He’s a threat to Islam. He must die. But also: Bravo, what courage! Radio Netherlands Worldwide has received many responses to the portrait of Mushin Hendricks, the gay imam from South Africa. Hendricks doesn’t feel under pressure from death threats, and insists "I’ll keep on asking questions.”
by Klaas den Tek and Mirjam Aly
Mostly from the Arab world, but also from Indonesia, came reactions to the article about Imam Hendricks.
Reinhard Luhulima from Indonesia writes: "Hendricks’ utterances reflect his own beliefs. If each person expresses his own beliefs about the teaching of God, this can lead to chaos in the world. Hendricks should be hung for his beliefs, which are misplaced."
And this is on our Arabic site: "What I know is that there is no place for homosexuality in Islam. Whoever claims that is a jihadist. Could this be a jihadist imam? "
Two invitees
Homosexuality in Muslim countries
Arab countries: In many Arab countries there are severe punishments for homosexuals. In some countries the death penalty is imposed: Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Sudan, Mauritania and parts of Somalia and Nigeria. In those countries, sharia law applies. Gay men risk lashings, long prison sentences or stoning. Egypt has no death penalty for gay men. But even there the authorities sometimes react harshly. Homosexual acts are seen as displaying ‘contempt for religion’. In the past, gay men were tortured.
Iran: The Islamic Republic of Iran is considered the most gay-unfriendly country in the world. In 2005, two young gay men aged 17 and 18 years were hanged. It caused a storm of international criticism. Lesbians get 100 lashes.
Indonesia: Homosexuality is permitted in principle. Moderate Muslim scholars believe that, under Islam, there is no reason to reject gay men. Some regions of Indonesia – such as Aceh – are less liberal. There, gay men face 100 lashes and eight years in prison.
But even in the Netherlands there is still little sympathy for the story of this imam who maintains that there is indeed room in Islam for homosexuality. When Hendricks recently gave a lecture in the Netherlands, only two of the 50 invitees showed up.
"I feel that the Muslim community in the Netherlands is not yet ready to openly discuss sexuality, let alone homosexuality. I don’t think an imam is willing to take a position about it. They avoid the subject.”
The article on the gay imam was used by RNW partner stations and many other websites. 1,200 readers responded on one South African forum and 400 Senegalese gave their opinion on the news site seneweb.com. Everywhere the story led to confrontations between supporters and opponents.
Middle Ages
The proponents: a reader from Indonesia cannot imagine that Allah punishes gay people for something they have not asked for themselves: "They are born with it. It is not fair if God punishes them, when we consider God the Merciful. Another reader praised Hendricks for his battle against fundamentalism in Islam: "Good to finally see Islam - albeit slowly - trying to move out of the Middle Ages!”
But the vast majority of the reactions are negative. For example, Hendricks is a danger to Islam "because he interprets his faith the wrong way. The Qur'an and the Hadith - the traditions of the Prophet – offer this reader simply no room for homosexuality.”
The right to ask questions
Hendricks sees himself as a practicing Muslim who wants to discuss the subject within the Muslim community. He has spent many years in Pakistan studying Islam. He is no longer afraid of death threats:
"The Qur'an calls on Muslims to ask questions. And I’m making use of that right. I don’t think that Allah, who has given me that right, will punish me at the same time because I’m making use of it. Some Muslims react too emotionally to the subject. Many innocent people are dying because of the misconception that Islam is against homosexuality."
(as/imm)
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im still waiting for us believers to own that we laid foundation for( multiple inquistions, genecides, deportations, containment centers, and antisemetic writings) and along with non believers, conducted(germany, 30 million pop., 50% catholic and 50%lutheran, first country to receive the bible in its own language, translated by their national hero, martin luther) the halocaust.
why would we believers assume that in believing in the supremacy of aryan blood, we could not believe in christ as well, when the religious south along with the rest of the country, had no problem in believing in the supremacy of white blood over black blood.
just as scripture in no way says, that homosexuality of itself is a sin, scripture quite clearly, says that any form of antisemetism is against the new covenant of christ.
i say we believers, because just as we own the successes of the body of christ we also own the failures as well.
im still waiting for us believers to own that we laid foundation for( multiple inquistions, genecides, deportations, containment centers, and antisemetic writings) and along with non believers, conducted(germany, 30 million pop., 50% catholic and 50%lutheran, first country to receive the bible in its own language, translated by their national hero, martin luther) the halocaust.
why would we believers assume that in believing in the supremacy of aryan blood, we could not believe in christ as well, when the religious south along with the rest of the country, had no problem in believing in the supremacy of white blood over black blood.
just as scripture in no way says, that homosexuality of itself is a sin, scripture quite clearly, says that any form of antisemetism is against the new covenant of christ.
i say we believers, because just as we own the successes of the body of christ we also own the failures as well.
Another RNW article relating to hate speech, Islam, and homosexuality. Guaranteed a pile of comments. It's a magnet for anyone who has strong opinions on such things. Hard core Islamists, bigots, racists, and each of their opponents. People who don't recognize the existence of hate speech... How long until our resident conflicted American copy/Paste-master General shows up?
The suspense is killing me.
By this you mean Hiram?
Look... people need to be reminded of both jihad and ijtihad. You cannot merely covet or desire one aspect of the religion. Why in all of this conversations is ijtihad never discussed?
correction:"They will be judged by what they have been doing to gay people,--in the end,'-rather than,-"They will be judged, in the end, what they have been doing to gay people."
The chaos in the World is not because of gay people but because of bad religions with their hands covered with blood.They show that they are not interested in God but in political power possession.They will do everything to show how stupid they are by hatred escalation,-- not looking to what has been creating for centuries to reveal their stupidity to the sensitive and just people in this world.They will be judged, in the end, what they have been doing to gay people.God is the God of wisdom and intelligence. He doesn't have anything with stupidity that leads to bloodshed.Only humans can be so stupid by their lack of proper recognition what shades of human love are and what is the useless filthy crime of bloodshed performed by so called religious "human beings."Shame!
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