South Ai: Death threats as 'gay mosque' opens | PkNews

Contents:

• MEET THE IMAM OF AI’S FIRST GAY-IENDLY MOSQUE
• INSI CAPE TOWN'S GAY MOSQUE
• IS CAPE TOWN’S WOMEN AND GAY-IENDLY MOSQUE A SIGN OF NEW MLIM ATTUS?
• GAY MLIMS FD SANCTUARY SOUTH AI'S 'PEOPLE'S MOSQUE'
• A GAY IMAM WH HDU PARTNER RUNS AN LGBT-FRIENDLY MOSQUE IN SOUTH AI. THIS IS HIS STORY
• NEW ‘OPEN MOSQUE’ CAPE TOWN WEL OPENLY GAY MLIMS
• SOUTH AI’S OPEN MOSQUE PUTS GAY MLIMS ON THE MAP
• A GAY MOSQUE CAPE TOWN SOUNDS THE LL TO PRAYER FOR EVERYONE
• SOUTH AI: DEATH THREATS AS ‘GAY MOSQUE’ OPENS

MEET THE IMAM OF AI’S FIRST GAY-IENDLY MOSQUE

Related topics:Share:Global AgendaThe Agenda WeeklyA weekly update of the most important issu drivg the global agendaMichelle HamerJune 20, 2023Katie Connolly September 5, 2022Gaylor Montmasson-ClairJune 21, 2022Lren van r ReFebary 3, 2022Florian ZandtJanuary 25, 2022Ldiwe MatlaliSeptember 21, 2021. CAPE TOWN (Thomson Rters Foundatn) - Neatly laid out and facg Mec, is the lourful prayer mats arranged a rabow pattern that offer the first clue that the Masjid Ul-Umam mosque Cape Town, South Ai, is not a typil place of, Tahir, a softly spoken man his late 20s, ss between a gay imam om Zambia, a straight sheikh om Liberia and oppose a lbian stunt om the only Ain untry to have legalised gay marriage, this most-sized buildg is home to Ai’s first and most public LGBT-iendly mosque.

Frequented by the lol muny, also hosts persecuted activists om all over the ntent, providg a safe haven as well as trag human rights mosque grew om an LGBT+ rights group, Al-Frah Foundatn (prevly known as The Inner Circle), which was set up 23 years ago as a safe space for weekly fundg om private foundatn Atlantic Philanthropi, today is part of a global work of human rights anisatns workg wh the Mlim muni and focg on sexual orientatn and genr South Ai, groups such as this one n thrive more easily than other Ain untri where same-sex relatnships are ntent has some of the world’s most prohibive laws agast homosexualy. Gay people are routely blackmailed, asslted and or raped, wh crimal punishments rangg om imprisonment to ath. A 2017 report by the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA) found 33 Ain untri out of a total of 54 natns crimalise same-sex Ai’s nstutn was the first the world to protect people om discrimatn bee of their sexual still today, cultural norms, particularly wh Islamic muni, have yet to tch up, said Haji Mohamed Dawjee, a lumnist and a Mlim queer woman who, along wh -thor Rebec Davis, has rearched LGBT+ Mlim South Ain muni.

”Tahir and the rt of his group have been South Ai for three months, followg a trag urse for Mlim relig figur and LGBT+ activists human rights most important element, Tahir said, was learng more about Islam and homosexualy.

INSI CAPE TOWN'S GAY MOSQUE

“Most of the time they e the story of Sodom and Gomorrah to unrle the illegaly of homosexualy.

IS CAPE TOWN’S WOMEN AND GAY-IENDLY MOSQUE A SIGN OF NEW MLIM ATTUS?

But if you analyse the stori the Quran crilly, they don’t talk about sexual orientatn, ” he Mlims all over the world are equently required to make a stark choice between their sexualy and their is not jt members of Mlim gay and trans muni South Ai who are experiencg than half of LGBT+ South Ains surveyed said they feared discrimatn due to the sexual orientatn or genr inty, acrdg to a 2016 report by OUT LGBT Wellbeg, a non-prof anisatn. A further report by the Hate Crim Workg Group found hate crim agast lbians, gays and bisexuals amounted to 36 percent of the overall number reported between 2013 and the mosque, Riedwan, chair of the board of the Al Frah Foundatn that ns the mosque, said workg wh other Ains om untri where LGBT+ muni face wispread discrimatn is both empowerg and stctive.

GAY MLIMS FD SANCTUARY SOUTH AI'S 'PEOPLE'S MOSQUE'

Yet many of those who arrived South Ai search of a safe haven are surprised to fd lol South Ain gay and trans Mlims leadg secret, closeted liv, fearful of g out and still fightg for the right to be, a Cape Town native her mid-20s, shows off a glterg engagement rg om her fiancee, a woman she has been love wh for almost 10 years. “There have been s of gay men and lbian women beg ‘ught out’, ” he add, scribg a se of a young man and his lover who were vlently beaten by thugs who scribed themselv as “upholrs of the fah”. Cape Town - Friday prayers at the People's Mosque Wynberg look like any other around the Islamic world, except the imam is openly gay and the teachg promot homosexual is a stance that provok outrage om many Mlims, but Muhs Hendricks has built up a small, loyal ngregatn by helpg worshippers try to rencile their sexualy and their relign.

”Cape Town has an active gay scene, and is often scribed as the “gay pal” of Ai, wh a district of gay-iendly rtrants, bars, gutho and clubs near the cy 1996 Hendricks found “The Inner Circle”, a support group for Mlims livg Cape Town who felt rejected due to their sexual orientatn, which led to him settg up the mosque five years ntrast to the emotns that surround the explosive topic of Islam and homosexualy, the mosque offers a lm and open place for gay Mlims to worship together. Picture: Rodger Bosch/AFPToday the mosque, loted at the Inner Circle offic, has about 25 regular worshippers, and even offers a marriage blsg to gay Ai's 1996 nstutn protects homosexuals' rights, and the untry is the only one Ai that allows same sex many South Ains of all relig groups are ls tolerant, and LGBT (lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr) people are often subject to discrimatn and are about 300 000 Mlims Cape Town and most mosque lears the cy take a clear stand agast homosexualy, even enuragg home imprisonment and “rrective treatment”. “Homosexualy is unacceptable and the punishment will be the fire, ” Imam Pandy, lear of a mosque Mowbray said.

A GAY IMAM WH HDU PARTNER RUNS AN LGBT-FRIENDLY MOSQUE IN SOUTH AI. THIS IS HIS STORY

“How n you be homosexual? ”The Inner Circle group has worked for 20 years to support gay Mlims, often stgglg to survive agast overwhelmg opposn om orthodox Islamic lears. “The msagg that the Mlim muny gets about queer issu om a clergy that is pletely homophobic, ” said Abdul Karriem Matthews, programme manager at the Inner worshippers like Zaid Philanr, a lol art teacher, the mosque provis a wele refuge, as well as accs to unsellg after he endured a harrowg “rrective” rual nducted by a quack “doctor” Cape Town.

”At one recent Friday prayers attend by AFP a female visor om the Middle East gave a sermon to about 30 people cg passag om the Qur’an to promote an acceptg versn of asked not to be intified or quoted for fear of hostile reprisals her native untry, where open worship by gay Mlims would be unimagable. Hendricks, whose father was also an imam, travels worldwi to spread his msage to other gay Mlims that the answer is to stay posive.

A Mlim amic recently opened a gay- and women-iendly mosque Cape Town, South Ai, which was largely regard as a rponse to the culture of excln and nservatism the Mlim fah. Sixty-year-old Taj Hargey is the man behd this new mosque– a mosque he se worthy of beg replited other parts of the says his mosque is open to non-mlims, homosexuals—women are allowed to preach om the pulp—they pray si by si wh the men. The ia has ught on small numbers plac like Canada to Paris to Los Angel where mosqu have opened up seekg to ter to women or gay people.

NEW ‘OPEN MOSQUE’ CAPE TOWN WEL OPENLY GAY MLIMS

When we look at the new centers g up, I thk we have to see – not as a trend towards we're gonna have gay mosqu or a trend towards havg women's mosqu.

They are issug tennt leaflets anonymo and so forth sayg i am gay bee har gay—means the gay part of my name.. I'm gay—nonsense like that.

SOUTH AI’S OPEN MOSQUE PUTS GAY MLIMS ON THE MAP

Although Hargay's posn on homosexualy has been qutned—so we asked him for a clarifitn.. Well—I don't endorse homosexual livg. It is not our bs to ci who enters this mosque or not and the Koran is very specific that judgement belongs to god alone, so if the homosexual or the lbian known to me or unknown to me we don't have the right to exclu them om this gatherg.

A GAY MOSQUE CAPE TOWN SOUNDS THE LL TO PRAYER FOR EVERYONE

Even though homosexualy is nmned islam my heart and my arms are opened to those people who have a different sexual orientatn always enuragg them to e back to god almighty but the mosque is still open for them bee they are still human begs. We don't do a check if you're gay.

" but at the same time, there's a culture of where are women loted a mosque– how do your sermons talk about different people who are gay or people of a different ethnicy? Conservative Mlims Cape Town don't thk Hargay is gog to get many followers at his turnouts at Hargay's mosque have been small.

The arson attacks late last year are still unr vtigatn Cape Towns Mlim Judicial Council cled to ment on Hargay's mosque— however, s lears have urged tolerance and nmned the acts of Hargey's claims and approach have stirred up ntroversy—but they have also stck a nerve the Islamic muny pecially on the issue of genr equaly.. South Ai's gay mosque is a small room wh wdows vered wh veian blds, a greenish rpet and a ksch Qibla pass potg to Mec.

SOUTH AI: DEATH THREATS AS ‘GAY MOSQUE’ OPENS

" On Fridays, more than a dozen gay men and women vis the place of worship n by the untry's only openly gay imam, Muhs Hendricks.

Homosexualy here is not a s. * * *Compared to many untri Ai, where gay sex is a crime and some n be punished by ath, South Ai is a bastn of liberalism. Gay, lbian and transgenr people face "rrective rape", discrimatn and vlence on a daily basis, say activists.

Unlike Hargey's place of worship, The People's Mosque, n by Hendricks, explicly scrib self as a gay place of worship, and has managed to stay out of the Muhs Hendricks ns the gay Mlim support anizatn The Inner Circle alongsi The People's Mosque.