Mehdi Hasan Quotes
We have to find a way to try and reconcile our beliefs - and Islam, like Judaism and Christianity, has traditionally seen homosexuality as a sin - with the reality of life in modern, pluralistic, secular societies in which gay people cannot be wished away or banished from sight.
Hasan, Mehdi. "Why I am struggling with gay marriage." New Statesman, 12 Dec. 2012.
Islam forbids homosexuality and Sharia (Islamic religious law) prescribes death as the penalty for homosexuality. At that time Iran was a Muslim theocracy and if there were overt homosexuality that was officially discovered, the heretics would be killed. The logic of the government was that since they had killed the homosexuals, there were none left. At the same time all the research showed that while Muslim homosexuality was slightly less than Christian, it was still quite significant in all Muslim cultures that had been studied. If the President was to be believed, Iran was the only exception.
These lines illustrate a tactic of many Muslim leaders who go out of their way to make moderate statements to the Western press and media audiences while whipping up extremism when appearing on Middle Eastern media.
Mehdi Raza Hasan is a British-American political journalist, broadcaster and author.
