12/01/2012
Near Paris, a gay Muslim man is opening an Islamic prayer room aimed at persons who may feel unwelcome in a standard mosque because of their sexual orientation.
After all, Islam teaches that homosexuality is a crime punishable by death, and Iran has recently hanged men for sodomy, so the threat is not an idle one.
Itâs hard to imagine how this situation can work out well, since defenders of Islam tend to be rather unforgiving fellows, not inclined to celebrate sexual diversity. They kill first, and repent at leisure, if ever. In theory, all Muslims are brothers in one big happy ummah, but in reality they whack each other for tiny doctrinal differences, and being gay is not ever close to being officially acceptable.
Plus, the orthodox Islamists must think that ideas like a gay-friendly mosque could only come from contact with the decadent west.
Gay-friendly âmosqueâ opens in Paris, BBC, November 30, 2012
A prayer room described as Europeâs first gay-fri endly mosque is opening on the outskirts of Paris.
The new centre is run by Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed, a gay Islamic scholar, married to a gay man, and the founder of Homosexual Muslims of France.
Mr Zahed regularly attends the Grand Mosque in Paris, but says he wants to create a more âinclusiveâ place for gay, lesbian and transgender Muslims.
He says many of them felt uncomfortable praying in established mosques.
âMany gay men donât go to the mosque because they donât want to be recognised,â says Mr Zahed.
âThey donât want to be ostracised because they wear earrings or because theyâre effeminate or theyâre transgender, something thatâs pretty obviously rejected in many mosques in France,â he says.
Mr Zahedâs South African gay husband has encountered similar problems. âThe first time he came to the mosque he was wearing earrings. After the prayers somebody came up to him and tried to take them off and told him, âThis isnât right, you shouldnât do that hereâ. It was a kind of soft but very obvious aggression,â says Mr Zahed.
He cites another recent case of what he describes as discrimination. âA transgender from a Muslim background died last summer. It was hard to find an imam to pray for her. Nobody wanted to. In the end, we had to do it. We had to pray for her,â says Mr Zahed.
Buddhist space
For the moment the place of worship is a room in a Buddhist prayer hall. The room holds more than 20 people and is decorated with calligraphy in Chinese characters.London Imam Ajmal Masroor says that Mr Zahedâs meeting room does not constitute a mosque as it does not fully adhere to Islamic preaching and practice.
Mr Zahed says his âmosqueâ is not trying to be specifically gay-friendly, but âinclusiveâ. He is also trying to integrate the sexes in Islam. He wants men and women to be able to pray together, not just âgay and straightâ.
Men and women pray together in Mecca, he says, so why canât they in ordinary mosques?
So far the reaction from the rest of the Muslim community in France has been mixed. France has the largest Muslim community in Europe outside Russia.
The Paris Grand Mosque has issued an unequivocal statement. âThe fact that heâs opening a mosque or a prayer room is something thatâs outside the Islamic community. The Koran condemns homosexuality. It is banned,â said a Grand Mosque spokesman.
Other Muslims have been intrigued enough to ask Mr Zahed how he justifies his stance. âPeople are trying to understand who we are, where we come from, what our interpretation of this or that verse of the Koran is, and thatâs diversity and dialogue and Iâm happy with it,â says Mr Zahed.
He also says he has received messages of support from ordinary Muslims in France.
Safety concern
He is, however, concerned enough about the safety of his new congregation to be reticent about revealing exactly where it will be meeting.At the moment Mr Zahed is not getting any special protection from the French police and the French authorities have told him they are not aware of any specific threats from within the Muslim community.
But he is still concerned about violence âor a simple demonstrationâ. Not least because if there are âdemonstrations [outside] or threats when you are trying to get in, itâs not going to be a peaceful context to be connected to each other and to prayâ.
Traditionally, Muslim religious authorities have opposed gay sex. They argue that the Koranic authority for this is the story of Godâs destruction of the city of Sodom because of its citizensâ sins.
âHomosexuality is a choice, itâs a desire, itâs not something that you are born with,â says the London imam Ajmal Masroor. Homosexuality is not acceptable for either Sunni or Shia Muslims, he says, because God intends for sex to occur between men and women only, within marriage, and âany sexual relationship outside marriage is a sinâ.
However, that does not mean that Muslims should discriminate against homosexuals, says Mr Masroor. Mosques are open to everyone.
Rather than trying to separate themselves homosexuals should be attending mosque like other Muslims, argues Mr Masroor. But they should not be trying to change the religion. âIf you join Islam, you must conform to Islamic teachings.â
Mr Zahed says that âIslam has nothing to do with homosexualityâ.
âIslam is not a totalitarian fascist identity. You should not use Islam to justify your prejudices and try to control the sexuality and gender of individuals,â he says.