Kugle - Homosexuality in Islam: Critical Reflection on Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Muslims

Bismillah al-rahman al-rahim In the name of God, the compassionate One, the One who cares.

All praise belongs to God, the singular and subtle One, who created the universe and made humankind reflect its diversity. All thanks be to God, who made from one human being two, and from two made many and declared, we created you all from a male and female and made you into different communities and different tribes. Glory be to God who made a multitude in which each is unique and urged them to reflect upon their differences, overcome their egoistic judgment of others, and find the good in each reflected in others so that you should come to know one another, acknowledging that the most noble among you is the one most aware of God (Quran [Q.] 49:13). Then to God they are called and all return. So let us each revere that God, the forbearing One, the One who is just.

Muslim communities, like all other religious groups, face the challenge of confronting diversity. Like other groups, Muslims hesitate and stumble sometimes inflicting violence along the way before dealing justly with people in their diverse ranks who are different in appearance, language, ethnicity, creed, or bodily ability. Among the diverse ranks of people are some who are different in gender identity or sexual orientation. Such people are always a small minority yet they appear in every culture and religious community. This book is about the challenge before contemporary Muslims to acknowledge, understand, and accept the diversity in their midst, especially with respect to sexual orientation and gender identity. It contributes to the ongoing process of meeting that challenge and urges Muslims actively to reconsider prejudgments they may hold about gay, lesbian, or transgender members of their communities.

Muslims have profound resources for dealing theologically and ethically with diversity, but often ignore them when facing difference and conflict. In their long history, Muslims have intensively dealt with sectarian differences. Through this debate, the classical Islamic sciences developed one of their best characteristics the tolerance for diversity of interpretation of sacred texts; this is expressed in the words of Abu Hanifa, the renowned jurist, who is reported to have said, We know this [position] is one opinion, and it is the best we can arrive at, [but if] someone arrives at a different view, then he adopts what he believes [is best] and we adopt what we believe [is best]. This book invokes that long tradition of tolerance within the faith which is often ignored or lost in contemporary Muslim communities in searching for a faith-based response to gay, lesbian, and transgender Muslims.

For many Muslims, dealing with homosexuality or transgender issues is a matter of sin and heresy, not difference and diversity. But when pressed, such Muslims often have no clear idea of what homosexuality means, or simply deny that there are any homosexual people in Muslim families and communities. But there are Muslims who face issues squarely with open minds and humble hearts; they may read this book and grapple with the issues it raises. Even if this book does not convince them, it may encourage them to see the issues in a new light, and in that sense it will have succeeded.

Why talk about gay, lesbian, and transgender Muslims now? We must talk about them because they exist and are suffering and are increasingly refusing to bear suppression in silence. Some turn to their religious tradition with faithfilled criticism, seeing it as not merely part of the problem but as essential to possible solutions. This book is based upon the experiences and hopes of those who are not content to wait for their Muslim sisters and brothers gradually to come to tolerate them. It offers theological reflection on the insights arising from lesbian, transgender, and gay Muslims efforts to build support groups to help them reconcile their sexual orientation and gender identity with the Islamic faith. Their struggle beckons Muslims to pay attention to this minority communitys experiences and insights before dismissing them or opposing them.

In that spirit and hope, I offer this book to the public. In the end, only God knows best. I seek protection with God, the One who opens possibilities (al-fattah), the loving One (al-wadud), the One with subtle grace (al-latif).

This book presents my own theological reflections, but it is built upon the experience of many others who have shared their knowledge and wisdom and resources with me. I cannot begin without offering them acknowledgement and gratitude.

This book was written under the auspices of a two-year fellowship from the Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (I.S.I.M.) at the University of Leiden. I am grateful for the Institutes intellectual and financial support for this project, and for those who helped me refine my project, especially Khalid Masud, Asef Bayat, Martin van Bruinessen, and Abdulkader Tayob. I acknowledge with many thanks the scholars and institutions that invited me to address their members and field questions on this issue, such as Linda Herrera at the Institute for the Social Sciences in The Hague, Kamran Ali and Hina Azam at the University of Texas at Austin, and Malek Moazzam Doulat at Occidental College in Los Angeles.

I am especially grateful to my students on the course Gender and Sexuality in Islamic Societies, offered at Swarthmore College and the University of Cape Town, whose questions helped me frame this study. The book began with an article written while I was teaching at Swarthmore College, an institution that has supported and nourished my growth as an intellectual attentive to ethical and political questions. I am grateful to faculty members at Swarthmore especially Pieter Judson, Farha Ghannam, Steven Hopkins, Mark Wallace, and Pallabi Chakravorty who offered me friendship infused with the quest for knowledge.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to learn at the feet of able scholars in many countries, both Muslims who are dedicated to intellectual renewal of their faith and non-Muslims who are deeply knowledgeable about Islam. I cannot name them here, for some may not want to be associated with a controversial project such as this. Yet I am deeply grateful for their generosity and strive to put all I have learned from them to sincere use in this book. I wish to thank two colleagues in particular from the Progressive Muslim movement who pushed me to think harder about this book and its ethical ramifications. Kecia Ali read the manuscript with the careful scrutiny of a specialist in Islamic law and her suggestions have improved it in countless ways. As both a Muslim interpreter of the Quran and as a political ally in the fight against injustice, Wadud has offered this book energy and support for which I am deeply grateful.