Yesterday GSN broke a story about a YouTube video in which a Muslim leader decries the hijra community.

The interview shows Faiz Syed, the founder and president of India’s Islamic Research Centre (IRC), a non-profit organization that promotes Islamic teachings, answering a question about how Islam deals with the ‘other’ gender that is neither man nor woman.

In the video he refers to hijras, which is a term in Hindi-Urdu and Bengali, used to refer to members of what people in the west may call the LGBT community. It is the key word specifically used for trans and intersex people. Ghandu is the more general slang or derogative word for LGBTs which literally translates to ‘asser’ or ‘ass fucker’ and would thus never be used by religious people.

So it seems to me Syed might is talking about all homosexual, transgender and intersex people.

Before I discuss the video itself, I should note I am not trying to make the man out to be a complete monster, as he has had a lot of compassionate things to say about hijras who follow the prescribed ethical-spiritual path.

It should also be pointed out the question put to him and being discussed is about gender, and not about sexual orientation, as such. The reason he does not address sexual orientation is because in his context, reasoning and understanding, the LGBT framework does not exist. What he perceives to believe exists is sex, gender and behavior. The same view is true of a lot of other religious, traditional and orthodox people.

As I understand it there is no actual word for gay or LGBT other than hijra in Hindi-Urdu and Bengali. So it seems Syed is at least implying we are all defective or psychologically inferior.

He does make the unacceptable assertion that hijras are ‘defective’ but he surprisingly states their fate in the eyes of God is exactly that. He also says they are not ‘bad’. He then speaks against hijras who are unethical and do not comply with Islamic law to create order and stability in society.

He also calls them ‘dirty’ and says they should be chucked out of Muslim homes.

There are some hadiths, or sayings of Muhammad, that speak severely of homosexuality (‘liwat’). But, as I have said before, I doubt these are authentic as at the time of the first Caliphs, no sahabi (companion) of Muhammad could remember anything he said about this issue.

One person I heard from about Syed’s remarks said: ‘His statement could well be discriminatory. [But] he also says they are “quite fit” – which is quite funny and actually quite positive.

‘He then talks about how hijras / trans have always been working in the two holy Mosques, between men and women areas. He says because this particular community are not interested in sexual matters they place more emphasis on their religious duty at the two holy Mosques. He finishes by saying that they are believers and they are expected to follow all the rituals.’

It has also been pointed out to me that in India hijras are not transgender as such. It is a different community altogether, with different sets of rules and it is usually the English speaking media that to explain them to their audience clubs it under the transgender term.

A reader commented on the GSN article: ‘The Hijra community does not identify as “transgender”, that is a Western construction. The Hijra community functions as a religious sect, and as such have always made use of gender expression to differentiate themselves and create the aura of mystique that surrounds them.

‘What that means is they weren’t “born transgender” the way that identity is understood here in the US. Many hijras identify as “third gender” rather than transgender.’

Some, even many, transgender people enter this community, due to a lack of support for them elsewhere. But when they do enter the hijra community, they have to follow the rules. It is such a close-knit community, they seldom reveal these rules to anyone or let anyone else ‘in’.

To me, the issue isn’t who Syed was including and what the correct term for each group is. To most who speak Urdu, Hindi or Bengali when someone is referred to as hijra they mean LGBTs or, in other words, homosexuals. Political correctness is not the point. His choice of wording is offensive whoever he is including and it is important we don’t distract from that.

It is time that Muslims stopped burying their heads in the sand and stand up and fight Muslim bigotry. Just because some Imam says so does not make it gospel and people have to stop being lead and question them.

The freedoms and liberties so many take for granted were not given to us, but fought for. Just as these rights have been won, so must we also fight for our rights against religious persecution and bigotry.