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

Contents:

• 17 RIGHTFUL WAYS ON HOW TO CURE BEG GAY ISLAM
• GAY NVERSN THERAPY: HUNDREDS OF RELIG LEARS LL FOR BAN
• GAY AND MLIM: FAY WANTED TO 'MAKE ME BETTER'
• ISLAMIC EXORCISMS ED AS A 'CURE' FOR HOMOSEXUALY INDONIA: 'IF I AM MLIM, I N’T BE GAY'
• ISLAMIC EXORCISMS USED AS A ‘CURE’ FOR HOMOSEXUALY INDONIA: ‘IF I AM MLIM, I N’T BE GAY’
• GAY PEOPLE ARE RECLAIMG AN ISLAMIC HERAGE
• A GAY IMAM'S STORY: 'THE DIALOGUE IS OPEN ISLAM – 10 YEARS AGO WASN'T'
• UK-BASED MLIM CHARY HOSTS SERMONS SISTG GAY PEOPLE ARE DISEASED AND NEED TO BE CURED
• EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEG GAY MLIM UNTRI
• LUT’S PEOPLE: THE STGGLE TO BE GAY & MLIM SOUTH AI

17 RIGHTFUL WAYS ON HOW TO CURE BEG GAY ISLAM

Acrdg to several Mlim scholars, cludg Abu Bakr As Shiddiq, ‘Ali ibn Abi Thalib, Khalid ibn al Walid, ‘Abdulah ibn al Zubayr, ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbaas, Ishaaq ibn Raahawayh, and Imam Ahmad, gay is one of the biggt a Mlim uld have ever done, so that the punishment should be a lot severe than those who m adultery. I pray and fast regularly, i am straight but the problem is that i am homosexual, i first was thkg of my father, i thk i beme homosexual geilly, i see ually bad pictur, but i want to give up, i never done any sex my life, i really am aaid of god, and i always pray for him to help me. For the harm ed by fallg to this great s is not limed to punishment the Hereafter, rather go beyond that and a part of the punishment may happen this world; even if is nothg more than the regret and feelgs of guilt that rult om , that is enough, so how about if that is acpanied by curable fatal diseas which the doctors are agreed are wispread among homosexuals and are ed by the perverted practic?

"'We want to help'Sheikh Ramzy, an Islamic scholar and founr of the Oxford Islamic Informatn Centre, said was important imams were allowed to offer "help" if gay Mlims wanted to change their sexual orientatn.

When Asad me out as gay 2020, some fay members discsed takg him to see an imam to make him "better" the months that followed, his mental health cled and he had suicidal thoughts. They discsed their experienc and the need for better support for gay people g out relig by Michael BBC Actn Le for rmatn and support on mental Newsbeat on Instagram, Facebook, Twter and to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here. JAKARTA, Indonia – It was December 2017, as anti-LGBTQ sentiment was peakg Indonia, when Acep Saepud’s father cid somethg need to be done about his sought out a spirual teacher their town of Purwakarta Wt Java Provce and asked the tad to give the young man an Islamic exorcism that would cure him of beg gay.

GAY NVERSN THERAPY: HUNDREDS OF RELIG LEARS LL FOR BAN

”In Indonia, a wispread belief that 'homosexualy is a disease'LGBTQ people and rights advot the Southeast Asian natn – the world’s most populo Mlim-majory untry – say there has been an crease people seekg qyah as a form of nversn therapy sce that year, cendiary statements by high-rankg officials, upled wh a untrywi shift to the relig right, set off a s of hate and persecutn directed at gay and transgenr people. More than 300 people were arrted 2017 alone, acrdg to Human Rights Watch, many of them durg raids on hom, nightclubs and hair “moral panic, ” as many have taken to llg the current climate, is one maniftatn of a rise Islamic fundamentalism that reprents a new chapter for this vast archipelago untry which has long touted s pluralism as s greatt signers and the don:How two terr rators took the fall for the Cali Cartel“In general, natnwi Indonia, there is so much belief that homosexualy is a disease, ” said Andreas Harsono, senr rearcher for Human Rights Watch Indonia. “I once met a gay man who was shackled bee he himself, and his fay, believed he was posssed by a gay spir, ” he than 20 regulatns aimed at crimalizg homosexualyIn September and October, the streets of Jakarta epted wh protts.

A new law that lims the power of Indonia’s pennt anti-rptn agency was a major drivg force behd the unrt, along wh anger over a proposed overhl of the lonial-era crimal that would, among other moralistic rtrictns, ban sex outsi isn’t illegal to be gay Indonia except Aceh, a partially tonomo provce led by Shariah law – at least not yet. Succsive versns of the proposed have failed to pass Parliament recent years and the phback agast this one has been fierce, so the meantime, anti-LGBTQ csars have set their sights on smaller but more wnable than 20 regulatns aimed at crimalizg homosexualy are the works at lol levels all across Indonia.

GAY AND MLIM: FAY WANTED TO 'MAKE ME BETTER'

”Homosexualy classified as a mental disorrIn a untry where the Indonian Psychiatrists Associatn classifi homosexualy, bisexualy and transgenrism as mental disorrs by fn, and somethg that n be cured through proper treatment, nvcg society at large that someone’s sexualy or genr isn’t a choice but an uphill battle to fix, pecially when many LGBTQ people themselv don’t believe two years after his effectual qyah, much has changed for Saepud. He is also HIV posive and, via a massively popular YouTube acunt where he go by the name Acep Gat, a highly visible advote for HIV of his gay iends have attempted to nvert themselv wh a qyah the past year, he said, and he sometim receiv msag on Instagram om followers who are nsirg unrgog one. In addn to believg that homosexualy [LGBT or any sexual viatn] is forbidn and that is a spible and heo evil act, a Mlim should al wh those who m this wrongdog a manner that achiev two benefs:.

He sought out a spirual teacher their town of Purwakarta Wt Java Provce and asked the tad to give the young man an Islamic exorcism that would cure him of beg gay. Early that year, cendiary statements by high-rankg officials, upled wh a untrywi shift to the relig right, set off a s of hate and persecutn directed at gay and transgenr people.

ISLAMIC EXORCISMS ED AS A 'CURE' FOR HOMOSEXUALY INDONIA: 'IF I AM MLIM, I N’T BE GAY'

A gay Indonian man, whose name has been whheld to protect his inty, looks at a mural pictg a heterosexual fay outsi a Quran school the Kalibata neighborhood of Jakarta on July 29, 2019.

“In general, natnwi Indonia, there is so much belief that homosexualy is a disease, ” said Andreas Harsono, senr rearcher for Human Rights Watch Indonia. As a trans woman and a vout Mlim, “Ibu Shta” believ that the practice of g qyah to “cure” someone of their sexualy or genr is based on a mistaken unrstandg of what means to be gay or transgenr.

ISLAMIC EXORCISMS USED AS A ‘CURE’ FOR HOMOSEXUALY INDONIA: ‘IF I AM MLIM, I N’T BE GAY’

In a untry where the Indonian Psychiatrists Associatn classifi homosexualy, bisexualy and transgenrism as mental disorrs by fn, and somethg that n be cured through proper treatment, nvcg society at large that someone’s sexualy or genr isn’t a choice but an uphill battle to fix, pecially when many LGBTQ people themselv don’t believe . Three of his gay iends have attempted to nvert themselv wh a qyah the past year, he said, and he sometim receiv msag on Instagram om followers who are nsirg unrgog one. In the old days Mlims were que tolerant of homosexualyFOR DECADES regim the Middle East have alleged that homosexualy is both morally unacceptable and a Wtern import.

“All the homophobic laws the Middle East were brought by lonialism to unrme Islam’s permissive civilisatn, ” says Ramy Khouili, a Tunisian to this story.

Back then, “you uld be wh a man or a woman, ” says the transgenr founr of north Ai’s first gay movement, the Abu Nawas Associatn, named after a great Arab poet, who was gay. The Chhire-based Ghamidi Centre of Islamic Communitn, which registered as a chary December, hosted vios and d clips which speakers discs “the right to beat wiv” and liken gay people to murrers.

GAY PEOPLE ARE RECLAIMG AN ISLAMIC HERAGE

Ghamidi Centre of Islamic Communitn has been granted chary stat spe sayg that homosexualy is a 'disease' that 'needs to be cured' & that hbands n beat disobedient wiv.

Sce they didn't know what to do, 's clear that the Prophet pbuh had never punished someone for homosexualy or given an example for those panns to follow.

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

This nnectn between fahisha and fuq wh homosexualy is not clear om the Qur'an though, and the Qur'an simply do not make a nnectn between za and homosexualy.

The Qur'an do discs people who are tersex (wh signs of beg both male and female) as well as the aforementned "men who have no need of women" (who may have been gay, transgenr, or asexual. 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. 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.

UK-BASED MLIM CHARY HOSTS SERMONS SISTG GAY PEOPLE ARE DISEASED AND NEED TO BE CURED

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. 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.

EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEG GAY MLIM UNTRI

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.

LUT’S PEOPLE: THE STGGLE TO BE GAY & MLIM SOUTH AI

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.