Islamic Law and the Orlando Massacre
13th June 2016
As information regarding the terrorist who murdered dozens of people at a gay club in Orlando, Florida emerged, the question arose whether the attack was “ISIS inspired.” But Andy McCarthy argues that “the inspiration for Muslims to brutalize and mass murder gay people does not come from ISIS; it is deeply rooted in Islamic law, affirmed by many of Islam’s most renowned scholars.”
Before getting to the renowned scholars, it’s worth noting, as McCarthy does (citing the Washington Post), that there are ten Muslim countries where homosexuality may be punished by death. They are Yemen, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, and Iraq.