Islam and Homosexuality

40 T I K K U N W W W. T I K K U N . O R G J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 0 Parvez Sharma is a New York–based Muslim writer and filmmaker. He blogs regularly at www.ajihadforlove.blogspot.com and is the winner of the prestigious GLAAD media award for Outstanding Documentary in 2009. Portions of this article appeared in Parvez Sharma’s foreword to Islam and Homosexuality (Praeger, 2010), edited by Samar Habib. A JIHAD FOR LOVE I n 2002 I began a long and lonely journey, daring to visit some of the darkest corners of the taboo that permeates the consciousness of that unlikely character: the gayorlesbianMuslim.Now,in2010,Iamhappytoreport that the film that came out of that journey, A Jihad for Love, has been seen by an estimated eight million people in fiftyninenations . Lives have been and continue to be transformed. Questions continuetobeasked.Theanswersarenotalwayseasyoravailable. I certainly speakwithmany of thecontradictionsof my own jihad or struggle intact, contradictions I find mirrored in the religious textIchoosetofollow—theQur’an. IwritewithfierceurgencybecauseIrealizenowmorethanever that some of our most bitter battles in this new decade of this new centurywillbefoughtonthefrontlinesofreligion. The generations that will follow us will deal with the consequencesofrisingextremismsinevery faith. Averyquicklookinto evenourownfabrichereinAmerica,theprofoundlyreligiousand moralistic society we all live in, makes one realize that the gay marriagedebateinthisnationisfundamentallyabouttheChurch. In making A Jihad for Love, I traveled to the very heart of orthodoxy and reached a conclusion that perhaps is not immediatelyappealingtoallofyou . Inmylifetime,IdonotseeIslamcomingdownwithauniform edict saying that homosexuality is permissible. But then again, a ruling of such a nature that would be acceptable to all Roman Catholics cannot be imagined as coming down from the Vatican either. The case of Islam becomes further problematized because there is no single kind of Muslim. More than a billion Muslims inhabit this planet, and they inhabit geographic, linguistic, and cultural spaces that are enormously different. In fact, nothing in thereligioncanfallintotheproblematicmonolithdiscussedmost ofteninthemediainWesternsocieties.SunniIslaminitself,being thereligionofthemajority,hasfourmajorschoolsofthought:the Hanafi, the Hanbali, the Maliki, and the Sha’afi. They have never quite agreed on what to do with “the homosexual.” The Shias in Iran thrive on a culture of disagreement that permeates all of the corridorsoflearning,whichalwaysleaduptotheholycityofQom. Let Us Prioritize People’s Stories, Not Textual Debates As A Jihad for Love explains, the Qur’an appears to be pretty specific about homosexuality, and debating context and semantics is un-Islamic. Many scholars within Islam have also argued that the very ijtihad, or independent reasoning, that the gay Imam from South Africa, Muhsin Hendricks, brings up eloquently at the end of the film, is not an option because the doors to that were closed in the seventh century. And some who have agreed with the premise of the need for ijtihad have also said the exercise is not available to every Muslim, but only to the most learned alim (men of learning) in the Ummah (worldwide community of Muslims). ThisnoteofpessimismIstrike,however,shouldbeheardmore as a note of caution as we rush into seeking solutions that are merely theological. For our times, history has seemingly been dividedintoaneasybefore -and-afternarrativefollowingSeptember 11. Much is made every day in the media and in the countless booksproducedsinceoftheneedforanIslamicReformation.AsI traveledfirsttomakeandthentosharemyfilm,Irealizedthatthe process is ongoing and if anything, the moment for Islamic reformation is now. We are living it. The question that comes with that knowledge is whether the “problem of homosexuality” is or even needstobeonthefrontburnerforthemanydebatesthatMuslims needtohave. Having met more imams and religious figures over the years than I can count on my fingers, I realize a few things. Theological bickeringcanoftenbecounterproductive,especiallywhenyouengageinquestionsofcontextandlanguageandespeciallywhenthe IslamandHomosexuality by Parvez Sharma QUEER SPIRITUALITY AND POLITICS A still from Parvez Sharma’s film, A Jihad for Love. J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 0 W W W. T I K K U N . O R G T I K K U N 41 majoritydoesbelievethatthebookitselfistheliteralwordofGod. Perhaps in that time of Jahilliyah, the pre-Islamic period of ignorance,eventhetroubledandunletteredProphetofIslam—on hearingthatfirstcommand,Ikra,whichmeans“Recite,”fromthe angel Jibreel or Gabriel—did not comprehend the extent of the theological universe built with language in all of its contradiction and nuance. Clearly the Prophet did lay the foundations of an egalitarian system, and perhaps he...