Protecting rights of sexual minorities is to give them recognition, which is against Islam, says Isma
Continuing its attacks on the proposed unity bills, Muslim rights group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) said protecting the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community would mean that the country was giving the group "recognition".
Instead, Isma's ulama council chairman Associate Professor Dr Aznan Hasan (pic) said, the LGBT community which "practises same-sex relationships" needed to be fought and punished.
Failure to do so would bring on the wrath of Allah and His retribution would be very heavy on Earth and in the afterlife, Aznan said.
He was commenting on a statement by the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) Law and Policy working committee chairman Datuk Mujahid Yusof Rawa, who had said that a person could not be discriminated because of his sexual orientation.
Mujahid and his committee had drafted three new bills – the Racial and Religious Hate Crimes Bill, the National Harmony and Reconciliation Bill and the National Harmony and Reconciliation Commission Bill – to replace the draconian Sedition Act.
However, these bills have come under severe criticism from Muslim hardliners, who want a clause which protects the rights of sexual minorities to be removed.
In an article on Isma's website, Aznan was reported as saying that although it was true that Islam did not discriminate people based on gender, the religion, however, had never recognised the LGBT as a sexual orientation that was acceptable.
"Accepting them who are LGBT and not taking any action against them will be like recognising their wayward sexual wishes and wants," he was quoted as saying.
He hit out at Mujahid, saying that the PAS politician should realise that Allah would severely punish those who were into LGBT practices.
"When one is convicted of LGBT practices, he or she has to go through the necessary judgement process, not because of discrimination but because they have done it.
"He or she cannot be left just like that after doing the crime," he said, adding that Mujahid's statement also implies that those involved in sodomy should not be punished.
Continuing his attack, Aznan then urged Mujahid, who is a Muslim scholar, to refer to those knowledgeable in the Islamic religion before making such statements as he was confusing not only himself, but other Muslims as well.
Mujahid, in an interview with a news portal recently, had insisted that protecting the rights of minorities did not mean giving them "recognition".
“This has nothing to do with endorsing the LGBT community. The clause simply says one cannot be discriminated because of one's sexual orientation. This does not mean recognition. If someone is gay and is fired from his job because of that, then it is not right. That is what we are looking at,” Mujahid was quoted as saying.
He had also previously defended the bills, which some said were drafted to uphold the “liberal-secular” conventions of human rights, pointing out that it was "very Islamic" as all stipulations in them were based on the teachings of the Quran.
Human rights activists have called on NUCC to stand firm and not bow to pressure from Muslim groups and politicians, saying that sexual minorities group in Malaysia deserved to be protected from discrimination and removing the provision would be a step backwards.
Yesterday, Isma attacked the newly-formed movement Negara-Ku, claiming that is was a new front for humanist, liberal and religious pluralist movements in the country.
Negara-Ku had said that it was a people's movement aimed at healing Malaysia and restoring hope, given recent challenges that continue to threaten the peace and harmony of its multi-ethnic and multi-faith society.
Earlier this year, Isma president Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman had caused a furore when he said that Chinese migrants brought in by the British to Tanah Melayu were “trespassers”, and questioned the citizenship and wealth given to them.
He was charged under the Sedition Act in June for his statement. – July 11, 2014.
