Tinaz Nooshian interviews Parvez Shama, an openly gay Muslim who directed the movie A Jihad for Love, which explores homosexuality in Islam. Among other topics, Shama discusses homosexuality in the Qur’an:
The Quran doesn’t speak about homosexuality the way we understand it in 2009. But there is the story about the Nation of Lut. Lut was a prophet, and nephew of Ibrahim (Abraham) who was commanded by God to go to the land of Sodom and Gomorrah to preach monotheism and stop them from their lustful acts. They indulged in homosexuality, and when Lut asked them to abandon their transgression against Allah, they ridiculed him. So, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.
Scholars will say the story is not about homosexuality, but I’m afraid, most Muslims believe it is. Scholars may argue that we need to engage with the Quran in a contemporary fashion, but Muslims believe you can’t mess with the Quran, and there lies the conflict.
Read the full interview here.