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Addressing LGBTQ Issues in Islam | Webinar
How can we address LGBTQ Issues as Muslims while remaining faithful? What is our Islamic ethical framework, and how do we offer the proper support needed to our community in an ever changing world?
Join Dr. Omar Suleiman, Sh. Mustafa Umar, Sh. Ubaydallah Evans, and Sr. Sarah Sultan for the discussion.
00:00 - 04:20 Introduction
04:21 - 06:59 10 undeniable Islamic rulings related to LGBTQ issues
07:00 - 15:50 10 questions to be addressed regarding LGBTQ and Islam
18:16 - 20:03 How to navigate a changing world as a Muslim
20:04 - 22:42 Differentiating actions from identity
22:43 - 24:40 Standing your ground as a Muslim with Prophetic mercy
24:41 - 26:50 Understanding current social issues
32:32 - 35:34 The urgency to address homosexuality and transgenderism in Muslim communities
35:35 - 40:52 Is revisionism possible in Islam when it comes to homosexuality?
40:53 - 46:41 How does an Imam help someone struggling with SSA (same-sex attraction) or gender dysphoria?
48:36 - 50:20 “I didn’t know if Allah would accept me”
51:30 - 55:30 How to overcome the discomfort of having different values
55:32 - 1:04:20 What to do as a Muslim struggling with SSA
1:04:20 Standing strong on a personal level with your convictions
1:07:10 - 1:09:22 Being uncompromising but compassionate
1:09:23 Du'a
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh everyone. Bismillah walhamdulillah wa salatu wassalamu ala rasulillah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. Rabbi ishrah li sadri wa yassir li amri wa ahlil uqdatan min nisani yafqahu qawli. Allahumma ameen. Alhamdulillah wa rabbal ameen. Welcome to the last webinar in our ethics series. Alhamdulillah I'm blessed to be joined today by Sheikh Rubaydullah, Sheikh Mustafa, Sister Sara, alhamdulillah. And this webinar, if you've been following along, has been planned for a few months now. We finished a webinar last year on postmodernism, which was a very beautiful webinar, alhamdulillah wa rabbal ameen. And then this year, if you tuned in last week to the webinar on ethics and humanity and why humanity needs Islam, which of course has been part of an ethics series that Dr. Uweymar Anjam has been putting together, alhamdulillah wa rabbal ameen. He's already released a couple of papers and he's been working within that ethics series. And as we're sort of tackling the entire theme of ethics in Islam in a comprehensive and holistic way, you know, one of the things that of course distinguishes us is that for us there is no ethics without divine revelation. There is no guidance or instruction without divine revelation. So you might have noticed the proofs of prophethood of the Prophet ﷺ, the series by Shaykh Muhammad al-Shinawi, which alhamdulillah we finished as a book now. That's part of our ethics series because we ground our entire understanding of the world in the guidance that was sent by the Lord of the worlds to the best of all creation, Muhammad ﷺ. So now we're coming to a very specific topic. And if you tuned in to Quran 30 for 30 in Ramadan with Shaykh Mustafa Omar, alhamdulillah wa rabbal ameen. He's been working on this and he still promises to publish his first set of papers inshaAllah ta'ala this year. I want you to hold him to it. If you didn't watch it in 30 for 30 and send him a really annoying email, then I want you to send him an email now and say, look, it's getting late.
Shaykh Mustafa, it was supposed to be done before June, man. It would have been great to have this before June, Shaykh. I love the pressure, man. InshaAllah. So now you don't have until next June, Shaykh. You got until like, let's say September. I got it. I got it. The text is clear. Your wording is clear. Hafiz Allah. So Shaykh Mustafa is working on some papers inshaAllah along with Dr. Ismail Asrar inshaAllah. And that will, of course, continue within the overall ethical framework that is being built out, you know, with the series of papers, alhamdulillah, which we hope to then turn into curriculum inshaAllah ta'ala with some of these specific areas and of course, still building out the overall framework. So there are a few major areas that we want to cover here inshaAllah ta'ala. One of them is, of course, what is Islam's unique ethical framework? And how do we as Muslims live with our own ethics in a society that becomes increasingly hostile towards them? So this past Friday in my khutba, for example, you know, I spoke about this idea of being uncompromising with the deen. I mentioned, of course, the incident with Idrissa Ghanagay, the Senegalese soccer player in France who has been, you know, mistreated and, you know, blasted for holding on to his deen. And I know that there are some other khatives that spoke almost entirely on the subject of LGBTQ. So Shaykh Mustafa Omar being one of them, I believe up in California as well, Mufti Farhan Zubairi. I know Dr. Tahir Wyatt gave a khutba on pride in Islam. So it was something that was addressed from the minbar in many different places around the country, alhamdulillah. I mean, this past Friday. So that's sort of number one, which is how do we build the ethical framework? And number two, from an ethical perspective, how do we specifically deal with the broad range of LGBTQ issues that are evolving and exposing our children to all sorts of questions at younger ages?
And I want to say from the start here that, you know, we're inshallah working on resources, but there are already really some amazing resources that have been published, alhamdulillah, I mean, in recent months, if you go to Muslim Matters, you know, mashallah, they put together a hub of resources on their website. That's really a good start, alhamdulillah. And I hope we can inshallah contribute to the growing conversation around this issue. So I'm going to start off with inshallah ta'ala, ten things to sort of put the hukum or make clear the hukum, the ruling on this issue inshallah ta'ala first, and then ten issues that I think we still need to address, which Sheikh Mustafa Omar is going to address all ten issues inshallah ta'ala in the webinar and in his paper. See, I keep messing with you now. Now I'm like, this is not okay, right? So I'll leave you alone inshallah. You're totally fine with me, don't worry about it. But inshallah, between the webinar and between the paper, of course, hopefully we'll be able to address these issues. So first and foremost inshallah ta'ala, let's start with the hukum, the ruling in Islam. And this is sort of the clear and unambiguous and something that no Islamic scholar or mainstream masjid or institution would deny. Number one, that in Islam, any sexual relationship outside of nikah between a man and a woman is haram. Number two, desires are not sinful, nor should people be identified or ostracized by desires. But instead, every Muslim is defined by Islam, which is submission to Allah with those desires. Number three, same sex actions are unequivocally haram. Number four, the one who acts upon those desires is sinful, but within the fold of Islam, so long as they don't justify those acts. Number five, the one who does not act upon them is actually rewarded by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for their mujahada, meaning they're striving. Number six, the one who denies its prohibition denies what is ma'loomin ad-deen bi-dharura.
I think we just released the lecture that I gave on ijma' and ma'loomin ad-deen bi-dharura, which means that which is known by the religion by necessity. So the one who denies its prohibition denies what is ma'loomin ad-deen bi-dharura, which takes one outside of the fold of Islam. Number seven, to celebrate or support what Allah has prohibited is a form of fusuq and cannot be done in the name of social cohesion or political mobility. Number eight, we have and always will condemn mistreatment and violence against people on the basis of orientation, lifestyle, or belief, but that condemnation should not be conflated with making halal what Allah has clearly made haram. Number nine, we should still be the best of neighbors and colleagues and show all people the beauty of the prophetic way with our character. Number ten, we should always anchor our understanding of any issue in the Qur'an, the sunnah, and the ijma' and our scholars of course use qiyas, use analogy when necessary to deal with any matter. Everyone's good with those ten. I assume inshaAllah ta'ala, I think you all disappeared from the screen, but I believe that inshaAllah ta'ala that's obviously just sort of a bare, I got a thumbs up, so a bare sort of, you know, minimum and just covering the hukum, the ruling. Now with that being said, there are various resources and approaches and questions that still need to be answered. And this is inshaAllah what we hope to touch upon in the webinar and of course answer in subsequent papers inshaAllah ta'ala and hopefully curriculum that follows. Number one, how do we properly support young Muslims with same-sex attraction pastorally as imams, counselors, and families while still opposing the political pressure? So we don't want to hurt young people in our congregations and condemn them to where they can't find a way to reconcile their feelings with their faith. So that's number one. Number two, how do we protect our masjids and Islamic schools legally from being penalized for merely practicing their faith? Number three, how do we express our dissent with our kids in schools that, you know, there's this hyper sexualization, right, where they're being sexualized as children?
And of course, this is not just with LGBTQ curriculum, but it's a problem we faced in general that is compounded with some of the more recent developments. So I think, you know, many Muslims would be uncomfortable with scantily clad women dancing provocatively or reading to our children. And of course, you know, with that we'd also have an issue with drag queens doing the same. And this definitely extends into the children's space outside of the school. You know, when we look at the movies that are now being played, the cartoons, the curriculum sort of that seems to be followed within the media space. And, you know, there was a really insightful talk that Sheikh Joe Bradford gave on pink capitalism at IKNA, which I found very profound, alhamdulillah. And he talked about this idea of expensive surgeries being the only way to happiness. Noor Kids also, by the way, just did a really beneficial program with Brother Mubeen Bhaid for parents in this regard. So that's number three. Number four, how do we have a unified Muslim organization response across institutions and imams that is clear and doesn't leave individuals more vulnerable than they already are in their workplaces or in the justice arena? You know, I think it was a few years ago that in the UK, the imams in the UK were able to come together and put a statement together in response to some of the curriculum there. Mashallah, really well articulated statements. And recently I just came back from Canada. In Canada, you also had imams that came together and put together a statement, alhamdulillah. Also, you know, really articulate. And both of these statements can sort of be leaned on in the future as well. And they give some sort of clarity and some sort of parameters. So I think we need some clarity in a unified and well articulated way from our imams and institutions. And these position statements are not going to be perfect, but inshallah ta'ala, you know, imams and institutions can put their differences aside and articulate thoughtful position statements on LGBTQ issues and more.
And I think we can all agree that it would be wonderful if we could draw from some of our senior scholars in the United States, Sheikh Salah Al-Sawi, Sheikh Ameen Khalwadi, other scholars that we can draw from that can help us sort of as students of knowledge, as imams, as institutions with that shari'i guidance. Number five, how do we protect activists who are trying to uplift causes of fighting oppression from falling into haram themselves by uplifting un-Islamic causes? Sheikh Dawood Walid, of course, you know, I think wrote probably the first book in this regard on sacred activism. And I quote him quite a bit in my own paper on a sunnah framework. And I also had a really nice discussion with him online called Sacred Boundaries. It was on Facebook and I think it was on YouTube as well that you could look up. And I know from experience how difficult this arena is. And I pray that Allah subhana wa ta'ala forgive me for the mistakes I've made in this regard. And I pray the same for everyone else who has erred in this arena. So how do we get sort of the activism downright? And I think that that's something that we can insha'Allah ta'ala start to build out with as well. Number six, how do we deal with young people who want to go into politics and make positive change, but will be asked to sponsor what goes against their conscience? Obviously, at different layers of government, you have to participate in some of these objectionable areas sometimes. And how do we give young people those boundaries and those parameters and that guidance insha'Allah ta'ala? Number seven, how do we then deal with Muslim politicians that we support in some ways, but we oppose when they veer into celebrating or uplifting haram? I think we can all agree that it's much less complicated when it's non-Muslim politicians that we conditionally support or support in specific limited capacities like other politicians, right? When they're doing something good or they're being targeted for their support for Palestine, which is very common. But it becomes understandably confusing to the community when it's a Muslim politician that's in a parade or that's sponsoring legislation
that seems to go against the deen and that forces us to have some pretty difficult conversations with our youth. Number eight, how do we give young Muslims that aren't personally struggling with their identity, but are struggling with how to deal with their friends and environments that are interrogating them or making them feel inadequate because of their convictions? So this is also a part of this. Number nine, how do we start to tackle some of the deeper philosophical questions and framings? Just like many secular liberal underpinnings from the left are not going to be consistent with our faith foundations, many of the social commentators from the right are not going to fit our Islamic ethos. And if I'm a Muslim, I don't want to be Bill Maher. I don't want to be Ben Shapiro. I didn't watch the documentary yet, the Matt Walsh documentary. But I'm sure while many Muslims would feel like he's making some good points, they don't want to be Matt Walsh at the same time. We just want the Quran and the Sunnah, right? We want what's built upon the Quran and the Sunnah. And sometimes it'll agree at the outcome level with people on the right or the left, but we need our own authentic framing, something that's beautiful, that's consistent, that's comprehensive, that makes sense. And one of the people, by the way, I know who does this profoundly, mashallah, beyond some of the authors we've already mentioned, and Sheikh Mustafa here is Dr. Sharifah Tubri from Brandeis, mashallah, it's about a delight. He's a gifted brother, alhamdulillah, who's, I've enjoyed every one of his presentations, where he really just talks about the Islamic worldview in this beautiful, comprehensive way. And you can find some of his work online, biddenillahi ta'ala. Lastly, how do we work with other religious groups on these issues? And this does not suggest that we should only work with minority faith groups, because obviously there are people of faith across the spectrum that find themselves sort of in this conundrum of, you know, being people of faith, but at the same time trying to be people for the community. But I think it's especially true with minority faith communities. Some of those from the AME Church, the Black Church in general, and of course, specifically the AME Church, you know, I know many friends from there that have expressed,
you know, they feel stuck, a lot of, you know, Latino Catholics, Orthodox Jews, even Mormons, alhamdulillah, who don't, they don't fit neatly into the culture war and the right-left schism in America. And you start to see these subgroups and these sub approaches that are forming amongst them, you know, that still believe in traditional forms of marriage, but at the same time, they might still change their views. And for those that are stuck in between and that are frustrated, how do we work with them while also not, you know, adopting some of the problems with those subgroups and with those sub-framings? You know, like I was reading about like different, they got A-side Christians, B-side Christians and messy grace, but a lot of them anchor sort of this shift in identity, which is deeply problematic to us as Muslims, inshallah, Ta'ala will talk about here. So how do we work with other religious groups, but at the same time, you know, continue to insist that, look, we have ijma' in our community, we have a tradition that is unable to be superimposed upon with some of the other internal religious disagreements that are happening. And this is sort of scripture and faith for us, and we're looking for a way forward with the night, Ta'ala. So that was a long introduction, I apologize, it didn't seem that long when I wrote it out. And I apologize to all of the guests that are here. But, you know, in any case, I think we can all agree that, look, we need to have conversations for the sake of our community. We need these conversations and they need to be conversations that are uncompromising, forthright, but at the same time, you know, speak to the rahmah of the Prophet ﷺ and what he has taught us of mercy and compassion and clarity. And we need to be able to articulate an Islamic position on the many issues that were just brought up, bismillah, which I hope we'll be able to do. And I'm not suggesting that we're going to solve this with one webinar or one paper, though Shaykh Mustafa, if your one paper solves all of these problems for the Muslim community, alhamdulillah, no pressure again.
But, you know, at the same time, I pray that, you know, this is the start of a conversation, inshaAllah, or joining again where other blessed brothers and sisters have already started a conversation in the night time. So with that being said, we've got our three guests today that all have unique vantage points, inshaAllah ta'ala. And I'm going to start with Shaykh Obeidullah Evans. Shaykh Obeidullah is a resident scholar at Alam in Chicago, and alhamdulillah, a beautiful, wonderful friend I got to reconnect with recently, alhamdulillah, at Muftah after COVID, the long, you know, estrangement of the pandemic. But, you know, Shaykh Obeidullah is someone I've known for, alhamdulillah, I know at this point over a decade because we played basketball together in Valley Ranch in 2011 or 12. So alhamdulillah. And Shaykh Obeidullah, and you know, you said keep it light on the introduction. For the sake of the audience, you know, and this is something that I admire is that I have rarely found anyone who just loves Islam more than Shaykh Obeidullah, who I can just tell loves the deen, inshaAllah, may Allah make you to that. This is your version of keeping it light? This is keeping it light, man. You know, this is keeping it light. I could go further, but you're like the king of Mujamilah, so you got to accept it. But may Allah bless you, you know, your love for, your passion for the deen, your love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, your love of the Prophet ﷺ. I pray that's true of you and more. But your love of the deen and this idea of like, look, we have nothing to be ashamed about. We have nothing to be worried about. And that was a talk that you gave to our community about a decade ago, which greatly resonated, alhamdulillah. So I guess my question to you, you are a person who had embraced Islam and, you know, put, you know, Islam before everything else. And you speak about this idea of our identity being anchored in Islam, right? We're coming into the Dhul Hijjah, Ibrahim alayhi salam, the ultimate Muslim in that regard, right?
And at the same time, you know, you studied at Al-Azhar University, you live in Chicago, you talk about usool and you talk about a changing world. So how do you come at the subject of ethics and the subject of LGBTQ+, specifically, as a scholar and as someone that has experienced these two worlds in that regard? Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. First, I would like to thank Sheikh Omar, Sheikh Mustafa, Sheikh Sara for giving me an opportunity to speak to such an important issue. You know, as a point of departure for my remarks, I chose the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, بَدَى الْإِسْلَامُ غَرِيبًا وَسَيَعُودُ غَرِيبًا كَمَا بَدَأَ فَتُوبَ لِلْغُرَبَةِ قال النبي ﷺ, that Islam began as something strange and that it will certainly return to being something strange the way that it began. So blessed are the strangers. This entails this embracing this غربة, embracing the strangeness, entails that when we speak to people of our ethics, when we speak to people in our moral language, we take consolation in the fact that they might not understand us and this is prophecy. You know, we have a worldview that is based on submission, submission to God, Islam first. And many people in the postmodern context see that the honor, the dignity of the human being is in being an unencumbered chooser. So these are different moral languages. So we understand that we might not be understood. However, we still seek to understand our neighbors. We are followers of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
He was الإنسان الكامل, the complete human being, and nothing human should be alien to us. You know, when Allah تعالى talks about humanity and how we relate to our place, to our situatedness here, He says وَاستَعْمَرُكُمْ فِيهَا and we situated you in the earth, which means that we shouldn't at all feel alien to you. Alienated by what's taking place around us. And so I wanted to offer a few explanations, a few, you know, explorations of what's taking place around us in hope to bring some balance to what we see in the contemporary discourse. When Muslims talk about, for instance, human sexuality, we're not talking about something that is a part of the hardware of the human being. We're talking about something that is a part of the software of the human being. We're talking about discretionary moral actions. And it occurred to me some time ago when addressing a young brother in the community, Hafidhahullah, who was experiencing some same-sex attraction, that I was talking about his actions, saying, you know, giving the standard Islamic position on those actions, and even telling him that, you know, there is reward as Shaykh Omar beautifully opened the program with reward in the Mujahidah, reward in the struggle. But none of this really resonated with him because he wasn't asking me about his actions. He was asking me not, am I contemplating my own actions, contemplating doing something haram? He was asking, am I haram? And I sat with that and I said, subhanAllah,
if someone told me that having dark skin was disliked by my Lord or impermissible in my faith, the dissonance of carrying what is an essential characteristic of who I am with the knowledge that it is disliked by my creator, it probably would have torn me in half. So what I thought was most important in the case of this young man was trying to convince him that we're talking about your actions in terms of who you are, your core identity, you are a servant of God, you were created to worship. Everything else, these are actions. When our actions are good, we praise Allah. If our actions are bad, we repent to Him. And I think, I hope certainly, but I think through that line of discussion, he was able to gain some solace because, okay, we're talking about my actions and the struggle that I have to engage in to bring my action into conformity with what God wants. We're not talking about whether or not I am haram. That's the first thing. The second thing that I wanted to address in these issues, and I think I can speak to this as a convert to Islam, becoming Muslim entailed embracing what at that time was a religion my family regarded as strange, my friends regarded as strange. Many of our neighbors thought that I had lost my mind. Some people thought, oh, he's going through some, this might be a psychotic break. All because as a young man at the age of 16 or 17, I decided that I wanted to practice Islam and I wanted to worship Allah.
And to any Muslim attempting to articulate the position of Islam vis-a-vis many of these hot button contemporary issues that finds that people deem them inadequate or people blame them or people castigate them or people ostracize them. I'm just offering you what I hope are words of encouragement to stay strong, stay committed and articulate your positions, but do them with prophetic grace and prophetic mercy. That this is the position of my religion. And it does not entail okaying the mistreatment of any other person. It does not entail okaying the dehumanizing of any other person, but this is my religion. And we have a legacy as Muslims of holding our religious truths and principles in pluralistic societies without being chauvinistic, without being intolerant of anyone else. And lastly, I want to offer this just as way of some social commentary about many of these issues that we're discussing in the contemporary context. When you observe society, where society is, is always a reaction to, or sometimes a continuation of where society has been. And in the US, discrimination has been a big problem. Racism has been a big problem. These are some of the, I would even turn them cardinal sins of our nation. And so now the pendulum is swinging. We've recognized the,
the immorality of much of that earlier discrimination, much of that earlier racism. And so now the pendulum is swinging and we're coming to a place of almost uncategorical embrace of everything. And it reminded me of the statement of Sidi Ahmed Zarouk that every extreme of the society is followed by its opposite. That if a person was extreme in their condemnation of people for things that people shouldn't be condemned for, if a person was extreme in their discrimination against people for things that people should not be discriminated against for, then maybe the extreme now is that we can't say anything about anybody's moral choices. This is where, this is kind of where we've arrived to now. And the thing about our religion is that we are the faith of the middle course. We don't think that anyone should be mistreated as Sheikh Omar said, on the basis of their orientation, lifestyle, creed, belief, et cetera. But we don't think that saying the truth about moral choices entails mistreatment of anybody. And we don't think that saying the truth about moral choices entails mistreatment of anybody. And we don't feel perhaps this overriding guilt that we need to atone for, for having done that to people, because that isn't our story. And I'll just speak, the last thing I'll say about this, just personally, is, as someone that grew up in the African-American community, people that were gender non-conformant, people that practiced homosexual acts,
this was, I'll even go as far as to say, a regular feature of my childhood. There were people like that, that we went to school with, family members, friends of the family, and we always understood them to not be expressing the highest values of our Christian faith at that time. It did not mean that we mistreated them. We certainly did not insult them. We did not, we didn't physically accost them. So the idea that I would feel the need now to go against the clear principles of my religion in celebrating something that God has clearly deemed morally unacceptable, I don't feel, I don't feel the need to do that because I don't have an experience of ever having mistreated anybody like that. I feel as though I'm very comfortable stating the principles and then reinforcing my commitment to, you know, the fair and kind treatment of all people. And Allah knows best. JazakAllah khair, Sh. F. Abdullah. Beautiful reflections, Alhamdulillah. I think, you know, we, as we're basing everything from the Quran and the Sunnah, obviously we start from this position of lakum deenukum wal yadeen, right? That even when there are two things that are so inconsistent with one another as belief systems, right? As creeds, lakum deenukum wal yadeen. You have your religion, I have my religion. You have your way, I have mine. Now, just like with da'wah, that doesn't mean that we're not going to challenge. And I think that's also where, you know, I got some pushback in a personal conversation and I actually appreciated the pushback. You know, very recently I was talking to a brother. I said, well, look, we don't support, we don't support. He said, okay, but can you also say we oppose? Can you also say we disagree? Are you allowed to actually challenge? Are you allowed to express your dissent? Like in a civil way, isn't that also part
of the American promise? Not just that you won't be oppressed or wronged for holding your ways, but also that you're able to challenge. So just like with da'wah, you know, we can have good relationships with people and still challenge creed. We can still challenge, you know, moralities and world views and things of that sort. So, JazakAllah khair, Sheikh Rubai'Allah. Beautiful reflections. I'm going to go to Sheikh Mustafa. You've got 60 minutes, Sheikh. 60 minutes to get it all done. You got to answer all those questions and Mashallah you're a hafidh, so you memorized all of them, right? I'm like afraid to come to California now and see you, Sheikh, he's going to like hurt me for all this stuff. But Sheikh Mustafa Omar is of course, you know, recently joined the Qeem Hamdulillah. He's a former president of the California Islamic University, the religious director at the Islamic Center of Irvine, not Irving, a lot of people mix the two, Irvine. And he's also an executive member of the fifth council of North America. So you kind of speak from a broad range, right? You sit on a fiqh board council, you know, you're a grassroots person, you're an Imam, but you're also in my mind, you know, when I think back, I'm like, this is the guy that's been talking about this the longest amount of time. Like you've been speaking about this issue and the importance of Muslims sort of getting ahead and not lagging behind and addressing this in a holistic way, in a prophetic way so that we don't simply wait for others to address it and then try to latch on to like someone else's talking points or someone else's faith crisis or someone else's worldview and try to put some Quran and Hadith on it. Like I remember you, Shaykh Mustafa, giving khutbas about this before YouTube. It was a long time ago, man. Like a lot of people that are watching this, don't even remember, like khutbas without YouTube? Was that a thing, khutbas before YouTube? So my question to you, Shaykh Mustafa, as you talk about this, I have a few questions, right? But I'll try to merge them into one.
And I'm trying to build off of what Shaykh Rubaiullah just mentioned here. Is revisionism possible? And we've already answered that the, that's not really possible in Islam with the Quran, the Sunnah, the Jumu'ah. But can you speak to the attempt to revise, right? And the attempt to just say, well, look, let's just reinterpret the verses. And not only is it possible or not, which is what I'm asking you, but also have you as an imam, and I think that's also the point, the position that you've been able to usher, is like you work with people. And those of us that work in communities, we see people at different levels. And I think all four of us deal with people, like real people, parents, children, communities, the legal, the social, the political, we're constantly dealing with people. So as an imam, have you felt like the only way to help someone is to revise? So I guess the first question is revision necessary? The second question, or the second, the first question is, is revision possible? The second question is revision necessary to you as an imam to be able to actually help people in our community that are striving? Sure, great questions. Jazakumullah khairan. Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salatu wassalamu ala rasulillah. So just the first, I'll address both of these points, but this idea of the urgency and the need to speak about these issues, it was really difficult for me talking about these issues, because my first khutbah on this topic, I think was probably around 2008. And people thought it was really strange. They're like, why are you even addressing this in a khutbah, in a lecture? And then I said, okay, let me give it a little bit of time. So then I gave another khutbah about it in 2012, and the same issue. People are like, what kind of khutbah was that? That was just strange. Why are you talking about this? Like, we don't need to address this. And it's funny, like one of my friends, a few years later, he was a former DJ. He's like, let's turn this lecture into the first audio CD. I don't know if people use CDs anymore, probably not.
But let's turn this into an audio CD. So he mastered it, and he did some editing and all that. This was like the first and only lecture that I've ever had on a CD. And we replicated it, and we tried to sell it inside the masjid lobby, to raise some funds for the masjid. And people were not buying it. And I was just like, okay, maybe some people just don't like the way that I speak. So I checked with them. I said, you know, you just don't like my speaking style. That's okay. They're like, no, no, you should have done any other topic. We'd be interested in buying a CD from you. But on this topic, Muslims don't, this is not relevant to us. So I was just like, okay, this is, I guess people are still not interested in this topic from the community. And then I think it was around like 2017, I was attending the AMJA conference. This is the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America. And there's like about 200 imams present. I believe you were there at that one as well. And I brought up the idea of, let's address homosexuality, and let's address transgenderism as well. And most of the people, they just laughed in the audience. They're like, you actually want that to be a topic that we talk about in detail? And these are imams, these are scholars. And I remember a few of them, they came and said, you know, that might be some issue you guys have in California over there. But you know, we don't need to deal with that. You know, and the only reason why I bring this up is it's essential that Muslim thinkers and intellectuals and imams and scholars, and even the general public, they should always understand the context in which we live, right? We can't be late to the game on topics like this. Topics like, you know, cryptocurrency, new abortion methods, cloning, lab-grown meat, you know, all of these things. And what we're talking about today, addressing sexuality as a spectrum, addressing gender relativity, right? We need to be on top of these topics. So at the same time, we gotta be proud of our religion, but we gotta understand that it's our responsibility
to be researching new issues properly. And we need to discuss old issues with the proper nuance and framework that's needed for people in our day, in our time, with the current challenges that we have to understand it correctly, to understand it properly. So let me move to this idea of revisionism that you mentioned. So basically, revisionism is kind of like the idea of trying to reinterpret what Islam said and the way that it's been understood for a long time. And when it comes to homosexuality, the foundation of what Islam teaches about homosexuality is in the story of Prophet Lut, or Prophet Lot. It's mentioned several times over several verses, over a hundred verses, Prophet Lut, his story is mentioned in different places, in different surahs. Now, if you read the text, it's crystal clear that he's openly criticizing his people for engaging in same-sex acts, or what we call today homosexuality, right? But there's some people, they want the Quran to say something that it doesn't actually say. So this new theory emerged at some point in time. And quite a few Jewish and Christian groups, they have accepted this theory, and they try to explain the story of Prophet Lut, or Prophet Lot, in this new way. And part of the reason why it's happening is because there's this secular, liberal idea that love is love. As long as your relationship is consensual, there can't be anything wrong with it. You're not hurting anyone else, so it can't be wrong in any moral sense. So some Muslims jumped on the bandwagon, and they're like, yeah, that's what we're looking for. We're looking for that same kind of theory. And the theory is this. They're saying that the people of Prophet Lut were engaging in non-consensual relations, meaning they were engaging in rape. And that's what Lut was criticizing. He was criticizing the fact that there was no proper consent.
Now, there's a few problems with this theory, right? There's significant problems. Number one, it defies the clear wording that Prophet Lut used in the Quran, that the Quran is mentioning. It says, innakum lata'toonarrijala shahwatan min dooninnisaa Lut said, he said, you desire men instead of women? You know, why would he mention that? Why would he mention specifically desiring men rather than women? Rape is evil, regardless of the gender. It doesn't matter who you're forcing yourself onto, right? This is problem number one. Number two is Lut called it fahsha. He used this word, which means something that's shameful, something that's wrong, something that's immoral. And the third thing is he said that no one else as a community has ever done this before on this massive scale. Maybe there was a few individual cases or something in history, but as a community, as a city, to have this normalized is something that had never been done before. And he said, do you commit this shameful deed that no one has ever done before as a community? Right, so if you just ask these questions, you read it and you say, could he really have been referring to rape or this idea of forcing yourself on someone else? It's very clear that you cannot twist the Quran to that level. If you do, you're being disingenuous. Now, the other problem is that there's something called consensus or called ijma' and Sheikh Omar mentioned it, you mentioned it just a little while ago. Ijma' or consensus is like peer review in any academic setting, but it's peer review by people, specialists in the field, but it's gotta be unanimous peer review and unanimous peer review over 1400 years, since the Quran was revealed. So we look at it from that perspective, every single scholar in history understood
that these verses were referring to consensual same acts. They were not referring to some type of forced same sex acts that's taking place. So this idea of ijma' or consensus, what it does, it helps us to identify, is there any gray area in this verse? You know, can there be some different opinion? Can I reinterpret it? Can I look at it in some different way? Even the slightest shade of ambiguity or some gray area in an Islamic text, can I somehow modify it a little bit to understand it in a different fashion than people have understood it before? It's like alcohol. Alcohol is forbidden in Islam. The texts are clear cut. Pork is forbidden in Islam. The texts are clear cut. Gambling is forbidden in Islam in the Quran is clear cut. So if you look at it, there's ijma', there's consensus from Muslim scholars who've been saying that, you know what, these texts are not open to reinterpretation. There's no way to do that while being sincere with the words of Allah, with the words of God. Like five prayers, you know, the prayers are mentioned, fasting the whole month of Ramadan rather than half of it or something like that. All of these things are clear cut, and there's unanimous consensus among scholars throughout time. So maybe some individual Muslims, they want the Quran to say something that it doesn't say, usually because of some preconceived notion that's already there or some desire that they have in their hearts to do something. But the forbidden remains forbidden. The haram remains haram and the clear text remains clear. And Allah is going to judge each and every single one of us. Now, as to your question about how we deal with these cases, as an imam, I get dozens of cases of people who talk to me about the same sex attraction that they have and a few cases of gender dysphoria that people have had as well. And the more I hear stories like people, these are people who are practicing, these are people who are praying,
these are people who are struggling, the more I feel compassion. Some people, they're praying an hour of tahajjud prayers every single night. So I mean, the more you hear these stories, if you're a person who cares about others, you can't help but feel compassion. People struggle with drug addiction. People struggle with porn addiction, which is like a type of drug addiction, actually. People resist temptations at school, temptations at work, and it's really tough. It's really difficult. But it's doable, right? It's tough, but it's doable. And what people need to hear is they need to hear the right framework. They need to have the right mentality. And, you know, let me just present, you know, just two cases. One of the most interesting cases that I had was a girl named Kelly. I was giving this Islam 101 presentation at one of the university campuses, and she was present in the audience. And she was there with her girlfriend. And they're holding hands. And I'm thinking in my mind, you know, are they not? Is this like a lesbian couple? I'm not sure what's going on. You know, it's oftentimes there's LGBT groups. They go and they openly support Muslims on college campuses. You know, they protest against Islamophobia, and they're usually very supportive of, you know, Muslim causes. And that's due to this theory of intersectionality, where they say all minorities should support each other because we need to support each other against this power structure, regardless of whatever they're promoting. So anyways, she might have been there with her girlfriend for political reasons, you know, just to support the Muslims, because she happened to be, you know, she happened to be gay. And I remember while I was giving this presentation, you know, after I confirmed later on that, you know, this was a lesbian couple that was there in the audience,
I was thinking like, I don't know if, you know, when someone's gone that far, I don't know how genuinely interested they'd be in Islam. You know, these thoughts come to your mind. Sometimes you should always keep an open mind. But anyways, long story short, a few months later, she kept on reading about Islam. She kept on learning. She watched a few videos, post YouTube era, and she converted. She accepted Islam. She took her shahada. And not only that, she started doing everything. She started wearing hijab, you know, the head scarf and the cover and dressing properly, modestly. She kept up her prayers. She was doing everything. And she said later on, she's like, you know what? Wearing hijab was easy. Giving up pork was easy. The prayers, everything else, fasting, all of that was easy. She said the most difficult test I've ever faced in my life was to stop acting on those same sex desires. But she said, I did it for Allah because she read the verse. She said, I read that verse where it says Allah will never test you with more than you can handle. So she's like, I believed in that promise and I knew I could do it and I did it. You know, and her story is something that was very motivating, you know, for me, even on a personal level. It's something that I always remember. I'm like, if someone can deal with that, right, then we can deal with many of the other challenges that we face. Right. And it's something that most Muslims, they know in theory. But when you go through it in practice, it's a whole nother thing. So, you know, there was another brother I met. His name was Ibrahim. And, you know, he was actually he never felt opposite sex attraction in his life. And, you know, a lot of people, they have past traumas. They need to accept themselves. They need to heal from other things that are going on. Once they start feeling more confident in their masculinity or in their femininity, they start to develop opposite sex attraction after they're dealing with some of the other things they're going through. And brother Ibrahim was was one of those people.
It may not be the case for everyone, but people have different tests and they're going to have different rewards in the next life, especially when they're, you know, correct on their faith and they're doing what they should be doing and they're doing what is pleasing to Allah. So, you know, it really saddens me that a lot of people are struggling and they have so few resources to actually get help. And some people don't even believe that there could possibly be any help. And that's why I just really want to mention this brother Waheed Jensen. He's got this amazing podcast, which I recommend to people. It's called A Way Beyond the Rainbow and he's got like about 80 episodes or something like that. You know, I have like four interviews in there and he really explains, hey, if someone is dealing with same sex attraction or even maybe gender dysphoria, what should they do? How should they deal with it? Someone has a family member or a friend or something like that, they should listen to these episodes and try to understand what Waheed himself has same sex attraction. So when he speaks, he's speaking as someone who's dealing with the issue and he's dealt with it in an Islamic framework. And the people who are struggling with it as well, they need a support group. There's this awesome website that he's also part of. It's called StraightStruggle.com and it's like a worldwide community of people who want to follow Islamic teachings and how to deal with these desires rather than going with the this is what defines me identity route. So I think this is a great resource for people and one of the few resources for people that can actually help them a lot. Jazakallah khair, Sheikh Mustafa. I think there are a few things that you brought up, obviously, for the sake of time, I can't go into each one of them, but maybe as a segue into Sister Sara's part, there are a few things that you mentioned that I think are important. One of them is this idea of revisionism being the only route and that this is the only way to deal with the topic.
And that this kind of becomes a precursor for dealing with the Muslim community in a certain way and Muslims being accepted in a certain way. I think we're going to live with a reality where you're going to have people that say, I'm Muslim and I don't believe this to be the case anymore. And you're going to have masjids that are going to form as a result of that. You're going to have institutions now, probably relatively small for now and will grow over time. But I think one thing that I would posit back is one of our complaints as a Muslim community is we've been tokenized so frequently. Right. You don't want to actually listen to the Muslim community. You want the convenient Muslim checkbox because it's a nice tool against Donald Trump right now. Right. It's a nice tool against the right wing right now. As Muslims, we don't require people to believe in our worldview in order to treat them with dignity. And we're serving the homeless and doing khidmah to society. And we're talking about major issues in America that sort of cut across all classes and cut across all divides. Like as Muslims, we're coming to the table sincerely in that regard, but also with our da'wah and also with our principles. And so if someone then says, well, I'm just going to engage with the Muslim that is going to give me everything that's more convenient to my post or to my checkbox, then you have to actually say back to that person, are you really sincere then and you're engaging with the Muslim community? So I think that's number one. The second thing here on a pastoral level, subhanAllah, I don't want to take from too much of the time of sister Sada, but I've had many of those experiences myself, where it's like you're saying to someone, look, you're not like this broken human being. You're not a messed up person. You're not a, you're not a, you know, some sort of animal. And I think that's where like we really have to get this right. And it's easy to tweet stuff, but it's another thing when you're having a one on one conversation. I remember subhanAllah, sister came to Umrah with me and I didn't know, you know, that she actually was living with her partner at the time. And for her, this Umrah that she was taking was a step towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And it was sort of towards the end, we did office hours for Umrah group. So we kind of let everyone come and ask questions. And she said, you know, I was embarrassed to tell you this, but you'd asked about why it took me so long to do tawaf and you probably made assumptions, right? That she wasn't in tahara so she couldn't do tawaf. But she was like, I didn't know if Allah would accept me. I didn't know if Allah would accept me. Wallahi, it was, it was like I get very emotional thinking about it because I remember what that the look in her in her eyes, like I didn't know if Allah would accept me. And I told her, I said, sister, this is the place of Ibrahim alayhi salam. This is the place of sacrifice and you're coming to Allah as a ta'iba, as someone who's repenting, as someone who's turning to Allah like everyone else. We are identified by Islam. We're identified by Islam. You have your unique struggle, but we're identified by Islam, right? And huwa jtabaakum wa sammaakum wa muslimeen. We're people of Islam. And so long as you're coming to Allah with that, like you don't need to feel this way. And subhanAllah, you know, she, she, she reached out sometime after alhamdulillah had made that turn in her lifestyle, had, had become, you know, someone who, while, while not like, you know, someone that was able to, to actually get married, practices celibacy, but really loves her Islam. And that was something that was very profound to me. So I think we all have multiple stories like that. And that's part of the on the ground interaction. So with that being said, sister Sara, you're our last speaker, but definitely not least. And I think you can bring it all together being a therapist and a licensed counselor for over 10 years, right? Someone that has taught Islamic studies, taught in therapy and counseling and deals with the community at a very, very different level and a very involved level. How do we deal with the discomfort we have with this discussion? Different stakeholders, different people. How do we deal with the discomfort that we have in discussing this properly with our Islamic ethos and framework guiding the way? JazakAllah khayran. Bismillah wa salat wa salam wa rasool Allah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala.
JazakAllah khayran to all three of you for the beautiful points that you've shared. There are several key things that I want to get across that builds upon what our shiites have shared and then also emphasizes the personal human side of this issue. Based on my experience in working with Muslims who struggle with same sex attraction in therapy and also within the framework of what is Islamically permissible and our Islamic value system. So, you know, to reiterate the point that we have been talking about is the idea, and this is why it's so uncomfortable for us to talk about this issue. Sexuality is naturally an issue that's very personal, which increases the discomfort in talking about it, but also in realizing that the normalization of something doesn't equate the correctness of that standard because the standards of people are constantly changing. And so we as Muslims hold on to the one standard that actually is constant, which is the standard of Allah Subhana wa ta'ala. And so, you know, the idea of like the beautiful hadith that was quoted about Islam being something strange and becoming something strange again. So give glad tidings to the strangers. Right now, for those of us who don't agree with the normalization of certain lifestyle choices, we feel like strangers. And that's very uncomfortable. And going with the flow is not necessarily the right thing. You know, we see in the Quran when Allah Subhana wa ta'ala talks about the majority of people versus the few. Right. We look at when Allah Subhana wa ta'ala talks about most people in the Quran, he says, and however, most people do not know and most people do not show gratitude and most people do not believe. But when he talks about the few, Allah Subhana wa ta'ala says about them, And few of my servants are grateful, but none had believed with him except a few.
In the gardens of bliss, a large company of former people and a few of the later people. Right. So this idea of being a stranger is not a bad thing after all. Holding on to a view that might be unpopular is not a negative thing as long as this is the view that's most pleasing to Allah Subhana wa ta'ala. And just because we disagree with something that the majority of people advocate for, it doesn't mean that we're wrong. It doesn't mean that we're hateful for sure. It just means that our standards and our values might be different than other people's standards and values. And being able to coexist with people who have different values, different standards, different opinions, that's part and parcel of being human. Right. And so psychologically, when I'm thinking about the discomfort that we feel, right, of even though we know that there is good in the command of Allah Subhana wa ta'ala, in the standard of Allah Subhana wa ta'ala, sometimes that doesn't always feel good. Sometimes that can be very hard. So how do we deal with the discomfort of having different values, especially when these values are seen in a negative light? And Allah Subhana wa ta'ala speaks so beautifully on this in Surah Al-Baqarah, where he describes a group of people as those who would dedicate their lives to Allah's pleasure. And Allah is ever gracious to his servants. And he tells us, oh, believers, enter into Islam wholeheartedly and do not follow in Shaitaan's footsteps. Surely, he is your sworn enemy. Right. So we see Allah Subhana wa ta'ala describing this group of people as those who submit, as those who put Allah and his standard before themselves and their own desires. But one of the things that I think is so helpful whenever we are trying to sit with the discomfort of obeying Allah Subhana wa ta'ala, despite things around us and people around us and different standards around us that might make that challenging,
is to realize that when we prioritize Allah, when we put Allah before ourselves, we are in fact choosing ourselves to. That worshipping Allah Subhana wa ta'ala allows us to prioritize our ultimate purpose and who we truly are at our core. It's not a favor to Allah Subhana wa ta'ala, it's a favor to ourselves, even if it doesn't always feel that way. Realizing that our feelings and our emotions are transient and they fluctuate, but the reward of Allah Subhana wa ta'ala is permanent. And so when we keep that in mind, it can really help us to sit with some of that discomfort. And I want to also talk about some of our brothers and sisters who are struggling with same sex attraction. And I want to just mention a few points that I think are important when considering this, because this is a very, very difficult test. It's an incredibly difficult test. And we've heard our speakers talk about that. And I know in my work with my clients, seeing the pain and the struggle and the sacrifice that comes with that, it really, you know, SubhanAllah, there's so much empathy and so much admiration that I have for the people who I have worked with who are struggling with this and choosing not to act upon it. It is an incredible test. And so I want to mention a few points geared toward my brothers and sisters who are struggling with this. The first being that it's important for all of us to realize that sexual attraction in a lot of us can fluctuate. And there are so many factors that can impact who we are attracted to. And we see this now even more, we see this amplified also in our youth, where with our youth, it's a time of physical, emotional, hormonal changes. The issues with pornography, hypersexualization of our society have all contributed to this.
But the reason why I'm bringing this up, the fluctuation that can sometimes come, is that when someone, let's say a girl, an adolescent, notices another girl and finds herself attracted to her, that doesn't mean that that is going to dictate her entire life trajectory. But socially now, we're taught that once you experience these thoughts, you're immediately supposed to identify based on a particular label as a lesbian. But that's not necessarily true. And for those who struggle with this, being able to accept that the thoughts are there, reiterating to yourself, you know, I might be attracted to her, but I'm more intent on pleasing Allah ﷻ, so I choose not to do anything about that attraction. Not pushing the thoughts away, right? Because pushing thoughts away as if they don't exist, as if they're shameful, which they are not. Which they are not. These are naturally occurring thoughts. But the more that we push them away, the more power we give them. But accept them as a passing thought. That's not necessarily a huge deal. That don't dictate who you are. And in a lot of circumstances, may not even dictate your sexuality. Like I think about how the companions of Rasul ﷺ came to him, and they shared that they were having really, really negative thoughts, like kind of blasphemous thoughts about Allah ﷻ, right? They said that we struggle with these thoughts that we find in ourselves that are too terrible to speak of. And the Prophet ﷺ asked them, are you really suffering from that? And they said yes. And he responded that that is a sign of clear faith. That refusing to allow yourself to turn that whisper, to turn those passing thoughts into action, is a sign of clear faith. So if that's the case when a Muslim has really negative thoughts about Allah, that doesn't mean that they're no longer Muslim.
That doesn't take them out of the fold of Islam. You are who you choose to be. Your thoughts don't dictate who you are, and that's a prime example of this as well. And then also realizing that Islam differentiates and separates between the desire to sin and the sin itself. In every realm of life, Islam recognizes that we as Muslims, as normal human beings, have the desire to commit sins. That the premise of the concept of this inner battle that we have between a good inclination and a bad inclination, between short-term gratification and long-term gratification, this is something that is part and parcel of being human. And that if the thought itself was haram, Allah ﷻ would have told us that, but it's not. And so Allah ﷻ tells us, وَهَدَيْنَاهُنَّجْدَيْنَ that He has shown us the two ways. That when we're confronted with two roads to take, when we're confronted with a desire that's not aligned with our values, that we have the choice, do we give in to temporary pleasure, or do we look forward to the reward of that pleasure? Do we look forward from Allah ﷻ to stop ourselves from doing that? And then finally, I want to make a point about the importance of whenever somebody is going through a struggle like this, through any struggle really, but with this particular struggle because it's such a difficult one, it's really important to reframe it. For many people who face same-sex attraction, it might not be black and white, right? But for those who are tested, especially with the unwavering attraction to the same sex, it is a very, very difficult test, but can also be viewed as an opportunity if we choose to view it in that way. We know that Rasul ﷺ tells us that if Allah loves the people, then He tries them.
And this is an extremely difficult trial. But one thing to keep in mind is that there is no greater honor that Allah ﷻ can bestow on someone than being guided to Islam. And that the gem of Islam that exists within your heart is not incongruent with the thoughts that are going through your mind or the feelings that are going through your heart or the desires that you're experiencing. Your faith and those desires can coexist. And that you are honorable in the sight of Allah ﷻ no matter what your struggles, because of your belief in Him and your choice to be a Muslim. And so never forget that despite your struggle, you are honorable. And actually, in fact, because of your struggle, you have the opportunity to be honored even more in the eyes of Allah ﷻ. In a beautiful hadith, the Prophet ﷺ talks about all of the different ways that shaitan tries to change our path and our choices and the ways that we can reject his whispers and disobey the shaitan. And he ends the hadith by saying, whoever does that has a right upon Allah to enter Jannah. That he will enter Jannah, he or she. So when we're faced, and some are harder than others, right, like this one, then we have the ability to make a choice in each moment that brings us closer to Allah ﷻ. And to realize that our words are incredibly powerful, there's a difference between accepting a struggle and identifying yourself based on a struggle. That if you are struggling with something, right, some people might say that by calling yourself gay or calling yourself a lesbian or bisexual, right, that it shows that you're not in denial and that you've taken a step forward in accepting this part of yourself. But in reality, it can also be disempowering because you're denying yourself the ability to formulate your identity based on something that is within your control, rather than something outside of your control.
And so when we identify ourselves based on something we're struggling with, then we look at ourselves only through that lens and it can weigh us down, right. When someone leaves an abusive relationship, we don't call her a victim, we call her a survivor. When we sin, we don't identify ourselves as sinners, we can identify ourselves as repenters. Because if you're a sinner, then what motivates you to stay away from sin, since it's already an inherent part of you. But if you define yourself as a repenter, then what could come between you and Allah ﷻ? So what we call ourselves speaks very strongly to how we identify and perceive ourselves. And so being able to create our identities based not on something that if acted upon would be sinful, but based on something that makes us feel honorable, that makes us feel like so much more than just our struggles, that allows us to make a choice that the core of our identity is to choose Allah ﷻ over that desire, and that you're activating the core part of who you are, your choice to be a Muslim, and to please Allah ﷻ so that you can imagine yourself, inshaAllah, as a person of Jannah, somebody who is willing to give up so much in order to gain the pleasure of Allah ﷻ, and somebody who truly lives by the verse that indeed my prayer, my sacrifice, my living, and my dying are all for Allah ﷻ, the Lord of the worlds. And I ask Allah ﷻ to bless you and reward you, especially all of my brothers and sisters who are struggling with this, and to make it easy on you, and to keep you on the straight path. Jazakumullah khairan. Jazakumullah khairan, sister Sara. So we're right at the, I have to wrap up in like three minutes inshaAllah, so before that I have a one-minute question for you inshaAllah, because it's something that I've actually seen, sister, come forward. There's the mental pressure and the struggle that you've alluded to, and there's the struggle as well of, you know, the current day, you mentioned in the very beginning, a sister comes from school, she says, on the one hand I've got this guy that pulled off my hijab
and mocked me for being a Muslim and told me to go back home, and then the same teacher that, you know, chastised the guy that pulled off my hijab, chastised me and sent me home because I didn't want to participate in something that I felt like was against my religion. If this isn't ghurba, I don't know what is, right? If this isn't being strange and being caught, I don't know what is. So what's your one-minute sort of advice to your younger sister in this regard, who's watching the webinar? It's hard to do in one minute, as you can tell by how long I went with my other portion. You know, I think that knowing that your strength doesn't come from other people and it comes from the core of who you view yourself to be, and knowing that every single bit of struggle that you're going through is going to be weighed on your scales on the day of judgment, is something, it doesn't take away the pain, and I think that's really important, is to allow yourself to grieve for the struggles that you're going through and to realise that this is not normal, this is very hard, and anybody in your shoes would find this hard, but to also realise that through that pain, you're insha'Allah going to get that tremendous reward and that you are choosing the hereafter in all of those moments. I think that that reframe can be insha'Allah very helpful. Insha'Allah, JazakumAllah khair. And insha'Allah ta'ala for everyone, our Dhul Hijjah series which starts next week insha'Allah ta'ala is about Ibrahim alayhi salam and sacrifices. It's actually going to be called Attached to Allah, and Sister Sara will be joining me, we actually have discussions with people on 10 things that people gain attachment to and how they reframe those attachments to Allah subhana wa ta'ala in light of what Ibrahim alayhi salam sacrificed. So it's going to be a different type of series than the one we're usually accustomed to, but please do tune in next week insha'Allah ta'ala for that.
I want to give Shaykh Mustafa, Shaykh Ubaidullah any last remark you want to share, then bismillah the floor is yours, and if not then I'll close off with du'a insha'Allah ta'ala. I'll defer to Shaykh Mustafa first insha'Allah. Alhamdulillah, just closing, just be that, you know, I think we were chatting yesterday night about this, and I think the position of Muslims and the position of Islam should really be, when it comes to our religion, we should be uncompromising on things which are clear cut, yet compassionate at the same time. And I think that's the balance that we were trying to draw, and I think that is something, that's my advice that I have for all Muslim leaders and for all Muslims on a topic like this. Masha'Allah, no I definitely second those sentiments, and I think it's important to emphasize that, you know, this struggle that we've been speaking of, it's a very real struggle, and we have to express compassion, fraternity, sorority, and make sure that our community isn't a place of tribunals and investigations, but rather equipping people with the tools necessary to engage this struggle at any level that they need to, and just being supportive. JazakAllah khair, Shaykh Mubayd Allah. So, I think what we can all agree upon, subhanAllah, and this is just a summary which I found from this, in case someone doesn't feel like listening to the full 90 minutes or so, as much as we push back on world views and the politics of it all, that come towards us as Muslims, we don't want to push people away within our communities, and so finding that balance, which is a balance inshaAllah ta'ala, to where we actively hold our principles.
And so when someone asks, you know, what's your position on LGBTQ or any issue, our position is the position of Allah and His messengers, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, our position is the position of the Quran and the Sunnah, and then from there inshaAllah ta'ala, we have to, as a community, help each other. We've got to help our institutions, we've got to help our activists, we've got to help our imams, we've got to help our counsellors, we've got to help our people, we've got to help the Muslims that are being ostracized for having these attractions or whatever struggle they may have that we've spoken about, and we've got to help the Muslims that are being ostracized for just trying to hold on to their deen and for holding on to their world views, and inshaAllah ta'ala with that, show people the brilliance and the beauty of Islam, and we pray that inshaAllah ta'ala we'll be able to do that. We ask Allah subhana wa ta'ala to accept. JazakumAllahu khayran. Rabbana taqabbal minna innaka anta sameer al-alim wa tub alina innaka anta tawwab al-rahim Allahumma arina alhaqqa haqqa warzuqna ittiba'a wa arina albaatila baatila warzuqna itjtinaba Rabbana la tuziq qulubana ba'da idh hadaytana wa habalana min ladunka rahma innaka anta alwahab Rabbana innaka jamia'u al-nasi liyawmin la rayba thih innallaha la yukhlifu almiAAad Rabbana la tu'akhidhna innaseena aw akhta'na Rabbana wa la tahmil alayna isran kama hamaltahu ala allatheena min qablina Rabbana wa la tuhammilna ma la taqata lana bih wa'afu anna wa ghfir lana wa urhamna anta maulana famsoona ala alqawmin kafireen Oh Allah we ask you to guide our hearts, we ask you to guide us to the truth, we ask you oh Allah to guide us to the divine revelation, we ask you oh Allah to guide us to that which is most pleasing to you, we ask you oh Allah to anchor us in the Quran and in the Sunnah, and we ask you oh Allah to make us amongst those that follow the way of the earliest generations of the sabiqoon, and we ask you oh Allah to join us with the sabiqoon, with the salihoon, with the anbiya, with the righteous and the highest level for those in ahla, we ask you oh Allah to forgive us for our shortcomings, we ask you oh Allah to guide us as communities, as individuals, we ask you oh Allah to unite our hearts, to unite our ranks upon that which is just,
upon that which is right, upon that which will enter us into al-firdaws al-ahla, we ask you oh Allah to not let our tragedy be in regards to our deen, we ask you oh Allah to not let our tragedy be in regards to our deen, and we ask you oh Allah to alleviate the suffering in this dunya, especially for our brothers and sisters in Palestine, in India, wherever they are, that are suffering due to their deen right now, ya rabbal alamin, we ask you oh Allah to alleviate their oppression, we ask you oh Allah to make us a community that is like the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said, as one building, as one unit, each part of it reinforces the other, oh Allah allow us to reinforce one another with that which is pleasing to you, oh Allah keep us sincere, keep us steadfast, and forgive us for our errors, and send your peace and blessings upon your beloved Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and his family and his companions and those that follow, Allahumma ameen wa salallahu alayhi wa sallam, wa barakah wa nabiyyina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in, jazakum wa khayran, subhanakallah wa muhammadik, ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah wa at'ala astaghfiruka wa atoo'alaikum wa salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
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