Don’t harm gays, Egyptian religious leader says

Colin Stewart is a 45-year journalism veteran living in Southern…

Grand Mufti Shawki Allam (Photo courtesy of Mamba Online)

Grand Mufti Shawki Allam, a leading religious leader in Egypt, has spoken up against anti-gay violence.

“Each person is equally inviolable,” Allam said. “Even if we view homosexuality as a religious sin, that does not give anyone the freedom to injure another person in any way.”

“Yes, it is religiously not allowed and not accepted practice in Islam. But that does not give anyone the right to hurt homosexuals or to take the law into their own hands,” Allam said in an interview with the German publication Süddeutsche Zeitung.

He continued: “…even if we view homosexuality as a religious sin, that does not give anyone the freedom to injure another person in any way. Each person is equally inviolable. What happened in Orlando is totally unacceptable.”

In the interview, he did not address the imprisonment of dozens of LGBT Egyptians, which has been one part of a broad crackdown on potential dissenters by Egypt’s current regime.

Allam, who is seen as a moderate, represents Sunni Muslims, who make up the vast majority of Egypt’s population. His office, a government agency, is charged with issuing religious legal opinions (fatwas).