On March 10, 2020, Philadelphia Imam Nafis Abu Zayd posted a lecture to the Maktabah Ibn Taymiyyah YouTube channel that was titled "The LGBT Community Will Never Be Endorsed by Islam." Describing homosexual acts as heinous, he said that homosexuality is a psychological disease that is played on by Satan and that homosexuals prefer their sexual perversions over their God-given reason and intellect. He criticized progressive Muslims who try to find loopholes in Islam in order to accept the LGBTQ community under the pretext of civil rights and inclusion. Imam Abu Zayd also said that Allah would deal with today's homosexuals like he dealt with the homosexuals in Sodom and Gomorrah, and he explained that there is a "global agenda of homosexuality" that uses subliminal messages in order to indoctrinate people. In addition, he cited Quranic verses that said that the Jews and the Christians will never be pleased with the Muslims until they follow their way and that Muslims must not take Jews and Christians as allies.
Towards the end of his lecture, Imam Abu Zayd emphasized that Muslims are not willing to compromise their religion, that they oppose anything that goes against the Quran and the Sunnah, and that they reject progressive Islam. He added: "Islam doesn't need your progression… We do not support or advocate for modern Islam [or] for the LGBTQ community, ever."
Maktabah Ibn Taymiyyah is an Islamic library in Philadelphia. Imam Abu Zayd's lecture was a response to a recent lecture by prominent American scholar Omar Suleiman that was titled "Alliances and Coalition Building." Sheikh Suleiman had delivered his lecture, which has drawn some criticism from the Muslim community, at the LGBTQ+ Conference that was hosted by the East Plano Islamic Center in Plano, Texas.
To view the clip of Imam Nafis Abu Zayd on MEMRI TV, click here or below.
"If You Say [Homosexuality Is] A Psychological Disorder – Yes It Is"
Imam Nafis Abu Zayd: "If you commit this hideous act, if you paraded around, it's dhalim [i.e. sin]. And if you say it's a psychological disorder – yes it is.
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"The creator of everything is not responding in a sympathetic way, so why are you doing that? Tell me. Come on man. You're not going to water me down. Not with that stuff.
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"Many of you don't know about the story of Lut [i.e., the figure known as Lot in the Bible].
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"His wife, the reason why she was lagged behind is because she was one of those people who were sympathetic to the sexual perversion and deviance of these people. Which reminds me of a lot of individuals within the Muslim community and outside the Muslim community."
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"[Progressive Muslims] Try To Find Loopholes, They Try To Find Ways To Bring In, This Humanitarian, This Civil Rights, This 'We Need To Be Inclusive'"
"They try to find loopholes, they try to find ways to bring in, this humanitarian, this civil rights, this 'we need to be inclusive... They're all from our fellow human beings.' No, they have secluded themselves.
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"It is the natural order that a man is with a woman and a woman is with a man. That's the natural order.
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"They're not going to get me to buy that it was so much trauma that they had in their life... Other than the fact that it's a disease and shaytan [Satan] is playing them.
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"And they were so bold back then. They already told him... Just bring the punishment, come on, bring it. You said your Lord would destroy us, bring it. Oh, Allah brought it. Allah brought it, trust me. He brought it.
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"Allah is going to deal with them. Yes, he's going to deal with them. That is the way it is going to get done. We have to realize this. This doesn't mean hatred. See, they want you to think that this is hatred.
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"You are going to get dealt with, just like Allah dealt with these individuals."
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"There Is A Global Agenda Of Homosexuality"
"The Jew and the Christians will never be pleased with you, oh Mohammed, until you follow their way.
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"The worst crime that you can commit on earth is to commit shirk [polytheism] and disbelieve in Allah. This is the worst thing. So you mean to tell me that it is an honor to be with someone who disbelieves in Allah?
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"If a Muslim makes a statement like that, something is wrong with his aqeedah [creed].
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"This is not permissible – for the believers to take the non-believers as helpers, friends, confidants, protectors.
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"We're going to call a spade a spade. You have a sexual perversion, alright, and you prefer that sexual perversion over your reason – the God-given faculty that Allah, which is your intellect.
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"There is a global agenda of homosexuality...
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"They study the way that human beings interact, the way that human beings move. What gets them ticking, what doesn't... They do that. And they gradually have been sending subliminal messages and doing certain things with what you do, taking statistics, and seeing how to program, and to introduce this indoctrination."
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"We Will Fight Back; This Is Islam"
If you want to come and push an agenda that's other than kitaab wa sunnah [Quran and Hadith] – we will stand against you. We will mention you by name. We will point out your faults, and go into that issue.
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"We will fight back. This is Islam. We're not going to remain silent.
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"We don't want any progressive Islam.
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"[To] anyone that pushes an agenda about 'Progressive Islam' – Islam doesn't need your progression.
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"We do not support or advocate for 'modern Islam.' We do not support or advocate for the LGBT community ever. We do not support or advocate for anything that goes against kitaab wa sunnah."
