Muhsin responds to Ashok Row Kavi

Muhsin and Mazen have been here, tirelessly wowing audiences at the theater every night!
Here is Muhsin responding to a recent post that went out on a public listserve (and is included a few blog posts ago)

I would like to respond to Ashok's comment that "the real crime of the people of Sodom was “same-sex rape” which is sheer nonsense".

If ever it interests you Ashok I would like you to read specific verses of the Quran regarding Sodom in which the words "khaziya, fodhaha and waraadoo" appears which clearly spells out humiliation through molestation and rape in which case the subjects are males. The issue of inhospitality to guests is also very clear in the story where Prophet Lot specifically requests his people to honor his guests.

Scholars of Quran would all agree that God carefully chooses Her words to convey a specific meaning. What scholars over the years have failed to do was to examine the words used by God in conveying this particular story as it has never been a huge concern for patriarchs of the past or even a cause worthy of their support.

To dismiss the issue by stating that "Islamic scholars across the world seem to be in consensus that the tribal god Allah (or Yahweh) is really worried about homosexuality, as much as he is worried about the foreskin of the male Muslim", is really stating that there is no need to intervene and one has to just follow what these scholars are saying without question.

This goes contrary to the spirit of ijtihad "independent reasoning" through which Quranic principles and values are kept alive through centuries.

I also worried about your concept of Allah making it out to be a tribal God. When tribes due to their limited understanding of Allah forms a particular concept of Her, does not necessary mean that Allah is what they understand Her to be. The Muslim's testimony of faith that there is No God but God means that God (Allah) in all her majesty cannot be defined through all the imagery and definitions known to humans. Hence, Allah is not a name given to a particular God, it means, to give but one expression, "The orgin of everything imaginable"

Much love
Imam Muhsin Hendricks