The Swedish daily, Expressen, has an interesting op-ed today written by a gay Muslim in that country. This comes as a response to a previous article by a prominent Swedish gay writer about homosexuality and Islam.
Akbar Abdul Rasul is a gay political scientist in Sweden as well as a practicing Muslim and reformist. Here in this article, he discusses the problems gay Muslims have within their religion, which is why he himself immigrated to the West.
I am neither agreeing with or attacking his points. Suffice to say that I sympathize with gay Muslims and their plight. I also support Muslim reformists. I am, however, skeptical as to their ability to actually achieve reforms or changes within Islam.
The below article is translated by Fousesquawk.
https://www.expressen.se/kultur/ide/som-hbtqi-muslim-har--jag-omtolkat-skrifterna/
As an LGBTQ Muslim, I have reinterpreted the Scriptures
Posted 28 July 2022 16:00
After Jonas Gardell raised the issue in a debate article, Islam's relationship with LGBTQ people has been discussed.
Akbar Abdul Rasul wants to forsake the intolerance found in religious writings.
Reply. I agree with Jonas Gardell* that religious communities must reconsider how they treat LGBTQ people (7-16-22). If religion is about God, love, and rights to a dignified life, (religion) must also fill that function in society.
Since it can be considered that the LGBTQ movement and orthodox Islam community are completely different (entities) since 2016 I have written in Swedish newspapers about the need to reform Islam and have conversations about progressive interpretations of the Holy Scriptures.
The terror attack on a gay club in Orlando in 2016-just like that in Oslo in June-was an attack against LGBTQ people, and its purpose was to spread fear among them all over the world. For me as a homosexual Muslim, who fled to the West because of my sexual orientation, the attack caused me to reinterpret Islam's holy texts. I concluded that we must talk about reform and forsake the intolerance that can be found in the holy Scriptures, which do not fit in our time, and use common sense as we read them from now on.
Homophobia is the norm in most Muslim circles based on my experience
After the attack in Orlando, the outside world began to speculate more and more about what Islam thinks about homosexuality. It is somewhat hard to know since Islam is made up of 1.7 billion people around the world who all practice their religion in different ways. One cannot generalize and say that all Muslims are homophobic since we are not a homogenous group. In most Muslim countries, homosexuality is illegal, in some, one risks death, and in some, it is not illegal.
But I know that homosexuality is forbidden in the most accepted interpretations of Islam and that militant groups of Muslims throw homosexuals off of rooftops. Homophobia is the norm in most Muslim circles according to my experience.
The basis for this homophobia is partly due to the stories about Sodom and Gomorrah, which are described in both the Koran and the Bible. The difference is that within Christendom today, it is interpreted in a different way than when it was written. It has a new meaning. Islam doesn't have that.
Another background for homophobia within Islam is the Hadiths, the stories coming from the life of Mohammed. Many of the stories call for violence against homosexuals or argue that they insult Islam and should be excluded from the religion.
The difference between the Koran and the Hadith is that the Koran, like the Bible, is a timeless writing that can be interpreted according to the time one reads it. It wants to be interpreted. But the Hadiths reflect only a time and place, that is the 600s (AD) in the Arabian desert. It doesn't fit into our time. In addition, most Hadiths were written almost 2 centuries after the death of the Prophet Mohammed . For these reasons, there is cause to question them and abandoned them when necessary.
As an LGBTQ Muslim, I also see the religious writings as inspired by God but authored by Man. To recognize this is to take back legitimacy from the most conservative voices within Islam that interpret these writings in a radical and oppressive way.
Because even if the most conservative interpretations of religion can call for the oppression of homosexual groups. so can they also contribute to support and constructive ways away from discrimination. Therefore, it is important to consider religions as dynamic and as worlds of ideas and practices that are constantly being changed.
"Society has a responsibility to protect minorities who are vulnerable for marginalization"
Researcher Scott Kugle often made an important point on this, for example, in the book, "Homosexuality in Islam". He writes that the Ottoman Empire, which ruled over many Muslim lands, had an open-minded relationship to LGBTQ (homosexual) rights, which was later destroyed by the patriarchal reforms by Islam in more modern times.
Others who have attempted to free LGBTQ researchers from the oppression they are subjected to is researcher Irshad Manji, who write the book, "The Trouble with Islam Today", or imams like the South African Muhsin Hendricks, and the Canadian El-Farouk Khaki, who both opened LGBTQ-friendly mosques in their home countries.
Society has a responsibility to protect minorities who are vulnerable for marginalization, to recognize differences, and give people the possibilities to identify themselves exactly as they wish. This must also happen within Islam.
It becomes sensitive when it comes to questioning religious norms and values. Therefore, it is important to support voices whose purpose is to change them.
It has gone quite fast, less than 50 years to change the view of homosexuality in the legislation of Christian countries. And even if many churches in these countries have maintained their negative posture toward LGBTQ people, they are at least, mostly accepted. That shows that this change can happen within Islam too if the discussion can only take place.
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Akbar Abdul Rasul is a political scientist, reformist, and believing Muslim.
* Jonas Gardell, Gay Swedish author, comedian, playwright.
