Among the biggest puzzlers of our time is why leftists are so supportive of Muslims, given their stance on women, LGBT issues, sexual morality, and other moral issues. Another is why Muslims are so supportive of leftists, given their stances on those issues.
The first puzzle can be partially solved by the leftist doctrine of ‘intersectionality.” Progressives maintain that Muslims are oppressed, due to Western colonialism and the “war on terrorism.” Plus, most Muslims have brown skin, so they qualify as “people of color.” Intersectionality teaches that all oppressed groups–women, homosexuals, Blacks, Hispanics, the disabled, etc.—must become “allies” of each other in their common struggle against white heterosexual male supremacy.
The second puzzle is more puzzling. Apparently, Muslims feel that leftists are at least on their side and that progressive politicians serve their rational self-interests when it comes to immigration, opposing Israel, and the like.
But Muslims seem to be waking up–as opposed to being “woke”–to the contradictions between their convictions and their leftist allies. In Dearborn, Michigan, which has a large Muslim population, parents of that religion have seen the explicit sex, promotion of homosexuality, and encouragement of gender changing in the public schools. Like Christian and even many liberal parents, they are shocked and appalled. So Muslims have been complaining at school board meetings, demonstrating, and exerting political pressure to get this kind of material out of the classroom and away from their children.
Progressives–including the Dearborn congressional representative Rashida Tlaib, who identifies as Muslim and is a member with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of the hard left “squad”– responded to the protests by calling them acts of “hate” and “bigotry,” in which Muslims were manipulated by Republicans and the Christian right. And yet, the protesting Muslims were more successful than Christians usually are, and the books were removed.
Two Muslims, Zain Siddiqi and Farhana K., have written a fascinating explanation of the Dearborn protests. They give cogent reasons for opposing the sexualization of children in public schools–reasons that Christians can agree with–and go on to object to the condescension neo-colonialism and racism of the left.
From the online Islamic magazine Traversing Tradition, Dearborn Schools and the Protests against LGBTQ Books:
The rhetoric leveled at protesters is largely ironic, considering that the Left has been long engaging in a subversion of the Muslim community in attempt to capitalize on the alienation perpetrated by the Right. Muslims have largely been convinced into supporting the Left’s social causes as a means to better their own situation regarding issues like discrimination and immigration. . . .
The premise that Muslims protesting these schools are falling prey to “culture wars” and are victims of a “dangerous ideology” also suggests that Islam is not at all morally opposed to the material being presented in these books. While the Islamic attitude to sin differs from Christianity, it does not mean that Islam gives a green light to hypersexualized content. This is the same case for viewing homosexual acts as a sin. . . .
For years, Islam in America has been racialized in the political sphere, assumed to be fully onboard the progressive bandwagon, given the decades of discrimination and scrutiny. Since we as Muslims are under the boot with other minorities, we are expected to automatically band together and support all causes amongst the subjugated. This idea supposes that Muslims should abandon their principles in support of an amalgamated idea of a “greater good,” an idea which contradicts the very spirit of Islam. . . .
We should note here that it is not only the sexual content and explicit nature of the books that are and should be protested. Considering the outrage to be restricted to “only” the pornography-esque presentation and not LGBT is a common refrain, but the situation is more nuanced than that. What is also being protested is the evolving nature of sexuality and hyper-sexualization of society. . . .What is at issue here is the condescending demands that the Muslim community confirm belief in hegemonic ideas about gender and sexuality, or be branded bigots.
Sexual activity between two men or two women fall under liwat, categorically forbidden in orthodox Islamic beliefs. Even if a Muslim were to engage in liwat, the deen necessitates its rejection as a moral act necessitating tawba (repentance). Furthermore, premarital intimacy is forbidden, and masturbation is largely prohibited. As such, even an ideal teaching and explanation of sexuality among Muslims conflicts with wider societal acceptance of fornication, masturbation, and affirming of same-sex sexual activity as moral.
See also a similar response to the LGBTQ Identity movement by a Muslim woman that we have blogged about.
Shouldn’t Christians make common cause with Muslims on these moral and civic issues? The article says that Muslim parents had no idea what their children were being exposed to, until a Christian woman showed them the textbooks. The authors say that while conservatives have sometimes favored discriminatory policies against Muslims–mentioning Trump’s restrictions on allowing Muslims into the country–at least conservatives support religious liberty and moral truth. Maybe, the authors say, on an issue-by-issue basis Muslims can “ally” with conservatives, using a term favored by the intersectionalists.
Photo: “Iftar at Habib’s Cuisine in Dearborn” from GPA Photo Archives via Flickr, CC 2.0 License
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