Al-Azhar rhetoric alarms LGBTQ community
Al-Azhar has in recent days stepped up its anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, following anti-gay comments by a prominent retired soccer star.
Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest religious authority, has warned against media content that "normalizes" homosexuality. The warning came in a Dec. 5 tweet on Al-Azhar's official Twitter account that condemned homosexuality as "obscene " and "reprehensible."
It also described homosexuality as "moral decadence," noting that it "goes against the teachings of religions."
A day earlier, on Dec. 4, Al-Azhar slammed same-sex marriages calling them "a major sin." Citing Quranic verses, the religious authority reminded that God destroyed an entire community that had engaged in homosexuality.
This came in a statement published on Al-Azhar's International Center for Electronic Fatwas' official Facebook page.
