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

gay muhammed

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:

WHAT DO ISLAM SAY ABOUT BEG GAY?

* gay muhammed *

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTJuly 28, 2015ISTANBUL — On June 29, Turkey’s 12th Gay Pri Para was held on Istanbul’s crowd Istiklal Avenue. ” The “People of Lot” was a relig reference to gays, and the stctn to kill them on sight was attributed to the Prophet Muhammad. ”All of this suggts that both Turkey and the Mlim world need to engage some soul-searchg when to tolerance for their gay patrts.

Acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, Turkey sr slightly better on measur of gay rights when pared wh some nearby Christian-majory natns such as Rsia, Armenia and Ukrae.

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

Among them are two of the most popular Turkish entertaers of the past half-century: The late Zeki Muren was flamboyantly gay and the sger Bulent Ersoy is famoly transsexual. Their eccentricy has apparently add to their beyond the entertament dtry, the tradnal mastream Islamic view on homosexualy produc tolerance Turkey toward gays and creat starker problems Mlim natns that apply Shariah.

In Sdi Arabia, Iran, Sudan or Afghanistan, homosexualy is a ser offense that n brg imprisonment, rporal punishment or even the ath penalty. Meanwhile, Islamic State ants implement the most extreme terpretatn of Shariah by throwg gays om rooftops.

WHAT DO THE KORAN SAY ABOUT BEG GAY?

At the heart of the Islamic view on homosexualy li the biblil story of Sodom and Gomorrah, which is narrated the Quran, too. The average nservative Mlim tak this story as a jtifitn to stigmatize gays, but there is an important qutn that serv nsiratn: Did the people of Lot receive dive punishment for beg homosexual, or for attackg Lot and his heavenly guts? The even more signifint nuance is that while the Quran narrat this dive punishment for Sodom and Gomorrah, cre no earthly punishment for homosexualy — unlike the Old Ttament, which clearly cre that homosexuals “are to be put to ath.

” Medieval Islamic thkers ferred an earthly punishment by nsirg homosexualy as a form of adultery.

But signifint nam among them, such as the eighth-century scholar Abu Hanifa, the founr of the popular Hanafi school of jurispnce, argued that sce a homosexual relatnship did not produce offsprg wh an unknown father, uldn’t be nsired real Islamic basis for punishg homosexualy is the hadhs, or saygs, attributed to the Prophet Muhammad. Moreover, there is no rerd of the prophet actually havg anyone punished for homosexualy. Such jurispntial facts might help Mlims today to velop a more tolerant attu toward gays, as some progrsive Islamic thkers Turkey, such as Ihsan Eliacik, are enuragg.

WAS THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD GAY?

People’s private liv are their own bs, he argu, whereas the public Mlim stance should be to fend gays when they are persecuted or discrimated agast — bee Islam stands wh the downtrodn.

BNEI SAYS IT WON'T ENFORCE DEATH BY STONG FOR GAY SEX

Ined, the Ottoman Empire had an extensive lerature of homosexual romance, and an accepted social tegory of transvt. Dpe such arguments, the majory of Mlims are likely to keep seeg homosexualy as somethg sful, if public opn polls are any ditn.

Yet those Mlims who sist on nmng gays should rell that acrdg to Islam, there are many ss, cludg arrogance, which the Quran treats as among the gravt moral transgrsns. 8, 194) -host, rather abptly, terjected – “What of all those mors that Muhammad exhibed homosexual tennci? Homosexual acts are strictly forbidn Islam.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY MUHAMMED

The secret gay history of Islam. – LGBT World Bi .

TOP