Washington Imam marries gay Muslim couples despite backlash
Thursday, 18 April 2013
As more states in the U.S. legalize same-sex marriage, it is
easy to forget that in many communities homosexuality is frowned upon.
(Reuters)
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Al Arabiya -
As more states in the U.S. legalize same-sex marriage, it is easy
to forget that in many communities, such as the Islamic one,
homosexuality is frowned upon.
The U.S. based Washington Post tells the story of Imam Daayiee Abdullah who is
seeking to make a change.
The openly gay African-American convert to Islam quietly helps same-sex
Muslim couples marry and keep the secret from their families.
Abdullah led a particularly sensitive marriage ceremony for a Muslim marrying
his Quaker partner.
“We had to ask all our guests to do a social-media blackout of our wedding. No
Facebook, no Twitter no Instagram,” said M.Q., the Muslim partner,
“our relatives could be killed, their homes could be destroyed…if our
wedding was on the internet.”
The atypical imam is regarded as something of a hero within the local gay
Muslim community.
“He has been immensely helpful for individuals who are trying to reconcile
our sexuality with our faith,” said Faisal Alam, a Muslim activist
formerly based in Washington, in an interview with the Washington Post.
Despite some support, Abdullah has plenty of detractors.
Some local imams “refuse to say Salaam (a greeting) to me,” he says. There
is also strong anger prevalent on internet forums. Abdullah has been
called “twisted and perverted,” and a champion of ideas “clearly
forbidden in Islam.”
The mainstream Islamic viewpoint is that sex should only occur between married
couples and couples can only be made
up of members of the opposite sex.
“I disagree with Imam
Daayiee’s interpretation of the Koran,” said Johari Abdul-Malik,
executive committee member of the Council of Muslim Organizations in
Greater Washington, in an interview with the Washington Post.
However, he added that all communities need spiritual leadership, “I challenge
him to take care of those who follow him,” said Abdul-Malik.
A gay Muslim and his role in society
Abdullah’s first act, when he took up the role of an imam, was to perform the
funeral rites for a gay Muslim man who had died of complications brought about
by AIDS.
He was the only Muslim leader in the area willing to perform the ceremony.
“There’s really a need here,” he said, “especially among those who have been
brutalized for being gay.”
Part of the problem, says Urooj Arshad, a member of the Muslim Alliance for
Sexual and Gender Diversity, is that a lot of Abdullah’s target audience have
left their faith.
“But he’s our one and only, there’s no one else in the U.S. that does the work
that he does,” Arshad said
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