Pray for Homosexuality

Until European colonialism, the word ‘homosexual’ was unknown among Muslims – but the practice of sodomy was. Men in power sodomized slaves and prisoners or engaged in sex with ‘toy boys.’

Even the Turks sodomized Lawrence of Arabia when captured. Homosexual acts were known to the Bedouin, and homoerotic literature circulated in the courts of the Abbasid Empire (750-1258AD) and among unmarried Ottoman troops. Arabs introduced sodomy along the east coast of Africa with the slave trade.

Muhammad considered sodomy abominable and called the men “Luti” (after Lot’s crisis in Sodom). Muhammad specified no punishment, but later jurists argued for the death penalty – something militant jihadists regularly obey today. Lesbian acts were not addressed.

Three cultural factors increase the frequency of Muslim homosexuality: delayed marriages, limited contact between the sexes, and bravado among men. These lead to generational cycles of abuse, shame, fear of exposure, and predatory behavior. Now that Western media openly advocates homosexuality, more Muslims are noticing and reacting against those practicing it.

As a young teenager, older teens sodomized me, trying to prove their sexual virility. A proverb from Bannu, my hometown in Afghanistan, says, “Even the crows cover their butts when they fly over Bannu.” They raped me as if I was a weak, passive girl. Later my uncle treated me like a sex toy. I, in turn, preyed on younger boys to prove that I was not effeminate and weak.

I married in my late twenties in order to prove my virility and honor my family. I did not know how to love my wife, and I abused her violently. When I fled my homeland with my wife and son as refugees, we encountered Afghan Christians who told me about the sin-cleansing power of Jesus Christ.

Many prayed for me, and after a deep struggle with many tears, I confessed my shame, guilt, and violent life. I accepted Christ into my life! My wife says that the change in the way I treat her is astonishing.

Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? Matthew 19:4-5

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie….For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error….Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.  Romans 1:25-27, 32

The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 1 Corinthians 6:13b

Flee from sexual immorality. 1 Corinthians 6:18a

I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Luke 5:32

…the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel. Mark 1:15

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! … wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow….Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:2,7b,10

…though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. Isaiah 1:18

…say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’ Isaiah 49:9

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36