Imam Omar Suleiman on LGBT: “We Cannot Support It”

 As a community leader, I’ve often shared videos from various Imams with my community and friends over social media. As of late, I’ve noticed accusations against Imam Omar Suleiman with claims of his alliance with LGBT groups, so I decided to do my own research.

I found that despite Imam Omar Suleiman’s consistent and repeated stance on the Islamic position on LGBT relations being haram, there are some YouTube personalities who have continued to spread false information about his opinion on the topic. This article is a summary of my findings: a list of his consistent statements through the years on the topic with the hope to close the book on these horrible rumors and misinformation.

1. Islam21c Podcast: “Unscripted #51 | Sh Omar Suleiman on Haters, Activism & Being an Imam”

Date: June 2020

Imam Omar Suleiman was invited to the Islam21c podcast by Dr Salman Butt in June 2020. While on the podcast, Imam Omar said:

“…we cannot ever support anything [whether] religiously, politically, socially, culturally… that is opposed to the Quran and the Sunnah. Not in the capacity of LGBT politics or in the capacity of CVE or surveillance…we cannot support any element of it that is opposed to the Quran and the Sunnah.”

He then went on to say that if we are to work with others who have differing beliefs than Muslims, it is critically important that we demonstrate our stance by changing the label of cooperation from interfaith to multi-faith. The reason for the change is to show that we are Muslims and we don’t have to compromise our religion by mixing our prayers and values in order to cooperate with others. In other words, if there are common causes that we wish to cooperate on with others with different faiths, it has to be done while (1) acknowledging our differences in faiths and values including our views on LGBT and (2) ensure we cooperate on a very specific issue or topic (for example, police brutality) that is clearly a topic that Muslims want to be vocal on. If these two are not maintained, then that forum would be considered an “unhealthy table” for us to be at.

2. Setting Boundaries and Sacred Activism w/ Dr. Omar Suleiman & Imam Dawud Walid

Date: November 2020

In discussing the topic with Imam Dawud Walid, Imam Omar Suleiman opens the topic of working alongside groups who take on a host of causes, amongst them the LGBT cause. In his conversation, Dr. Omar Suleiman stated,

“…its very clear in the deen that any relationship outside of marriage is haram, that people are not to be blamed for desire. We’re talking about in the pastoral sense, if they act on their desires in haram they’re sinful and the hukm [rule] of that cannot be changed. Haram can never become halal…”

3. Faithful Activism article

Date: March 2020

On the Yaqeen Institute website, Imam Omar Suleiman states in his article:

“As Imam Dawud points out, this usually comes up specifically regarding coalitions that involve groups that also support LGBT causes that orthodox Muslims find objectionable. While some may distinguish the political from the religious, to ask Muslims to champion any right or cause politically that is in direct violation of divine revelation is unfair, unnecessary, and spiritually detrimental. Instead, Muslims should champion just causes that are of benefit to all people, rather than specific causes that may compromise their faith. This model proposed by Imam Dawud also gives room for Muslims to not be put in the position of being expected to support every cause of groups that support us and in fact find room to express opposition when necessary.”

In the Appendix, Imam Omar references the readers to other well-known Imam’s works on the LGBT dilemma.

4. MuslimMatters Article by Imam Omar Suleiman

Date: October 2019

In 2019, Imam Omar wrote an article entitled: “Questions About My Political Activism”

“I cannot in good conscience support anything that is opposed to the Sunnah, even as a matter of political expediency.”

5. Islamicate Podcast: “40 on Justice: A Conversation with Omar Suleiman”

Date: June 2021

The Islamicate podcast host, Usaama al-Azami asked Dr. Omar Suleiman the following question from the audience: “How do Muslims today position the Islamic concept of justice within an environment faced with challenges such as LGBTQ without being viewed unjust?”

In the podcast, Imam Omar Suleiman repeatedly makes his opinion clear:

• “As Muslims, we never champion anything that is in opposition to the Quran and Sunnah”
• “Palestine for example is the cause and anyone who has been to a Palestine rally…will see that there are multiple groups and different organizations that come together for the just cause of Palestine. So the first posture we have to have as Muslims which is very important is that we are not going to abandon our Islam to champion Islamic causes…we don’t want to betray our Islam in the process.”
• “…there are things (in our deen) that are fundamentally not going to line up with, even opposed to the LGBT movement…”
• “…we have Quran, Sunnah and ‘Ijma’…fundamentally we don’t have a conflict [on this issue]”

6. Consistent since 2013 - Facebook post

Date: April 2013

In April 2013, Imam Omar Suleiman stated in a Facebook post:

“As we live in a time where people increasingly have no problem disagreeing with their own scriptures which they consider divine, we must remember that as Muslims we cannot reject one letter of the book of Allah…

“…don’t let the decaying standard of morality and rising neglect of faith cause you to lose your own faith and standard of morality set by Allah, His Messenger (salAllahu alayhi wa salam), and all of the companions and scholars over the last 1400 years.”

“None of you (truly) believes until his desire or inclination is in accordance with what I have brought or subservient to what I came with.” (Narrated by Ibn Amr)

7. The Origin of the Slander was a Disgruntled Ex-Employee.

One of the main slanderers against Imam Omar on the issue of LGBT is Daniel Haqiqatjou a disgruntled ex-employee of Yaqeen Institute of which Imam Omar is a founder. The fact that Daniel worked for Imam Omar at Yaqeen until the end of 2017 and his attacks started only after that date should be enough for readers to recognize that Daniel is biased or perhaps holds a grudge towards Yaqeen and Imam Omar. Before departing Yaqeen, Daniel was constantly praising and defending Imam Omar.

In 2019, Daniel started claiming that Imam Omar Suleiman supports LGBT because of an article that was written in a Dallas newspaper that had interviewed the Imam and then summarized the conversation. Imam Omar clarified the matter on Facebook and stated that the newspaper misquoted him. In his clarification, he said Islam does not allow for same-sex actions.

Unfortunately, Daniel used this to slam Imam Omar but dishonestly omitted Imam Omar’s clarification. Prior to their split, Daniel even posted Imam Omar’s clarification which is evidence that he was aware of it.

Daniel Haqiqatjou Praising Imam Omar Suleiman in 2016:

In the words of Daniel Haqiqatjou about Imam Omar:

“His scholarly credentials are beyond question

He’s in a very difficult position because he’s both a scholar and activist

He has different interests that he has to negotiate.

A lot of things that he does, he gets criticized from the more conservative side and also gets criticized from the more moderate side.

That’s not a viable position that he’s in. MashAllah!

He works very hard and is able to strike a balance there”

In 2020, Daniel Haqiqatjou also attacked Imam Omar regarding the border protest in 2018, claiming that he was praying/kneeling with LGBT priests. Imam Omar clarified regarding this on a Facebook post,

“The image of “kneeling” was literally in protest, refusing to leave the premises, as the officers pulled their guns, and not part of a prayer or kneeling to another member of the group (“hands up, don’t shoot,” which is common). The image of the holding hands in “prayer”, the specific words of which I don’t recall after the protest, was meant to be for those on the other side. If words are said that I don’t agree with, I maintain silence like I do in every other interfaith setting.”

A video summarizing his response can be found here:

I pray that this was helpful for any readers that might have come across this. May Allah clear the good names of our imams and scholars, and correct us all to a better way.

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “The most hateful of you to Allah are those who spread gossip, who cause discord between loved ones and seek misery for the innocent.” — al-Mu’jam al-Awsaṭ 7693

Abu Darda (r) reported the Prophet (saw) said, “Whoever defends the reputation of his brother, Allah will defend his face from the Hellfire on the Day of Resurrection.” — al-Tirmidhi