Salaamun alaykum, dear readers!
If we look at the story of Lot as it is in the Quran, we find that they are called “transgressing people” or “ignorant people” for a number of reasons, one of them were that they were fornicating with people of the same sex.
Of course, practicing homosexual fornication wasn’t the only thing they were punished for. They were criminals who committed a variety of disapproved acts, wrongfully blocked traffic, were hostile towards travelers and guests, tried to assault God’s messengers when they appeared in Lot’s home, disbelieved in Lot, and tried to expel his family from their town.
Therefore, despite Lot trying to warn them about the punishment as best as he can, his people failed to listen. So a rain of stones made of baked clay caused their destruction.
- [7:80-82] And Lot, when he said to his people, “Do you commit the enormity, in which not anyone of the people preceded you? Indeed, you come to men with lust, aside from the women. Rather, you are an excessive people.” The response of his people was not but that they said, “Exit them from your town. Indeed, they are a people who cleanse themselves.”
- [29:28-29] And Lot, when he said to his people, “Indeed, you definitely commit the enormity, with which not anyone among the people has preceded you. Indeed, you come to the men, cut off the way, and commit the disapproved among your associates.” But the response of his people was not but that they said, “Come to us with God’s punishment, if you have been of the truthful.”
- [11:77-78] And when Our messengers came to Lot, he was distressed and straitened by them, uneasy. He said, “This is a severe day!” And his people came to him. They hurtled toward him, while before they had been doing the evil deeds. He said, “O my people, these are my daughters. They are cleaner for you. So revere God, and do not disgrace me concerning my guests. Has there not been a rightly-guided man among you?”
Homosexual Marriages
The Quran does not actually forbid homosexual marriages. They are totally permissible as a result, for any Muslim who follows the Quran alone.
In the Quran, the prophet Lot tells his people not to commit homosexual fornication and marry women.
But Quranic prohibitions are not derived from the words of a past prophet. Only God is the lawmaker in Islam (verse 6:114, 42:21) so Islamic law is derived from God’s own spoken instructions to us in the Quran rather than the quoted words of a past prophet.
Different people over time were given their own laws and methods (verse 5:48). The Jews are instructed in the Quran to continue judging by and upholding the Torah (verse 5:44). So they will be held accountable for violating the Sabbath, because that is their law. But we Muslims today will not be held accountable for the Sabbath because that is not our law.
Likewise, a prohibition on homosexual activity may have been a part of the law that Lot was sent with, but we are not held accountable for the law that the prophet Lot delivered from God to his people. We are held accountable only to the law that prophet Muhammad was sent with (the Quran).
Quran Punishes Homosexual Fornication, Not Homosexual Marriage
God in the Quran only mention punishing homosexual fornication (known as zina) which is the same 100 lashes prescribed for all fornicators in verse 24:2.
In verse 4:16, the words “alladhani” (which means “the two who”) is a relative pronoun used to refer to two male nouns, thus it is the only verse addressing any sort of punishment for a homosexual couple who fornicates.
- [4:16] And the two among you who come with it, you shall thus punish both of them. Then if they repented and reformed, you shall thus avert from them. Indeed, God has been Acceptor of Repentance, Merciful.
But no verse in the Quran prohibits marriage between two people of the same sex, hence it is not prohibited.
Assuming that the prohibition
Addressing Counterarguments
Unnatural Does Not Mean Right or Wrong
While some may dislike the idea of homosexual marriages because homosexual activity is inherently “unnatural” and doesn’t occur in nature.
That’s not true, because homosexual activity is well-documented among hundreds of animal species.1 Those range from fish, frogs, toads, snakes, birds, apes, dolphins, and many others.
And whether an activity is permissible doesn’t depend on whether it exists in nature or not. Very simply, if God in the Quran is silent on homosexual marriages, then it is 100% permitted.
Does Quran’s Silence = Forbidden?
No, of course not.
Rather, according to the Quran, any issue that the Quran is silent on is permissible.
- The reason that Quranic silence = permission is because the Quran is complete (verse 6:115) and has all the details needed for a Muslim to be guided (verses 12:111, 16:89, and 7:52).
- Therefore, if something was truly prohibited, there would exist details from the Quran to support its prohibition. If sufficient details do exist in the Quran to support a claim that something is prohibited, then it is not actually prohibited.
As a result, since the Quran is silent on homosexual marriages, it is permissible.
Thus, if you see a Muslim homosexual married couple today, give them the same respect and recognition given to heterosexual Muslim married couples. They are not doing anything wrong.
Marriage Rule for Homosexual Couples
So for homosexual spouses, there are no dowry requirement, nor are there any formal set of marriage and divorce rules unlike with heterosexual married couples.
The marriage and divorce rules between homosexual couples is purely governed by whatever the couple agreed upon in their marriage contract. That includes how they decide to make their divorce official in Islam, such as whether they have a waiting period before the divorce, or use arbitration between both families to discuss reconciliation, or if both of them agree to say a certain phrase to make the divorce instant, or any other method.
All necessary prenuptial agreements belong in the marriage contract, whether homosexual or heterosexual.
Conclusion
In conclusion, don’t feel embarrassed to marry someone of the same sex as a Muslim. You are not committing a prohibited action.
Just for clarification purposes, regarding the inheritance between homosexual spouses, the Quran only prescribes certain rules for heterosexual spouses inheriting one another. It does not mention any specific inheritance formula for homosexual spouses.
If someone wants to leave behind some property for a spouse to inherit in a homosexual marriage, there has to be a separate will written for the spouse. The leftover money after all wills and debts are paid off are distributed according to the Quranic inheritance formula.
Reference
- Bagemihl B. (1999). Biological exuberance: Animal homosexual and natural diversity. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press. ↩︎
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