Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

Dear brother in Islam, thanks for your serious question, which reflects your deep keenness on understanding the truth and abiding by it.

The number of people who are becoming homosexuals either gays or lesbians in different parts of the world is significantly increasing. As this is becoming a dangerous issue, it is indeed important to clarify the attitude of Islam towards homosexuality.

In the Qur’an, we are told that the first people who started this habit on a national scale were the people of Lot in the old city of Sodom. The Glorious Qur’an explicitly condemns their homosexuality, as it reads,

When their brother Lot said to them, “Will you not fear God? Verily! I am a trustworthy Messenger to you. So fear God and obey me. I ask no reward from you, for my only reward is with the Lord of the Worlds. Must you, unlike [other] people, lust after males and abandon the wives that God has created for you? You are exceeding all bounds. (Ash-Shu`ara’ 26:161-166)

In Islam, there is a consensus among Muslim scholars that human beings are naturally heterosexual. Homosexuality is seen as a perverted deviation from the norm and all schools of thought and jurisprudence consider homosexual acts to be unlawful. Islam considers that our relaxed attitude in this day and age is a product of the times in which we live, where morals have been completely liquefied.

Homosexuality is considered the sin of the people of Prophet Lot[3] and its Arabic word is lutiyya. Liwat is the word for sodomy, under which heading the topic of homosexuality is found in the books of Islamic jurisprudence. Under Islamic law, both the (same-sex) sodomizer and sodomized are condemned to death. However it must be pointed out that the death penalty is applied only under strict conditions and rules of evidence, and only in places that live under Islamic law. There is no fixed prescribed punishment for lesbianism since sexual intercourse does not take place, however it is undoubtedly prohibited and sinful.

The Qur’an tells us that marriage, a union between the two sexes, is a  combination of love, tenderness, and care, so that each finds in the other completeness, tranquility, and support (Ar-Rum 30:21). According to the Qur’an it is through this spousal connection that men and women find comfort, peace of mind, satisfaction, and fulfillment. These relationships extend beyond the physical sexual contact and to psychological, spiritual relations.

Islam says unequivocally that even if one harbors an urge for homosexual contact the nobility of the human spirit is able to overcome such urges through dedication to pleasing God, and submitting willingly to His commands that are undoubtedly designed for our benefit.

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Source: Taken with modifications from Islamonline.net archive as well as The-faith.com