Al-Quran menceritakan kisah "kaum Nabi Lut a.s." yang dimusnahkan oleh kemurkaanTuhan kerana penglibatan mereka dalam perbuatan nafsu berahi sesama lelaki.[1][2][3][4] Tidak disebut sekali pun dalam Al-Quran bahawa pelaku homoseksual boleh dihukum mati,[5].<Sabda Nabi SAW:
Tidak banyak bukti terdapatnya amalan homoseksual dalam masyarakat Islam untuk abad pertama dan setengah dari sejarah awal Islam,[10] namun hubungan homoseksual lelaki adalah diketahui[11] dan dijadikan bahan persendaan, tetapi bukannya tidak disenangi, di bumi Arab.[12] Tema-tema homoerotik dan pederastik disemai dalam pelbagai jenis sastera lain yang ditulis dalam bahasa-bahasa utama dunia Islam dari abad ke-8 hingga era moden.[12][10][13][14] Konsep homoseksual yang terdapat dalam pustaka Islam klasik lebih menyerupai tradisi zaman kuno Yunani-Rom daripada pemahaman moden mengenai orientasi seksual.[12][10][15]
Perbuatan homoseksual adalah dilarang dalam perundangan Islam tradisional dan boleh dikenakan pelbagai hukuman bergantung pada keadaan dan mazhab, termasuklah hukuman mati.[16] Walau bagaimanapun, hubungan homoseksual secara umum ditoleransi dalam masyarakat Islam pra-moden,[17][18][16][19] malah catatan sejarah menunjukkan bahawa hukum-hukum ini jarang dikenakan, terutamanya dalam kes rogol atau "pencabulan moral umum yang keterlaluan dan menonjol."[16] Sikap masyarakat terhadap homoseksual di dunia Muslim mengalami perubahan negatif yang ketara bermula dari abad ke-19 melalui penyebaran gerakan fundamentalis Islam secara beransur-ansur seperti Salafi dan Wahabi,[20][21][22] serta pengaruh tanggapan seksual dan batasan norma-norma yang lazim di Eropah pada zaman itu: sejumlah negara dengan majoriti Muslim telah mempertahankan hukuman jenayah untuk tindakan homoseksual yang diberlakukan di bawah pemerintahan kolonial Eropah.[23][24][25][26]
^Mohd Izwan bin Md Yusof; Muhd. Najib bin Abdul Kadir; Mazlan bin Ibrahim; Khader bin Ahmad; Murshidi bin Mohd Noor; Saiful Azhar bin Saadon. "Hadith Sahih on Behaviour of LGBT"(PDF). islam.gov.my (dalam bahasa Inggeris). Government of Malaysia. Dicapai pada 26 July 2019.
^Dialmy, Abdessamad (13 May 2010). "Sexuality and Islam". The European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care. 15 (3): 160–168. doi:10.3109/13625181003793339. PMID20441406.
^Tilo Beckers, "Islam and the Acceptance of Homosexuality," in Islam and Homosexuality, Volume 1, ed. Samar Habib, 64-65 (Praeger, 2009).
^Ira M. Lapidus; Lena Salaymeh (2014). A History of Islamic Societies. Cambridge University Press (Kindle edition). m/s. 361–362. ISBN978-0-521-51430-9. The attitudes toward homosexuality in the Ottoman Empire underwent a dramatic change during the 19th century. Before that time, Ottoman societal norms accepted homoerotic relations as normal, despite condemnation of homosexuality by religious scholars. The Ottoman Sultanic law (qanun) tended to equalize the treatment of hetero- and homosexuals. Dream interpretation literature accepted homosexuality as natural, and karagoz, the principal character of popular puppet theater, engaged in both active and passive gay sex. However, in the 19th century, Ottoman society started to be influenced by European ideas about sexuality as well as the criticism leveled at the Ottoman society by European authors for its sexual and gender norms, including homosexuality. This criticism associated the weakness of the Ottoman state and corruption of the Ottoman government with Ottoman sexual corruption. By the 1850s, these ideas were prompting embarrassment and self-censorship among the Ottoman public regarding traditional attitudes toward sex in general and homosexuality in particular. Dream interpretation literature declined, the puppet theater was purged of its coarser elements, and homoeroticism began to be regarded as abnormal and shameful.
^"UK party leaders back global gay rights campaign". BBC Online. 13 September 2011. Dicapai pada 7 November 2013. At present, homosexuality is illegal in 76 countries, including 38 within the Commonwealth. At least five countries - the Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mauritania and Sudan - have used the death penalty against gay people.
^"United Arab Emirates". Dicapai pada 27 October 2015. Facts as drug trafficking, homosexual behaviour, and apostasy are liable to capital punishment.