‘Europe’s first gay-iendly mosque’ sparks ntroversy

Contents:

• GAY-IENDLY 'MOSQUE' OPENS PARIS
• A GAY IMAM'S STORY: 'THE DIALOGUE IS OPEN ISLAM – 10 YEARS AGO WASN'T'
• PARIS ACTIVIST TO TT TABOOS WH GAY-IENDLY MOSQUE
• ‘EUROPE’S FIRST GAY-IENDLY MOSQUE’ SPARKS NTROVERSY
• GAY MOSQUE TO OPEN PARIS, ADDRS TO BE SECRET
• GAY IS GOOD PARISIAN MOSQUE
• EUROPE'S FIRST GAY-IENDLY 'MOSQUE' OPENS PARIS
• WHY I WANT TO OPEN A GAY-IENDLY MOSQUE PARIS
• MEET AMERI’S FIRST OPENLY GAY IMAM
• AFFIRMG MOSQU HELP GAY MLIMS RENCILE FAH, SEXUALY
• PREMIèRE MOSQUéE "GAY IENDLY" PRèS PARIS
• LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE
• NEW GAY-FRIENDLY MOSQUE TTS ISLAM’S TOLERANCE PARIS
• FRANCE: ‘MOSQUE FOR GAYS’ WH MIXED PRAYER GROUPS TO BE OPENED PARIS

GAY-IENDLY 'MOSQUE' OPENS PARIS

Media ptn, Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed, a gay Islamic scholar, explas why he cid to anise the new "mosque"A prayer room scribed as Europe's first gay-iendly mosque is openg on the outskirts of Paris. The new centre is n by Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed, a gay Islamic scholar, married to a gay man, and the founr of Homosexual Mlims of Zahed regularly attends the Grand Mosque Paris, but says he wants to create a more "clive" place for gay, lbian and transgenr says many of them felt unfortable prayg tablished mosqu.

"They don't want to be ostracised bee they wear earrgs or bee they're effemate or they're transgenr, somethg that's pretty obvly rejected many mosqu France, " he Zahed's South Ain gay hband has enuntered siar problems. The room holds more than 20 people and is rated wh lligraphy Che Imam Ajmal Masroor says that Mr Zahed's meetg room do not nstute a mosque as do not fully adhere to Islamic preachg and ptn, Mr Zahed says many gay people feel unfortable ordary mosquMr Zahed says his "mosque" is not tryg to be specifilly gay-iendly, but "clive". He wants men and women to be able to pray together, not jt "gay and straight" and women pray together Mec, he says, so why n't they ordary mosqu?

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

Homosexualy is not acceptable for eher Sunni or Shia Mlims, he says, bee God tends for sex to occur between men and women only, wh marriage, and "any sexual relatnship outsi marriage is a s". Mosqu are open to than tryg to separate themselv homosexuals should be attendg mosque like other Mlims, argu Mr Masroor.

PARIS — When Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed announced his tentns to lnch the first gay-iendly mosque Paris, was difficult for him to image what lay mosque’s lnch November 2012 was a monumental step raisg awarens and providg a place of worship for Mlims who are also part of the LGBT muny. A 2013 Pew Center survey found that 77 percent of people France thk society should accept homosexualy, down om 83 percent 2007. A 2009 Gallup poll found that 35 percent of Mlims France believe that homosexual acts are morally neher Zahed nor supporters enuntered physil harm followg the mosque’s lnch, he says the weeks and months followg were “tense.

PARIS ACTIVIST TO TT TABOOS WH GAY-IENDLY MOSQUE

” He rells the first meetg of the associatn he found for gay Mlims France, HM2F, the basement of a fe as charged and tentative. After the media attentn surroundg the announcement of the gay mosque, Zahed says he felt uneasy at home, particularly after his addrs was published the time of mosque’s lnch, a spokman for the Grand Mosque of Paris, one of the largt mosqu France, rpond by sayg that Zahed’s actns were not acrdance wh the the midst of France’s gay marriage bate last year, Dalil Boubakr, rector of the Grand Mosque, told a French rad statn that while he nmns homosexualy he do not ndone nsirs discsn around the issue to be enuragg.

At the very least, he says, the ncept of a gay mosque and the legalizatn of gay marriage have sparked a willgns wh France’s Mlim muny to engage dialogue around LGBT nsirs the domtic and ternatnal media verage of the ncept to have been “dispensable” this evolutn, he says.

‘EUROPE’S FIRST GAY-IENDLY MOSQUE’ SPARKS NTROVERSY

He remembers beg mmerized by the bety of the Quran, by the “universalism” the nsirs himself a gay femist, two labels he nsirs patible wh Islam.

“After more than 15 years of reflectn on the matter, I now unrstand that the Quran do not explicly refer to ‘homosexualy, ’ nor do refer to women as ‘ferr. He wr about this journey, and the difficulti growg up as a gay Mlim, his memoir, Le Coran et La Chair (The Quran and the Flh), published will also be lnchg a fah-based advocy group Cape Town, "Rumi's Isiphephelo. ” The anizatn will serve as a mosque, shelter for refuge and imam trag om GlobalPost: Ugandan anti-gay law boosts standg of a print power sce 1986.

PARIS (Rters) - Europe’s first gay and lbian-iendly mosque opens on Friday an eastern Paris suburb, a challenge to mastream Islam’s long tradn of nmng same-sex relatnships.

GAY MOSQUE TO OPEN PARIS, ADDRS TO BE SECRET

REUTERS/Charl PlatiThe mosque, set up a small room si the hoe of a Buddhist monk, will wele transgenr and transsexual Mlims and seat men and women together, breakg wh another ctom where the sex are normally segregated durg founr, French-Algerian gay activist and practisg Mlim Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed, will also enurage women to lead Friday prayers, smashg yet another taboo. A mosque where people n e as they are, ” said Zahed, 35, whose prayer space will be the first Europe to formally brand self as a gay-iendly mosque, acrdg to Mlim mosque, which for now will be limed to Friday prayer ssns, is openg as relig lears France, cludg senr Mlims, are petng agast plans by the Socialist ernment to legalise gay marriage.

“Beg homosexual and Mlim is borrle schizophrenic, ” said one of three gay Mlims who will lead prayers at the mosque, whose floor-to-ceilg wdows look out on a garn rated wh Buddhist cid there was a need for a fixed gay-iendly prayer space as membership of his fledglg associatn “Homosexual Mlims of France” rose to 325 people om jt six people when he found two years prayer lear at Zahed’s mosque said hostily to gays prompted many to qu the fah.

GAY IS GOOD PARISIAN MOSQUE

“We know that homosexual Mlims exist but openg a mosque is an aberratn, ” said Abdallah Zekri, who monors anti-Mlim attacks for France’s Mlim uncil. “We do not pot the fger at homosexuals, but we nnot give them cred to the pot that they bee regnised our muny, ” he of the worshippers at the Grand Mosque, whose maret towers over a quiet district central Paris, agreed. Print Franis Hollan’s plan to legalise gay marriage is provg highly divisive a untry that is maly Catholic, though home also to 5 ln Mlims, and is wrtlg wh the issue of whether gay upl should be able to raise, who believ he is the first Mlim France to be joed to a same-sex partner a symbolic ceremony nducted by an imam, says gays or transsexuals who feel their sexualy is nspicuo n stggle to blend at regular a handful of gay-iendly mosqu now exist Canada, South Ai and the Uned Stat, Zahed believ he is phg a new boundary France by providg a haven for gays.

“The goal of the Mlims is to promote a form of Islam that is clive of progrsive valu, ” said Florence Berged-Blackler, an associate rearcher at France’s Rearch and Studi Instute on the Arab and Mlim ph by gay Mlims for acceptance as a younger generatn of Mlims is qutng some of the existg terpretatns of the Koran as over-nservative.

So their msage is not havg an signifint impact, ” Berged-Blackler married his male partner, also a Mlim, a civil ceremony South Ai where same-sex marriage is France, he found a sympathetic iend a gay Buddhist monk who offered to host his mosque his home. The openg of what has been dubbed Europe’s first gay-iendly mosque Paris has been nmned by some of the cy’s Mlim lears for gog “agast the spir of Islam” new “mosque”, which opened on Friday a small room si the hoe of a Buddhist monk, has smashed a taboo Islam by welg transgenr and transsexual Mlims.

EUROPE'S FIRST GAY-IENDLY 'MOSQUE' OPENS PARIS

Dalil Boubakr, rector of the Gran Mosqueé Paris, told FRANCE 24 that the openg of a new place of prayer for gay Mlims go agast the l of Islam.

WHY I WANT TO OPEN A GAY-IENDLY MOSQUE PARIS

“The mosqu that are already there accept everyone so creatg one specifilly for homosexuals is agast the spir of Islam.

The only sexual relatnship that is legimate is between married men and women”, he said, though acknowledgg that is agast Islam to be homophobic. 'Radilly clive mosque'Acceptg homosexual Mlims is not the only relig taboo the new mosque will break, wh the ual l on separatg men om women also to be mosque’s founr, French-Algerian gay rights activist and practicg Mlim Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed, will also enurage women to lead Friday prayers.

MEET AMERI’S FIRST OPENLY GAY IMAM

Speakg to FRANCE 24 shortly after that ceremony Zahed, an expert on the Koran, boldly said: “I am sure that if the Prophet Mohamed was still alive, he would marry gay upl”. “This is jt the first step a long-term stggle to nstct prejudic wh Islam France, ” he said an terview wh the a handful of gay-iendly mosqu now exist Canada, South Ai and the Uned Stat, Zahed believ his project is breakg new boundari France and sire to set up the mosque was motivated by a need to fd a fixed gay-iendly prayer space for members of his fledglg associatn Homosexual Mlims of France, which has rapidly expand sce was set up two years ago. It now boasts over 300 likemd Mlims clearly appreciate havg their own place of worship, wh one of the prayer lears at the new mosque sayg that hostily to gay Mlims had prompted many to qu the fah.

AFFIRMG MOSQU HELP GAY MLIMS RENCILE FAH, SEXUALY

“Beg homosexual and Mlim is borrle schizophrenic, ” said another prayer rponse om some of France’s Mlim lears may not surprise Zahed, who is ncerned about the reactn among more fanatil members of the Mlim muny. A gay Mlim and an expert on the Koran, Zahed plans to open Europe's first gay-iendly mosque Paris at the end of this month. I hope straight men will pray together wh gay men and women, everyone, " said Zahed who cl to make public the addrs of the venue, due to secury 's mosque will honor some Islamic tradns, like Friday prayers (Jumu'ah), and the Mlim marriage ntract (Nikah) to bls same-sex marriage.

"Current Islamic ethics may nmn this sexual orientatn, " Zahed said, "but fact nothg Islam or the Koran forbids homosexualy.

""Even if this mosque is newfound eedom, " said Nasser, an openly-gay Parisian, "gays will rema a closet, worried about beg ostracized at their lol schwarma stand. S., Canada and South untri where tradnal Islam is domant, like Egypt and Iran, punishment agast homosexual activy, not to mentn advocy for gay rights, is very 's Parisian mosque will be spired by the work of Mlims for Progrsive Valu North Ameri, who practice mon prayer, an egalarian settg and whout any form of genr-based discrimatn. He is an Algerian PhD stunt wrg his this on Islam and homosexualy, a subject he also addrsed a book "The Koran and the Flh.

PREMIèRE MOSQUéE "GAY IENDLY" PRèS PARIS

You Might Be Interted In Recently, gay rights have bee a hot topic France as the ernment plans to legalize same-sex marriage and adoptn. In an terview wh France 24, he said, “Some people say that there are no gay Mlims, and we want to say to them, ‘y there are.

LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE

It is beg anised by Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed, a gay Islamic scholar, who is married to a man and is the founr of Homosexual Mlims of Zahed regularly attends the Grand Mosque Paris but said that many gay, lbian and transgenr Mlims were unfortable about prayg says the "safe space" - a room a Buddhist temple - is not tryg to be specifilly gay-iendly, but what he scrib as "clive". Today France, gay teenagers are almost 15 tim more likely than those who are straight to kill themselv bee of their sexual orientatn. Left eply bised by this fact, I cid to create an associatn support of gay French Mlims, which lnched eventually led me to plan an clive mosque Paris – the first of s kd.

After more than 15 years of reflectn on the matter, I now unrstand that the Qur'an do not explicly refer to "homosexualy", nor do refer to women as "ferr".

My project is supported by men, women, trans people and even fathers who tell that they do not want to leave a radilly exclive Islam to their young dghters as their plan is not strictly about openg a "gay mosque", or even about celebratg gay marriag. Lookg at femism and homosexualy wh Islam perms to look at our relatn towards relig thory, to qutn stutnal dogma and by extensn, to ponr eedom self – the eedom to fe our inty, whout ncsn, promise or submissn.

NEW GAY-FRIENDLY MOSQUE TTS ISLAM’S TOLERANCE PARIS

But as a gay man Ameri, he saw that lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr Mlims had unmet spirual needs and he beme an imam to provi muny support. "Beg an openly gay imam and havg been intified as such, I do get a lot of feedback and also kickback, but that's OK, " said Imam Daayiee Abdullah, of Washgton, D.

FRANCE: ‘MOSQUE FOR GAYS’ WH MIXED PRAYER GROUPS TO BE OPENED PARIS

"Beg an openly gay imam and havg been intified as such, I do get a lot of feedback and also kickback, but that's OK, ” he said. “If you go to most Mlim scholars, they're gog to tell you that homosexual acts are a s Islam; that there's no way around , ” said Dr.

The var scholars who ntributed to the project’s report emphasized that there is no sgular terpretatn of homosexualy Islam. "I thk Daayiee is tryg to say, 'Y, I n be gay and I n be a Mlim, and I n tend to people who are also gay and Mlim, ' that this is part of their inty as a human beg and that the relign of Islam teach people to embrace all aspects of their humany, " he said.

Muhs Hendricks, an openly gay imam Capetown, South Ai, has for years been leadg ngregants and preachg that homosexualy and Islam are not patible. Imam El-Faro Khaki -found Toronto's first LGBTQ-iendly mosque, Uny Mosque, 10 years ago to allow lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer Mlims to attend prayers whout havg to hi their sexual orientatn or genr inty for fear of discrimatn.