RE: Re: Praying side by side and women leading prayer

salam,

yes, that is exactly it. salat is very individual, personal connection with the divine.

wouldn't be nice if there was a mosque... where prayers could take place regularly-- with personal choices, etc? a long time ago, i read it in the al-haram weekly that a shi'ite man who brought stone with him to a "sunni mosque" was kicked out. imagine a mosque... where ALL muslims were allowed to pray just as they feel? sweet :)

afdhere

Afdhere Jama
Editorial Director
HURIYAH Publications
S A N F R A N C I S C O
[email protected]
http://www.huriyahmag.com

>From: [email protected] >Reply-To: [email protected] >To: [email protected] >Subject: [Progressivemuslimsnetwork] Re: Praying side by side and women leading prayer >Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 12:42:40 EST > >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 o
f 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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