#progressive muslim

[lgbtqiamuslimpedia]

Muhsin Hendricks

Birth : Unknown

Ethnicity : South Asian, African

Alumni : University of Islamic Studies, Karachi (1990-1994)

Gender : Cisgender man

Sexuality : Homosexual

Occupation : Imam, scholar, human rights activist, interfaith activist

Muhsin Hendricks is an Islamic scholar, researcher & human rights activist.He is called world's first Gay Imam. He has done independent research on Islam and sexual diversity, an area that does not often get explored in the Muslim/Islamic world. He has also delivered many papers and facilitated workshops on Islam and Sexual Diversity to many organizations in South Africa, USA and Europe. Muhsin is founder of The Inner Circle/Al-fitrah Foundation, the largest organization for LGBTQI+ Muslims in Africa & CCI Network, a network of inclusive muslims, faith leaders & activist. He founded the first gender-affirming, queer-friendly mosque in South Africa (the mosque is affiliated with organization Al-fitrah Foundation).

[bigenderrevert]

Been doing more research and digging, and I've come to some conclusions (although this is Largely unfinished)

Sufism and Quranism are looking pretty nice to me

[catinafigtree]

i’ve been called a “progressive muslim” so many times and i am very much not.

i’m just not a Qur’an literalist and have a deep seated mistrust in religious leaders so i actually study my religion and ask questions.

it takes so much effort to sort through the strange and misguided opinions of the “ulema”.

[twojackals]

Divine Will

Today's Conference of the Books wisdom:

The result of a search is not the point -- the point is the search. A life consumed by the search for Divine Will is the Divine Will and is the ultimate morality.

(The Search for Beauty in Islam: A Conference of the Books, by Khaled Abou El Fadl)

[jewishboricua]

every time i see someone exclude, mock or ignore queer religious people's existence (whether from bigoted religious people or bigoted queer people) i think it should be perfectly acceptable for us to punch them in the face for that

[caitlinjohns77]

[niqaboy]

assalamu alaikum!

i'm currently looking for more blogs to follow! please like/reblog this if you:

- post progressive muslim content

- post queer muslim content

- post disabled muslim content

- are a progressive and/or queer and/or disabled muslim

[bigenderrevert]

(hope its ok to send this to your sideblog--) for the ask prompt, 7 and 11? :3

Yeah sure it's ok that's what the sideblog is for

So for 7 this is a complicated one and I'm still forming my beliefs on it, but I believe that man and woman are the 2 poles or foundations of gender yes others exist but this are the big ones and while GNC Muslims are cool and extremely based like there still some requirements and expectations like for me I'm Non Binary (Bigender/Genderfluid) but I am living as a woman (or at least planning to) despite the fact I don't actually consider myself to be one so for like prayer I do whatever the women are doing

As for number 11 yes I do feel Allah's presence I've actually been feeling it for a very long time but only recognized it as Allah recently and it happens sort of whenever although it seems to happen a lot either at night or on Buses

[twojackals]

Two roads

I've been reading Conference of the Books again lately, and as per always, it consistently reflects every single thought I've ever had about mainstream Islam.

Muslim roads to knowledge are blocked by dogma, apologetics, laziness, and simple idiocy. But most of all, Muslim roads are blocked by a near total disregard for the value of the intellect and the role it plays in the pursuit of knowledge. Muslims today prefer to construct buildings rather than minds. While the world discourses on Islam, Muslims exalt Islam and pretend that the world does not exist. All too often, discourses on Islam engage Muslims as subjects and not participants. In the United States and the West, academic presses such as Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton, Harvard, or Westview publish on Islam and Muslims all the time. The authors of these works are most often not Muslim. Universities and government institutions fund and support research and teach courses. Popular presses, whether in book or journal form, report on Islam and Muslims everyday. Politicians, journalists, legislators, educators, and others base their impressions of Islam on these mainstream discourses. Muslims do not impact the mainstream discourse in any significant sense. The Muslim response is to build Islamic centers, organize camps and conferences, and pretend that the mainstream does not exist.

Honestly this struck home so hard. It is a major issue why I am reluctant to separate myself from my second spirituality and be purely Muslim. Because while I love Islam, I strongly dislike "Mainstream Islam" and am almost willing to give up my entire Islamic spirituality to avoid it some days. And while spaces like my Progressive Muslim discord server (as an example) are a step in the right direction, it is such a small place on the internet… meanwhile, the Islamic world at large chooses willful ignorance and fear, and definitely does not reflect my views, beliefs, and values.

I want to be the kind of Muslim who lives with the mainstream, not cowers in fear from it, rolls up in a ball and yells 'haram' and 'shirk' at everything because they do not take any time to understand. The Islamic world tells me this does not exist, but God tells me it does...

... but I swear humans are louder than God some days.

Paganism has become mostly a crutch for me particularly over the last couple of years (this is no shade on Paganism, which is a valid path -- instead, it is a personal struggle within myself, an excuse not to grow in the direction in which I feel moved to grow), which I've mentioned before -- and it's something I will reflect on during Ramadan.

"For in a state of fear and terror, and in the absence of safety, they proclaimed, "Neither prayer nor thought is performed properly, and God's Sunna on this earth is frustrated."" (Conference of the Books)

Nothing has been more true. We all deserve safety, in Islam as well as in everything else, to be able to focus on God... and for the most part, I don't feel safe with the mainstream Islamic community. Though I can see myself at some point in the future winning this battle against the echoes of my past, I think my 'community' will always feel safest and most secure around my Pagan friends (who I will never forsake in terms of friendship and support, as they never forsake me).

This is a struggle-path I've been on since 2009 when I took my Shahada. I will always be, on some level, a mutt, and I will always be Progressive AF, but that doesn't change the fact I've felt the pull of God toward one side more than the other for awhile now, and that's just a balance I'm going to have to find within himself -- the politics of Man can be damned.

[wildfeather5002]

Progressive & inclusive Christians I love you 💙

Progressive & inclusive Muslims I love you 💜

Progressive & inclusive Jews I love you 💚

Progressive, inclusive & accepting religious people in general I love and cherish you ❤💞❤

Have a blessed day/night!

[caitlinjohns77]

[sunbeamedskies]

There’s a big problem in the west where a LOT of people view Jews as rich oppressors. It is sometimes less acceptable for people who hold these views to say that out loud about Jews, so when the opportunity comes to do it in a more socially acceptable way through attacking all Israeli civilians instead of just the government leaders, they funnel that hatred through Israeli civilians

Many who justify the murder of Palestinian civilians hold anti-Arab and islamophobic views, purposely conflating all Palestinians with Hamas and using twisted, fake stats/surveys to “prove” their idiotic position, even though they’re not the same at all. They also count on westerners to have othered middle easterners so much that they can get away with it, Palestinian and Arab pain not registering as being as real or similar to their own because of dehumanization

If you don’t belong to the affected groups in the I/P war, please try to understand that you’ve been fed antisemitism, Islamophobia, and arabphobia all your life through various media and always need to keep yourself in check

[irishabdullah]

Interlaced Rub El Hizb, in complementary green and red. Overlayed the green square is the Shahadah, reading "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah," and overlayed the red square is the German socialist slogan, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."

In the center is a crescent moon overlapping a hammer, representing the union of Faith and the union of Labor. It is accompanied by the numbers "49:13," representing ayah 13 of Al-Hujurat:

"O people, We created you from a male and female, and We made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Surely, the most honorable among you in the sight of God is the most righteous. God is Knowledgeable, Ever-aware."

Contained within 49:13 is the assertion that Allah created diversity so that we may learn and grow from one another. Allah makes no mistakes, for He is Truth, so it is our duty to seek righteousness by defending all of Allah's creation from the corrupting forces of inequality.

This image is free to use, edit, manipulate, redesign, etc. without permission.