{"id":1398,"date":"2002-06-28T01:05:00","date_gmt":"2002-06-28T06:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?p=1398"},"modified":"2002-06-28T01:05:00","modified_gmt":"2002-06-28T06:05:00","slug":"were_here_were_queer_itakbir_i_gay_muslims_come_out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/06\/were_here_were_queer_itakbir_i_gay_muslims_come_out\/","title":{"rendered":"Homosexuality: &#8220;We&#8217;re here, we&#8217;re queer, takbir!&#8221;: Gay Muslims come out"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">\n<tr>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/gay_muslim.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"right\">\n<div class=\"caption\"><\/div>\n<p><\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>Although the major schools of Islamic thought, both Sunni and Shi\u2019a, are unanimous in their <a href=\"http:\/\/www.islamweb.net%2Fenglish%2Fnew%2Fweek31%2F8Islam%27s%2520view%2520of%2520Homosexuality.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">position on homosexuality<\/a> \u2013 it is forbidden and unnatural, a view shared by mainstream <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net%2FDennis%2Findexp22.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Judaism<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/christianity.about.com%2Flibrary%2Fweekly%2Fblmauser.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Christianity<\/a> \u2013 gays have lived in the Muslim world for centuries.  As long as they kept to themselves or stayed within certain roles (the wedding-dancer <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ars-rhetorica.net%2FQueen%2FVolume11%2FHijras%2FMainframe.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">hijras of Pakistan<\/a> and Afghan <a href=\"http:\/\/www.geocities.com%2Fprivacylaws%2Fworld%2Fafghanistan%2Fafnews09.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">halekon<\/a> come to mind), they were left alone.  <\/p>\n<p>However, this delicate balance is now being shaken by an new generation of outspoken gay Muslims who \u2013 through <a href=\"http:\/\/dir.groups.yahoo.com%2Fdir%2FReligion___Beliefs%2FIslam%2FLesbians%2C_Gays%2C_and_Bisexuals%3Fshow_groups%3D1\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">mailing lists<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com%2Fexec%2Fobidos%2FASIN%2F0942777166%2Fphilosophyresour%2F104-7504148-1782369\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">books<\/a>, websites such as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.well.com%2Fuser%2Fqueerjhd%2F\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Queer Jihad<\/a>, international <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com%2Fac2%2Fwp-dyn%3Fpagename%3Darticle%26node%3D%26contentId%3DA64414-2000Apr3\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">conferences<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/srd.yahoo.com%2Fdrst%2F57668575%2Fhttp:\/\/www.gayreading.com%2Flifestyles%2Fmuslim.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">online testimonials<\/a> \u2013 are asserting a gay Muslim identity that presents a new challenge to mainstream American Muslims.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing gay and Muslim is not an oxymoron,\u201d says Faisal Alam, founder of the gay Muslim group <a href=\"http:\/\/www.al-fatiha.net%2F\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Al-Fatiha<\/a>. \u201cWe are living proof that it\u2019s not.\u201d  But Muslim leaders remain unconvinced.  \u201cIf one considers it acceptable in Islam [to be gay], then he or she is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alternet.org%2Fstory.html%3FStoryID%3D12817\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">not considered to be a Muslim<\/a> by consensus of the scholars,\u201d says Hamza Yusuf, a leading American Muslim scholar and founder of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.zaytuna.org\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Zaytuna Institute<\/a>. \u201cOn this I know no debate whatsoever.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p>So far, the movement has been ignored by the Muslim world or treated as a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.al-muslim.org%2Farticles%2Fhomosexuals.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">fringe group<\/a>, but as Alam and others (including a <a href=\"http:\/\/temenos.community.everyone.net%2Fcommun_v3%2Fscripts%2Fthread.pl%3FMessageID%3D5941206%26NodeID%3D314224%26view%3Dstandard\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">gay imam<\/a>) seek to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.al-fatiha.net%2Fpamphlet.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">redefine Islam\u2019s stance<\/a> on homosexuality, perhaps another \u201cclash of civilizations\u201d is in the making.<\/p>\n<p><i><\/i><\/p>\n<p>Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.\n<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Throwing down the gauntlet to the Muslim world, an emerging gay Muslim movement is demanding acceptance of homosexuality within Islam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":530,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-briefings"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ 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