Can You Be Gay & Muslim?

Like with any religion, the answer to homosexuality is complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s when religion is taken to the extreme that issues arise. We take a closer look at what it means to be gay and Muslim.

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Muslim Drag Queens: Stars of Channel 4 Show Brave Death Threats to Appear in Film

THE INDEPENDENT: 'There is a whole community that is living in Britain which is hidden - now is the time to come out'

“I’m gay, I’m Muslim, I’m a drag queen, I’m British and Pakistani,” said Asif Quraishi, Britain’s first out and proud Muslim drag queen who performs under the glamorous alter ego, Asifa Lahore. “People say these things shouldn’t fit together but hey, here I am.”

Now Quaraishi and his fellow artistes have been promised police protection amid fears that a Channel 4 documentary shining a spotlight on the “hidden” community of gay British Asians could provoke a violent response.

Quraishi, 33, from Southall, West London, performs a provocative act in which he strips off a Burka and has received death threats from fellow Muslims.

The winner of the LGBT award at Attitude magazine’s Pride ceremony, Quraishi estimates that there are 150 drag queens across Britain who, are devout Muslims, like himself.

The documentary, Muslim Drag Queens, broadcast on 24 August, follows three members of a largely clandestine gay Asian community who are challenging taboos within Islam through their embrace of cross-dressing exhibitionism. » | Adam Sherwin | Media Correspondent | Tuesday, August 18, 2015

What Does Islam Say About Being Gay?

THE NEW YORK TIMES: ISTANBUL — On June 29, Turkey’s 12th Gay Pride Parade was held on Istanbul’s crowded Istiklal Avenue. Thousands marched joyfully carrying rainbow flags until the police began dispersing them with water cannons. The authorities, as has become their custom since the Gezi Park protests of June 2013, once again decided not to allow a demonstration by secular Turks who don’t fit into their vision of the ideal citizen.

More worrying news came a week later when posters were put up in Ankara with a chilling instruction: “If you see those carrying out the People of Lot’s dirty work, kill the doer and the done!” The “People of Lot” was a religious reference to gays, and the instruction to kill them on sight was attributed to the Prophet Muhammad. The group that put the posters up, the so-called Islamic Defense Youth, defended its message by asserting: “What? Are you offended by the words of our prophet?!”

All of this suggests that both Turkey and the Muslim world need to engage in some soul-searching when it comes to tolerance for their gay compatriots. » | Mustafa Akyol | Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Mustafa Akyol is the author of “Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty.”

Gambian President Attends Rally with Protesters Declaring: ‘Homosexuality Is Forbidden in Islam’

Yahya Jammeh

PINK NEWS: The President of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, has attended a mass rally against homosexuality in the country’s capital Banjul.

AllAfrica reports thousands of protesters marched from the Gambian Parliament on Tuesday carrying placards and banners declaring: “Homosexuality is Inhuman”; “Even cows don’t do it!” “Homosexuality is forbidden in Islam”.

Islam is the majority religion of Gambia, with around 95.3% of the population being Muslims.

In November, President Jammeh signed into law a bill which calls for life imprisonment for people caught taking part in same-sex sexual activity. » | Scott Roberts | Thursday, December 11, 2014

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'There's a Place for Gays in Islam'

THE ATLANTIC: Morocco's only openly gay filmmaker discusses the inspirations behind Salvation Army and his home country's changing attitudes toward homosexuality.

In an edition of the Venice Film Festival notable for the prevalence of works grappling with global and societal woes (unemployment, terrorism, pollution, war) perhaps no film has blended the personal and the political as strikingly as Abdellah Taia’s L’Armée du salut (Salvation Army).

A promising directorial debut presented in the independent “Critics’ Week” category on Wednesday, the movie is adapted from Taia’s autobiographical novel about growing up gay in Morocco.

Today, the 40-year-old Taia is the only openly homosexual Moroccan writer-filmmaker. He is based in Paris, where he moved in 2000 to pursue a graduate degree in 18th century French literature.

Salvation Army observes the adolescent protagonist’s sexual awakening, as he meets with men in shadowy alleys and empty lots, careful not to be discovered in a country where homosexuality is a crime punishable by prison time.

The film’s final section finds Abdellah living in Switzerland 10 years later, free from the severe restrictions of Moroccan society, but nostalgic for his native land.

I sat down with Taia for an interview about his film, his life, and his views on homosexuality, Islam, Morocco and France. Here are some highlights. » | Jon Frosch | Friday, September 06, 2013

Related »

Is There a Place for Gay Muslims?
Dr. Sherman Jackson responds to an audience question regarding Gay Muslims and homosexuality in Islam. Clip from Cultivating an Indigenous Muslim Culture part of the Shuruq 2009 Islam Awareness series held at New York University in April 2009.

Imam Blesses Union of Gay Muslim Couple in France

AL ARABIYA NEWS: Two Muslim gay men, deeply in love, tied the knot in France with the blessing of an imam.

Ludovic Mohamed Zahed, a French man of Algerian origin, and his South African partner Qiyam al-Din, were reportedly married in accordance to the Sharia (Islamic law) in the presence of a Mauritian imam named Jamal who blessed their union on February 12, 2012, according to a report in Albawbaba on April 2.

The two were previously able to marry in South Africa under the country’s same sex marriage laws, which also permits gay couples to adopt but France does not recognize same sex unions.

Zahed shared his story with France 24 TV, telling the channel how he met Din last year at a convention on AIDS in South Africa.

“I was in the lecture hall when an imam, who incidentally is gay himself, introduced me to Din. We discovered we had a lot in common and a mutual admiration was cemented. I stayed on after the convention for two months, deciding to get married, since South African laws were more friendly [to same sex unions],” he said.

After the wedding that was organized by Din’s family, the couple decided to return to France and settle down in a Parisian suburb, hoping that the French government would recognize the legality of their marriage.

But the French authorities refused.

Zahed, who has his family’s blessings for the marriage, says that he faces more obstacles with the French law than discrimination from Muslims. » | Al Arabiya | Sunday, April 08, 2012

Moroccan Writer Taia Challenges Homosexual Taboo
AFP: TANGIERS, Morocco — Novelist Abdellah Taia, who has won acclaim in France and readers abroad, has challenged a taboo in his native Morocco and won't back down: he is the first writer to come out as gay in a country that bans homosexuality.

For 37-year-old Taia, who has lived in Paris for the last decade, being homosexual and Muslim are not mutually exclusive. He "feels Muslim" and is from a country where Islam is the state religion.

"I am the first Moroccan writer who has spoken openly about his homosexuality, to acknowledge it, but without turning my back on the country I'm from," he said.

"My homosexuality, I already felt it from the age of 13, at school.

"But despite this, I feel Muslim. There is no incompatibility between Islam and choices of sexual identity," he told AFP on a recent visit back to Morocco. >>> Omar Brouksy | Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Islam 'Recognizes Homosexuality'
THE JAKARTA POST: Homosexuals and homosexuality are natural and created by God, thus permissible within Islam, a discussion concluded here Thursday.

Moderate Muslim scholars said there were no reasons to reject homosexuals under Islam, and that the condemnation of homosexuals and homosexuality by mainstream ulema and many other Muslims was based on narrow-minded interpretations of Islamic teachings.

Siti Musdah Mulia of the Indonesia Conference of Religions and Peace cited the Koran's al-Hujurat (49:3) that one of the blessings for human beings was that all men and women are equal, regardless of ethnicity, wealth, social positions or even sexual orientation.

"There is no difference between lesbians and nonlesbians. In the eyes of God, people are valued based on their piety," she told the discussion organized by nongovernmental organization Arus Pelangi.

"And talking about piety is God's prerogative to judge," she added.
"The essence of the religion (Islam) is to humanize humans, respect and dignify them."

Musdah said homosexuality was from God and should be considered natural, adding it was not pushed only by passion. >>> Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post | Friday, March 28, 2008

Alas, many Muslims are not so tolerant. Check this out.

Muslim Gay in China