A gay imam's story: 'The dialogue is open Islam – 10 years ago wasn't' | World Enomic Fom

gay muslim wedding

Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed has risked anger and jury to further the e of gay Mlims. Ten years after he tablished Europe's first clive mosque, he explor what has changed.

Contents:

CAN A MLIM ATTEND A GAY WEDDG?

The official fictn, Brian Whaker explas, is that gay people don’t exist the Middle East. They do – and for many of them, attus of fay and society are a bigger problem than fear of beg persecuted * gay muslim wedding *

Attendg a gay marriage is punishable acrdg to Sharia law and Mlims mt therefore rea om attendg same-sex culture believ that all ccial elements of pannship and love, marriage is nothg more than lerally a ntract between a man and a woman which the groom provis mahr to the bri return for exclive sexual accs. It is a ntract that mak reproductn and sex legal the ey of God and legimate the ey of the marriage is based on a ntract premised vagal terurse as well as fancial obligatn between a man and a woman, gay upl nnot engage any marriage. It is also forbidn for any Mlim believer to be volve by attendg or takg part such a marriage foc on the actns of the Sharia meang that the clatns or the sir of havg or attendg a gay weddg have no legal substance and is nsired haram.

GROOMS MARRY SAME-SEX MLIM WEDDG TO SHOW THE WORLD YOU N BE GAY AND MLIM

Jahed Choudhury and Sean Rogan are wily thought to be the first gay men to wed a Mlim ceremony. * gay muslim wedding *

Mlim scholars set the punishment for anal sex between men as anywhere om relatively light one at the judge’s discretn bee sodomy do not lead to illegimate on the fact that marriage is viewed as a legal ntract for sexual terurse, where procreatn is not necsarily sential, would seem that Islam uld allow for gay marriage.

However, bee same sex sexual acts has been addrsed by the past jurists the ntext of ubnah as well as perasty, wnsg or havg a legal ntract for gay upl have never been vtigated Islamic today’s work, neo-tradnalist Mlims believers, who wish to superimpose classil jurist opns, are takg a nmnatory posn om classil juristic manuals and are utilizg them to reject gay uple weddgs and no Mlim should take part such celebratns. Such classil opns have been ocsnally been prented the form of juristic l and legal maxims, one of which is applied to wnsg marriage and by extensn or analogy to gay uple tradnalists refer to verse 23:5-7 as well as the juristic le, al-aṣl fī al-ʾabḍāʿ al-taḥrīm referrg to the flt stat of accsg female punda is prohibn, is seemgly rived om this verse, to prohib gay marriage.

EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEG GAY MLIM UNTRI

Gay Mlim marri the man who saved his life Uned Kgdom's first same-sex Mlim weddg. * gay muslim wedding *

Moreover, the le, which was unrstood the past as the prohibn of accsg of a woman’s private part unls through permted path of ncubage or marriage nnot be applied to takg part a marriage that will allow sexual activy between the nf of legal ntract which will clu gay ’s juristic pns that prohib gay sex and wnsg of a gay marriage are based on ijtihād, or a rived posn, and the le on which this prohibn li n be ntted on the basis of at least five reasons as attemptg to attend such a unn, any Mlim believer always nsir his or her fay beliefs. His iends mataed that they disputed such acts the book of God therefore suggtg that they did not nsir the unrstandg of women as pletely opns are sometim nsired absurd, pecially by dividuals who fd gay uple sexual acts disturbg.

Likewise through exclive analysis of the vers the act of wnsg a gay uple unn is emed unsirable and Permissibily of Legal Contracts on Social TransactnsThe juristic le on marriage is not one of prohibn but one of permissibily, bee the Holy book refers to marriage as a firm venant and acrdg to numero scholars like the Ḥanbalī jurists, there exists no law that prohibs ntracts. There prohibn of legal ntract of gay upl n be substantiated on the basis of verse 4:19, which teach that the ntract is based on creatg bdg rponsibili and rights that are allowed the ey of God.

AFFIRMG MOSQU HELP GAY MLIMS RENCILE FAH, SEXUALY

'You n't be a gay Mlim, if you are then you're not a Mlim' * gay muslim wedding *

A valid ntract is ually supported on the basis of observatn that acrdg to many jurists, wnsg a valid marriage between two believers is centered eedom of nsent and rivg the prohibn of the wnsg of gay marriage on the basis of verse 23:5-7 as mentned above, such posns ually are based on immoraly of gay marriag sexual scribed above, the Quran nmns the people of Lut.

GAY MLIM WEDDG: GROOM RECEIV ACID ATTACK THREATS

Not only do the above claratn apply to the people the story but to all the absence of mutawātir or saḥīḥ texts, any prohibn on any activy that endors gay marriag is rived through analogil ductn and alleged ijmāʿ. Although the above stand n be emed nsirate nsirg today’s rearchg the juristic le a search for an exprs text that allows the wnsg of gay marriag has been problematic bee jurist the past were predomantly agast such acts.

Therefore, the juristic le that strictly lims marriage between men and women and prohibg Gay marriage not maʾlum m al d bil ncln, the issue of attendg a gay marriage Ameri is a tough one for all Mlims.

Rpondg to your qutn, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senr lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Instute of Toronto, Ontar, Canada, stat:Homosexualy is sful and shameful. ” (Al-Nur: 19)There is nsens among all Mlim scholars both past and prent tim that homosexualy is a prohibed act bee is an asslt on the humany of a person, stctn of the fay, and a clash wh the aims of the Dive Legislator, one of which is the tablishment of sexual stcts between mal and femal so as to enurage the stutn of marriage and are not allowed Islam to attend a so-lled marriage ceremony between homosexuals. Acrdg to the kgdom’s relig police, the school was fed 100, 000 riyals ($26, 650) for displayg “the emblem of the homosexuals” on s buildg, one of s admistrators was jailed and the offendg parapet was swiftly repated to match a blue rabow-ee se of the gaily pated school shows how progrs one part of the world n have adverse effects elsewhere and serv as a remr that there are plac where the nnectn between rabows and LGBT rights is eher new or yet to be Afghanistan, only a few years ago, there was a craze for ratg rs wh rabow stickers – which Che factori were only too happy to supply.

MLIM OFFICIAL FORCED TO RIGN AFTER CELEBRATG HER SON'S SAME-SEX WEDDG"HOW ULD I AS A MOTHER DISCRIMATE AGAST MY OWN SON...?"{FONT:NORMAL 800 1.2REM/1.2 "D BOLD",SANS-SERIF;TEXT-TRANSFORM:NORMAL;LOR:HER;DISPLAY:LE-BLOCK;PADDG-BOTTOM:6PX;POSN:RELATIVE;TEXT-TRANSFORM:UPPERSE;}{BACKGROUND:#89308A;BOTTOM:0;NTENT:'';DISPLAY:BLOCK;HEIGHT:2PX;LEFT:0;POSN:ABSOLUTE;RIGHT:0;-WEBK-TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;WIDTH:100%;}{LEFT:51%;RIGHT:51%;WIDTH:0;}{FONT:NORMAL 800 1.2REM/1.2 "D BOLD",SANS-SERIF;TEXT-TRANSFORM:NORMAL;LOR:HER;DISPLAY:LE-BLOCK;PADDG-BOTTOM:6PX;POSN:RELATIVE;TEXT-TRANSFORM:UPPERSE;}{BACKGROUND:#89308A;BOTTOM:0;NTENT:'';DISPLAY:BLOCK;HEIGHT:2PX;LEFT:0;POSN:ABSOLUTE;RIGHT:0;-WEBK-TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;WIDTH:100%;}{LEFT:51%;RIGHT:51%;WIDTH:0;}NEWSBY KRISTA MASICJULY 17, 2017/7:04 {HEIGHT:HER;DISPLAY:-WEBK-BOX;DISPLAY:-WEBK-FLEX;DISPLAY:-MS-FLEXBOX;DISPLAY:FLEX;POSN:RELATIVE;-WEBK-FLEX-WRAP:WRAP;-MS-FLEX-WRAP:WRAP;FLEX-WRAP:WRAP;-WEBK-ALIGN-EMS:CENTER;-WEBK-BOX-ALIGN:CENTER;-MS-FLEX-ALIGN:CENTER;ALIGN-EMS:CENTER;-WEBK-BOX-PACK:CENTER;-WEBK-JTIFY-NTENT:CENTER;-MS-FLEX-PACK:CENTER;JTIFY-NTENT:CENTER;-WEBK-TRANSFORM-ORIG:CENTER;-MS-TRANSFORM-ORIG:CENTER;TRANSFORM-ORIG:CENTER;} IMG{HEIGHT:100%;WIDTH:100%;OBJECT-F:VER;}{HEIGHT:574PX;WIDTH:1020PX;}TY WEDDG FIGUR ATOP A SMALL HEART-SHAPED PASTRY. THE FIGUR ARE EXTREMELY SMALL, ABOUT HALF AN CH TALL. VERY NCEPTUAL; EXTREMELY SHALLOW PTH OF FIELD, FOC ON RIGHT GROOM.BY KRISTA MASICJULY 17, 2017 / 7:04 PM{"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"NEWSARTICLE","HEADLE":"MLIM OFFICIAL FORCED TO RIGN AFTER CELEBRATG HER SON'S SAME-SEX WEDDG","THUMBNAILURL":","DATEPUBLISHED":"2017-07-17T23:04:15.000+0000","DATEMODIFIED":"2017-07-17T23:04:15.000+0000","IMAGE":{"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","WIDTH":1920,"HEIGHT":1080},"URL":","THOR":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","NAME":"LOGO TV"},"MAENTYOFPAGE":{"@TYPE":"WEBPAGE","@ID":"},"PUBLISHER":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","@ID":","NAME":"LOGO TV","URL":","LOGO":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT"}},"CREATOR":"KRISTA MASIC","KEYWORDS":"MARRIAGE EQUALY, TERNATNAL, RELIGN","ARTICLESECTN":"NEWS"}{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}A HIGH-RANKG OFFICIAL OF AN ISLAMIC FAH ANIZATN HAS BEEN FORCED TO RIGN AFTER ATTENDG HER GAY SON'S {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}EARLIER THIS MONTH, SIDDIKA JSA, SECRETARY GENERAL OF NASIMCO (THE ORGANIZATN OF NORTH AMERIN SHIA ITHNA-ASHERI MLIM COMMUNI), CELEBRATED HER SON ALI REZA'S MARRIAGE TO HIS LONG-TIME PARTNER {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}SOON AFTER, THOUGH, SHE WAS ATTACKED ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND A PETN LLG FOR HER RIGNATN RECEIVED NEARLY 1,000 SIGNATUR FOUR DAYS. "IT IS DISPUTABLE THAT THE SECRETARY GENERAL TOOK PART THE SAME-SEX WEDDG OF HER SON," READ. "THE WEDDG WAS CELEBRATED OPENLY AND PROUDLY, WH #ALIANDPL2017 HASHTAG ON SOCIAL MEDIA."{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}"THIS S WAS NOT DONE PRIVATE, BUT RATHER WAS PUBLICLY CELEBRATED AND PROMOTED," NTUED. "IT GO AGAST THE LEGIMATE MAJORY TERPRETATNS OF JAFARI FIQH," REFERRG TO THE SCHOOL OF RELIG LAW THAT MOST SHIA MLIMS SUBSCRIBE {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}IN RPONSE, NASIMCO RELEASED A STATEMENT ON JULY 12 THAT REJECTED CLAIMS "NDON AND ADVOT FOR BEHAVR THAT IS NSIRED TO BE UN-ISLAMIC." THE GROUP CLAIMED TO BE LOOKG TO THE MATTER AND WOULD ADDRS " AN APPROPRIATE AND TIMELY MANNER."{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}THAT SAME DAY, JSA RIGNED AN OPEN LETTER, DITG SHE WAS BEG FORCED TO STEP DOWN, AND FIERCELY FEND BOTH HER SON AND HER CISN TO SUPPORT {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}"TODAY, AS A MLIM AND A VOTED MOTHER WHO HAS HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO SERVE OUR MUNY STUTNS, I AM BEG FORCED TO RIGN BY NASIMCO," SHE WROTE, "FOR THE SOLE REASON THAT MY SON HAS MARRIED A MAN, WHICH I WOULD LIKE TO POT OUT IS LEGAL CANADA."{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}SHE REVEALED THAT HER OWN FEELGS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALY HAVE CHANGED SCE HER SON FIRST ME OUT TO HER: "TEN YEARS AGO, WHEN MY SON ALI REZA WAS 20 YEARS OLD, HE ME TO [MY HBAND] FIROZ AND ME AND TOLD THAT HE WAS GAY. WE WERE SHOCKED, VASTATED, AND HEARTBROKEN."{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}EVENTUALLY, SHE ADD, "WHEN HE CHOSE PL, WE AGREED TO SUPPORT HIM TO SETTLE DOWN. IT HAS BEEN A PAFUL AND CHALLENGG JOURNEY THAT ONLY A MOTHER N UNRSTAND."{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}ALTHOUGH 'S BEEN A DIFFICULT ROAD, JSA AND HER HBAND SAY THEY'RE GLAD THEY'VE PRRIZED THEIR SON'S {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}"FOR , THIS IS ABOUT STANDG UP FOR ALI'S GOD-GIVEN RIGHT TO LIVE A LIFE THAT WOULD NOT BE FILLED WH THE BURN OF RELIG GUILT AND POUND BY MUNAL SRN AND SOCIETAL SHAME," SHE WROTE. "THE GUILT AND THE SRN ULD POTENTIALLY DROWN ANYONE AND EFFECT THE HUMAN CHARACTER. MANY TURN TO DGS AND ALHOL (SOCIAL VIC) AND SOME M SUICI. WE CHOSE NOT TO HAVE THAT FOR OUR SON. WE WANTED HIM TO BE THE BT HUMAN BEG POSSIBLE."{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}SHE ADD, "I DID THIS AS A MOTHER WHO RRIED ALI REZA MY WOMB FOR NE MONTHS AND NURTURED HIM. HOW ULD I, AS A MOTHER, DISCRIMATE AGAST MY OWN SON, AND IF MY GOD IS SO JT, THEN HOW ULD I NOT TAKE ON THIS VALUE OF JTICE AND ACT ON ?"{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}THE PETN NMNG JSA ALSO LLED FOR THE RIGNATN OF NASIMCO'S PRINT, MOHAMMAD A DEWJI, CLAIMG HE KNEW ABOUT THE WEDDG AHEAD OF TIME SHOULD HAVE PUBLICLY NMNED {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}YTERDAY, NASIMCO ANNOUNCED THAT DEWJI HAD RIGNED, ALONG WH NASIMCO'S VICE-PRINT, SAA {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}EARLIER THIS MONTH, NEWS OF A GAY MLIM MAN GETTG MARRIED THE U.K. ALSO SPARKED NTROVERSY, WH THE UPLE RECEIVG ATH {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}NOTE: IMAG OM THE WEDDG HAVE BEEN REMOVED AT THE REQUT OF THE {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;CLEAR:BOTH;}MARRIAGE {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;MARG:0 TO;WIDTH:90%;M-WIDTH:288PX;MAX-WIDTH:1440PX;M-HEIGHT:194PX;}LATT NEWS

It wasn’t until the Afghan Pajhwok news agency explaed how they might be misterpreted that the craze me to a sudn on the ter and you will also fd pi of the “Rabow Qur’an” for sale – an unnscly gay edn of the holy book wh tted pag of every hue and remend on one webse as “an ial gift for Mlims” there are two sis to this cross-cultural misunrstandg. Genr segregatn, which go to extreme lengths the more nservative Mlim untri, enurag homosocial behavur, creatg a suatn where men are often more fortable the prence of other men and where placg a hand on another man’s knee is a sign of iendship, not an vatn to sex. Historilly, Mlim societi have often acknowledged this – toleratg to some extent even if they the 19th and early 20th centuri, men who had been persecuted for their sexualy Europe often sought refuge Moroc and, long before same-sex marriage was dreamed of the wt, male-on-male partnerships were regnised – and marked wh a ceremony – the remote Egyptian oasis of some Mlim untri, whole towns have bee the butt of jok about the supposed homosexualy of their habants.

In Egypt, for example, an old law agast “bchery” is often laws have a tastrophic effect on the liv of people who are unlucky enough to get ught but, spe ocsnal crackdowns, the thori don’t, on the whole, actively seek out gay people to arrt them.

In England 1952, there were 670 prosecutns for sodomy, 3, 087 for attempted sodomy or cent asslt, and 1, 686 for gross problem wh such laws, even if not vigoroly enforced, is that they signal official disapproval of homosexualy and, upled wh the fulmatns of relig scholars, legimise discrimatn by dividuals at an everyday level and may also provi an exce for actn by vigilant. Years before Isis began throwg allegedly gay men off the top of buildgs, other groups Iraq were attackg “un-manly” men – sometim killg them slowly by jectg glue to the reason for the paratively small number of prosecutns is the official fictn that gay people don’t exist to any great extent Mlim untri; homosexualy is regard primarily as a wtern phenomenon and large numbers of arrts would ll that to qutn.

BRA'S FIRST MLIM GAY WEDDG AS MAN WHO TRIED TO KILL HIMSELF OVER SEXUALY TI KNOT

Some of the most btal Arab regim (Iraq unr Saddam Hse and Syria unr the Assads, for example) also showed ltle tert attackg gay people – probably bee they had other thgs to worry Syrian refugee Subhi Nahas wh the US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, durg an rmal meetg on the persecutn of LGBT people by Isis.

For those ught, the effect on their liv is tastrophic but the law is not much of a terrent and for those who are discreet about their sexualy the risk of arrt is the vast majory who intify as gay, lbian or transgenr the attus of fay and society are a much bigger one issue that affects all gay people – everywhere – at some pot their liv is g out.

In Egypt and Lebanon – predomantly Mlim untri wh a large Christian populatn – attus towards homosexualy among Christians are not very different om those among Mlims. Also, ’s clear that the prophet Muhammad never specified a punishment for homosexualy; wasn’t until some years after his ath that Mlims began discsg what a suable punishment might nmnatns of homosexualy, like those Christiany, are based maly on the story about God’s punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah which is reunted the Qur’an as well as the Old Ttament. Although Mlim societi today n be scribed as generally homophobic, ’s a mistake to view homophobia as a self-ntaed problem: ’s part of a syndrome which the rights of dividuals are subsumed the perceived terts of the muny and – often – matag an “Islamic” ethos.

ULTRA-ORTHODOX ISRAELI MP 'QUS' AMID GAY WEDDG CRICISM

“Transgenr” is a broad term which clus tersex people (whose blogil sex is unclear or was wrongly assigned at birth), those wh genr dysphoria (who feel like “a man trapped a woman’s body”, or vice versa) and may also clu others who simply get pleasure or satisfactn om police e a water nnon to disperse LGBT rights activists before a Gay Pri para central Istanbul, Turkey. There were also many who found the ncept of genr dysphoria difficult to grasp and some characterised her as a gay man who was tryg to game the affair rulted a fatwa om Muhammad Tantawi, Egypt’s grand mufti, which is still ced s across the regn today. There are plenty of trans people who simply wish to be accepted as they are – whout surgery – and the Iranian system don’t really provi for, the difference between beg transgenr and gay is not well unrstood Iran, even wh the medil profsn, and there have been reports of gay men beg prsured to surgery as a way of “regularisg” their legal posn and avoidg the risk of executn.

My Kali, a Jordanian magaze which aims “to addrs homophobia and transphobia and empower the youth to fy mastream genr bari the Arab world” has been published regularly sce far, no one has attempted to hold a Pri para an Arab untry, though there have been paras the Turkish cy of Istanbul sce 2003 (not whout opposn).

However, there have been activi Lebanon and elsewhere lked to IDAHOT, the Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia and Transphobia, which is viewed as ls likely to aroe hostily. Far om wng praise for exposg “the secret behd the spreadg of Aids Egypt”, the programme’s prenter was roundgly nmned and later ran to legal April, the thori Amman, Jordan, ncelled a ncert by Mashrou’ Leila, a popular Lebane rock band wh an openly gay sger, jt a few days before was due to take place. Such was the outcry on social media that the thori rcd their cisn 24 hours later – though too late to reanise the ncert as origally the relig ont, prevailg Islamic views of homosexualy have been challenged here and there, but not on a sle that is likely to make much difference.

UK CELEBRAT FIRST GAY MLIM WEDDG AND THE NEWLYWEDS' MSAGE TO HATERS IS EVERYTHG

There are a handful of gay-iendly mosqu and a few openly gay imams – cludg Muhs Hendricks South Ai, Daayiee Abdullah the US, and Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed, a French-Algerian, very noticeably, are the diaspora rather than the Mlim heartlands, but the diaspora is where Islam is forced to nont realy – not the untri where is protected and illtratn of where this n lead me Bra 2007 over the Sexual Orientatn Regulatns – a measure maly tend to prevent bs om discrimatg agast gay people.

THE 843 THGS TO KNOW WHEN PLANNG A GAY JEWISH WEDDG ISRAEL

Imam El-Faro Khaki -found Toronto's first LGBTQ-iendly mosque, Uny Mosque, 10 years ago to allow lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer Mlims to attend prayers whout havg to hi their sexual orientatn or genr inty for fear of discrimatn.

COUPLE MARRIED ONE OF UK'S FIRST GAY MLIM WEDDGS SUFFER ONLE ABE

INTERPRETATIONGay Mlim scholar Stt Siraj al-Haqq Kugle has spent two s rearchg LGBTQ issu the Islamic fah and said many people are surprised to disver that Islam is not herently nmng of LGBTQ people. “In the Quran, there is no word that explicly scrib homosexual or transgenr persons; the Arabic terms were vented after the Quran’s revelatn, by medieval jurists and ntemporary journalists, doctors and social crics.

“Many tradns are locked to a particular time, place and culture — they're not necsarily appropriate for today or for people who will be worshippg 50 years om now, ” Abdullah Daayiee Abdullah, founr of the Mec Instute, is one of the first openly gay Imams the U. "Image source, Jahed ChoudhuryImage ptn, Sean Rogan (left) and Jahed Choudhury want to help other people siar suatnsMr Choudhury said he had attempted suici the past but add his fay had been "really supportive" sce he me has now set up a YouTube channel where his story received more than 5, 000 views, and says he was motivated to speak out onle to enurage support for gay people om relig on this story. "She revealed that her own feelgs about homosexualy have changed sce her son first me out to her: "Ten years ago, when my son Ali Reza was 20 years old, he me to [my hband] Firoz and me and told that he was gay.

A GAY IMAM'S STORY: 'THE DIALOGUE IS OPEN ISLAM – 10 YEARS AGO WASN'T'

In what is seen as a cultural taboo for many tradnal Mlims, Mr Choudhury is one of only a few openly-gay Mlim men and believed to be the first the UK to marry another man. Image source, AFPImage ptn, Same-sex weddgs held Israel are not sanctned by the state, but upl n marry abroadAn ultra-Orthodox Jewish member of Israel's parliament has submted his rignatn after proment rabbis cricised him for attendg his gay nephew's weddg.

Choudhury is thought to be one of the first openly-gay Mlim men the UK to marry another pair – who have been together for two years – met after Choudhury had taken an overdose and Rogan approached him to check if he was okay.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY MUSLIM WEDDING

Couple married one of UK's first gay Mlim weddgs suffer onle abe | The Inpennt | The Inpennt .

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