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

Contents:

• EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEG GAY MLIM UNTRI
• A GAY IMAM'S STORY: 'THE DIALOGUE IS OPEN ISLAM – 10 YEARS AGO WASN'T'
• BAN GAY MARRIAGE, DEPORT DREAMERS: DOUG MASTRIANO’S EXTREME VIEWS CGHT ON TAPE
• MLIMS WHO STRONGLY FAVOR OR FAVOR GAY MARRIAGE
• MAJORY OF U.S. MLIMS NOW SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE, WHILE WHE EVANGELIL CHRISTIANS REMA OPPOSED
• CAN A MLIM BE GAY?
• GROOMS MARRY SAME-SEX MLIM WEDDG TO SHOW THE WORLD YOU N BE GAY AND MLIM
• WHAT DO ISLAM SAY ABOUT BEG GAY?
• MLIMS MAND GAY MARRIAGE EXEMPTN
• IS HARAM TO BE GAY? SAME SEX RELATNSHIP ISLAM
• IS GAY MARRIAGE ALLOWED IN ISLAM

EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEG GAY MLIM UNTRI

How Amerin Mlims Mt Rpond to Orlando Israel's First Gay Major General Is No Cse for Pri The Real Opprsors of Gaza's Gay Communy Beit Pri Canceled After Organizer Detaed by Authori Lebanon last year beme the first Arab untry to hold a gay pri week, though the openg event was nceled bee of safety ncerns after threats of vlence. In Egypt, there have been police raids of spected gay gathergs and people have been put on trial g a vague legal text that equat homosexualy wh prostut and tri gays for "vlatg public moraly.

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

" "Middle Eastern and North Ain untri have nounced the Orlando shootg when at the same time they crimalize homosexualy wh sentenc rangg om years prison to the ath penalty, " said Ahmed Benchemsi, munitns and advocy director for the Middle East and North Ai at Human Rights Watch. In Syria, al-Qaida's lol branch as well as other Islamic surgent groups battlg ISIS, have also killed gays and some homosexuals have had to flee the untry for their own safety.

Mlim scholars arrived at this lg based on the Quranic story of the people of Lot (the Biblil story of Sodom and Gomorrah), whom the Quran scrib as engagg homosexualy, but more specifilly on lgs by Muhammad (lled Hadh) and on the basis of analogy to heterosexual fornitn.

BAN GAY MARRIAGE, DEPORT DREAMERS: DOUG MASTRIANO’S EXTREME VIEWS CGHT ON TAPE

This culture of homoeroticism spawned many remarkable works of Islamic lerature, such as an say wrten by the famo nth-century Iraqi scholar al-Jahiz on the petg virtu of heterosexual sex vers sex wh young boys. 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.

MLIMS WHO STRONGLY FAVOR OR FAVOR GAY MARRIAGE

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.

MAJORY OF U.S. MLIMS NOW SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE, WHILE WHE EVANGELIL CHRISTIANS REMA OPPOSED

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.

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. 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.

CAN A MLIM BE GAY?

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).

GROOMS MARRY SAME-SEX MLIM WEDDG TO SHOW THE WORLD YOU N BE GAY AND MLIM

However, there have been activi Lebanon and elsewhere lked to IDAHOT, the Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia and Transphobia, which is viewed as ls likely to aroe hostily. 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. 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. Frequency of participatn prayer, scripture study or relig tn groups among Mlims who strongly favor or favor gay marriage% of Mlims who strongly favor or favor gay marriage who attend prayer group…. Frequency of feelg spirual peace and wellbeg among Mlims who strongly favor or favor gay marriage% of Mlims who strongly favor or favor gay marriage who feel a sense of spirual peace and wellbeg….

WHAT DO ISLAM SAY ABOUT BEG GAY?

Frequency of feelg wonr about the universe among Mlims who strongly favor or favor gay marriage% of Mlims who strongly favor or favor gay marriage who feel a sense of wonr about the universe….

Sourc of guidance on right and wrong among Mlims who strongly favor or favor gay marriage% of Mlims who strongly favor or favor gay marriage who say they look to…most for guidance on right and wrong. Views about ernment aid to the poor among Mlims who strongly favor or favor gay marriage% of Mlims who strongly favor or favor gay marriage who say ernment aid to the poor….

MLIMS MAND GAY MARRIAGE EXEMPTN

There were siar rults for black Prottants, wh 54 percent opposg gay marriage PRRI's 2014 Amerin Valu Atlas, pared wh 43 percent the latt, opposn to same-sex marriage is now limed almost entirely to whe nservative Christians. 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.

“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.

IS HARAM TO BE GAY? SAME SEX RELATNSHIP ISLAM

Samar Habib’s eded two volum Islam and Homosexualy (2009) and Khaled El-Rouayheb’s Before Homosexualy the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800 (2009) are exampl of such groundbreakg work. Stt Siraj al-Haqq Kugle, Homosexualy Islam: Cril Reflectn on Gay, Lbian, and Transgenr Mlims (2010) is another cril example, pl the work of other scholars such as Kecia Ali, Serena Tolo and Sara Omar. Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed wrote a ccial tobgraphy, The Koran and the Flh/Le Coran et la chair (2012), Jerry Wright’s Homoeroticism Classil Arabic Lerature, and Helie and Hoodfar’s Sexualy Mlim Contexts have expand our historil unrstandg of the issue, while Joseph Massad’s Dirg Arabs (2007) took the whole disurse of homosexualy radilly to task.

The legalisatn of same-sex marriage the Uned Stat will do very ltle to dimish the ep-rooted homophobia this untry, as ed the Emancipatn Proclamatn of 1863 did not entirely end racism; or Roe v Wa of 1973 end patriarchy, machismo, and misogyny; or Brown v Board of Edutn of 1954 end school segregatn, which has ntued apace along class l to this day. It n then e them all as exampl to enurage Mlims at large to participate open, hont, and rmed discsns articulatg and safeguardg their civil liberti across the board – which clus, but isn’t limed to, gay rights and the possibily of the acceptance of same-sex marriage wh Mlim muni. 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.

IS GAY MARRIAGE ALLOWED IN ISLAM

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.

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.