Queer Muslim marriage
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As an anthropologist, I have spent the last five years developing relationships with research participants that are built on reciprocal trust. This approach allows me to document the sometimes painful experiences of Muslims who live on the spiritual fringes of their communities and observe how they live their faith in everyday contexts. Although my research includes both male, female and gender diverse Muslims of various sexualities, lesbian Muslims in particular experience unique challenges.
Rafeeqa says within her Pakistani family, young women have less freedom than men to spend time alone with friends, live on their own or choose when to marry. If she were a gay man instead of a lesbian woman, Rafeeqa believes that engaging in a discreet same-sex relationship while managing the expectations of her family would be easier.
Neither Rafeeqa nor Hana have disclosed their sexuality to their families and both face pressure to marry men. Hana bears an additional burden of frustration over believing that same-sex relationships are sinful while being simultaneously unable to change her own sexuality. Like many participants in my research, Rafeeqa felt alienated both from Muslim communities that would not accept her as a lesbian and from queer communities that would not accept her as a Muslim. These polarised positions tend to dominate public discussion of Muslim communities in Western contexts.
Some, such as Hana, believe that same-sex intimacy is sinful despite being homosexual themselves.
On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism , ed. Islamic bioethics problems and perspectives. Archived from the original on March 2, UPF has "partnered with prominent Jewish, Muslim, Christian and interfaith groups to run dialogues nationwide. I believe that the right to marry someone who you please is so fundamental it should not be subject to popular approval any more than we should vote on whether blacks should be allowed to sit in the front of the bus.
Local group Sydney Queer Muslims , for example, provides not only support, but perhaps even more crucially, a place to be heard. These vital communities and places of belonging where queer Muslims can be fully and safely themselves are an essential part of developing the self-confidence and positive mental health needed to thrive. What does it mean to be a Muslim in modern Australia? Ten Australian Muslims from diverse backgrounds move in to a house for eight days.
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It is not so much the penetration as the enjoyment that is considered bad. The report stated that though illegal, there was a tradition of such relationships in the country, known as bache bazi or "boy play", and that it was especially strong around North Afghanistan. Homosexuality was accepted for a long time in the Muslim world This Turkish miniature shows ten men engaging in anal sex in the Ottoman Empire.
Two men engaging in anal sex in Safavid Iran. Human rights groups have questioned the awarding in of the right to host the competition, due to the possibility that gay football fans may be jailed. He later withdrew the remarks after condemnation from rights groups. Same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Chad since August 1, under a new penal code. Homosexuality between consenting adults had never previously been criminalized prior to this law.
In Muslim-majority countries, open gay life rarely exists, but "the closet is spacious. In Bahrain , police in Bahrain arrested scores of men in February at a "gay party". In Egypt , openly gay men have been prosecuted under general public morality laws. However, the Law on the Combating of Prostitution, and the law against debauchery have been used to imprison gay men in recent years.
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Islamic state has decreed capital punishment for gays. They have executed more than two dozen men and women for suspected homosexual activity, including several thrown off the top of buildings in highly publicized executions. In India , which has the third-largest Muslim population in the world, and where Muslims form a large minority, the largest Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has vehemently opposed recent government moves [] to abrogate and liberalize laws from the British Raj era that banned homosexuality.
In Iraq, homosexuality is allowed by the government, but terrorist groups often carry out illegal executions of gay people. Saddam Hussein was "unbothered by sexual mores. In Jordan , where homosexuality is legal, "gay hangouts have been raided or closed on bogus charges, such as serving alcohol illegally. In Pakistan , its law is a mixture of both Anglo-Saxon colonial law as well as Islamic law, both which proscribe criminal penalties for same-sex sexual acts.
The Pakistan Penal Code of , originally developed under colonialism , punishes sodomy with a possible prison sentence and has other provisions that impact the human rights of LGBT Pakistanis, under the guise of protecting public morality and order. Yet, the more likely situation for gay and bisexual men is sporadic police blackmail, harassment, fines, and jail sentences. In Saudi Arabia, the maximum punishment for homosexual acts is public execution by beheading. In Turkey, homosexuality is legal, but "official censure can be fierce".
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The report found that thirteen countries or parts of them impose the death penalty for "Same-sex sexual acts". Of these thirteen countries, four are in Africa: Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia, and Mauritania. Nine are in Asia: None are in the Americas , Europe , or Oceania. The Ottoman Empire predecessor of Turkey decriminalized homosexuality in In Turkey , where In Albania and Turkey, there have been discussions about legalizing same-sex marriage. The report found that "same-sex sexual acts" are legal in countries. Of these countries, twenty-one are in Africa , nineteen are in Asia , twenty-four are in the Americas , forty-eight are in Europe , and seven are in Oceania.
In there was a gay party in the Moroccan town of al-Qasr al-Kabir.
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Rumours spread that this was a gay marriage and more than people took to the streets, condemning the alleged event and protesting against leniency towards homosexuals. In France there was an Islamic same-sex marriage on February 18, I believe that the right to marry someone who you please is so fundamental it should not be subject to popular approval any more than we should vote on whether blacks should be allowed to sit in the front of the bus.
In eight men were jailed for three years by a Cairo court after the circulation of a video of them allegedly taking part in a private wedding ceremony between two men on a boat on the Nile.
Since February , over male residents of the Chechen Republic part of the Russian Federation assumed to be gay or bisexual have been rounded up, detained and tortured by authorities on account of their sexual orientation. The men are held and allegedly tortured in concentration camps. Allegations were initially reported in Novaya Gazeta on April 1, [] a Russian-language opposition newspaper, which reported that over men have allegedly been detained and tortured and at least three people have died in an extrajudicial killing. The paper, citing its sources in the Chechen special services, called the wave of detentions a "prophylactic sweep.
The Muslim community as a whole, worldwide, has become polarized on the subject of homosexuality. Some Muslims say that "no good Muslim can be gay," and "traditional schools of Islamic law consider homosexuality a grave sin. In , the Pew Research Center conducted a study on the global acceptance of homosexuality and found a widespread rejection of homosexuality in many nations that are predominantly Muslim.
In some countries, views were becoming more conservative among younger people. The coming together of "human rights discourses and sexual orientation struggles" has resulted in an abundance of "social movements and organizations concerned with gender and sexual minority oppression and discrimination. The Al-Fatiha Foundation was an organization which tried to advance the cause of gay, lesbian, and transgender Muslims. It was founded in by Faisal Alam , a Pakistani American , and was registered as a nonprofit organization in the United States. The organization was an offshoot of an internet listserve that brought together many gay, lesbian and questioning Muslims from various countries.
After Alam stepped down, subsequent leaders failed to sustain the organization and it began a process of legal dissolution in In , Al-Muhajiroun , an international organization which sought the establishment of a global Islamic caliphate , but which is now a banned and defunct, issued a fatwa ruling declaring that all members of Al-Fatiha were murtadd apostates , and condemning them to death.
Because of this threat and their conservative familial backgrounds, many Al-Fatiha members chose anonymity to protect their identity. There are also a number of Islamic ex-gay groups, that is, those composed of people claiming to have experienced a basic change in sexual orientation from exclusive homosexuality to exclusive heterosexuality []. These groups, like those based in socially conservative Christianity , are aimed at attempting to guide homosexuals towards heterosexuality.
A large body of research and global scientific consensus indicates that being gay, lesbian, or bisexual is compatible with normal mental health and social adjustment. Because of this, major mental health professional organizations discourage and caution individuals against attempting to change their sexual orientation , and warn that attempting to do so can be harmful. It was described by the press as the first gay-friendly mosque in Europe.
Britain's first Muslim gay wedding as man who tried to kill himself over sexuality ties knot
The reaction from the rest of the Muslim community in France has been mixed. The opening has been condemned by the Grand Mosque of Paris. He founded Marhaba, a support group for queer Muslims in Melbourne , Australia.
It aims "to increase the acceptance of gender and sexual diversity within Muslim communities. Muslims for Progressive Values , based in the United States and in Malaysia, is "a faith-based, grassroots, human rights organization that embodies and advocates for the traditional Qur'anic values of social justice and equality for all, for the 21st Century. The Safra Project for women is based in the UK. The Safra Project's "ethos is one of inclusiveness and diversity. Salaam is the first gay Muslim group in Canada and second in the world. The religious conflicts and inner turmoil with which Islamic homosexuals struggle have been addressed in various media.
The goals of Channel 4 include 1 stimulate public debate on contemporary issues, 2 reflect cultural diversity of the UK, and 3 champion alternative points of view. It can be viewed on YouTube in six parts: UPF films have been seen by approximated million people. UPF has "partnered with prominent Jewish, Muslim, Christian and interfaith groups to run dialogues nationwide.
The Muslim Debate Initiative MDI made up of Muslims "with experience in public speaking, apologetics, polemics, research and community work. In , the documentary film A Jihad for Love was released. As of the film has been shown in 49 nations to four million plus viewers. In , the documentary film A Sinner in Mecca was released.
Between an autobiography and an essay on religion, this book relies on a Muslim gay couple's real life events to stress the facts that homosexuality, despite . Editorial Reviews. About the Author. Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed is the author of several books Queer Muslim marriage by [Zahed, Ludovic-Mohamed].
It was directed by Parvez Sharma. It started publication online in In Chapter Eight of the book, Progressive Muslims: In addition to the Qur'an, Kugle refers to the benediction of Imam Al-Ghazali the 11th-century Muslim theologian which says. Kugle goes a step further in his argument and asserts that "if some Muslims find it necessary to deny that sexual diversity is part of the natural created world, then the burden of proof rests on their shoulders to illustrate their denial from the Qur'anic discourse itself. In , an anthology Islam and Homosexuality was published.
The answer, for me, is an unequivocal no. Cultivating Identities and Communities of Affirmation," says that "Queer Muslims employ a few narratives to enable them to reconcile their religious and sexual identities. Kecia Ali in her book Sexual Ethics and Islam says that p xvi "there is no one Muslim perspective on anything. Regarding homosexuality, Ali, says that the belief that "exclusively homosexual desire is innate in some individuals" has been adopted "even among some relatively conservative Western Muslim thinkers.
Regarding "medieval Muslim culture," Ali says that "male desire to penetrate desirable youth. She says that "same-sex sexual expression has been a more or less recognized aspect of Muslim societies for many centuries. In Islam, the term mukhannathun is used to describe gender-variant people, usually male-to-female transgender.
Neither this term nor the equivalent for "eunuch" occurs in the Quran, but the term does appear in the Hadith, the sayings of Muhammad, which have a secondary status to the central text. Moreover, within Islam , there is a tradition on the elaboration and refinement of extended religious doctrines through scholarship.
This doctrine contains a passage by the scholar and hadith collector An-Nawawi:. A mukhannath is the one "male" who carries in his movements, in his appearance and in his language the characteristics of a woman. There are two types; the first is the one in whom these characteristics are innate, he did not put them on by himself, and therein is no guilt, no blame and no shame, as long as he does not perform any illicit act or exploit it for money prostitution etc. The second type acts like a woman out of immoral purposes and he is the sinner and blameworthy. While Iran has outlawed homosexuality, Iranian Shi'a thinkers such as Ayatollah Khomeini have allowed for transgender people to change their sex so that they can enter heterosexual relationships.
This position has been confirmed by the Supreme Leader of Iran , Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , and is also supported by many other Iranian clerics. Iran carries out more sex change operations than any other nation in the world except for Thailand. It is regarded as a cure for homosexuality, which is punishable by death under Iranian law. The government even provides up to half the cost for those needing financial assistance and a sex change is recognized on the birth certificate.
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On the 26th of June , clerics affiliated to the Pakistan -based organization Tanzeem Ittehad-i-Ummat issued a fatwa on transgender people where a transwoman born male with "visible signs of being a woman" are allowed to marry a man , and a transman born female with "visible signs of being a man" are allowed to marry a woman. Muslim ritual funerals also apply. Depriving transgender people of their inheritance, humiliating, insulting or teasing them were also declared haraam. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Part of a series on Islam Beliefs.
Profession of faith Prayer Fasting Alms-giving Pilgrimage. Islamic view of Lot. LGBT rights by country or territory. Up to life in prison. Religious views on same-sex marriage. Liberal and progressive Muslim movements.
Islam portal LGBT portal. Internet History Sourcebooks Project. Retrieved 7 November Richard Burton suggests the following Qu'ranic verses as relevant to homosexuality: Encyclopaedia of Islam 2nd ed. Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World — Sexual Ethics And Islam. Oneworld Publications Kindle edition. Archived from the original PDF on 11 August At present, homosexuality is illegal in 76 countries, including 38 within the Commonwealth.
At least five countries - the Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mauritania and Sudan - have used the death penalty against gay people. Retrieved 27 October Facts as drug trafficking, homosexual behaviour, and apostasy are liable to capital punishment. Archived from the original PDF on Archived from the original PDF on 24 July A world survey of laws prohibiting same sex activity between consenting adults" PDF. Archived from the original PDF on 19 July Retrieved 26 February Treatment and human rights situation of homosexuals" PDF. Retrieved 20 January Retrieved 7 April Situation of sexual minorities, including legislation, treatment by society and authorities, state protection and support services available June ".
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. Retrieved 18 May Retrieved 4 August Criminalisation, protection and recognition of same-sex love" PDF. Retrieved 25 February Archived from the original on 19 July Retrieved 22 March Retrieved 18 July Retrieved 5 April Retrieved April 25, In Jane Dammen McAuliffe. Murray and Will Roscoe. Culture, History and Literature. New York University Press. Retrieved 24 July The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic 3rd ed.
The Prophet also issued warnings such as "do not gaze at the beardless youths, for verily they have eyes more tempting than the houris" Wright, 7. These beardless boys are also described as wearing sumptuous robes and having perfumed hair. Islamic bioethics problems and perspectives. Retrieved 13 July Journal of the American Oriental Society. The Oxford Dictionary of Islam.
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Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Should beheading be the penalty for homosexuals? Oxford Islamic Studies Online. Retrieved 3 May Archived from the original on March 2, Retrieved 22 April Retrieved 29 March University of Chicago Press. On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism , ed. Omid Safi Oneworld Publications, , Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Culture, History, and Literature. Journal of the American Oriental Society: Retrieved 5 May Handbook of Oriental studies: