News & Comment
Tolerant to LGBT but Intolerant to the Idea of Khilafah

News

As reported by Reuters, Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte, on Sunday (16/12) expressed his support for same-sex unions, at a gathering of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Davao City, after previously declaring his opposition to gay marriage, in an about-face that may displease bishops in the mainly Roman Catholic country. Duterte vowed to protect the rights of homosexuals and invited them to nominate a representative to work in his government. “I said I am for (same) sex marriage if that is the trend of the modern times,” he said. Duterte’s standing-position apparently has resonance with Australia and Taiwan to legalize same sex marriage, Taiwan even became the first and only place in Asia where LGBT marriage is legal.

Meanwhile in Indonesia, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court (MK) on Thursday (14/12) rejected a petition to outlaw extramarital and gay sex by a five to four vote, in the world’s largest Muslim population. The MK ruled against the 2016 petition by the Family Love Alliance (AILA) to alter some articles in the criminal code, who sought to prevent Indonesia from being swamped by immoral behavior.

Comment

Duterte's attitude change in the Philippines and the laxness of Indonesian law against LGBT could be one sign of the success of the LGBT political movement that has been transformed into a political force since the last two decades, seen from the increasingly swift campaign of LGBT rights culminating in the UN recognition of the rights of LGBT in the UN Declaration on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity December 2008.

Chairman of the Civilized Indonesian Movement (GIB), Bagus Riyono, also revealed that LGBT is now becoming a political movement, and the dangers are multidimensional because of the strong support from foreign powers. The LGBT main sponsor is the champion of freedom - the United States - who seriously funds the UNDP program called "Being LGBT in Asia" with US $8 million USAID funding from December 2014 to September 2017, focusing operations in East Asia and Southeast Asia.

Hence in Indonesia, the "radical" LGBT and its activists had started to welcome and increasingly appreciated even by the Minister of Religion in this largest Muslim country. Yet LGBT has always been a "red line" issue for Islam and sensitive to Muslim countries and even other religions, while for secular Western countries, this issue is a barometer of the support of human rights and freedom that their ideology adopts.

The community leaders throughout the Islamic world should not let the authorities of the Islamic world become tolerant of LGBT campaign spread, but being intolerant of Islamic teaching itself. Muslim scholars and intellectuals are obliged to educate the Ummah that the LGBT movement is a freedom of lust movement which radically deviates from human nature and is harmful to society and state. It is radical because the extreme freedom embodied in this idea makes individuals unconcerned about public interest let alone the future generation; this understanding radically destroys life, spreads disease and annihilating human civilization. LGBT clearly conforms to radical thought as it’s rooted from secularism and liberalism as an ideology and value system.

Muslim rulers in the Islamic world lost their alignments to Islam and its ideology, making them subject to the international pressure. Bandwagon movements blame Islam, mentioning Islam with radical label, but are reluctant to label the LGBT movement as radical. Ironically, radical label is always associated with Islam so that the teachings of Islam, such as the Khilafah, are not only classified as radical, but also got anti-Pancasila stamp, anti-diversity and even forbidden ideas. They keep campaigning against radical Islam loudly, while the teachings of LGBT campaign were actually left with tolerance! The denial of the Muslim rulers to call LGBT a dangerous radical movement and to categorize criminals and adultery as a betrayal proves that their alignments are NOT with Islam and the Ummah.

O Ulemaa, Muslim scholars and activists, let us unite into one struggle to establish the Khilafah, and to unite under the shade of Khilafah, as indeed it is the true shield of Muslims that will ensure the honor of Muslim generations in the sublime human dignity and prevent them from falling into animal behavior such as LGBT. Uthman (ra) said, "Surely Allah gives authority to the ruler to eliminate something that cannot be eliminated by the Qur’an."

Wallahu a’alam

Written for Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Fika Komara
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir