“Same sex couples should be able to get married”, said the President of the United States Barack Obama in an interview with the television station, ABC. Obama, speaking on 9th May in the Cabinet Room of the White House, stated: “At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married”. The Vice-President Joe Biden also declared he was in favour of same-sex marriage.
However leaders of the largest Christian Church in the world were clearly very disappointed:
US Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin (of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island) said,
The decision of President Barack Obama to endorse same-sex marriage is extremely disappointing, but not at all surprising. This is a very divisive and devious president who, from the beginning of his administration has actively pursued a liberal, secular agenda that discards fundamental moral values including respect for human life, and religious freedom. This is a sad day in American history. Even the President of the United States does not have the authority to redefine the sacred institution of marriage that has been given to us by God.
What is the Islamic view of ‘gay marriage’? The excellent website Eye on Gay Muslims clarifies the unambiguous teaching of Islam:
‘Whatever actions are carried out in pursuit of fulfilling sexual desires must be deemed unlawful unless the proper channel is followed, i.e. marriage, which Islam defines clearly as being only with the opposite sex. We select one relevant verse to begin a short discussion of this matter:
And Allah has given you spouses (azwāj) of your own kind, and has given you, from your spouses, sons and grandsons, and has made provision of good things for you. Is it then in vanity that they believe and in the grace of Allah that they disbelieve? [16:72]
The reference to procreation is significant, as one of the aims of marriage is indeed to bring forth new generations of humans who will worship Allah. Furthermore, much could be said about the word azwāj (sing. zawj) with its linguistic and Qur’anic meaning as “the opposite part of a pair”. One of the numerous evidences in the Qur’an of zawj meaning the opposite sex, and indeed a very relevant evidence in this context, is the following proclamation of Lut (peace be on him). Here it is evident that the spouses (azwāj) of the men addressed cannot be male, and that homosexual partners cannot be considered as azwāj:
“What! Of all creatures do ye come unto the males, and leave the spouses (azwāj) your Lord created for you? Nay, you are a people exceeding limits.” [26:165-6]
From such verses, we establish that marriage is only between a man and a woman. Therefore any sexual activity between two men or between two women is by necessity outside the realms of marriage and, by extension, outside the realms of permissibility. In other words, homosexual marriage is unsupportable within the Islamic legal system, and by definition any homosexual behaviour is fornication; indeed, it may be considered a level worse, by virtue of including the additional element of sexual perversion.’
Categories: Christianity, Current Affairs, Homosexuality
The Muslim Debate Initiative 
Except that not everyone is Islamic, or any other religion for that matter. Basing weather or not people can get married on religion is faulty. I’m sorry you think your religion owns marriage, but it does not. And everyone deserves the right to get married to who they love.
God is our creator and sustainer and he guides us on how to live our lives. Whether we choose to recognise our Lord is up to us individually of course, but His commands about the impermissibility of homosexual behaviour are clear in the Torah, gospel and Quran.
‘And everyone deserves the right to get married to who they love.’
As an atheist where do your “rights” come from, nature? the big bang?
By your definition, polygamy is a right no?
And what about incest? bestiality? a man marrying his mother? After all ‘everyone deserves the right to get married to who they love.’
God doesn’t exist. Just sayin’.
Incest, bestiality, and men marrying their mothers are clear sexual behaviors that have scientifically been proven to be due to trauma and poor mental health from a certain event or events. People who have sexual behaviors such as these tend to occur because of past problems. Not the case with homosexual relationships. If your god created animals, then clearly this god had no problem creating the ones who DO engage in homosexual relationships and sex.
Comparing those things to homosexual relationships is an insult to people who have them. My aunt deserves to get married and live a happy life with another woman just as much as a man and a woman do. Your religion does NOT own marriage, so please, stop acting like it.
Oh, and p.s. There’s a lot more incest, rape, and torturing in your bible. Sounds like your religion is just the BEST at morality.
I fear Erika you are just being ignorant or deliberately offensive: as Muslims we do not follow the Bible (which has been corrupted) but the Quran. If you are going to post on a Muslim site at least have the courtesy to find out about our beliefs.
You claim that ‘God doesn’t exist’ – what is your proof that He doesn’t exist?
I notice you have dropped your original argument that ‘everyone deserves the right to get married to who they love’. Clearly you realise that it could not withstand the obvious objection that your policy sanctions incest etc. So now you come up with a totally different argument that scientific evidence shows such relationships are unhealthy etc. I agree with you!
According to Revelation we learn that marriage is only between a man and a woman. Therefore any sexual activity between two men or between two women is by necessity outside the realms of marriage and, by extension, outside the realms of permissibility.
But even without revelation it is obvious to the objective observer that homosexual acts go against the created order for men and women: the physical complimentarily of male and female bodies is evidence of the creator’s intentions for sexual intercourse. We are designed to relate heterosexually not homosexually. God has made this crystal clear to mankind. I could go into the physical damage that anal intercourse causes but this is not the right place to discuss such things.
Erika, Just for you info.
Quote :
American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder. The American Psychological Association Council of Representatives followed in 1975.
The term Gender Identity Disorder (GID) was coined by Dr. Kenneth J. Zucker and is used to describe those who believe they were born into the body of the wrong sex. GID is a mental disorder identified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) published by the American Psychiatric Association. It’s a persistent feeling of severe discomfort with one’s own anatomical sex accompanied by a strong wish to be rid of one’s genitals and to live as the opposite sex. For example, a person who’s physical gender is a boy may actually feel and act like a girl.
Im an admirer of Obama but his recent statement on gay marriage really make me feel he has gone too far. Keep aside what the scriptures says, this way sooner or later human-animal marriage can also become a norm, astaghfirullah.