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Worldwide Gay Life,
Sites and Insights Islam and Homosexuality News & Reports 1998-2002 Also see: New book
2007: Gay
Travels in the Muslim World, Edited by Michael Luongo Also see: Gay
Islam Reports 1998-2002 More
Lesbian and Gay Muslim Websites: The majority of Muslim countries, including supposedly ‘liberal’ ones like Tunisia as well as dictatorships like Sudan, outlaw same-sex relationships. See full article (October 2000) at: http://www.newint.org/issue328/holy.htm 1 Power and Sexuality in the Middle East (Academic essay, 1998) 2 Gay Muslims in the Post-Attack World 10/01 3 Male Homosexuality in the Arab World 7/98 4 Gay Life and Death in the Arab World --Persecution of homosexuals increases in the Middle East 2/02 5 Pakistani-American Gay Muslim Activist Works to Build Ties 11/01 6 Islamic Studies on Homosexuality (1998) 7 Gay Muslims Face a Growing Challenge 1/02 8 To Be Gay and Muslim (USA) 4/02 10 Islamic Homosexualities: Interesting Notes from Academia about Homosexuality and Islam Middle East Report http://www.merip.org/mer/mer206/bruce.htm Spring 1998 1 by Bruce
Dunne Sexual relations in Middle Eastern societies have historically articulated social hierarchies, that is, dominant and subordinate social positions: adult men on top; women, boys and slaves below. The distinction made by modern Western "sexuality" between sexual and gender identity, that is, between kinds of sexual predilections [and] degrees of masculinity and femininity, has, until recently, had little resonance in the Middle East. Both dominant/subordinate and heterosexual/homosexual categorizations are structures of power. They position people as powerful or powerless, "normal" or "deviant." The contemporary concept of "queerness" resists all such categorizing in favor of recognizing more complex realities of multiple and shifting positions of sexuality, identity and power. In early 1993, news of President Clinton's proposal to end the US military's ban on service by homosexuals prompted a young Egyptian man in Cairo, eager to practice his English, to ask me why the president wanted "to ruin the American army" by admitting "those who are not men or women." When asked if "those" would include a married man who also liked to have sex with adolescent boys, he unhesitatingly answered "no." For this Egyptian, a Western "homosexual" was not readily comprehensible as a man or a woman, while a man who had sex with both women and boys was simply doing what men do. It is not the existence of same-sex sexual relations that is new but their association with essentialist sexual identities rather than hierarchies of age, class or status. A recent study of family and urban politics in Cairo suggests that social taboos and silences relating to sexual behavior provide a space of negotiability.1 They accommodate discreet incidents of otherwise publicly condemned illicit sexual behavior--adultery, homosexuality, premarital sex--provided that paramount values of family maintenance and reproduction and supporting social networks are not threatened. Such silences, however, leave normative constructions of licit and illicit sexual behavior unchallenged, sustain patriarchal family values, and legitimize patterns of sexual violence such as honor crimes, female circumcision and gay bashing.2 Also in 1993, an Egyptian physician affiliated with Cairo's Qasr al-'Aini Hospital informed me that AIDS and venereal diseases were not problems in Egypt because neither prostitution nor homosexuality exist in an Islamic country. While this statement may express conventions deemed appropriate for conversations with foreigners, it is profoundly ahistorical. Over the centuries, Islamic societies have accorded prostitution much the same levels of intermittent toleration, regulation and repression as their Christian counterparts and, until recently, have been more tolerant of same-sex sexual practices.3 Denying the existence of transgressive sexual practices helps obscure the ideological nature of "transgression," making it difficult, for example, to see prostitutes as workers who support themselves or their families by performing services for which there is a social demand. Such denials also legitimize failures to respond effectively to public health concerns such as AIDS.4 Representations of Power and Sexuality Western notions of sexual identity offer little insight into our contemporary
young Egyptian's apparent understanding that sexual behavior conforms
to a particular concept of gender. His view, informed by a sexual
ethos with antecedents in Greek and late Roman antiquity, is characterized
by the "general importance of male dominance, the centrality
of penetration to conceptions of sex [and] the radical disjunction
of active and passive roles in male homosexuality."5 Everett Rowson
has found this sexual ethos "broadly representative of Middle Eastern
societies from the 9th century to the present." This is
not to suggest that there has been an unchanging or homogeneous historical
experience for the Arabo-Muslim world but rather to acknowledge both
the remarkable continuity reflected in the sources and the need for
research that would further map historical variations.6 Social segregation was legitimized in part by constructing "male" and "female" as opposites: men as rational and capable of self-control; women as emotional and lacking self-control, particularly of sexual drives. Female sexuality, if unsatisfied or uncontrolled, could result in social chaos (fitna) and social order thus required male control of women's bodies.7 The domain of licit sexuality was placed in service to the patriarchal order. The patriarchal family served as paramount social institution and the proper locus of sex, thus ensuring legitimate filiation. Its honor required supervision of women by male family members, while marital alliances among families of equal rank maintained social hierarchies. Where men rule, sexes are segregated, male and family honor is linked to premarital female virginity and sex is licit only within marriage or concubinage. Those denied access to licit sexuality for whatever reasons--youth, poverty, occupation (e.g. soldiers), demographic sexual imbalances--require other sexual outlets. Such contradictions between normative morality and social realities supported both male and female prostitution and same-sex practices in Middle Eastern societies from the medieval to the modern period. Ruling authorities saw prostitution as a socially useful alternative to potential male sexual violence (e.g. against respectable women) and a welcome source of tax revenues, even as some religious scholars vigorously objected. According to Abdelwahab Bouhdiba, "institutional prostitution forms part of the secret equilibrium of Arabo-Muslim societies," necessary to their social reproduction.8 Historical Social/Sexual Roles In medieval Islamic societies, understood through their (male-authored) literature of morals, manners, medicine and dream interpretation, sexual relations were organized in conformity to principles of social and political hierarchy. "[S]exuality was defined according to the domination by or reception of the penis in the sex act; moreover, one's position in the social hierarchy also localized her or him in a predetermined sexual role."9 Sex, that is, penetration, took place between dominant, free adult men and subordinate social inferiors: wives, concubines, boys, prostitutes (male and female) and slaves (male and female). What was at stake was not mutuality between partners but the adult male's achievement of pleasure through domination. Women were viewed as naturally submissive; male prostitutes were understood to submit to penetration for gain rather than pleasure; and boys, "being not yet men, could be penetrated without losing their potential manliness." That an adult male might take pleasure in a subordinate sexual role, in submitting to penetration, was deemed "inexplicable, and could only be attributed to pathology."10 Rowson explains the relation between gender roles and sexual roles in medieval Muslim societies by locating them in, respectively, distinct public and private realms. Adult men, who dominated their wives and slaves in private, controlled the public realm. Sex with boys or male prostitutes made men "sinners," but did not undermine their public position as men or threaten the important social values of female virginity or family honor. Women, who could not penetrate and were confined to the private realm, were largely irrelevant to conceptions of gender; female homoeroticism received little attention. Effeminate men who voluntarily and publicly behaved as women (mukhannaths) gave up their claims to membership in the dominant male order. They "lost their respectability [as men] but could be tolerated and even valued as entertainers"-poets, musicians, dancers, singers. Men who maintained a dominant public persona but were privately submissive threatened presumptions of male dominance and were vulnerable to challenge.11 The articulation of sexual relations in conformity to social hierarchies represents an ideological framework within which individuals negotiated varied lives under changing historical conditions. Adult male egalitarian homosexual relations may have been publicly unacceptable, but there is evidence that, in the medieval period, men of equal rank could negotiate such relations by alternating active and passive sexual roles.12 In Mamluk Egypt, lower-class women could not afford to observe ideals of seclusion and secluded upper-class women found ways to participate in social and economic life and even used the threat of withholding sex to negotiate concessions from their husbands. Women in the Ottoman period went to court to assert their rights to sexual fulfillment (e.g., to divorce an absent or impotent husband).13 State efforts to repress illicit sexual conduct or promote social-sexual norms (e.g., by closing brothels or ordering women indoors) were sporadic, short-lived and typically occasioned by political circumstances and the need to bolster regime legitimacy.14 Ideological
Reproduction "Queering" the Middle East
October 27, 2001 2 by Kelly
Cogswell The response was tremendous, and after a year the small Internet community grew into an international foundation managed by volunteers, with six chapters in the U.S., two in Canada, another in London, and more on the way. Since September 11, Al-Fatiha has spent less time helping lgbt Muslims and their straight friends and families come to grips with sexual identity, than educating the gay community and gay media about Islam, and the historical and political context of the attack. When I spoke with Alam, recently, in New York City, the young Pakistani-American AIDS activist was in the midst of a speaking tour decrying as simplistic rhetoric the views of some gay writers like Paul Varnell, who in "The New Culture War," characterized the attack as a conflict of East versus West, and medieval Islam versus modernity. Alam's refrain: Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance. Don't blame all Muslims for what a very, very few did. Like other Muslims, Al-Fatiha members have had to deal with a surge in hate crimes. Alam, who lives in D.C., said, "After September 11, almost everybody I knew that was not white was getting harassed. Most of it was verbal, go back where you came from, things like that. One of our members in New York called the police when his door was graffitied. They hauled him in for questioning." Alam's main concern is the erosion of civil liberties, both in the United States and abroad, and how it will affect gay people. In some places it can't get any worse. In Iran, Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia "homosexuals" are executed. "In Egypt [where homosexuality is supposedly not illegal] gay people are already defined as a threat to the state." The 52 Egyptian men on trial for "obscene behavior" and "contempt for religion," code language for being gay, are being tried in Egypt's Special Emergency Court, set up to deal with terrorists. Prior to the attack, Al-Fatiha, working with gay Egyptians, brought world-wide attention to the case before the attack erased it from the media's attention. In the closing arguments of the case on October 10, the main defendant, Sherif Hassan Farahat, was accused of being a member of Jihad, the Egyptian fundamentalist terrorist network, which closely related to Bin Laden's terrorist organization. How he can be both an obvious "homosexual," and a follower of the intensely homophobic fundamentalist group remains a mystery. Given the Bush administration's uncritical quest for allies, a number of dictatorships and sham democracies will be emboldened to use the current political upheaval to crack down on anyone they don't like. U.S. security now, more than ever before, has become equated with our unsavory allies' stability. At the same time, fundamentalist Muslims are using the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan to recruit new anti-American, pro-Islamist members who will be sure to indulge in further anti-gay campaigns. In the U.S., the post-attack Muslim community could go either "left" and reformist, or "right" and fundamentalist, according to Alam. Until recently, the mainstream community, which by U.S. standards is overwhelmingly conservative, has been in denial about the existence of gay Muslims. Some are also struggling with the role of women. The first time "homosexuality" was addressed openly in the U.S. Muslim world was after gay Muslims marched for the first time last June in San Francisco's Gay Pride. Members reported that at least six mosques had anti-queer sermons the following Friday. Al-Fatiha also got some attention after picking up a "fatwa," or religious edict, from a fundamentalist Islamic group in Britain. "The very existence of Al-Fatiha is illegitimate and the members of this organization are apostates," the decree said. "Never will such an organization be tolerated in Islam and never will the disease which it calls for be affiliated with a true Islamic society or individual. The Islamic ruling for such acts is death." Nevertheless, Alam is hopeful that U.S. Muslims will reject the fundamentalist trend. "We're trying to make this our home. We like the freedom here. And we don't want to seem like a foreign entity. Change will happen in the next few years," he said, "when the second generation takes leadership positions. That's when it will be interesting to see if we go right or left. I think that, after September 11, it'll be left." The attacks have spurred at least a few U.S. Muslims to assess their own culture. In his essay "A Memo to American Muslims," Dr. Muqtedar Khan, of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, and a professor at Adrian College in Michigan, questions those Muslim Americans who "love to live in the U.S., but also love to hate it," who condemn Israel for anti-Muslim abuses, but not Muslim regimes like Saddam Hussein's who slaughter thousands of their own people. He calls for U.S. Muslims to examine themselves, and rededicate their efforts to "harmony, peace, and tolerance," instead of to "the culture of hate and killing." A few hardline Muslim voices in the U.S. can be heard justifying the attacks, some subtly, others overtly. However, most are like homegrown post-Columbine observers who distanced themselves and America from that massacre, declaring it an aberration, absolutely nothing to do with the larger culture, or even that of American high schools. Fundamentalist Christians, if forced to comment on the bombing of abortion clinics and gay bars, will only say that it is not very nice, but has nothing to do with them, before they launch into a tirade against godless baby-killers and queers. For blind-folded believers, there are no thorns in the rosebushes of Islam, or American culture, or Christianity. Aside from self-examination, a significant factor determining the future of American Islam may be how that community responds to the increased anti-Muslim social pressures. An embattled community may become more conservative, rather than less, as Faisal Alam acknowledged. Before the attack, he said, the pressures of living as a cultural and religious minority in the U.S. were already visible on second generation immigrants. "There's a large segment that is even more conservative than their parents. In fact many of their parents when they came were secular, and got more religious when they came here. Their children are far more hard-core religious than they would have been if they had stayed in a place like Pakistan, where Islam is not just exclusively religious, but cultural. They turn to it here, where they have no cultural influence." Faisal Alam was in Miami Beach preparing for the U.S. Conference on AIDS, when the airliners crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "I was stuck in this resort on Miami Beach, seeing it on CNN. It was really surreal. At the same time, there was this hurricane coming." July 30, 1998 3 July 1998 (Author Unknown--Arab) Amman, Jordan (This article focuses only on male homosexuality. This reporter tried to interview females and to tackle the issue of female homosexuality, without results. Arab women are quite reserved and inhibited on this issue for fear of causing problems to their friends or families.) The issue of male homosexuality in the Arab world remains a taboo and untapped subject away from national debate. This tendency is not spoken about openly-- though male-male friction is acknowledged. Nor is it legally recognized in these conservative societies. While the issue of recognizing male homosexuality is not totally different from other countries, male Arab homosexuality has indeed a different notion from that in the West. Gay activities are frowned upon in Islam but a set of cultural and traditional taboos has played a role in the acquiescence of much of these sexual activities if confined to a certain set of moral conducts. That is to say, homosexual behavior may be overlooked but experiencing feelings of an emotional nature beyond sex makes a man gay and hence, a potential outcast. In a society where the family bond, "honor" and image are extremely important, many tend to follow the dictates and norms of society, even if this means living in conflict with their inner feelings. Sex vs. emotions Many Arab men make a distinction between sex and emotional attachment. Bruce Dunne, author of an article titled Power and Sexuality in the Middle East, believes that sexual relations in the Middle East are about power. He writes: "Sexual relations in Middle Eastern societies have historically articulated social hierarchies, that is, dominant and subordinate social positions: adult men on top; women, boys and slaves below…Both dominant/subordinate and heterosexual/homosexual categorizations are structures of power." Having pure, raw sex with another man and being the active partner doesn't make a man gay. This notion of same-sex is also true in the West. It differs, however, with regard the application. "Since the concept of same-sex relations does not exist in the Arab world, being 'Gay' is still considered to be a sexual behavior," says Outreach Director of the Gay and Lesbian Arab Society, Ramzi Zakharia, in an e-mail interview. But according to Western definition, "that limits it to 'homosexual' behavior, which does not mean that the person is Gay. Just because you sleep with a member of the same sex does not mean you are Gay... it just means that you are engaging in homosexual activity. Once a relationship develops beyond sex (i.e: love) this is when the term gay applies," adds akharia. He believes that gays in the Arab world, unlike those in Western societies, "limit their activities to sex and rarely explore feelings beyond that," experience. Impressions from a European European-born Marcus, who has been in Jordan for two months, has already noticed a remarkable difference between the Kingdom and his native country. While he says that the men he has met generally shy away from emotional intimacy mostly because they experience inner conflicts, these same men are capable of justifying a purely sexual experience. Having sex (discreetly) is alright, and sometimes even seen as an exploit. It is therefore justified. Men holding hands or walking arm in arm are familiar scenes in Arab streets. In general men are more intimate with each other than they are in the West and a man without a woman at his side is not really seen as strange, Marcus observes. These scenes would not draw the eyes of passersby, but the same man-to-man intimacy could be outrightly interepreted in the West as a gay relationship. "It is much easier to meet men and be close to them here," Marcus says. Marcus, 29, is gay. He is in the country for the first time learning Arabic. Marcus preferred not to use his real name. Although he says he feels more at ease about being gay in Jordan than he does in his home town, he did not want his colleagues at work to read his name. Marcus says he feels comfortable approaching a man in Jordan with frankness about his desires. Even though the man may not be gay there is some sort of "understanding" at what is going on, and little or no offence would be taken. Some men interviewed in Jordan, however, appeared offended at the mention of this topic and they even refused to bring up the issue in general. When they did finally speak about homosexual behavior and gays-- which they believed were the same-- they spoke with repulsion and with harshness. But Marcus says he has not yet experienced anything of this sort and life for a gay in Jordan is much easier in some ways. Back in his home, a man cannot easily approach or look at another man. "We have the legal recognition but we have a social taboo," Marcus says. Living a dual life It may be easier to engage in homosexual behavior, but it certainly is not the case when emotions are involved. This Arab distinction of sex versus emotional attachment is largely derived out of a conflict with religion and tradition. Arab men engage in homosexual behavior, and don't cross the realm of being gay in order not to morally hurt themselves or their families. These Arab men would prefer (though not because they really want to) to fit into society's mold and they justify their sexual preferences as "something men do", and not as "something I do because I am gay." If these same people were living in Western societies, they would most probably be gay and not only engage in homosexual sex. In the West, those who are gay will cross the homosexual boundaries, even if that means staying in the closet. In the Arab world, only some do. Many, however, live a dual life. Indeed,
several gay Arab men living in the US have said that when they return
to their homes for long visits, they adapt to societal expectations
of them as men, become "hypocritical" and engage in only homosexual
behavior, if they do at all. Homosexuality for Arabs contradicts and even undermines the male, patriarchal image as a "macho" in Arab societies. A non-typical Arab male? One 26-year-old Lebanese of Palestinian origin living in Canada explains his conflict, similar to the feelings of many others like him. The following was received from him by e-mail and is printed without editing. He did not want his name used: I am a non-typical gay Arab male who grew up in Lebanon and then migrated to Canada. Non-typical, I say, because I find myself very different from the gay Arab men (gay men in general) that I know. And I know quite a few. I am able to find a trend in my behavior as I also recognize the common traits that I find in the men I am acquainted with. This leads me to believe that I am different and perhaps they are the norm. In addressing my homosexuality I try to reconcile many things, namely religion, family, culture and image. Religion , in my mind, tells me not to over indulge. It also is a source of guilt and fear of God. I am Muslim but my friend tells me that my guilt is a Catholic guilt. My parents raised me with a set of expectations that no matter how much I fight and how compromising my parents get, still is embedded in me. It is inherent that I must succeed. It is inherent no matter what my limitations are. Not to say that my parents will disown me or hurt me. They are very loving. Too loving sometimes. By too loving I mean that they foster dependence to a point that makes me feel controlled most of the time and safe the rest of the time. Arab culture as I see it is two tier. One side is the culture itself which I love and want and am proud of, the other level is culture in the context of common society. Arabs are perhaps the most hypocritical ( in my view ) when it comes to values. The facade is that of religion and morality. Behind the closed doors is everything else. The two main things I pray one day will happen are that we will become assertive internationally and protect our rights, the other is that we will undo the sexism that we are notorious for. The last aspect is image. This is personal. We can blame everyone but we must also look within. I look at myself honestly and I see a guy who does not entirely accept himself. This is the number one hindrance to change. I see myself being proud and then I see myself being quiet and complacent. I attribute that to me. I am not being up to the challenge of being gay. I see myself wanting a woman and children whenever I am acquainted with a girl who may be interested in me in the context of marriage. As I said I am non-typical or I choose to feel this way. I try to reconcile heterosexual values with homosexual life. I go in circles and I find that it all boils down to me as a person. I have to be happy. I find what makes me feel happy, what fulfills me and the rest just falls into place. In brief, growing up I was a naive and chronically introverted kid with a lot of imagination and no support or anyone to share with. I was never really able to conceive what sex was in its biological sense until I was in Canada and was reading a lot. I did not know about anal sex until I read about it. I never experimented with other boys. The closest I got to that was physical play such as wrestling with my friend. How do you know the Earth is not flat until you are told it is not? When one looks at it, the Earth looks flat. Similarly society looks heterosexual. This young man considers himself a non-typical Arab gay, but another young Arab man pointed out in a response to him that he was in fact typical: I am a non-typical gay Arab male you're wrong. You ARE the typical Gay Arab male. Your post was very interesting. You reminded me what I was a few years ago, but also I realized that I didn't advance so much!. When I go home or when I am with my family, I am exactly like you. Homosexual sex is not new. It has been around in the Arab world for a long time. The problem is love. "Once you decide to explore your identity beyond sexual activity, once you decide to reject your patriarchal role... this is when you get in trouble," Zakharia says. In countries such as Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, society is slowly changing and emulating the West. With their proximity to Western culture and thought, and people being exposed to new concepts regarding gender roles and sexuality, platforms for debate on homosexuality are opening up. In Lebanon, society is slowly shifting from a Patriarchal model to a "nuclear" family model; this year's attempt to introduce civil marriage is a prime example. Other post-Colonialist countries in the region are following, such as Tunis, Zakharia says. February 5, 2002 4 By Kate
Garsombke As Penny Dale of One World Africa reports, eight Egyptian men were arrested for the "practice of debauchery" on January 19, and gay rights groups fear the men may be tortured while in jail. It's a "steadily growing pattern of persecution," claims the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), a U.S.-based group that has decried the persecution of gays and people with HIV and AIDS worldwide. Last year in Cairo, for example, 23 of 52 men convicted of "obscene behavior" were sentenced to five years of hard labor. Then, in December, two Egyptian university students who had responded to an undercover agent's request for gay contacts in an Internet chat room were sentenced under the same law. And Saudi Arabia punishes convicted homosexuals with the death penalty - most recently on January 1, when three Saudi Arabian men were executed. The trial proceedings remain secret, according to the IGLHRC, and Amnesty International claims the executions may be part of the government's "determination to continue its appalling yearly rate of executions." "The pattern is the same," says IGLHRC Program Director Scott Long. "People suspected of homosexuality are picked up and accused of prostitution. Police use informers and the Internet to entrap victims." Homosexuality is not explicitly prohibited under Egyptian law, but statutes are based on Sharia, or Islamic law-which condemn it as an immoral act. According to the Al-Fatiha Foundation, an international group for gay Muslims, homosexuality is seen as sinful and perverted in most Islamic countries based on verses in the Qu'ran. But although mainstream Islam condemns homosexuality, the Al-Fatiha Foundation site claims "there is a growing movement of progressive-minded Muslims who see Islam as an evolving religion that must adapt to modern-day society." Groups like the Al-Fatiha Foundation and the Gay and Lesbian Arab Society lead the way with others, like the IGLHRC and Amnesty International in opposing the persecution of homosexuals in Arab countries.The IGLHRC publishes online action alerts urging people to send letters to governments in which persecution of gays exists. Related Links: International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission: The IGLHRC is a non-governmental organization that responds to human rights violations of GLBT people and anyone living with HIV or AIDS. ( http://www.iglhrc.org ) . Al-Fatiha Foundation: An international foundation based in Washington, D.C., the Al-Fatiha Foundation is dedicated to Muslim GLBT issues by providing news, discussion groups, and background information on Islam's view of homosexuality on their Web site. ( http://www.al-fatiha.net ) . Ahbab, the Gay and Lesbian Arab Society: Claiming to be the "first gay Arab radio station," the New York-based Ahbab features news, articles, and essays about gay Arabs. ( http://glas.org/ahbab ) . Bint el Nas: In Arabic, the phrase "Bint el Nas" literally means "daughter of the people," and is used to describe a woman or girl of good standing. The Bint el Nas Web site and its e-zine is designed for gay, bisexual, and transgender women who identify themselves ethnically or culturally with the Arab world, regardless of where they live. (http://www.bintelnas.org )
November 7, 2001 5 By Nahal
Toosi To the chagrin of major Muslim organizations, leading Muslim scholars and some family members, the 24-year-old Pakistani American is proclaiming that those two identities are compatible. "In my mind, I really view sexuality as being sacred and being a gift from God in many ways," Alam said. "It's the interpretation of religion in a society that makes sex and sexuality out to be such a big deal." This week, Alam, founder of Al-Fatiha, an international group for gay Muslims, will take part in a panel discussion in Milwaukee during the Creating Change conference, the country's largest annual gathering of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists. The conference, to be held at the Hyatt Regency, starts in Milwaukee today and ends Sunday. Alam probably wouldn't have predicted his presence at Creating Change a decade ago. Once a model Muslim boy, Alam knew that most Muslims interpreted the religion as forbidding and condemning homosexuality. As in the Hebrew Bible, the Muslim holy book, the Qur'an, includes the story of Lot, where men were punished for acting on their lust for other men. "It's not up to us to determine whether this action is a sin or not - It's up to God," said Imam Amin Amer, religious director of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. "The Qur'an clearly states that God considers homosexuality as a great sin." There are no "ifs and buts about it," said Jamal Badawi, professor of religious studies and management at St. Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. "The issue of homosexuality is decided and decisive." But Alam and other gay Muslims aren't convinced that the interpretations are appropriate or concrete, saying, for example, it is lust itself, not necessarily homosexuality, that is condemned. "Any sort of lustful act outside the concept of a committed relationship, of course it's wrong," Alam said. Alam's family grew more religious after moving to a small Connecticut town when he was 10. But despite activism in his faith, Alam always felt "different." Until he reached age 16, he didn't even know the word to describe his sexuality. But he couldn't escape it. In his late teens, he began a relationship with a man, a twenty-something American convert to Islam. When the relationship ended, Alam went into denial. He became engaged, but his fiancee left, saying she felt that something was wrong. Eventually, a mentally ravaged Alam landed in the hospital. A year later, Alam turned to the Internet and found others in similar situations. Al-Fatiha, formed in late 1998, now has nine branches in three countries and has served some 2,000 people. Members vary in their approach to Al-Fatiha. Some, for example, stay celibate. Others use the group to re-affirm their faith. Alam's growing stature as an advocate for gay Muslims has made him and his organization a target of death threats and anger. His father and mother are still coming to terms with their son's homosexuality, and he struggles to remain devout. But, especially since the media publicized his story, Alam has been hesitant to attend a mosque for fear of backlash. "There's definitely a level of fear that is always in the back of my mind," Alam said. "I don't think my relationship with God is as strong as it was before, but I still have conversations with him." Al-Fatiha (the name means "the opening," which is also the title of the Qur'an's first chapter) hasn't tried to force a showdown with major Muslim groups. But Alam expects the group to take more aggressive religious and political stances in the future. At this week's conference, Alam, now a Washington, D.C. resident, plans to talk about tolerance and how the Muslim community has fared since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. YOESUF foundation 6 Omar Nahas, M.A. - Is it possible for Muslims to talk about homosexuality in terms acceptable to their religion? This is a primary question that needs to be answered if Muslims and non-Muslims are to discuss homosexuality and other related issues. It is also important for Muslims who want to discuss these issues among themselves for example, in conjunction with sexual education within the Muslim community. The YOESUF foundation is confronted with this question because it provides informational services on the theme of Islam and homosexuality. In this paper I attempt to answer the above question. I begin with selected passages from Islamic sources relating to sexuality. Next, I will discuss views of same-gender-sex taken from Islamic literature. Thirdly, I present a thematic cataloguing of information concerning Islam and homosexuality. This systematic classification of the material is intended to make the subject more accessible and debatable for Muslims. Lastly, I defend this approach and close with a summary. I. Selected
Passages from Islamic Sources: I. Selected Passages from Islamic Sources: The term sexuality and homosexuality are not a term found in the Koran. However, the concepts of sexuality and homosexuality can be directly perceived from texts from the Koran. There are two separate words for heterosexual sex relations inside and out of Islamic wedlock: Nikah and Zina. There is no separate or special word in the Koran for homosexual sex relations. The Koran calls the acts against the people, from the prophet Lot 'sayi'at' (a general term meaning 'bad things')II. What those acts exactly were, can be found in the texts of the Koran. One of them is penetrating (Arab: ya'tun) males. This sexual activity, forbidden by the Koran, is referred to in the Koran with the verb (ya'tun) and followed by a noun as object. In Islamic texts, (liwata) is the acceptable term for 'penetrating males '. Lesbian sexual acts are referred to with the same verb (ya'tun), only in the feminine form and followed by the noun (fahisha). This is a general term and means 'great sin'. The term that Islamic scholars use for sexual relations between women (sihak) is not in the Koran but instead in the pronouncements of the Prophet. Islam considers Lesbian sexual acts (sihak) an unacceptable form of sexual activity (III-footnote). This brief explanation from Islamic sources make clear how important it is to study Islamic terms if we want to study homosexuality from an Islamic perspective. II. Islamic View on Homosexuality In order to discuss homosexuality in a manner acceptable in Islam, I have taken stock of the views on homosexuality according to Islam and based on Islamic literature. This point of view can be divided into six points: 1) Muslim
scholars unanimously agreement that Islam rejects homosexual acts. However,
it only becomes punishable when anal sex occurs in public (or is obvious,
meaning where others can witness it) IV. The above rules and summaries come from Islamic literature, written in Arabic and discussed in the Koran. Comparable summaries can be found in various Koran exegeses and other Islamic sources, in the languages of the Moslem world. These ideas are familiar with those who know Islam, regardless of origin. The six points, seen in their entirety, give a rather negative impression of the Muslim viewpoint on homosexuality. Besides this view is a more positive one of the nuances and specifications from these concisely formulated points. These nuances and specifications can be found in the Islamic literature itself. The YOESUF Foundation and the people who work in an emancipatory yet Islamic way of discussing homosexuality will certainly give attention to these nuances in the coming years. The image surrounding Islam and homosexuality depends upon the way in which people manage the above mentioned rules in discussion. When people stress the punishability of homosexual sex (as discussed in the point one) and negate the condition of public acts and the nature of human sexuality, they draw a much more negative picture than Muslim scholars intended. Both the four witnesses' rule and the pre-condition that Islamic law is only applicable in strict Islamic countries are very important. These laws have no consequences for the gay and lesbian lives (of Muslim or non-Muslims) in the Netherlands, the West or in not very strict Muslim countries. This viewpoint is indeed Islamic but not practiced by all Muslims in their daily lives. Islam is practiced and interpreted in different ways by Muslims from different cultures. In Turkey and in Egypt, the religion is the same but the people give it different meaning. The local cultures give Islam its own Turkish or Egyptian flavor. In daily practice, people from the same culture have different opinions on the subject. Islamic scholars and sexual freedom fighters try to influence these opinions in a number of ways. But because homosexuality is not a word found in the Koran, the discussion quickly becomes difficult. Even intellectuals with Islamic backgrounds use the same terms but give them different meanings. The term 'al Shuzuz al Jinsi' (literally translated as 'the sexual deviation') is used by Arabs (incorrectly) as a synonym for homosexuality. The general public does not understand the literal translation for homosexuality 'Aljinsiya al mithliah' or 'Junusiyya'. As a result, the Arabic newspaper (Aljisr) in the Netherlands uses the more negative 'al Shuzuz al jinsi' instead of 'Junusiyya'. The consequences of this are obvious IX! It is possible to relativize these consequences in the context of the emancipation process, but the difference in the meaning of the different terms which are wrongly used as synonyms remains too great to be acceptable. That shows the importance of researching the origins of the perception of homosexuality as a sexual deviation in order to make discussion possible. Hereby is the difference between the Islamic view of homosexuality and the cultural viewpoint of Muslim cultures on this subject clearer; Islam considers homosexuality a sin but many Muslim cultures view it as a sexual deviation as well as a sin. In addition to the aforementioned, there are also less well-known nuances for Muslims concerning homosexuality. Because these give a more positive image of homosexuality, they are unfortunately viewed with suspicion. Advocates of this line of thought are suspected of all sorts of ulterior motives and often oppressed. For example, Mohammed Jalal Kishk's book of stories entitled Muslim's Ideas About Sexuality X. The author gives his views on sexuality and homosexuality in paradise. Because of its rosy descriptions, the book first had to be examined by an Islamic commission chosen by al- Azhar XI. The commission was objective enough to release the book. But the Egyptian media was ruthless in its contempt the book, the members of the commission and Al- Azhar University. The above examples, especially the last, clearly illustrate that homosexuality can be discussed in Muslim circles, but it remains a sensitive subject. This sensitivity must be kept in mind, especially when providing informational services on the homosexuality. Information must not clash with Islamic values and it should be made clear that Islamic ideas are respected, whether people personally agree or not. To achieve this, it is important to be open to advice and criticism from Islamic scholars and from the Muslim community. Above all, the information that is provided must be clear on the sources of that information. The trick is now to develop information services geared towards emancipation and also sensitive to these other delicate aspects. Classifying the information gives insight into the subject matter and the method of study. The aim of this is to reduce the reservations that Muslims may have concerning the theme 'homosexuality and Islam'. I have developed the following categories in order to thematically address the information. III. a. Categories of information concerning Islam and homosexuality I have organized the information into seven categories, each of them focuses on one aspect of the whole theme. Short articles (about one page) about different aspects of the specific themes of each category are researched, translated and edited. These articles contain answers found in Islamic sources to frequently asked questions. The categories are: 1) Questioning
homosexuality? 2) Generally
speaking, how does the Islamic society feel (and behave) about gay and
lesbian sexuality? 3) How
does the Islamic law (sharia) affect gays and lesbians? 4) To what
extent does Islam determine the lives of Muslims and what influence
does it have on their sexual identity? 5) What
image do people have of Islam and homosexuality? 6) Modern
challenges for the Muslim and non- Muslim worlds in the area of homosexuality. 7) What
methodology do we use in this day and age to discuss homosexuality? In this synopsis, two themes come out 'Questioning homosexuality' and 'The Islamic law'. These two points seem to overlap one another. The first discusses the relation between God and the Individual; the responsibility for ones behavior lies with the individual. Society is not responsible for what occurs in private. The second theme is concerned with the relationship between society and the individual. In this case, responsibility for individual acts lies with the individual and society (where these acts occur). Society involves itself with the consequences of these actions on society. From an Islamic point of view, the differences are certainly legitimate and this nuance is a conscious choice in order to make the subject more accessible to Muslims. III. b. Why this heading division 1) The division into seven blocks of information is informed by the view of homosexuality in Islamic literature. The seven themes can be further researched, added to and expanded. 2) The division into themes should lead to a more accessible and ordered view of homosexuality and Islam. The information can easily be made into a booklet (a reference book). 2) These themes can aid discussions of emancipation and the Muslim community. The separation of themes one and three is already a step in the right direction. The difference between what is actually sinful, the punishment of certain acts, and the applicability of Islamic law can positively affect the way Muslims talk about homosexuality. 4) This thematic organization streamlines questions asked. People sometimes have vague and general questions about Islam and homosexuality. The thematic organization helps to clarify people's questions. 5) This organization gives non-Muslims a clearer idea of Islam and thus develops more understanding. IV Summary There is an approach to discussing homosexuality that is acceptable to Islam. The Islamic view of homosexuality and the exploration of the elements of this view lead to a thematic organization of the information on 'Islam and homosexuality'. This approach is accessible and works in an emancipatory way. This paper is written by Omar Nahas, for YOESUF Foundation. 1998. I. See
'The Index of Koran Words, Fouad abd el-Baki, Published by 'dar el-jil',
Beirut 1945. This is a standard text with many re-prints. New York Times ( http://www.nytimes.com ) January
13, 2002 By Robert
F. Worth The interview had barely begun when Mr. Zakharia offered what he saw as a defense: he is gay. He could hardly be an Islamic terrorist, he said, when he lives in a way that fundamentalists view as the height of Western corruption. "If the Taliban knew about me, I'd be on their top 10 list," he joked. The agents laughed with him. But for Mr. Zakharia and other gay Muslims living in the United States, the joke is a bitter one. Viewed as potential terrorists by some Americans since Sept. 11 because of their religion, they are reviled even by mainstream Muslims because of their sexual orientation. "We really felt caught in between," said Faisal Alam, the executive director of Al-Fatiha, a group for gay Muslims founded in 1997 in Washington. "The last thing you could do was call the mosque for help." In most Islamic societies, homosexual behavior is a crime, punishable in some cases by death. Even in the United States, many Muslims say they cannot be openly gay for fear that they would be rejected by other Muslims or attacked by extremists. Members of Al-Fatiha and the Gay and Lesbian Arab Society of New York say they have been threatened and harassed by people accusing them of debasing Islam. Many Islamic religious authorities refuse to even discuss homosexuality; while one imam at a New York City mosque with a reputation for liberalism said he did not consider it a sin, he would not say so on the record for fear of becoming a target. Although reconciling their sexual and spiritual life has always been difficult, several gay Muslims said the Sept. 11 attacks and their aftermath have driven them more deeply than ever into a double life. "I have one friend who goes through phases when he is ultrareligious - he won't return calls from us, he goes to the mosque every day," Mr. Zakharia said. "Then suddenly he goes back to a gay lifestyle. There is no in between." Some are resigned to the belief that their impulses are evil, and regard the holy month of Ramadan as an opportunity to redeem themselves, several gay Muslims said. "They stop having sex or drinking, and these are men who would ordinarily be out at the clubs every night," said Tarek, a gay Muslim in New York who, like others, asked that his last name not be used. "They live with an internalized rejection, and they think that if they are good enough during Ramadan, God will be easier on them for the sins they commit the rest of the year." Muslim clerics are far from the only people who are hostile toward homosexuality. In October, an Associated Press photograph that appeared in newspapers showed a Navy crewman on an aircraft carrier standing next to a bomb on which the words "Hijack this" and a crude antigay slur had been scrawled. Yet to be both Muslim and gay may be particularly challenging, because unlike Christianity and Judaism, Islam is still inseparable from culture and politics in many countries where it is practiced. "It's a whole way of life, dictating everything from your politics to what you wear to how much dowry you give your wife," Mr. Alam said. "To say you're going to change one part of it is to shake the whole foundation, for many orthodox Muslims." That perceived threat is reflected in harsh penalties in many Arab and Islamic countries. Under the Taliban, people found to have engaged in homosexual behavior had a brick wall collapsed onto them. This was done several times in the last several years, according to international news reports and Taliban radio and newspaper sources. Other countries are similarly severe. Yet if the United States represents freedom and safety to gay Muslims, many of them also say they have been shocked and upset, since Sept. 11, by their fellow Americans' ignorance and disrespect toward Islam, even among other gays. "There was an explosion of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab sentiment in the gay community after 9/11," said Abdullah, who runs an e-mail service for gay Muslim men in Washington that has about 350 active members. "You heard people saying, 'We've just got to kill those Arabs,' that kind of thing." Several said they had been offended by articles in the gay and mainstream press suggesting that Mohamed Atta and other hijackers may have been motivated by repressed homosexual rage. For the most part, gay Muslims say they have resigned themselves to keeping their sexuality secret. But a few are following in the steps of the Western gay liberation movement, defending the notion that Islam and homosexuality can be reconciled. Perhaps the most well known of those is Mr. Alam, whose Al-Fatiha is the only organization specifically representing gay Muslims in this country. He said he conceived of the group five years ago, shortly after suffering a nervous breakdown that he attributed to his realization that he was gay. As a teenager, he had worked as a volunteer with Muslim youth groups, and he refused to abandon the religion. After an Internet search for other gay Muslims, which met with resounding silence, he created his own e-mail list, sending it to Muslim student groups. He said people began joining instantly, though it took months for others to find the courage to post their own messages. Since then, the group has grown quickly, with nine chapters in three countries and about 200 active members. "Our mission is to try to help Muslims to reconcile two identities they cannot keep together," Mr. Alam said. One key to doing that is challenging the notion that Islam absolutely forbids homosexuality. There are seven references in the Koran to the "people of Lot," or the Sodomites, whose destruction is explicitly associated with their sexual behavior. There is also one passage that has been taken to suggest a legal prohibition against homosexuality, and it is relatively mild: "And as for the two of you who are guilty thereof, punish them both. And if they repent and improve, then let them be. Lo! Allah is relenting, merciful." Some other Koranic verses prescribe much harsher punishments for other sins, like fornication, which merits 100 lashes. There are other, harsher sayings attributed to the prophet Muhammad about homosexuality. Yet Mr. Alam said that in Islam, as in Christianity, homosexuality's status is ultimately a matter of interpretation. He added that homosexuality is woven into many features of Islamic history and culture, perhaps in part because of stricter gender segregation than is common in the West. It is mentioned in "The Thousand and One Nights" and other literary works of the Arab world. And Western writers from André Gide to William S. Burroughs have described the Muslim countries of North Africa as places where gay travelers could indulge their passions more freely than they could where they lived. Still, homosexual behavior has always been clandestine. That may have more to do with Islam's general insistence on discretion in sexual matters than any specific animosity toward homosexuality, said Feisal Rauf, the imam of the Al-Farah mosque in TriBeCa. Others are less open-minded. Last year, a London-based extremist group called Al-Muhajiroun issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, declaring that any member of Al-Fatiha was an apostate, and that the punishment for apostasy is death, Mr. Alam said. Because of such threats, he said, Al- Fatiha has kept all details of its meetings secret until shortly beforehand, and has asked for and been given police protection in some cases. "We're challenging 1,400 years of dogma," Mr. Alam said. "There's bound to be a battle." AlterNet.org, Independent Media Institute http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12817 April 9, 2002 8 by Heidi
Dietrich |
