me now:

LGB+ Muslims are literally so sick and tired of hearing “remember the story of Lut!” as it applies to our lives, on top of comments like “You’re being brainwashed by the West!” and “I’ll make dua that Allah SWT will cure you of your disease iA” when literally all of these comments come from homophobic Muslims who don’t think that we have a claim to Islam and are trying to push us away from our own community so that we stop giving them a bad name or some shit. Let me tell you a little something about Lut first:

“Homosexuality” is never directly mentioned in the Quran, and the only way that people have been able to find it there is through interpretation. When looking at the story of Lut, the word “fahisha” was interpreted to mean “homosexuality” and that’s what people thought was being condemed. However, it is now believe that “fahisha” refers to “illicit sexual behavior” of all kinds, NOT just “homosexuality”–but things like sexual infidelity, sex outside of/without marriage, and sexual assault. “Homosexuality” was never referred to as sinful, rather, these aforementioned sexual acts were. But these sexual behaviors are sinful for ALL people, not just for gay Muslims. They apply to straight Muslims, bi Muslims, gay Muslims, etc. Did the Quran, in the story of Lut, ever say that being gay itself is wrong, that loving and being in a relationship with someone of the same gender is wrong? No. It just stated that sex outside of marriage, sexual indidelity, sexual assault etc should be and are condemned, and the story of Lut is just as much a warning to LGB+ Muslims as it is to straight Muslims. 

There is no punnishment for being gay in the Quran. The Quran does not call gay people “unnatural”, and the Muslims who use the term “unnatural” to describe sexuality are actually borrowing this practice from European Christians. Far from that, Islam promotes and accepts the diversity of people, and that includes sexual diversity as well. Allah SWT would not make you one way and then expect you to change yourself, for He makes no mistakes. He loves you as you are, and the Muslims who refuse to do so are going to have to answer for their homophobia to Him because they are testing your committment to your faith and to Allah SWT. Not in the way that they see it, where they want us to “pray away the gay”, but in the sense that they want you to give up being Muslim by convincing you that Allah SWT doesn’t love you–by causing you to have low iman themselves. How is that not a sin? 

Understanding Islam is understanding that you are in no way condemned for a behavior and feeling that isn’t supposed to be changed anyway. It’s understanding that the love Allah SWT feels for you transcends anything else, and that you aren’t sinning in any way by feelings attraction and love and intimacy towards people of your gender. Here are some resources. Please always remember that you are not alone. 

Blogs:

@allahmademequeer

@iamnotharaam

@queermuslims

@queermuslimproject

LGB+ Muslim tags

Masterposts:

Qu**r Muslim Masterpost

LGBT Muslims masterpost

Readings for qu**r Muslims

The British would back certain Indian princely states with financial and military resources over others, or alternatively install puppet rulers during rule disputes, then in return for their backing they would demand immense sums of revenue which the princely states would be unable to procure leading to increasing and basically unpayable debt–at which point the British would take over politically. When this happened in Bengal the British started using the tax revenues from Bengal to pay for Bengal’s own exports to Britain. Essentially a policy of total wealth extraction, draining Bengal’s resources and causing, previously unthinkable, famines that wiped out perhaps 50% of Bengal’s total population.