Bilal Philips – Contemporary Issues Part 6 (Homosexuality)

			And continue to be a crown until modern times when, as we said, the principle of consenting adults
became the discerning principle for what is acceptable in sexual human sexual relations. As long as
people are consenting, and they're adults, and it's okay, * is out, child, * is out, consenting
adults, whatever they do, it's their business.
		

			Society has no right to interfere. So homosexuals held, this is also the case. And in defense of
their position,
		

			they are good because people come and they argue this was unnatural. They argued that
		

			it isn't unnatural.
		

			And they went around the world trying to find you know, examples of some in nature of some
		

			insects or fishes or whatever, displayed what may be described as homosexual behavior. And sure
enough, they found some fishes someplace off the coast of Japan, exotic and tropical fishes that
		

			the male does, after mating with a female will take on some of the characteristics of the female to
discourage other males from mating with his female nurses practice that they some fishes do. But
they said, they said, Okay, here, see, this male fish is
		

			fine to act like a female, you know, there is homosexuality in the animal kingdom. And they found
some butterflies, someplace off the coast of South America exhibit some kind of behavior, they say
this butterflies acting like the female butterflies, do you know
		

			why they do that? God only knows. But here it is another example of it. So it must be okay.
		

			But of course, this kind of argument, I mean, this is fine, where one believes we are just animals,
		

			you know, and we can judge our behavior on the basis of what animals do. But if we look at ourselves
as being more than animals as being higher than the animals, yes, there is an animal aspect to
ourselves, but we have choices, the ability to make choices, etc, etc, you know, we are not to be
looked at just merely as animals,
		

			then this kind of argument really doesn't hold water. Furthermore, if we were to accept this as a
basis for human behavior, then what do we do about the black widow spider, and oh, black widow
spider after it after it mates, it kills the husband.
		

			Yeah, the praying mantises will do the same, you have other spiders, etc. You know, they finish the
female when she finishes mating, it's the husband. So this is now Okay, for a woman when she gets
pregnant to go kill her husband, we're going to use that as a basis for that kind of behavior. And
so it's not it's natural. It's there in nature. So it's okay to go and do it, you know. So this kind
of
		

			argument really is fallacious, it's really doesn't have any sound basis. Now, back in the 80s.
		

			Another argument developed, which was that there is a gland in the base of the brain, which they
claimed, it is small in the case of males or females, and large in the case of males, and in the
case of homosexuals, it was smaller than that of males larger than that, and females seem to have
changed it to the other different shape. So they argued, hey, here's proof, biological proof that
homosexuals have a different makeup. So it means that they're almost sexual, not by
		

			society, learning these practices from society, but by natural inclination. So it should not be
considered a crime. However, we have to look at the realities of the studies the study was based on,
on whom dead people that adults, they cut off dead brain, dead people's brains, and they looked at
this, who is to say that the child was born that way?
		

			Who's to say this, there's no evidence for this, this decrease in the size of that gland, or
whatever was a result of the activity and not the cause of that activity. Who's to say that? So?
This kind of argument, you know, again, didn't know doesn't really hold water. However, in the 90s,
a new argument developed and that was that it was biological. A researcher by the name of Dean
hammer, Dr. Dean hammer at the National Cancer Institute, claimed in 1993 to have discovered
		

			evidence concrete evidence for gay genes.
		

			Of course, he's pointing out that this homosexual orientation was transmitted to
		

			Males on the X chromosome from the mother.
		

			And his findings was published in the Journal of Sciences a prestigious journal.
		

			And this publication transformed his collarless career as a government scientist into a dynamic
media personality. He wrote his own memoirs and everything he was shown on television talk shows, He
even went to Colorado, they were having a decision about the law which was being introduced, it was
called proposition two, which is an anti gay proposition. He gave expert testimony in the you know,
for the the genetic origin of of homosexuality, you know, to put down this law.
		

			Now, the reality is that, though his study was published, and the science and was on the front page
of newspapers all across the country in the West,
		

			nobody
		

			followed up. What happened after
		

			actually, when University of Western Ontario tried to repeat his experiments, they could not find
any linkage whatsoever between the X chromosome and sexual orientation.
		

			This was their own research.
		

			Furthermore,
		

			it was pointed out that himars study lacked a control group, something which is a fundamental
principle for scientific research. How could that article have been published in Science? Because
this is something which sells magazines
		

			you know, so without following their normal procedures, they publish this article, he's given fame
Well, he's a scientist, cancer research, whatever.
		

			But the reality is that it lacked basic elements of scientific research. Among them, he did not have
a control group.
		

			And the Chicago Tribune in 1994, this is one year after
		

			publication of Dr. hammers findings
		

			report reported that a junior researcher in hammers laboratory, who assisted in the gene mapping,
and his homosexual studies,
		

			said that he selectively reported his data.
		

			She was then dismissed though she was a PhD student in Oh, in her postdoctoral fellowship at sorry,
she was a doctor doing a postdoctoral fellowship at Hammonds lab, she was kicked out.
		

			Because this was not popular. This is not something which people wanted to hear. And even this
report in the tribune is no longer front page news. This is reported, you know, some pages down the
line. So when this study came out, initially, it was front page news, everybody knew about it. And
that's what stayed in people's minds, the different challenges that came to it.
		

			People didn't have to know about it. So till today, you'll find people coming and saying, Yeah, it's
been proven genetically, because they remember that they didn't remember that his assistant said,
Hey, Doctor, this data,
		

			and so much so her claims was substantiated by the National Institutes of Health when they
investigated our claims, you know, and she was given another position in a different lab, and
heymer, who was himself very coy about his own sexual orientation. And his memoirs, he later
admitted that he himself was gay. He himself was a homosexual,
		

			promoting this. So his, his scientific study was shut down within a year, but the vast majority of
people even till today, six years later, don't even know about it.
		

			The other point that should be noted is that
		

			when the
		

			as a consequence of this practice,
		

			AIDS spread through the society, and it's spread, beginning with the homosexual element, and people
want to say, Hey, this is, you know, divine retribution. No, this was thrown aside. No, how can it
be? No, no, no, no, no, we cannot say this. This is something which happened we don't blame it on.
You know, God is punishing people. But from Islamic perspective, yes. The prophet may God's peace
must be upon him and said that when, you know, fornication, adultery and homosexuality become
widespread in the society, that they will appear amongst the people,
		

			ailments, sicknesses which were unheard of before.
		

			Which therefore parents never knew off. And this is exactly the case of AIDS. Yes, it began with
them. Of course it did spread to bisexuals afterwards, people were involved in both heterosexual and
homosexual activity. And then it also spread now amongst the heterosexuals, of course, because they
are the majority. So it's gonna spread amongst them, pheromones, who amongst them. Amongst those who
are involved in illicit sexual relations, those people are married, stay within marriage, this
doesn't spread. Even people who practice polygamy who have more than one wife, it doesn't spread, it
only spreads when a man or a woman has sexual relations outside the bounds of marriage.
		

			Now,
		

			another point, which needs to be addressed, is that if one were to consider homosexuality to be not
a result of choice, that means God made them that way.
		

			Then it is inconceivable that God is going to prescribe a punishment for an inclination which people
have no control of.
		

			So no matter what evidence is brought,
		

			and there may be some scientific evidence brought in the future, which actually does establish some
kind of inclinations, but we can find people arguing that their inclinations for *,
inclinations for *, inclinations for murder, you know, you'll find scientific research is saying,
Hey, you know, maybe it's related to genes and this that the other people have these inclinations.
But we don't, we can't run a society on the spaces, that people are excused simply because they have
intonations. A person we are all we all have a variety of inclinations, all kinds of circumstances
can bring these things out when people get intoxicated, etc. These informations come out even more.
		

			So, however, we still have the ability to say yes or no. And that's what the punishment is for.
Islamic law, the punishment for homosexuality is no different from the punishment for adultery,
fornication, if it's his death, it's looked at as a deviation, just as if somebody is involved in
this duality, that sexual relations with animals since
		

			death
		

			is a deviation.
		

			Adultery is death. So it's not, it's not any special punishment. It is a punishment for deviant
behavior, which threatens the family structure of the society to protect that sense that family,
Islamic law is very severe. But of course, it requires four witnesses. So again, the application of
the law, this is because a person, a person may have these inclinations. So they tend some among
them may be effeminate. One cannot say, Oh, he's a homosexual, look at him, he's acting like a woman
is womanish. And you can apply the law No, unless a person confesses, or they're witnessed by four
witnesses in the act, then we cannot apply the law. It's very severe, but its application is only
		

			going to be in certain circumstances where a person is so open in their practice, four people have
witnessed them, or they confess, because they're caught under some circumstances or the other.
		

			Now,
		

			what we find in Islamic law, some principles, to discourage this tendency for the building of these
kind of inclinations, we find that Prophet Muhammad may God's peace, be upon him, and instructed the
children be taught prayer at the age of seven.
		

			And he went on to say that when they reach the age of 10, they should be spanked if they're not
coming to pray, learning to pray. Furthermore, they should be separated in their beds. Most people
think that it's just separating the males from the females, but know from Islamic perspective, the
males from the males and the females from the females, they should not sleep in the same bed, under
the same covers, etc.
		

			This is why for purpose,
		

			to prevent * as well as homosexual activity, because children are children. They may have
inclination, they may experiment, and if they experiment and they find something pleasurable, and
then later on when they go to school, they find somebody else who's going to reinforce that. This is
where we find the basis for homosexual lesbian activity and inclinations developing in people.
Right. So
		

			from Islamic perspective, but the from the, the family within the family itself with regards to the
children, these principles are applied to prevent the kind of birth of these kind of feelings.
Furthermore, Islam stresses the distinction between male and female to be strongly
		

			maintained males don't just like females females don't just like males is permitted. Sallam said
there's a lot of curses those men who just like women and women just like men.
		

			So, again, not allowing a blurring, in a fashion industry today, which is controlled mostly by
homosexuals, they have promoted the blurring of the lines between males and females. So you find
women now wearing three piece suits, you know, with bullet caps, and, you know, looking like men's
shoes, cut them made just like men's shoes, slightly smaller, whatever, men wearing flowery
garments. In fact, just recently, you know, they have this new fashions which are coming up for the
summer, fall fashions, you know, men's dresses, which are virtually female style dresses, I've read,
you know, jackets and pants and things with all kinds of flowers and lines and things like that
		

			which are typically female type dress is now becoming promoted for male dress.
		

			So, Islam stresses a distinction between males and females that this be reinforced in the society to
prevent the blurring of the lines and opening the doors for these corrupt kind of activities. And
this is over for the purpose of protecting the family as a whole.
		

			Maintaining the family.
		

			It is the building block of the society when that family falls apart, whether it's through adultery,
fornication, or homosexuality, or you know, *, or incense, these kind of things. All of
this is, is a is a threat to the society as a whole. And so Islamic law takes a very strong stance
against it. And it prescribes very severe punishments for those who are caught, where there's clear
evidence in it. With that, dear viewers, I'd like to thank you for being with us in this segment of
our program, contemporary issues. And if you have some issues that you would like to share, that
you'd like us to address, you know, I you're welcome to suggest them. And if we're not already
		

			planning to cover them, we will cover them if they are of general benefit, you may write in or call
the Sharjah television, pillbox 111. Sharjah, or the phone number here is 536111.
		

			And with that, viewers, I bid you farewell and hope to see you in our coming programs Salam Alaikum
warahmatullahi wabarakatuh
		

			Bismillah