 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيدنا ونبينا وحبيب قلوبنا أبل قاسم المصطقة محمد وعلى أهل بيته الطيبين الطاهرين المقصومين الذين أدهب الله عنهم الردسة وظهرهم تطغيرا أعوذ بالله الشيبان الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم ولوطا إفقال لقومه أتأتون الفاحشة وأنتم تقصيرون إنكم لتأكتون الرجال شهوة من دون النساء بل أنتم قوم تجحلون فما كان جواب قومه إلا أن قالوا أخرج عاللوط من قريتكم إنهم أناس يتطحرون فأن جيناه وأحله إلا مرأته قدرناها من الغابرين وأمطرنا عليهم مطرا فساء مطر المنذرين وال الحمد لله وسلام على عباده الذين استفقوا أقل الله خير أما يشكون صرق الله العلي العظيم المشكلة التي أتحدث عنها اليوم هي جميلة بأنني أمطر أن أتحدث عنها وإدرسها لأنني أمطر كثيرا من المساعدات وكثيرا من المساعدات about the stand of Islam on same-sex marriage وكثيرا لا نتحدث عن هذه المساعدات في المساعدات الإسلامية ولكن المشكلة الجديدة التي يتحدث عنها في المساعدات الأمريكية وكثيرا من هذه المساعدات يتحدثون أنه شيء يحدث عن هذه المساعدات الآن إذا كنت أردت هناك لن نقول أي المساعدات في المساعدات الأمريكية 60-70% من المساعدات الأمريكية في المساعدات الأمريكية is dedicated to this subject وكثيرا عندما يتحدث عنها في المساعدات الأمريكية في المساعدات الأمريكية في المساعدات الأمريكية they ruled on this type of marriage or what they call it as a union and that is legal they believe it is legal they believe it is part of the civil rights of the gay community and they believe that since those gays are equal under the law then with other Americans then this is their constitutional rights and this is what they should do and in fact it came this ruling came yesterday and it is considered one of the most important landmarks in the civil rights law and civil rights movement in America and for those of you who followed the news yesterday it was a day of victory in America they called it day of victory even President Obama referred to yesterday as a day of victory for the gay community because they struggled a lot they have been marginalized I feel sorry for them they have been abused for a long time and yesterday they got some of their rights back although 37 states they already accepted this type of so-called equality only 13 states mostly the southern states in America conservative states they refused to acknowledge this type of marriage so yesterday they gave them the permission for all 50 states to legalize this type of marriage and equalize the gay community with the rest of the American people of course there are opponents and proponents for this court ruling if you follow the news there are some people yesterday who are celebrating and this colorful flag rainbow flag was being waved all over America and there was fireworks I noticed in the evening I thought this is an introduction to 4th of July but someone told me no it has nothing to do with 4th of July this is because today is a historic day in America those people are celebrating at the same time there were some civil, political, religious leaders who opposed to this and they have very strong argument against it what does we believe we as Muslims what does our book say the Holy Quran we are Muslims we are concerned about our Islam about what Allah SWT says about what the Holy Quran says about this issue many of the youth they ask me these questions what do we think about it how should we treat those people we have friends among our friends we have those people and don't be shocked if you know that some of them go to Islamic centers some of them pray some of them fast some of them go to Hajj but they have this problem so how do we deal with this how do we handle it what does we say about it number one this type of some people call it deviation sexual deviation some people call it you know this is this is a life style life style choice some people call it sexual preference whatever you want to call it this type of behavior did exist thousands of years ago and the verse that I started with in surah and then chapter 27 in the Quran beginning with verse 54 onward 54 until 59 وَلُوطَنْ اِذْقَالَ لِقَوْمِ you know the story many of you know the story it's the story of the five cities they called them the plains it's mentioned in the Torah and they practice this وَلُوطَنْ اِذْقَالَ لِقَوْمِ I will come to it insha Allah I will come to it soon since he said to his community he said to his community اتأتون الفاحشة وانتم تبصون in a broad daylight you know this is something wrong you know this is something repugnant yet you commit this and the Quran name it as فاحشة and فاحشة means a shameful act any shameful act that human nature reject and repel is called فاحشة فاحشة is one level above sin there are sins many violations many sins but this is very repugnant a more repugnant type of sin is called فاحشة and in particular when it has to do with immoral acts immoral acts especially within the institution of family between the two genders this is called فاحشة إنكم لتأتون do you show your desire man show desire for man not for women this is something repugnant this is something abhorrent إنكم لتأتون الرجالة شاكوة من دون النساء Allah has created women for you the opposite gender for you بل أنتم قومون تجهلون بل أنتم قومون تجهلون very beautiful He says to them you are spiritually ignorant this is very good description He did not say you are scientifically ignorant because part of this community some of them are the best lawyers in the nation do you know that some of them are governors some of them are law makers some of them are congress members some of them are judges some of them are priests some of them are CNN anchors some of them are professors at universities so he did not say to them you know nothing you are ignorant you don't read, you don't try you don't go to school he didn't say this he said إنكم قومون تجهلون you are morally and spiritually ignorant morally and spiritually ignorant this is important فما كان جواب قومة rather than listening to him and respecting him you know again at this examine our attitude try to change they unfortunately they refuse and they made a mockery out of him إلا أن قالوا أخرجوا على لوطن tried them out of our city we don't want this man on us they had zero tolerance for him rather than tolerating him and saying let's work out on this let's discuss this they had an outright rejection for him أخرجوا أخرجوا على لوطن him and his family accept his wife of course because his wife was sympathizing with them إلا أخرجوا على لوطن إنهم see this is important here somehow they acknowledge that they were wrong because they said لوطن and his family they tried to purify us يتطحرون and we don't want to be purified leave me alone leave me alone this is my sexual orientation this is my sexual desire this is my sexual preference don't talk to me I'm not willing even to discuss this with you I'm a free person this is exactly what they said we don't want to be purified we don't want to be refined we don't want to be fixed or corrected leave these things for yourself go away many sociologists and Islamic scholars believe that they were straight in the beginning God did not create them deviate deviate some people say well there is something genetically wrong with them this is DNA you can't blame them this is the way they were born no Islam says Allah does not create someone genetically with a genetic defect never Allah creates people maybe physically there is something physically mentally but when it comes to the issue of sexuality and morality when it comes to any person deviate Allah says we create them according to the original fitwa my pure fitwa my pure creation maybe something physically wrong with him but that person is morally perfect we test some people we put them to test sometimes they are born with some physical defect disability at birth after birth but this is this is a test but we do not create someone who is sexually deviant and we say to him listen I created you this way and I want to take you to Jahan I want to punch Allah would not do that He would not do that only Allah creates people when it comes to morality they are pure however the society the culture the public perception the pop culture in America and outside America changes and shifts people's opinion and people's attitude on these subjects it's the pop culture it's not Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'a they said that the reason they became the people of loot they acted the way they act because they were bakhir stingies and their city these cities which is now it's part of Jordan today in Jordan these five cities or five villages at that time they were on the main road the main road were caravans they traveled on that road and sometimes they were stopped by to get some food some rest some drink some fuel you know for their animals and since they were stingy unfortunately most of them they wanted to frighten people so when people stayed the night there in their cities they would attack them and they tried to rape them rape men not women so they used this as a weapon to frighten people so people would not stop in these rest areas imagine if you drive now going let's say northeast and they tell you in this rest area there is a rapist there is a murderer definitely you are not going to stop them you are going to skip that so they started using this in the beginning as fun you know as entertainment they were not serious about it but then generations after generations they learned this bad habit and it became part and parcel of their lifestyle and they could not stop it they could not stop they started learning it and it became part of their life this is how it started this is how this problem started now whether others they want to believe this story or don't this is a story but what we believe is that Allah does not create people who are not straight and then he blames them for what they are doing so number one this this problem is ancient it's not something new but it is rejected by all religions no religion no divine religion today no divine book no divine scripture whether it's Judaism Islam before that during the time of Ibrahim or Islam or other religion who or Christianity who condone or accept this act of homosexuality now what do we think about it people say you Muslims are very harsh about it yes Judaism does not accept it Christianity probably some of them the Catholics until now until today I don't know what will happen tomorrow they still do not accept it they don't recognize it but you guys you Muslims you kill people for this so what is the answer but if someone believes he has this tendency but he does not showcase this neither he or she would practice it then of course there is no punishment for that there is no punishment the punishment comes it is a sin it could be a sin because sometimes Allah سبحانه وتعالى will hold your accountable not only for your acts but for your thoughts too for your thoughts if someone has bad thoughts about others constantly bad thoughts this is a sin but however Allah says this type of sin as long as you don't practice it outside there is no punishment the punishment comes when this act is practiced it's a practice however we in America for those who are outside and they don't have a full picture we do not promote this punishment we don't advocate this punishment we don't say those people have to be punished this is a religious verdict this is in countries that they implement the rule of Sharia we the Muslims in America we don't have rule of Sharia for a simple fact we are a minority here we are a minority in Islamic society yes this place is an Islamic community but the society at large is not an Islamic society and Islamic Sharia is not implemented in non-Muslim societies Islamic Sharia is implemented in not all Muslim societies nowadays some Muslim societies not even all Muslim societies so we don't condone this we don't condone punishment we don't advocate punishment I'm just giving you the opinion of Islam on this now what is our stand on this we believe that this is a type of disease I'm not saying this is a mental illness some of them are very smart some of those people are very very smart they are genius some of them are very good very generous very kind some of them are religious some of them are Jews who practice Judaism some of them are Christians who practice Christianity some of them are Muslims who practice Islam but they have a problem this is a problem it might not be a physical problem it might not be a mental one but definitely it is a spiritual problem which requires attention which requires enlarge a solution it requires a solution I spoke with some of them in the Muslim community they shared with me their problems some of them are religious when I say religious they are practicing Muslims but they say I have this problem I can't even share it with my family my family asked me to get merit they are after me go get merit get merit get merit and I can't I can't do that but they don't understand it so they come and share with us we have to understand that I'm not saying we have to condone or accept what they do there is a big difference between saying to someone yes no Alhamdulillah keep it stay as you are I'm not going to deceive them because I live in America and this is an open society and we have to accept no I have to accept Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and whatever Allah tells me but we have to try to understand them not to punish them right away not to say listen there is no solution for you the only way is Jahannan that's not good that's not a solution just like a patient who goes to doctor's office and as soon as the doctor sees him he says oh you are going to die tomorrow listen no solution you are going to die tomorrow prepare yourself for death this is not a doctor this is not a doctor so we have to understand this problem some of them they are under severe severe pressure and pain unfortunately and they try to change themselves and they seek counseling but they still he or she would say I tried pray for me pray for me I tried a lot I failed so far we have to give them hope hope never give up on Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala don't lose your hope maybe this is a test and this is a test exactly it is a test it's a severe test sometimes Allah tests someone with his money and sometimes He tests him with such a severe severe type of problem it's very severe but they should not give up hope this is what I tell them I tell them the same Lord that I believe in you also believe in Him so speak to your Lord and ask for his guidance ask for his help and Allah puts you in a very difficult situation to test you never lose hope try to change some of these influences are societal even if you read about the history of this act in America back in the 50's or 60's this was a taboo nobody could even mention that it was in the 70's mid 70's when some of them started to declare publicly why because the society today he helps the society helps these perceptions especially when the Supreme Court the highest judicial authority in America they condone this and they give the green light for it that of course you're going to see more people are coming out and they say I was hiding this for 10 years 20 years now see everybody say this is okay and they expect us to say okay religious leaders imams teachers but we should not say this is okay أمير المؤمنين عليه الصلاة والسلام has a beautiful Hadith in this regard أمير المؤمنين says لا تستوح شو في طريق الهدى لقلة من يسلكو لا تستخدموه لا تستخدموه إذا كتبت في طريق الهدى وهذا الطريق هو جميل أنت the only one who is walking in that path all others are walking in a different path you are the only one who is in that path so don't say maybe I'm wrong see look at people all people are saying go to that side I'm the only one on this side are you alright don't be afraid don't be intimidated always the path of the truth the people who follow it are less in number than the path of falsehood so we are not going to agree with this because the superior court or the supreme court or the president was congratulating yesterday you know the president he picked up the form did you see that clip I saw it and he was congratulating that guy who was fighting for these rights for so many years the guy is a man he was a man and then he says yeah unfortunately I was fighting with my husband it's very weird to say a man who says with my husband and his husband died of course died before they were able to legalize their marriage so the president was congratulating him on his struggle on his jihad long jihad until today he accomplished victory we are not we disagree with that however what I say we have to be careful when we handle this problem because at the end of the day those people are what are human beings and every single human being has a right to live to exist every single human being has the right for guidance to collect himself every single human being and we have to understand the dilemma I'm not saying we sympathize with them and we tell them stay where you are good good job you know no it's just exactly like a doctor who knows this is a patient he has to fix his problem it does not tell him stay stay sick you know good for you no now some parents ask me do we allow our children to speak to those people to take them as a friend many in the young community here some of you are here tonight you ask me are we allowed to take those people as friends we know many of them at school we know many of them at work so what is our stand with them do we stay away completely from them not talking to them not socializing with them all we take them as friends because some of them are really good people they have good equalities some of them they sympathize with the Muslim community some of them they sympathize with justice with the truth I remember maybe more than 10 years ago I was speaking at Westminster College in South Lake City one of the private universities in the nation called Westminster College South Lake City 10 years ago someone asked me in the audience they said to me what does Islam stand on on sexuality I said it is unacceptable rejected it's a sin it's a crime so when we finished I was leaving he came to me he said I'm a convert he's American white American he said I'm a convert but I'm a gay so I want you to teach me I want you to help me so many of them they have good faith they want to be good people they need help so in this case where do we stand on the question of friendship with them are we allowed to take them as friends or not this depends on the situation case by case Islam says if those people do not pose a danger on you they don't pose a danger on you they would not change you or change your perception or your orientation they would not change your family then you may speak to them maybe maybe you as a Muslim as a good Muslim educated Muslim you can change them one day and when you change them Allah SWT says about this change about saving a human life He says ومن أحياها فكأنما أحيا النارسة جميعا if you try to save someone's life you know that person it's not doing good that person is corrupt when someone is corrupt people stay away from him oh don't go don't go go to him leave him leave him Allah says no some of you have to be brave brave enough to say I try my best maybe I can change because if we stay away from so-called so-called bad then who's going to change them who's going to change them you think Allah will send an angel from Paradise all the Anbiya they came to the bad people they did not come to the good people including Prophet Muhammad SAW he came to the bad he came to change the bad into good and this is exactly what we must do so before we tell them about punishments don't be harsh with them some scholars they never discuss this issue when you ask them what do you think about homosexuality right away he said جهن لم دعنا تطلح دعنا تطلح دعنا تطلح دعنا تطلح دعنا تطلح دعنا دعنا إميني this is not good this is not the right way of therapy and salvaging people if I try if I start cursing this because he's a liar and this because he's a thief and this because he's one day Jesus SAW he went to a brothel you know a brothel were prostitutes they got and a brothel he was there so while he was leaving the brothel some of his disciples they say wow Jesus you are here in this brothel he said yes what's wrong a doctor sometimes sits and people come to see him and sometimes the doctor himself has to go to the patient's house those are patients I'm a doctor I came to cure them what's wrong with that what's wrong with that those are human beings even the prostitutes are human beings and my message is for all not only for the good not only for my disciples for the bad too maybe they're going to change one day they have a right to live they have the right for dignity right for guidance if I leave them if I don't get close to them who's going to go to them who's going to go to them we should know this mentality this approach that even when we find someone who's bad we do not bark at that person we do not marginalize that person we don't say don't get close to him those of you who are who have strong faith those of you who have self-confidence those of you who are religiously able and competent you must go to those people and speak to them do not completely disconnect with them maybe who knows maybe you succeed maybe you fail you leave the rest with Allah so before we speak about punishment and those people have to be punished we have to speak about the human we have to speak about the human the victorious person is the one who is adventure he goes to bad areas he doesn't go to good areas I remember a story that I learned from an American lawyer my father 20 years ago established city of knowledge in Pomona an American lawyer a lady she bought her son Christian son to the school so she said I want to sorry her daughter she bought her to the city of knowledge Islamic school so we had a debate should she be admitted to the school accepted this is an Islamic school and this girl is Christian does not believe in Islam so there was a debate someone told me he said listen if you want to admit only the good people in this school only the good people the purified the mu'minin the maqsoumin then who is going to teach those who are done maqsoum who is going to teach them this school is a place where you nurture people where you change people so you have to have all sorts of people so you can change them and this is Islam exactly this is the view of Islam regarding a humanity in the society we have all sorts of people we have people who believe in you know heterosexual we have people who are homosexual we are people who are straight we have people who are gay we have people who are deviant we have people who are but then we should be cured although at the same time I reiterate here what I said we do not condone same sex marriage we never condone never ever condone homosexuality but this is a type of disease that we must deal with it careful we must deal with it with compassion not with wrath not with love and wrath not with utter rejection we have to deal with it with compassion maybe insha'Allah at your hand Allah can save the lives and the dignities of so many people insha'Allah اللهم اخفر المؤمنين والمؤمنات والمسلمين والمسلمات الأحياء إنهم والأموات تابع لهم بيننا وبينهم بالخيرات إنك مجيبوا الدعوات إنك غافروا فضيات تقبل مننا صلاتنا وصيامنا ودعاءنا في هذا الشهر عظيم اللهم كل وليك الحجة ابن الحسن صلواتك عليه وعلى آبائه في هذه الساعة وفي كل ساعة وليا وحافظا وقائدا وناصرة ودليلا وعينا حتى تسكنه أرضك طوعا وتمتعه فيها طويلا ودعن اللهم من هنصاره وعوانه ويلأ الواح المؤمنة والمؤمنات والشهداء والشهداء والتغيير والبقاء والسلوات والبقاء 28 أمام كانت قلت في ساعة المسك في المؤمنة في المسك في المسك وقلت أمام كثيرا كثيرا أعلم أن أمام كانت قلت الشهداء أعلم أنهم أفرصون 28 منهم كانت قلت وعلى 250 كانت مؤمنة بعضهم وعلى هذه الموقف من هؤلاء 28 منهم كانت قلت 7 منهم كانت قلت بقاء نجف بقاء في مؤمنة في المسك أبدا أمام أمام أمام كانت قلت في المسك أعلم أن أمام أن أمام سورة ومؤمنة وكل الشهداء الشهداء المسلمين وإراق في سيريا في يمن في أسمان أولا في كويت في سيريا وقیل ومالجس ومؤمنة سورة بالفاتح سولة ومالن وقال ومالن وابدو فبح فبح فبح فبح فبح فبح فبحاب فبح فبح فبح فبح فبح فبح