Meet Ameri’s First Openly Gay Imam | Al Jazeera Ameri

Contents:

• HOW HAVE MLIMS REACTED TO A LGBT-FRIENDLY MOSQUE IN ATRALIA RUN BY A GAY IMAM?
• MEET NUR WARSAME, THE GAY IMAM WHO WANTS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE MLIM HOM
• MEET AMERI’S FIRST OPENLY GAY IMAM
• GAY MLIM IMAM TO OPEN FIRST LGTBI MOSQUE ATRALIA
• A GAY IMAM'S STORY: 'THE DIALOGUE IS OPEN ISLAM – 10 YEARS AGO WASN'T'

HOW HAVE MLIMS REACTED TO A LGBT-FRIENDLY MOSQUE IN ATRALIA RUN BY A GAY IMAM?

Imam Nur Warsame, the first openly gay Imam Atralia, is currently lookg to open the first mosque for LGBT+ Mlims Atralia, ensurg will be a safe and secure lotn Melbourne cy. A Somali-born vout Mlim who memorised the Quran addn to leadg one of the largt mosqu Melbourne the past, Imam Nur had stopped attendg mosqu and had the Mlim muny cut all ti wh him after he me out gay 2010.

”While is still batable among Mlims whether beg gay is patible wh beg a Mlim or not, Nur said earlier that is “absolutely OK” as the terpretatns of the Quran and how rejects homosexualy are “outdated”, who was married an attempt to f , said that Mlims need to face the homosexualy problem and stop g the outdated ways of thkg. ”Wh the Sydney Queer Mlims welg Nur’s plan to lnch a iendly-LGBT+ mosque, the ia found many supporters as well as crics among the Mlim fact, homosexualy is still a ntroversial issue several religns and muni. Meanwhile, some people qutned Nur’s posn as an “Imam” spe his sexual orientatn that is his own personal are also those who argued that homosexualy is not only prohibed Islam, as was mentned also the Bible and Torah, where homosexulay was percieved as a s.

MEET NUR WARSAME, THE GAY IMAM WHO WANTS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE MLIM HOM

In Somalia where Nur Warsame om and many Islamic muni across the world, beg gay is not tolerated. It was, therefore, a matter of life and ath for Warsame when he me out as Atralia’s first openly gay Mlim lear 2010. In Atralia, people who are gay, lbian or bisexual are protected om discrimatn by law.

MEET AMERI’S FIRST OPENLY GAY IMAM

However, many Atralian Mlims, jt like much of the Islamic world, are agast homosexualy. Th, spe beg a proment imam for almost a and a Hafiz – one who knows the Quran off by heart – the Mlim clergy severed ti wh Warsame once he me out as gay.

“The reason ’s difficult for people to e out the Mlim world or Islamic muni is bee the loss are too high, the risks are too great, I mean there is even a risk to your life bee the nservative school of thought Islam to unter homosexualy is to be killed, that’s your repentance…. Warsame believ that the tolerance is due to old relig texts that scribed homosexualy as a s. For young people to transn safely they nnot be the environment that is g them the trma, ” said Warsame, who once had to provi shelter for seven gay Mlims his one-bedroom apartment.

Warsame recently had plans of turng a buildg Melbourne to a gay-iendly mosque, as well as a safe hoe and unselg center for gay Mlims.

GAY MLIM IMAM TO OPEN FIRST LGTBI MOSQUE ATRALIA

“Hearg Imam Nur speak up and say, you n be gay and be Mlim mak me credibly happy and satisfied, ” Hawli told BBC. But Imam Daayiee Abdullah – believed to be the only openly gay imam the Ameris – is proud of his story.

But as a gay man Ameri, he saw that lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr Mlims had unmet spirual needs and he beme an imam to provi muny support.

"Beg an openly gay imam and havg been intified as such, I do get a lot of feedback and also kickback, but that's OK, " said Imam Daayiee Abdullah, of Washgton, D. Performg funeral r for a gay Mlim who died of AIDS. But not all of them are gay.

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

Many worshippers at the Light of Reform Mosque are not gay. "Beg an openly gay imam and havg been intified as such, I do get a lot of feedback and also kickback, but that's OK, ” he said. “If you go to most Mlim scholars, they're gog to tell you that homosexual acts are a s Islam; that there's no way around , ” said Dr.

Hse Rashid, an adjunct profsor of relign at Hofstra Universy and ntributor to a report on homosexualy U.

“But the tradn was and remas that homosexualy is a s Mlim tradn. The var scholars who ntributed to the project’s report emphasized that there is no sgular terpretatn of homosexualy Islam. "I thk Daayiee is tryg to say, 'Y, I n be gay and I n be a Mlim, and I n tend to people who are also gay and Mlim, ' that this is part of their inty as a human beg and that the relign of Islam teach people to embrace all aspects of their humany, " he said.