Is It Permissible to Teach About LGBTQ Identity?

Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick

Question

As a Muslim academic in psychology, is it possible to teach a required course unit on LGBTQ identity and sexuality as regular academic content without endorsing it?

Does Sacred Law see a difference between teaching neutrally and promoting something?

Is it wrong to stay professionally neutral and not give moral guidance to students?

Answer

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

You are allowed to teach this unit as academic content, since sharing accurate information about a topic is not the same as endorsing it. The classical Islamic tradition has always studied and taught about deviant sects to help people recognize them, not to praise them.

Staying professionally neutral in a secular classroom, without giving religious rulings, is not sinful and does not mean you are endorsing anything.

However, it is not allowed to say these acts are good or lawful, to promote them, or to claim that Sacred Law is wrong. If your job requires any of these, then it is not allowed.

The Contract and the Default of Permissibility

A teaching job is a contract to provide a lawful service: sharing knowledge and skills. The basic rule is that things are allowed unless proven otherwise (al-asl fi al-ashya’ al-ibaha). [Suyuti, al-Ashbah wa al-Naza’ir]

If both the job and the pay are lawful, the contract is valid. There is nothing wrong with teaching psychology or being part of a psychology program.

What matters is what the job specifically asks you to do. Simply describing social realities, their terms, and clinical literature is a lawful part of teaching.

Informing Is Not Endorsing

The key point here is the difference between sharing information about something and affirming, praising, or encouraging it. These are separate actions with different rulings. Scholars have studied and recorded the teachings of misguided groups, not to support them, but to help people tell right from wrong.

Reporting a false belief is not the same as believing it, and studying disbelief to understand or refute it is not itself disbelief. So, teaching about a social phenomenon does not mean you are endorsing it.

Based on this, teaching a unit on LGBTQ identity and sexuality as academic content is allowed, as long as you are simply informing about what exists and not praising it.

In some cases, this knowledge is not just allowed but needed, since a clinician must understand a patient’s situation to help them well, just as scholars needed to study deviant groups to engage with them.

Where the Line Falls

For as long as your role remains purely descriptive, the permission would apply, but the law changes entirely if your job requires you to endorse, rather than just describe.

Three actions are unlawful here: saying the acts in question are good or morally neutral, promoting them, or claiming that Sacred Law is incorrect or incomplete.

The fact that this is an academic setting does not change this. Allah (Most High) says, “Do not mix truth with falsehood or hide the truth knowingly” [Quran, 2:42]. You may share information or choose not to comment on everything, but you cannot say something false is true.

The Question of Professional Neutrality

Choosing not to give moral or spiritual guidance in a secular classroom is a form of silence, and this kind of silence is not the same as spreading falsehood. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him say what is good or remain silent.” [Bukhari and Muslim]

Commanding right and forbidding wrong depends on your ability, the benefit, and avoiding greater harm, so you do not have to give religious warnings in every situation.

Imam Nawawi said that if speaking or staying silent are equally beneficial, it is better to stay silent, and Imam Shafi’i said to speak only when there is a clear benefit [Nawawi, al-Adhkar].

You are not required to be the moral guide for secular graduate students, and you are not at fault for not taking on a role that is not expected of you.

When Silence Is No Longer Enough

There is one important point to add. If a falsehood about religion is likely to be believed, it can become necessary to correct it [Keller, Reliance of the Traveler].

In practice, this is straightforward. You do not have to offer Sacred Law rulings in a psychology lecture, but you must never say something false is true.

If a student asks for your personal view, or if your job requires you to say the conduct is legitimate, normal, or good, or to criticize Islam’s stance, then neutrality has become endorsement, and the job is no longer allowed.

Principle and Practical Guidance

The main principle is that sharing information about a group or phenomenon does not imply endorsement. This is why even deviant sects are studied in the Islamic tradition, to tell right from wrong, not to approve of what is wrong.

If you make it clear you are only informing about what exists, not praising it, your work is allowed and, in clinical settings, may even be needed.

In practice, a few things are worth remembering. Treating all people with dignity and teaching students to do the same does not mean you are endorsing their actions, just as doctors treat all patients without agreeing with every choice.

Be careful, though, if your role or a required unit forces you to affirm or promote a certain view, like making advocacy the only clinical stance. That would be advocacy, not just description.

Keep your beliefs firm, as rejecting what is wrong in your heart is the lowest level of faith and helps protect your certainty. Make sure your teaching is clearly about reporting reality, not praising it. With these steps, your approach is sound.

And Allah (Most High) knows best.

[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Related Answers

Is It Permissible to Teach Sex Education in the West? — Affirms that teaching is permissible if it remains medically informative and morally responsible, without promoting conduct contrary to Islamic ethics.

Is It Permissible to Teach in a Non-Muslim Public School? — Explains that teaching in public schools is permissible and can be a means of serving society while maintaining one’s Islamic principles.

How Can Muslims Maintain Islamic Principles When Addressing LGBTQ+ Issues? — Discusses how Muslims can engage LGBTQ-related topics with compassion, wisdom, and fidelity to Islamic teachings.

How Do I Deal with the Growing Trend of LGBTQ All around Us? — Offers guidance for parents and educators on responding to increasing exposure to LGBTQ themes while strengthening Islamic identity.

Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar Shaykh Taha Karaan (Allah have mercy on him), where he taught.

Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Shaykh Muhammad Awama, Shaykh Muhammad Hasan Hitu, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.

He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has been the Director of the Discover Islam Centre, and for six years, he has been the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.

Shaykh Irshaad has fifteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic podcast, education, and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and has completed his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy Prophetic living and fitness.