I think it’s really funny how I don’t have anyone to get married to, and yet I have my entire wedding wardrobe already picked out.
This is gorgeous for a mehndi, no?
(via pakcouture)
Notes From Inside The Closet: Dear Queer Muslims, »
I want you to know that you are not alone. There are so many people out there who are gay or bi or whatever and Muslim. They pray beside you. They go to the same mosque. Some of them have beards and the others headscarves.
I know our community tells us we are “unnatural” or that we should get…
This is beautiful.
Wrote this at This Recording.
a-plea-for-normalcy asked: Hey there, just a friendly question, I was wondering what your reply would have been to the person who answered your post on facebook..?
Wow, good question. To be honest, I’m still not really sure what I would say to someone who believes so surely that I am not even Muslim.
I think if I were in a conversation face-to-face with someone, they might be inclined to ask me questions about it. On the internet, they’re just responding to their own angers and insecurities at “people like Hafsa” - they apparently have a lot of them.
But if I were having a tete-a-tete, I might say that I believe it is they who are cherry-picking parts of their own religion to justify this hatred towards homosexuality. Islam is built on the notion of loving one another, and of loving even your enemies. Allah is described as being the ultimate punisher, yes, but Allah is more often seen as merciful, understanding, and the source of all that is good. And if you’re someone who is progressive, like me, then Allah is the source of all energy and all being in the world. And I also believe that people who are gay did not choose to be gay - they were made that way by Allah. There is scientific fact to back me up on that, too. If Allah made them that way, then we should love them just how we love all of His creation.
I also believe that if the Prophet Muhammad were here, he would not have treated me that way on Facebook. (By the way, now they are quoting passages of the Qur’an at me on that thread. And they’re calling me “modern” in a derogatory way. Sheeesh.)
amillionexpectations-deactivate asked: :) My experiences have shown how different struggles are for each individual which was really surprising. I think the subject is also so taboo that in our respective communities, we rarely hear about these things, which is what has made the internet such a great arena to share experiences and provide support. :)
I can’t even imagine the struggle - I’m getting stuff just for supporting the fact that being gay and Muslim is not haram! But of course, I have had other struggles as a female progressive Muslim living in the West, and I can definitely relate to hardship.
I’m glad there is a space for this, and I hope we’ll see it grow.
More of the ways in which progressive Muslims are routinely discriminated against in our own communities.
Because I believe in human rights for all people, I am “no longer a Muslim”. And the responses afterwards were very cute:
“Should we keep ostracizing these people like we currently are and have in the past? No. We should still engage them in our community as our brothers and sisters while making duaa for their guidance. If we’re not making duaa, then we are just passing judgment and being unproductive. Allah knows best.”
Yes, because what I need now is for you to pray that I turn around and starting hating gay people.
I don’t even know which is more offensive.
Progressive Muslims don’t have it the same way that progressive Christians and Jews do. We have a much more loosely held community, and are very spread out. We are attacked as being Muslim by outsiders, and attacked for not being Muslim enough by insiders.
The progressive Muslim world has a LONG way to go before we will ever be accepted in the United States.
A very interesting conversation about homosexuality and Islam happening on a friend’s FB wall. She posted an article about an imam marrying a gay couple (one of whom has AIDS) and asked for people’s thoughts. I have to say I was surprised how quick people were to say they were against it. For example this dude:
And he got 9 likes! The conversation made me angry, obviously, so I couldn’t stop myself from posting something:
And then this is the response I got, almost immediately I might add.
“Whether we agree or not, God agrees with me, so you are wrong.”
I know you have to pick your battles. And I know this is what is coming for me when I one day perform gay and lesbian marriages for Muslims, but man, it just makes me so angry.
Article here, by the way.
Coming September 1st.
Salaam World, live from Claremont, California.
You are looking at the blog of a Master of Arts, Leadership in Muslim Contexts candidate for the class of 2014.
I had forgotten humidity, even in our mild winter this year. I woke up and my hair was three times its usual size - it’s expansion overnight was like the slow outburst of an active volcano. It continues to grow as the day wears on, attacking my face, causing my hair ties to surrender whatever control they might have had.
Winter turns into summer, and the moisture hangs in the air languidly, and you can hear birdsong again, and you have that feeling you used to have as a child in the last few weeks of school. Where you allow your mind to drift lazily out the window, and pray for the day in June where you will be let free to explore. The anticipation of summer is always better than summer itself.
Chicago has two real seasons, bookmarked by a fortnight each of spring and autumn, what we consider to be the best weather in the world. That we have them for only fleeting moments make them more savory when they happen: our appreciation of them never dwindles, even after years.
I didn’t get into Harvard.
I feel upset, but then I realized that I more wanted to attend an Ivy rather than really being interested in the program.
My other number one choice is Claremont outside of Los Angeles, so looks like warm weather and palm trees might be in store for me again.
