FIRST of all, accept my congratulations for being elected the leader of Ontario Liberal Party and Premier of Ontario. I also admire your ability of hard work, networking, outreaching, focused to success, engaging and using your folks at maximum of their ability.
I noticed from your speeches that you have been continuously expressing your feelings of pride being the first openly gay/lesbian politician of Ontario and Canada and now being the first openly gay Premier (ruler) of Ontario / Canada/world.
However, the responsible leaders and people of character of the world of all generations always expressed their opinion in opposite. The logical reason is very simple; the gay lifestyle doesn’t further the species, and it leads to irresponsible citizenry. It may wane the most precious specie of the world, the human being.
As a progeny and believer of the last Messenger of God, Muhammad (peace be upon him), I want to draw your attention to what he (peace be upon him) brought as a warning from God [through the angel Jibril (Gabriel) ]. Similar warnings have been brought by Moses (pbuh) and Jesus (pbuh), and a part of it can be found in today’s Jewish and Christian Bibles. All the Muslims of the world are supposed to be representatives of the Messages of the last Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (pbuh), as they (our ancestors) took oath and testified to do so in front of the Messenger (pbuh) on the occasion of last pilgrimage (Hajj) of Muhammad (pbuh) (conveying his Message to the rest of the world till Doomsday.)
The Quran addressed the issue of homosexuality at different occasions with reference to the nation of a prophet of God, Lot (pbuh), the first nation (people of Sodom ) in the history who adopted this lifestyle. Lot (pbuh) has been sent to this nation to warn them.
God says in Quran (the last edition of series of divine books sent by God);
The meaning of Arabic text:
“And remember when We sent Lot [as a Messenger to his people and he said to them:1 'Do you realize you practice an indecency of which no other people in the world were guilty of before you? You approach men lustfully in place of women. You are a people who exceed all bounds.'2 Their only answer was: 'Banish them from your town. They are a people who pretend to be pure.' 3 Then We delivered Lot and his household, save his wife, who stayed behind,4 And We let loose a shower [of stones] upon them,5 Observe, then, the end of the evil-doers. Quran: Al’Araf (7: 81-85)
Explanation of these Quranic verses by Late Sayyid Abul A’la Mawdudi (b.1903 – d. 1979)
1. The land inhabited by the people of Lot, which lies between Iraq and Palestine , is known as Trans-Jordan. According to the Bible, its capital town was Sodom , which is situated either somewhere near the Dead Sea , or presently lies submerged under it. Apart from Sodom , according to the Talmud, there were four other major cities, and the land lying between these cities was dotted with such greenery and orchards that the whole area looked like one big garden enchanting any onlooker. However, the whole nation was destroyed and today we can find no trace of it. So much so that it is difficult to even locate the main cities which they inhabited. If anything remains as a reminder of this nation it is the Dead Sea which is also called the Sea of Lot . The Prophet Lot, who was a nephew of the Prophet Abraham, accompanied his uncle as he moved away from Iraq . Lot sojourned to Syria , Palestine and Egypt for a while and gained practical experience of preaching his message. Later God bestowed prophethood upon him and assigned to him the mission of reforming his misguided people. The people of Sodom have been referred to as the people of Lot presumably because Lot may have established matrimonial ties with those people.
2. The Qur’an refers elsewhere to the many evil deeds of the people of Lot . Here the Qur’an confines itself to mentioning that most ignominious of crimes which invited God’s scourge upon them.
The hideous act of sodomy, for which the people of Lot earned notoriety, has no doubt been committed by perverts in all times. The Greek philosophers had the distinction of glorifying it as a moral virtue. It was left, however, for the modern West to vigorously propagate sodomy so much so that it was declared legal by the legislatures of a few countries. All this has been done in the face of the obvious fact that this form of sexual intercourse is patently unnatural. God created distinctions between the sexes of all living beings for the purposes of reproduction and perpetuation of the species. As far as the human species is concerned, their creation into two sexes is related to another end as well: that the two should come together in order to bring into existence the family and establish human civilization. In view of this, not only were human beings divided into two sexes, but each sex was made attractive to the other. The physical structure and psychological make-up of each sex was shaped in keeping with the purpose of forging bonds of mutual cordiality between the members of the two sexes. The sexual act, which is intensely pleasurable, is at once a factor leading to the fulfillment of nature’s purposes as underlined by the sexual division of humankind as well as a reward for fulfilling these purposes.
Now, the crime of the person who commits sodomy in flagrant opposition to this scheme of things is not limited to that act alone. In fact he commits along with it a number of other crimes. First, he wages war against his own nature, against his inherent psychological predilection. This causes a major disorder which leads to highly negative effects on the lives of both the parties involved in that unnatural act – effects which are physical, psychological as well as moral. Second, he acts dishonestly with nature since while he derives sexual pleasure he fails to fulfill the societal obligation of which this pleasure is recompense. Third, such a person also acts dishonestly with human society. For, although he avails himself of the advantages offered by various social institutions, when he has an opportunity to act, he uses his abilities in a manner which not only fails to serve that society but which positively harms it. Apart from neglecting the obligations he owes to society, he renders himself incapable of serving the human race and his own family. He also produces effeminacy in at least one male and potentially pushes at least two females towards sexual corruption and moral depravity.
3. It is evident from the present verse that the people of Lot Were not only shameless and corrupt, but were also a people who had sunk in moral depravity to such a degree that even the presence of a few righteous persons had become intolerable to them. Their moral degradation left them with no patience for anyone who sought to bring about any moral reform. Even the slightest element of purity found in their society was too much for them, and they simply wished to have their society purged of it.
When these people reached such a low point of wickedness and hostility to good, God decreed that they be wiped out altogether. When the collective life of a people becomes totally bereft of goodness and purity, it forfeits the right to exist on earth. Their example is like that of a basket of fruit. As long as some fruit remains firm, there is some justification to keep that basket. But the basket has to be thrown away when the fruit becomes rotten.
4. As the Qur’an mentions elsewhere, Lot ’s wife supported her disbelieving relatives to the last. Hence, when God directed Lot and his followers to migrate from that corrupt land, He ordained that Lot ’s wife be left behind.
5. The ‘rainfall’ in the verse does not refer to the descent of water from the sky. It refers rather to the volley of stones. The Qur’an itself mentions that their habitations were turned upside down and ruined. See (verse 85); also (Hud 11:82-3); (al-Hijr 15:74-E.)
Ms Kathleen Wynne! I pray for you for the change of heart and soul. If you change yourself, you will find me your biggest supporter.
(Jawed Anwar can be reached at seerahwest@gmail.com)
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