Question:

Salaam,

Please could I bring this topic to the Molana,
I know of a man who is in love with another man, they want their relationship to be halal. they cannot help their feelings for one another, they are not of lust.In the Qur’an it says one may not kiss a woman/lady unless he is married to her, but it says nothing about kissing a man, could you clarify this? In the Qur’an it says one should not touch a woman unless married to her, but it says nothing about touching a man, could you clarify this. In the Qur’an it strictly says a man should not have sex with another man. This is called homosexual acts. If the men were to be together, and not do any of the haram acts or have lust for one another, or if they have lust but hold it back.

Answer:

wa `alaykum salam,

Certainly one man may love another for the sake of Allah, but not out of lust. However what you are describing does not sound like this is the case, despite their insistence.

Shaykh Nazim recently clarified your question saying it is not permitted for men to kiss each other or hug each other. They may kiss the hand out of respect.

Here is the direct quote from the suhbat of February 22, 2012:

There is one other important issue, Shaykh Mehmet Effendi: it is not allowed for men to kiss each other, not at all. I never like it. Is it allowed in Shari`ah?

They made a custom, Shaytan’s custom. Even hugging is not permitted for men as hugging is either disliked or forbidden. Kissing is altogether forbidden for men; men should not kiss other men! You have to be careful about this; this is like an epidemic.

It is because of their ignorance. Prophet (s) never kissed anyone on his face and the ones after him didn’t do this either, but the hand can be kissed. This is important! It is permissible to kiss someone’s hand out of respect, but the old man doesn’t have to kiss the person back. This (hugging) is either disliked or forbidden.

Taher Siddiqui