by a Mujahid