Politics or Homophobia?

Pedophilia of any hue, be it heterosexual, homosexual or incestuous, is a heinous crime that must be condemned in the strongest words and punished with the harshest penalties. There is no dearth of any of these varieties of sexual abuse of children in the Maldives. However, the homosexual variety appears to be singled out for public outrage.

Currently there are fast expanding Face Book groups calling for imposing the death penalty on one Mr. Hussein Fazeel, who is under investigation for homosexual child abuse. However, when some months back, a former official of a prestigious government office was exposed after he allegedly had sexual intercourse with his own daughter for several years, the Face Book groups were missing. After being the topic of gossip for a few weeks, the public appears to have forgotten the whole affair. Why this difference?

Is there any moral or religious reasons for this difference. Even though I am not a religious expert, I don't see any reason why incest with one's daughter is a lesser sin compared with homosexual child abuse. Fornication is punishable with Hadd and according to some scholars stoning to death, whereas no such punishment is prescribed in Islam for sodomy.

Over the years, the label of homosexuality was used as a tool against political opponents. Historically the most famous incident involved the ouster and banishment of King Mohamed Shamsuddin and his heir Prince Hassan Izzuddin to Fuahmulaku. In the letter accompanying them, Fuahmulaku officials were instructed to strictly prevent islanders from visiting the duo, because they were supposed to practice lucid acts. Interestingly, the coup and the propaganda were engineered by Prime Minister Abdul Majeed and his family. What history records of their sexual orientation leads one to believe that the whole affair was a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

In later years, homosexuality among high officials appears to be tolerated as long as they had the right political connections. In the last 30 years despite rumors of some powerful leaders being gay, they faced no consequences. Thus it appears that the public attitude towards homosexuality is shaped more by politics and homophobia than moral and religious reasons.

via Abdullah Waheed's Blog

Posted in: Politics / Religion