The survey of Orientalist Views concerning Homosexuality in the Quran

Some orientalists have posited a new dispute about the Quran. Citing Q. 52:24, they propound that homosexuality is approved by the Quran. A prominent example of this notion is the “Homosexuality” entry in Leiden’s Encyclopaedia of the Qurān. The present paper challenges this theory by referring to the Quran and through examination of the meaning of the term ghilmān. Analysis of the Arabic meaning of this term as it was at the advent of Islam demonstrates that the term does not refer to beings that are for sexual pleasure. Furthermore, examination of the meaning and usage of synonymous words, i.e. tawf and wildān, shows that the task of these beings is to serve the inhabitants of heaven. Finally, it seems that terms in the Quran concerning the hereafter are used metaphorically since such things are beyond human experience.