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:
- 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'
- MLIMS WHO STRONGLY FAVOR OR FAVOR GAY MARRIAGE
- CAN A MLIM BE GAY?
- GROOMS MARRY SAME-SEX MLIM WEDDG TO SHOW THE WORLD YOU N BE GAY AND MLIM
- GAY MARRIAGE WARNGS
- IS GAY MARRIAGE PROHIBED? [DUPLITE]
- IS GAY MARRIAGE ALLOWED IN ISLAM
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 marriage in islam *
However, acrdg to a recent survey by Public Relign Rearch Center, more than half (52%) of Amerin Mlims ageed that "society should approve of homosexualy. The basis for this attu of acceptance is the belief that a person is born transgenr but choos to be homosexual, makg homosexualy a s.
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.
A GAY IMAM'S STORY: 'THE DIALOGUE IS OPEN ISLAM – 10 YEARS AGO WASN'T'
* gay marriage in islam *
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.
MLIMS WHO STRONGLY FAVOR OR FAVOR GAY MARRIAGE
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." * gay marriage in islam *
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. Individuals or upl acced of havg unlawful sex may be arrted for a variety of reasons, cludg some which ially are unrelated to homosexualy. There are also reported s where people spected of beg gay have been arrted by police seekg to elic brib or turn the spects to rmers.
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. 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.
CAN A MLIM BE GAY?
For Mlims generally, as for nservative Christians, homosexual acts are sful. Christian gays and lbians have had to work hard for a measure of regnn among fellow-believers; their Mlim unterparts are jt begng that stggle. * gay marriage in islam *
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). 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. Relativ of 26 men who were arrted a televised raid by police lookg for gay people at a Cairo public bathhoe celebrate after the urt acquted them.
GROOMS MARRY SAME-SEX MLIM WEDDG TO SHOW THE WORLD YOU N BE GAY AND MLIM
Q. Are gay marriag and homosexualy allowed Islam? A. Gay marriag and homosexualy are not allowed Islam. In fact, this regard, there are severe warngs mentned the Ahaeth. Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wa sallam said: “Cursed is the one who did what the people of loot did (sodomy)” (Tirmidhi) * gay marriage in islam *
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.
GAY MARRIAGE WARNGS
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.
Homosexualy and lbianism e the breakup of the fay and lead people to give up their work and study bee they are preoccupied wh the perversns.
IS GAY MARRIAGE PROHIBED? [DUPLITE]
They (gays and lbians) both go agast the natural disposn (frah) which Allah has created mankd – and also animals – whereby the male is cled towards the female, and vice versa. For homosexualy volv numerable evil and harms, and the one to whom is done would be better off beg killed than havg this done to him, bee after that he will bee so evil and so rpt that there n be no hope of his beg reformed, and all good is lost for him, and he will no longer feel any shame before Allah or before His creatn. 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.
>> After Orlando: Amerin Mlims mt challenge our muny's homophobia || Opn >> The ath penalty stead om the Hadh, or acunts of the saygs of the Prophet Muhammad. Acrdg to ISIS' radil terpretatn of Islam, gays should be thrown om a high buildg then stoned if they are not ad when they h the ground.
The group bas this gome punishment on one acunt which the Prophet Muhammad reportedly said gays "should be thrown om tremendo height then stoned.
IS GAY MARRIAGE ALLOWED IN ISLAM
Across the Arab world, gays have been arrted and sentenced to prison on charg lked to "bchery" - and faced floggg or even the ath penalty Iran and Sdi Arabia. 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. " "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.