its interesting reading these postings as a queer-identified Muslim.
Al-Fatiha, an organization in the US dedicated to supporting and empowering queer
Muslims decided back in 1999 (only one year after it formed) that it would not
separate men and women in prayer, and we also agreed at that time to let women
lead prayers.
whats even more exciting for us is that many straight muslims come to our
conferences and events and are amazed at how progressive a lot of queer muslims
are in their thinking about Islam. i guess when you are oppressed you begin to
"think outside of the box" a lot quicker...
in toronto, our sister organization Salaam has regular friday prayer services
that they hold with an organization called Muslims for Social Justice, where
men and women pray side-by-side and women are also allowed to lead prayers.
as always, we allow everyone to pray wherever they feel most comfortable (ie.
next to a man, next to a woman, or behind men, behind women, etc). we also
allow non-Muslims to pray with us and do not require any hijab or other
"appropriate" clothing that might be needed for prayer... again that is up to the
individual.. we just want them to feel comfortable...
whats really amazing about all of this for us as queer muslims, especially
women, is that prayer has become a source of spiritual violence and it is the
source of a lot of pain for many of us... for a lot of lesbian and bisexual
women, the thought of praying without hijab is inconceivable, so many in fact
bring a headscarf when they come to prayer... for others, they will sit back and
watch while others pray and join us later on in the conference....
at all of our conferences (more than 7 so far, since 1998), only 20 - 30% of
the people (from about 100 people) pray the first day, but by the end of the
conference at least half of the participants has stood in prayer...
may Allah continue to bless us all... inshallah one day there will be
progressive mosques around the globe.. welcoming everyone regardlness of their
identity!
-faisal
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