Jakarta – The Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) has responded positively to the call by the Cianjur regency government in West Java for mosques to give sermons at Friday prayers on the dangers of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT).
The MUI believes that the call is appropriate because the current situation has become a LGBT emergency.
“I agree with the circular that we are indeed facing a LGBT emergency because people with this disease are now feeling that they are normal”, MUI religious outreach department head Cholil Nafis told CNN Indonesia on Wednesday October 17.
Even stranger, said Nafis, parties that are trying to cure LGBT people are increasingly considered to be wrong because they are not extolling or supporting LGBT people.
“Because of this [we need] sermons which urge us to avoid LGBT, on the spread of LGBT, on LGBT [people] inviting others [to be LGBT] and influencing others, of course we must stop this because God Almighty’s wrath was brought down upon the Prophet Luth because of the behaviour of LGBT people”, said Nafis.
According to Nafis, the presence of LGBT people undermines the goals of Islamic law, namely having children through marriage with the opposite sex. He is concerned that LGBT ideas will undermine the health of the next generation.
“Moreover before [the next generation] is depleted because no one will give birth, and at the same time generations will become weak, become abnormal because of LGBT”, he said.
The Cianjur regency government’s instruction on rejecting LGBT during sermons at Friday prayers was contained in Cianjur Regency Circular Number 400/5368/Kesra on Presenting Friday Sermons on LGBT.
Referring to the contents of the circular, the number of LGBT people in Cianjur regency is significant based on a report by the Cianjur Aids Commission (KPA). Because of this, the regency government has asked that sermons be given on the dangers of LGBT and HIV/AIDS at Friday prayers this October 19.
In addition to the instruction, attached to the circular are six pages of sermon text titled The Dangers of LGBT, Sodomy and Abuse in Religious Life, the Nation and the State from the Perspective of Islamic Law. (osc)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was MUI Dukung Pemkab Cianjur Serukan Tolak LGBT di Khotbah Jumat.]
