ICNA’s Stance on President’s Support for Gay Marriage
—FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—
JAMAICA, New York (May 11, 2012) – In a press release issued today, the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) expressed dismay at President Obama’s support for same-sex marriage.
Like Christianity and Judaism, Islam views marriage as a sacred bond between a man and a woman that serves as the basis for the family and thereby society. We believe that sexual relations can only be between a man and a woman within the context of marriage; indeed the family itself can only be formed from these relations. This traditional structure has allowed communities to flourish for thousands of years. The push to redefine the established institution of marriage and embrace homosexuality can only lead to the deterioration of the very structure of our communities and society as a whole.
President Obama’s support for same-sex marriage is a violation of God’s laws as spelled out in the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. God Almighty states, “And among His signs is that He has created for you spouses from among yourselves so that you may live in tranquility with them” (Chapter 30, The Romans; Verse 21). These laws can also be found in other religious texts including the Bible, which states, “But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband” (1 Corinthians 7:2).
Islam regards homosexuality as a sin, but also supports the belief that God Almighty created every human being equally and that He alone will hold them responsible for their deeds. As Muslims and people of faith we must also remember that God has directed us to defend all people equally against bigotry, violence and abuse.
The Islamic Circle of North America is a leading American Muslim organization dedicated to the betterment of society through the application of Islamic values. Since 1968, ICNA has worked to build relations between communities by devoting itself to education, outreach, social services and relief efforts.
—END—
Islamic Circle of North America
E-mail: 
Office: (718) 658-1199
^In regards to your first comment, ICNA admin, that is not the point at all. I think you know that. The point is simply that posting this decree of sorts will do absolutely nothing to deter the POTUS from making any decisions in the future, so what’s the point of even posting it? No one is talking about being “secular”, but we are to follow the laws of the land in which we live. Since same-sex marriage would only be an option and not mandatory upon all of us, we wouldn’t even have to worry about such a law, period.
Kelly Kaufmann, there’s a big difference don’t you think?
We didn’t use any hate speech nor are we speaking out against anyone’s religious views. It was a small fringe that was protesting the Mosque being built, there wasn’t a National uproar.
Just because we live in a secular society, that does not mean that we should become secular Muslims.
Perfect! For those wondering what is our thought on this recent development, Here it is. And, its politics every where as usual.
^Thank you for articulating in one short comment what I was trying to say in all of those long essays, haha.
Just because we live in a secular society, does not mean that we need to become secular Muslims. We have religious views which should absolutely affect our public views. We have every right to take a stand in what we believe in. Part of our beliefs are that public sins can bring upon the wrath of Allah (God). Homosexuality is not the only social ill that we are concerned with, but despite its current popularity and support we can not change our religion in exchange for meeting the demands of current trends.
Hateful & ignorant statement. Shame on u, @icna! “ICNA’s Stance on President’s Support for Gay Marriage http://t.co/tIFDpVRO” #muslim #islam
We need to be careful in saying our religious positions should impact law. We don’t like the thought of other religion’s impacting U.S. law. We can’t have it both ways – saying mosques shouldn’t be prevented from being built but saying our religion should impact laws. Lets keep laws & religion separate and focus our efforts (and ‘position’ statements) on peace between us ALL.
There is an Islamic precedent for allowing communities outside of our own to be governed by their own laws. In regards to marriage in particular, there was a Zoroastrian practice called “self-marriage” in which men would marry their direct female relatives (mothers, sisters, daughters) in order to protect their people from intermixing. This is very clearly against Islamic law, but Ibn Qayim al-Jawziya ruled that if a Zoroastrian was to come to the Muslims for adjudication regarding “self marriage”, it would be judged according to Zoroastrian law.
This community needs to understand that an Islamic marriage and a secular marriage are two different things — your nikkah means nothing to the government, and your government marriage papers mean nothing in Islam. Ideologically mixing the two in a legal sense is problematic and unnecessary.
Asalaam Alaikum: I highly recommend Scott Kugle’s book “Homosexuality in Islam.” I think it is important to understand the phenomenon before offering unenlightened opinions. Scott Kugle is an openly gay Muslim and Professor of Islamic Studies. Love, light and shadow, Jalaledin Ebrahim, Licensed psychotherapist
.@ICNA, “US most followed #Muslim org”, says #Obama’s announcement will lead to “deterioration of [American] community” http://t.co/MUpoXO4M
Hamza,
I suggest you read Darwin’s Descent of Man where he argues that animals can indeed reason–in fact, they are cable of most higher emotions. Think of puppies who “love” there mothers. Before you tell me this is mere instinct, I’ll tell you there is a different between instinct, learned behaviors and association of habits. Read chapter 21; it will take you less than 10 minutes. Their moral faculties may not be the same as ours, but you cannot reduce them to animated machines. My suggestions will be completely in vain, however, if you don’t buy into the theory of evolution (which you’d be hard pressed to argue against nowadays). Best.
Obama lost my vote.
“‘We teach our kids to live up to the Golden Rule but in our daily lives as adults we often fail miserably’, says MPV President Ani Zonneveld. ‘This is an epic example of living out that Golden Rule and, as Muslims, we should remember that Islam is a faith rooted in justice and from justice sprouts equality. We know that marriage equality is about justice for all so we must support it on both legal and religious fronts.’ The Quran teaches us marriage is between two souls. It is time the law of the land allows LGBTs their God given right to marry.”
Muslims For Progressive Values Applauds President Obama’s Support Of Marriage Equality
http://www.prlog.org/11871240-muslims-for-progressive-values-applauds-president-obamas-support-of-marriage-equality.html
To me incests make more sense than homosexuals.
Homosexuality has been in every culture throughout time as a sexual variant so claiming it isn’t normal is an enormously ignorant thing to say. By making it into such a big deal is what’s abnormal. Why do you care so much what two same-sex people do in their bedrooms? Worry about your own lives
.@ICNA, “US most followed #Muslim org”, says #Obama’s announcement will lead to “deterioration of [American] community” http://t.co/WxFTRQJg
Note: I did not mean to imply that ICNA is anything like Bristol Palin. I just meant that the POTUS probably cares just as little about ICNA’s opinion as he does about that of Miss Palin, that’s all.
But what do you think posting this will actually accomplish? Do you think the POTUS will actually read this, and then — even more unlikely — decide to change his mind again? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a big fan of his, and I can acknowledge the fact that his “evolution” on the issue is probably little more than a political move, but I just don’t see the point of releasing a decree about his opinion. It seems like it would be about as important to him as the fact that Bristol Palin, who had a child out of wedlock, similarly spoke out against his view.
Brother the khutbah wasn’t for you it was for Mudassir who asked if we knew the context.
Also Hamza, note that our purpose wasn’t to address the “sin” and we never issued a press release on homosexuality before. It was about the decision of the President. Yes we know there are far more grievous acts/sins that take place and it’s not our job to discuss the severity of them because that’s for the scholar to address.
We keep confusing 2 points.
So, not only is your statement alienating potential allies, but it’s also showing your ignorance of other faiths. Marriage within the Abrahamic faiths is not uniform and static, and same-sex marriage is not new to Abrahamic faiths, some taking place before the advent of Muhammad (SAWS). But the bigger point is this: why would you alienate potential allies on a political point that you are likely to lose, and won’t improve the way that Islam is viewed or practiced? Bigots aren’t going to love Muslims because some Muslims are homophobic. But people who value civil rights are seeing Muslims oppose them and it’s not a good look. Civil recognition for same-sex marriage is going to happen, and soon- anyone who watches the news knows that. And opposing same-sex marriage won’t bring a single Muslim to the mosque who wasn’t attending, won’t inspire a single Muslim to fast, pray, or be kinder to the earth and those who live on it. You want something to fight against? Fight the proposed cuts to SNAP, Head Start, and other programs that benefit vulnerable children. Fight the bans on Shari’a that keep getting proposed and passed by state legislatures. Fight the forces that make life harder for the most vulnerable. For we are obliged to do that far more often in the Qur’an than we are to bar anyone from marrying.
I don’t think we need a full-on khutba simply because we choose to worry about more pressing issues, but thank you. And anyway, despite how “evil” some may see homosexuality as being, it is a victimless crime. The only person who ultimately suffers is the sinner. None of us are perfect, and all of us sin, so we should probably focus on trying to better ourselves before we demonize others. Islam, contrary to popular belief, is not about calling out other people on how bad they are.
“Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri said: ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah [SAW] say: Whoever among you sees an evil and changes it with his hand, then he has done his duty. Whoever is unable to do that, but changes it with his tongue, then he has done his duty. Whoever is unable to do that, but changes it with his heart, then he has done his duty, and that is the weakest of Faith.’” (Sahih)
This hadith can be found in the 40 hadith of Imam Nawawi. Below you can find snippets of the explanation. We encourage you to read it in its entirety for your benefit.
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The essence of the Islamic da’wah is enjoining the good and forbidding the evil, since whenever a person conveys the Message, he is enjoining good and forbidding evil. Therefore, it is a mistake to consider these two as separate matters, since they are actually performed concurrently and are synonymous.
The main objective in fulfilling this obligation is to attain and maximize benefits, and to eliminate or minimize harm.
Ibn Taymiyyah wrote: Enjoin the good in a good way and do not forbid the evil in an evil way. (Note: which is why we had a press release and tried to use the best way to go about discussing the matter)
Scholars say that before using the hand, we should start with advice, warning the people of the consequence of evil and encouraging and motivating them to good actions. When this method has been fully utilised and there is no change in the people, only then is it permissible to use the hand.
Imam ash-Shatibi says that the Caller must predict the consequences of what he says or do, whether by hand or by tongue.
Ibn Rajab states that in enjoining the good and discouraging the evil the conductor is motivated by different reasons:
1. It could be by hope in Allah’s great reward for doing it.
2. It could be by fearing Allah’s punishment for renouncing this obligation.
3. It could be by getting annoyed by seeing violations to what Allah has prescribed.
4. It could be due to being faithful to the community members who indulge in evil and by being kind and merciful to them by making the effort to save them from being subject to Allah’s anger, displeasure and punishment in this life and in the Hereafter.
5. It could be by glorifying Allah and Loving Him much, for He deserves to be obeyed, remembered, and thanked.
When you slaughter #Allah, #Jehovah, and #Yahweh, don’t forget to yell, “Elton-ho-Akbar!” >> http://t.co/TR659QVE << @rickygervais @icna
Hamza, we have spoken out against NDAA as well as other pressing issues. And we felt this to be something of importance as well. Anything the government or state senate does is our business because we’re Americans.
In a comment you posted “The Prophet (saw) said if you see something wrong change it with your hands, if you’re unable than change it with your tongue (speak out against it) and if you’re unable to do that AT LEAST hate it in your hearts.”
It’s not my place to say if a hadith has been properly used or not since I lack the qualifications to make those determinations. I was simply pointing out that without the proper scholarly approach, cherry-picking hadith can be used to justify any opinion, so it would be more appropriate to not do so unless one is sure that the hadith, in all of its contexts, can be applied fully and appropriately with the correct interpretation. And God knows best
Muddasir Ayaz where did we misuse a hadith? And with who were we unjust?
ICNA web-managers, it would behoove you to use hadith judiciously if you choose to use them to justify or defend your opinion. The Prophet (peace be upon him) also said, “O People . . . Treat others justly so that no one would be unjust to you” in his last sermon.
If civil unions fail to provide the same legal rights as marriage in a non-theocratic society (i.e., the one in which we currently live), then this too is a form of injustice, so one could use this hadith to justify that opinion. And God knows best
Gambling and prostitution are legal in Vegas. The President could certainly speak out against it if he wanted to. Somebody in the higher-ups could change it this, but I don’t hear them doing so. We should be speaking out against Obama for signing the NDAA if anything, not this silly same-sex marriage debate that doesn’t affect us AT ALL. Seriously, why would you lose sleep over gay people being able to get married? Why do you let it get to you so much when you know it’s not even your business?
There’s a difference between evil happening (Vegas) and the President of the US condoning it.