Same Sex Marriage and the Global Mlim Communy. How did the monumental Supreme Court marriage cisn affect gay Mlims? For some, not so much. In a story for the Huffgton Post, Pakistani journalist and documentarian Arooj Zahra explor the stggl of one gay Mlim uple and their fight for acceptance wh their relig muny. Zahra was the recipient of a Daniel Pearl Fellowship 2015. Established by the Daniel Pearl Foundatn and the Aled Friendly Prs Fellowships, this program aims to promote prs eedom and East-Wt unrstandg by vg journalists om the Middle East, North Ai and South Asia to work Amerin newsrooms. As part of her fellowship, Zahra worked wh the The Washgton Post and the Pulzer Center. Durg her time the natn's pal, Zahra noticed that although many journalists reported stori about the June 26, 2015 Supreme Court cisn and s effect on the gay muny, they neglected to clu the Mlim muny their piec. "I thought I should do a story on this issue," she explas. "[The] LGBT muny my untry [Pakistan]—we are a majory Islamic untry—is not as open as is the Wt. [The] Mlim voice, my opn, was missg." Zahra learned that, like many others volved U.S. relig stutns, a majory of Mlim relig lears rema firmly agast allowg same-sex marriage the fah spe the cisn to legalize gay marriage all 50 stat. Bee of the muny's negative attu toward homosexualy, Zahra had a difficult time fdg gay Mlim upl willg to talk. "Gay Mlims do not feel fortable openg up for the fear of their fai and social prsure," she said. Origally, Zahra terviewed a gay uple D.C., but they later had send thoughts about publishg their story. Eventually, Zahra met wh DC's first openly gay imam, Daiee Abdullah, who helped her fd the Floridian uple she featured. Not all Mlims oppose gay marriage, Zahra learned. When to same-sex marriage, Mlims are surprisgly tolerant, she reports. Acrdg to a Public Relign Rearch Instute survey, 42 percent of Mlims the U.S. support same-sex marriag pared to the 29 percent of Evangelil Christians who support the act. However, the receptn of gays the global Mlim muny is not as welg. As such, Zahra said her article has not been well received her home untry of Pakistan. "I am beg abed on the social media as 's a sensive topic here, but that's fe. I was expectg ," she said. "But I hope over there the U.S., people will receive well and will have a posive impact."
Contents:
- EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEG GAY MLIM UNTRI
- GROOMS MARRY SAME-SEX MLIM WEDDG TO SHOW THE WORLD YOU N BE GAY AND MLIM
- CAN A MLIM BE GAY?
- CAN A MLIM ATTEND A GAY WEDDG?
- THE PLITED FAY LIFE BEHD A GAY MLIM MARRIAGE
- A GAY IMAM'S STORY: 'THE DIALOGUE IS OPEN ISLAM – 10 YEARS AGO WASN'T'
- MLIMS WHO STRONGLY FAVOR OR FAVOR GAY MARRIAGE
EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEG GAY MLIM UNTRI
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 marriage *
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.
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.
GROOMS MARRY SAME-SEX MLIM WEDDG TO SHOW THE WORLD YOU N BE GAY AND MLIM
Muhs Hendricks, the ‘world’s first gay imam’ wants to help LGBTQ+ Mlims South Ai rencile their sexualy wh their fah * gay muslim marriage *
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.
CAN A MLIM BE GAY?
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. * gay muslim marriage *
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. 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. “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). 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.
CAN A MLIM ATTEND A GAY WEDDG?
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. 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 PLITED FAY LIFE BEHD A GAY MLIM MARRIAGE
Recently Council of Imams Queensland print Yuf Peer said gay marriage was unacceptable to Islam, and that Mlims should rpect LGBTQI people but "nmn only their actns" the statement om the Natnal Imams Council was unambiguo: "Islam plac the fay un at the heart of a healthy society, and this ntext, the right of children to be red for and raised by both a mother and father is one that mt be protected.
Consens 'difficult' to achieveAs Ri Jaspal, Profsor of Psychology & Sexual Health om De Montfort Universy poted out, is difficult to fe a sgle Islamic posn on homosexualy, bee Islam is diverse, wh about 1.
6 billn followers across six all, while homosexualy is illegal most Islamic untri cludg Iran and Sdi Arabia, is not others such as Jordan and Mr Jaspal wrote for The Conversatn: "Most Islamic scholars are agreement that homosexualy is patible wh Islamic theology.
A GAY IMAM'S STORY: 'THE DIALOGUE IS OPEN ISLAM – 10 YEARS AGO WASN'T'
"They tend to draw on the story of Lot the Koran [also the Old Ttament] which reunts the stctn of the tribe of Lot allegedly due to their engagement homosexual acts as 'evince' for God's nmnatn of homosexualy. "There are many of who, whilst believg that the act of homosexualy is forbidn, unrstand that we nnot judge someone and that the issue of relign is separate om the civil laws that should be passed to ensure equaly before the law, " she said.
"'Many gay Mlims live fear'Mr Ali said he is aware that his views are the mory the Mlim muny, and that a lot of LGBTI Mlims stggle to fd a place their muny of live fear, he said, and have to "endure vlence om their fai". Atralia's first — and only — openly gay imam, Melbourne's Nur Warsame, received ath threats after g out and tablishg an LGBT iendly recently told the ABC: "I want to be known as an pennt Imam who is sympathetic. Ever sce the landmark US Supreme Court cisn on June 26 makg same-sex marriage legal the US, bate has emerged among Mlims worldwi about the mer of the lg, wh the obv implitn if they as Mlims approve or disapprove of a person beg a gay while profsg to be a Mlim.
MLIMS WHO STRONGLY FAVOR OR FAVOR GAY MARRIAGE
“But many Mlims on social media lashed out, ” another utned, “sayg ‘qiyamah’, the day of judgement, was near while the story of Lot nmng homosexualy holy scriptur, cludg the Quran, is beg ignored.
Leadg scholars of this field such as Joseph Massad have radilly ntted the manner which what he terms “gay ternatnal” has imperially domated the variety of homoerotic domas Arab and Mlim history.