Unspeakable Love: Notes to Chapter 5
1. The site lists the imams involved in answering questions as: Dr. Dani Doueiri and team, Beirut, Lebanon; Br. Muhammed Musri, Islamic Center of Central Florida, Orlando; Dr. Yahia Abdul Rahman, LaRiba Bank, California; Dr. Ahmed H. Sakr, Foundation of Islamic Knowledge, California; Dr. Muzammil Siddiqui, Islamic Society of Orange County, California. It states that answers merely reflect the opinions of the scholars and are not necessarily fatwas. See: http://www.islamicity.com/qa/about.shtml.
2. Question#: 2633; Question Date: 1/13/1998. Original spelling and grammar of the letter have been retained. http://www.islamicity.com/qa/action.lasso.asp?-db=services&-lay=Ask&-op=eq&number=2633&-format=detailpop.shtml&-find
3. Question#: 1099 Question Date: 4/25/1997. http://www.islamicity.com/qa/action.lasso.asp?-db=services&-lay=Ask&-op=eq&number=1099&-format=detailpop.shtml&-find
4. Question#: 2658 Question Date: 2/4/1998. http://www.islamicity.com/qa/action.lasso.asp?-db=services&-lay=Ask&-op=eq&number=2658&-format=detailpop.shtml&-find
5. For examples see: Griffiths, Raza: ‘Sodom and the Koran.’ Gay Times (UK), May 2000. Reproduced at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/al-fatiha-news/message/45.
6. In the discussion that follows, “IslamOnline” refers to www.islamonline.net which is owned by “Al-Balagh Cultural Society for the Service of Islam on the Internet”, based in Doha, Qatar. There is a similarly-named website, www.islamonline.com, which is owned by AJ Publishing in Dubai. AJ Publishing also owns www.aljazeera.com, which is sometimes confused with www.aljazeera.net, the website of the Qatar-based TV channel, al-Jazeera.
7. ‘Can I attend a homosexual “wedding”?’ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=101635
8. ‘How to give up homosexuality.’ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=99505
9. ibid.
10. See http://www.islamonline.net/english/aboutus.shtml
11. See http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6191955/ and http://www.islam-online.net/english/News/2001-02/08/article3.shtml
12. The visit, and particularly Qaradawi’s meeting with the “gay-friendly” mayor of London, was opposed by large sections of the British press, together with various gay, Jewish, Hindu and Sikh organisations. See http://www.londoncommunitycoalition.org/
13. For further background on Qaradawi, a fairly sympathetic account is at http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Yusuf+al-Qaradawi. A more critical account, by the Anti-Defamation League is at http://www.adl.org/main_Arab_World/al_Qaradawi_report_20041110
14. Abbar, Farhat al-: ‘Qaradawi urges gender equality on blood money.’ IslamOnline, December 24, 2004. http://islamonline.net/English/News/2004-12/24/article05.shtml
15. See, for example, Whitaker, Brian: ‘Legally brutalised.’ The Guardian, November 30, 2004. http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,,1362957,00.html
16. Qaradawi, Yusuf al-, ‘The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam.’ International Islamic Federation of Student Organisations, Kuwait 1984. Quoted by London Community Coalition, http://www.londoncommunitycoalition.org/qaradawi-coalitiondocument.pdf, pp 24-25.
17. ‘Homosexuality is a major sin.’ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=30519
18. Awady, Nadia el-: ‘Homosexuality in a changing world: are we being misinformed?’ http://islamonline.net/english/Contemporary/2003/02/article01-0.shtml
19. ‘Islamic manners in dealing with homosexuals.’ Fatwa by Dr Muzammil Siddiqi, former president of the Islamic Society of North America, June 18, 2003. http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=2753
20. ‘Homosexuality and lesbianism: sexual perversions.’ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=100855
21. ‘Can I attend a homosexual “wedding”?’ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=101635
22. ibid.
23. ‘Death fall as punishment for homosexuality.’ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=76474
24. ‘Homosexuality and lesbianism: sexual perversions.’ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=100855
25. ‘Homosexuality is a major sin.’ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=30519
26. ‘Homosexuality and lesbianism: sexual perversions.’ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=100855
27. ‘Islamic manners in dealing with homosexuals.’ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=2753
28. ‘Islam’s stance on homosexual organisations.’ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=72432
29. ‘How to give up homosexuality.’ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=99505
30. ‘What we offer.’ http://www.narth.com/menus/goals.html.For a detailed article about homosexuality “cures” in the United States, including Narth and its religious connections, see Aitkenhead, Decca: ‘Going straight,’ The Guardian, April 3, 2004. http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,1183596,00.htm
31. In a briefing paper, ‘Just the facts about sexual orientation & youth: a primer for principals, educators and school personnel’, the American Psychiatric Association states: “The most important fact about ‘reparative therapy’, also sometimes known as ‘conversion’ therapy, is that it is based on an understanding of homosexuality that has been rejected by all the major health and mental health professions. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the National Association of Social Workers, together representing more than 477,000 health and mental health professionals, have all taken the position that homosexuality is not a mental disorder and thus there is no need for a ‘cure’. http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/publications/justthefacts.html
32. ‘Answers to your questions about sexual orientation and homosexuality.’ http://www.apa.org/pubinfo/answers.html#cantherapychange
33. Awady, op cit.
34. ‘Homosexuality-related research.’ http://islamonline.net/english/Contemporary/2003/02/article01-2.shtml
35. ‘The Muslim view of homosexuality.’ http://www.narth.com/docs/muslim.html
36. Whatever factors were involved in decisions by American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from their lists of mental illnesses in the 1970s, it should be noted that the government-appointed Wolfenden Committee in Britain reached the same conclusion 20 years earlier – at a time when gay activism had scarcely begun. For more on Wolfenden, see Chapter 4.
37. For biographical details see http://63.175.194.25/words/munajed/munajid_eng.html
38. ‘Having the habit of eating with one's left hand.’ Islam Q&A, question 3020. http://63.175.194.25/index.php?ln=eng&ds=qa&lv=browse&QR=3020&dgn=4
39. The following is typical of modern guidance given to parents who ask if they should discourage children from using their left hand: “The short and emphatic answer is ‘No’! Handedness is determined by the brain, not the hand, and the most versatile hand is that which helps brain and hand work together for language and writing. Left-handedness is part of a person’s makeup, not a trend or habit that can be quashed or discouraged. With consideration and encouragement, left-handers can learn to overcome many of the obstacles encountered through living in a right-handed world.”http://www.all4kidsuk.com/left_handed_children.help.shtml
40. Psalm 118, vv 15-16.
41. Matthew 25 v 41.
42. For more about left-handedness, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_handed. Also ‘The left-handed riddle.’ Health News, April 1992. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0857/is_n2_v10/ai_12206761. Superstitions about the left, from a variety of cultures, are described at: http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/lefty_myths.html
43. This was particularly important because the usual method of cleansing, with water or a stone rather than paper, could bring the hand into direct contact with faeces. Food was traditionally eaten from a shared plate, using the fingers rather than knives and forks – a practice that continues in some areas.
44. ‘Left-handedness.’ style="http://www.islamicity.com/dialogue/Q325.HTM
45. ‘Wife having a relationship with another man.’ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=87322
46. See Chapter 4.
47. style="http://www.straightway.org.uk .It is a British-based organisation.
48. ‘We are being misinformed.’ http://straightway.sinfree.net/understanding/awady-comments.htm. The author’s name, Mujahid Mustaqim, translates into English as “Straight Struggler” and is almost certainly a pseudonym. Pages on Straightway’s website are headed “The Straight Struggle”, with quotations from the opening sura of the Qur’an (al-Fatiha): “Guide us to the straight path”.
49. ibid.
50. ‘Submitted questions & comments.’ http://straightway.sinfree.net/feedback/quecom.htm
51. ‘Kissing others: what is and is not allowed?’ http://islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=105368
52. .‘Why should I marry?’ http://www.inter-islam.org/Lifestyle/marry.htm#Mastb
53. ‘Solo sex (male and female masturbation).’ http://www.alinaam.org.za/library/solos.htm. (Alinaam is the website of a South African madrasa.) Also reproduced at http://straightway.sinfree.net/rulings/morality_solo.htm
54. ‘Mastribution’ [sic]. Islamic Voice, June 1998. http://www.islamicvoice.com/june.98/islamic.htm
55. Presumably “thick and dense” refers to seminal fluid rather than the actual sperm.
56. Islamic Voice, op cit.
57. Qur’an XXIII (al-Mu’minun) 5-7. Pickthall’s version. http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/023.qmt.html
58. ‘Islamic rulings on homosexuality.’ Reproduced at http://straightway.sinfree.net/rulings/fatwas4.htm
59. ‘Addiction to porn and masturbation: Islamic remedy.’ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=104514
60. ‘Islam’s stance on oral sex.’ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=31729
61. ‘Ask the Imam’ http://www.islam.tc/ask-imam/view.php?q=11873
62. http://www.dawateislami.net/services/imam/view.asp?problemid=9&pageno=1&title=Divorce+(Talaq)
63. ‘Is anal intercourse permissible?’ http://www.sistani.org/html/eng/main/index.php?page=4&lang=eng&part=1
64. Mufti Ebrahim Desai http://www.islam.tc/ask-imam/view.php?q=11873
65. Qur’an II (al-Baqara) 223. Pickthall’s version. On the association between agricultural and sexual fertility, Prof Fred Halliday points out that the colloquial Portuguese term for “vagina”, buseita, appears to be derived from the Arabic for “a little field” (correspondence with the author, August 2005).
66. ‘Islamic ruling on anal sex.’ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=28770. There are others who argue that this verse prohibits vaginal sex from the rear.
67. ibid.
68. ‘Men wearing silver chains.’ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=115154
69. For further discussion of transgender issues in an Islamic context see: ‘Gender identity and Islam.’ http://www.safraproject.org/sgi-genderidentity.htm
70. Quoted by IslamOnline. “Having an affair with a hermaphrodite.” http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=61625
71. ‘Five sisters undergoing sex change.’ Arab News, June 16, 2004.
72. The report did not say where the operation took place but named the doctor as Muhammad Hassan, a plastic surgeon. It was published in the Middle East Times, Issue 10, 2004, attributed to Agence France Presse. It is reproduced at http://www.gaymiddleeast.com/news/article17.htm.
73. Harrison, Frances: ‘Iran’s sex-change operations.’ BBC Newsnight, January 6, 2005. Reported on the BBC website, January 5, 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4115535.stm
74. Fathi, Nazila: ‘As repression lifts, more Iranians change their sex.’ New York Times, August 2, 2004. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10711F834590C718CDDA10894DC404482
75. Harrison, op cit.
76. According to the Associated Press, Iran and Egypt are the only Muslim countries in the Middle East where people can officially change their gender with relative ease. Jordan, Lebanon and Syria also recognise gender changes, but it takes complicated and lengthy court proceedings. See: ‘Kuwaiti sex-change woman fights a lonely battle against Muslim conservatism.’ Associated Press, November 4, 2004.
77. Griffiths, op cit.
78. Made for television on a low budget in 1985, My Beautiful Laundrette was so well received by critics at the Edinburgh Film Festival that it was later distributed internationally for cinemas. The writer, Hanif Kureishi, won an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. Details:Internet Movie Database http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091578/. Review: Edinburgh University Film Society http://www.eufs.org.uk/films/my_beautiful_laundrette.html.
79. Whitaker, Brian: ‘Saudi textbooks “demonise west”.’ The Guardian, July 14, 2004 http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1260676,00.html. “Saudi School in Virginia disparages Christianity and Judaism.” Saudi Institute, July 13, 2004. http://www.saudiinstitute.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=136. The claim in the textbook is contradicted by the Qur’an (II, 136): “We believe in Allah, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) Prophets from their Lord: we make no difference between one and another of them: and we bow to Allah.”The main author of the religious curriculum is Sheikh Saleh al-Fawazan who believes slavery is justified in Islam, opposes the marriage of Arab women to non-Arab men (even if they are Muslims) and has issued a fatwa against watching television.
80. Interview in Griffiths, Raza, op cit.
81. ‘Muslims’ implementing shari’ah in the west.’ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=72190
82. Sheikh Ahmad Kutty is described as a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
83. ‘Socialisation with non-Muslims: permissible?’ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=100762
84. Wilkins, Richard: ‘The worldwide attack on marriage – a battle we cannot lose.’ Meridian online magazine (undated). http://www.meridianmagazine.com/familywatch/041014attack.html. See also: ‘The miracle in Istanbul 1996 stopped a plan to make gay marriage a “human right”.’ http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/mostert/040225
85. Wilkins, Richard. ‘Istanbul: Defending the Family.’ Account in the history section of the WFPC website. http://www.worldfamilypolicy.org/history.htm
86. http://www.dicf.org.qa/english/index.html (No longer available)
87. ‘Meridian readers made a big difference at the United Nations.’ http://www.meridianmagazine.com/familywatch/041208difference.html