Full Lecture Transcript (Cleaned)
Introduction — 0:03
Yasir Qadhi opens with a khutbah preamble, then notes that a parent recently brought him his 14 or 15-year-old daughter who was in Islamic school but had troubling questions. Her first question: "Why does Allah care if two men love each other? Why should it bother us?"
This question takes on special urgency in June, which has been designated "Pride Month" since the Clinton era. Billions of dollars are now spent globally on parades, sales, children's reading materials, and school programs to promote this lifestyle. Muslim children get swept up in this. We have no choice but to address it directly from the pulpit.
Yasir Qadhi addresses five questions he hears from Muslim youth.
Question 1: What is the Quranic verdict? — 4:34
The Quran is explicit. The story of the Prophet Lut (Lot) — the people of Sodom and Gomorrah — is mentioned more than a dozen times across multiple surahs. In Surah al-A'raf, Allah records Lut saying to his people: "Are you committing a shameful deed (fahisha) that no one before you has done? Do you come to men with lust instead of your wives? You are people who have gone beyond what is normal."
The Quran explicitly calls it a fahisha — a deed that should cause shame and regret. The people of Lut were not just rapists, as some modern apologists claim. Yes, they may have raped travelers too, but within their own communities they engaged in consensual same-sex intercourse, and the Quran criticizes that intercourse explicitly — multiple times, across multiple surahs.
There is ijma' — unanimous consensus — on this ruling. This is the highest form of Islamic law, higher even than interpreting a single verse, because consensus means there is only one possible reading. In 14.5 centuries of our tradition, not a single scholar, sect, madhhab, or firqa has ever said same-sex actions are halal. Not one. The Hanbali master Ibn Qudama states: "All people of knowledge have unanimously agreed that same-sex actions are haram and that Allah has criticized those who do these deeds."
Beyond the Sharia: biologically, historically, medically, and by the standards of human nature (fitra), the male-female union is the norm. Studies consistently show children raised in two-parent homes of opposite-gender parents develop better intellectually, emotionally, and socially. Medically, mainstream journals confirm that STDs and health harms from same-sex unions occur at much higher rates. The biological reality is also plain — the orifice involved in male same-sex acts was created for an entirely different purpose.
But all of these secondary arguments are ultimately less important than the primary one: the Quran is explicit. What Allah says is what matters.
Question 2: What if someone has these feelings but doesn't act? — 16:39
This is a very different question. The ruling is on actions, not feelings or attractions. The hadith makes clear: Allah does not hold people accountable for thoughts that they do not act upon. If a person has feelings they did not choose and is struggling with them, this is a test from Allah — like any other test. They are not sinful for having the feelings.
What is forbidden is acting upon them. The Sharia is clear: do not act on these urges, just as you do not act on other forbidden urges (e.g., a married person attracted to someone other than their spouse). The prohibition is on acting, not on struggling internally.
The Muslim who is struggling with these feelings but is fighting them deserves compassion, dua, support, and encouragement. They are not to be isolated or condemned. They are potentially closer to Allah than many of us because they are bearing a heavy test.
Question 3: Why bring this up so much in khutbahs? — 16:51 (implied from the transcript)
The accusation: you're obsessed with this topic. Why preach about it?
The response: Muslims are not the ones making this a topic. The mainstream media, schools, and corporations spend an entire month — literally billions of dollars — campaigning for this. When an outside force brings a challenge to our community and especially to our children, it is our obligation to address it. We did not start this conversation. We are responding to it.
Question 4: How should Muslims treat people who identify as gay? — 24:52
We must distinguish between the person and the act.
Islam prohibits alcohol. Does that mean Muslims cannot interact with someone who drinks? Of course not. A person who is struggling — even sinning — is still a human being, a potential Muslim, or our neighbor. We treat people with kindness and decency regardless.
Think of the Prophet ﷺ's relationship with Abu Talib, who worshiped idols his entire life. The Prophet ﷺ loved him, visited him, grieved over him. Abu Talib's shirk did not prevent the Prophet ﷺ from caring for him deeply. The Prophet ﷺ also praised Mut'im ibn 'Adiy — a pagan — after his death, for the protection he had offered.
A Muslim may maintain friendships with people who are gay, treat them with kindness, help them with their needs, and cooperate with them for any genuine cause of justice, health, education, or social good. What a Muslim cannot do is co-sign, affirm, celebrate, or publicly support the lifestyle. We cooperate on good; we cannot cooperate on what the Sharia calls evil.
Example: if someone campaigns to lower the drinking age, a Muslim cannot join that campaign — even if that person was previously an ally on other causes. Example: if someone campaigns to legalize prostitution, a Muslim cannot support that cause regardless of who is asking. The Quranic rule is clear: "Cooperate in goodness and piety; do not cooperate in sin and transgression."
We appreciate any good that anyone does. We are grateful for anyone who stands up for justice. We cooperate broadly for generic good. But facilitating an evil is not gratitude — it is participating in wrongdoing.
Question 5: Can Muslims support LGBTQ rights as part of civil rights? — 32:11
No. Supporting the right to not be physically harmed, to be treated with basic human dignity, to receive healthcare — yes. These are universal human rights that Islam champions. We stand with anyone seeking justice and basic human dignity.
But supporting the normalization of same-sex relationships as a civil rights cause — equating it with the struggle for racial equality — is something Muslims cannot do. The analogy does not hold. Racial identity is not an action. Same-sex relationships involve specific actions that the Sharia prohibits. We cannot march in a parade or vote for a cause whose entire premise is that these acts should be publicly celebrated and normalized.
Conclusion — 36:13
Yasir Qadhi notes a painful phenomenon: prominent Muslims with large platforms — politicians, celebrities, Netflix personalities — have publicly affirmed same-sex relationships while claiming to represent Islam. He says it is our obligation to clearly and publicly say: these are not people we can look to as role models. Whatever success they have achieved, if it was purchased by abandoning Islamic values, it is not success — it is failure.
He closes with the Quranic verse (5:100): "The impure and the pure are never equal, even if the abundance of the impure amazes you." The prevalence of an evil does not make it right.
The people of Lut mocked Lut for preaching morality. They wanted to exile him. Today, the "cancel culture" does the same to preachers of Islamic morality. We are seeing history repeat itself. Our response: preaching morality is not hate — it is love. We love children. We love families. We love the sanctity of the natural order. And we will continue to speak the truth, no matter how unpopular it becomes.
May Allah give us the courage to speak the truth, protect our households from this fitnah, and grant us all guidance.