A leading Egyptian religious leader has condemned harming gays but still believes homosexuality is a sin.

Egypt’s grand mufti has said that hurting LGBT people is unacceptable even though homosexuality is not allowed in Islam.

In an interview with the German publication Süddeutsche Zeitung, Grand Mufti Shawki Allam condemned the Orlando massacre and any other attacks against the LGBT community.

Mr Allam said, “Yes, it is religiously not allowed and not accepted practice in Islam. But that does not give anyone the right to hurt homosexuals or take the law into their own hands.

“Even if we view homosexuality as a religious sin, that does not give anyone the freedom to injure another person in any way. Each person is equally inviolable. What happened in Orlando is totally unacceptable.”

Egypt does not have a specific law banning homosexuality but has been cracking down on the LGBT community with immorality and public indecency laws – causing many people to hide their identity out of fear of being arrested or harmed.

Mr Allam’s comments, which were part of a discussion about moderate Islam, are a major milestone for Egypt’s religious institution.

The grand mufti, along with the grand imam of al-Azhar mosque, holds one of the highest positions of religious authority and plays an important part in determining opinions on religious law.

ISIS, proponents of a radical interpretation of sharia religious law, declared that the Orlando massacre was a “hate crime” against “liberalist sodomites”.

And on the day of the Orlando massacre, Baptist pastor Roger Jimenez gave a sermon telling his congregation he would not mourn for the victims of the shooting because the deceased and injured are LGBT.