On June 12th 2016 a gay nightclub in Orlando was attacked by Omar Mateen, a regular at the club, killing around 50. Quickly after news broke the media linked the attack to ‘Islamic terrorism’ – despite no evidence.
Amidst the media frenzy, an unsuspecting Muslim scholar came under fire. In 2013 Sheikh Farrokh Sekaleshfar was asked to speak about “Islam and Homosexuality” and was invited to an academic setting in the University of Michigan to talk about the Islamic legal theory related to this issue, to an audience of both Muslims and non-Muslims.
Parts of this speech were edited, taken out of context and used by most western media outlets, despite the fact there was no evidence whatsoever it has anything to do with the attack on the gay nightclub in Orlando. Subsequent to this, Sheikh Farrokh Sekaleshfar left Australia where he was delivering lectures for Ramadan, after the Australian government stated that he was not welcome there.
This video intends to clarify some of the clauses that were misinterpreted. We ask everyone to share this video to help clear the name of this scholar who has been so wrongfully linked to a heinous act of violence which he has never promoted or condoned.
Below is the full original speech in question.
