When I read about Ludovic Lütfi Zahed’s quixotic project, my first thought was: “Suicide by fatwa”.
But if he is serious, and his gay mosque flourishes, what happens next? Will millions of (ostensibly straight) devout Muslims in France ignore his actions, and leave him alone? Or will they react as they would in, say, Peshawar? And if they do act against him, how will the French authorities respond?
Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading this video:
Below is an article on the same topic from Hürriyet Daily News:
Mosque for Gays to Open in France
Daily Hürriyet reporter Arzu Çakir Morin has conducted an interview with an unusual Muslim man in France, who has been trying to open a “mosque for gays.”
“When I was 12 years old, I started exploring Islam and performing prayers. At first, I was impressed by the Salafists in Algeria, afterwards I became distant from them because of the terrorist attacks they performed,” Mohammed Ludovic Lütfi Zahed said, explaining his approaching to Islam.
“After my first night with a man, I realized that I was gay. I have found out that I had been pushing down my feelings with the help of Islam,” he said.
Çakir questioned the reason why Zahed felt he needed a “mosque for gays.”
“In normal mosques, women have to sit in the back seats and wear a headscarf and gay men are afraid of both verbal and physical aggression. After performing the Hajj, I realized that a mosque for gays was a must for gay Muslims who want to perform their prayers,” Zahed said.
“We will use a hall in a Buddhist chapel, which will be opened on Nov. 30th” he said, adding that in the new mosque women and men would be able to perform their prayers together in the same space.
In response to a question as to whether same-sex marriage ceremonies would be performed, Zahed said: “We will start with Friday prayers, but we will perform marriages afterwards.”
Hat tip for the article: Fjordman.
7 comments:
I suggest that he keeps out of Egypt which has voted to implement sharia law in full - surprise, surprise!! What is the sharia punishment for being gay?
Perhaps he should keep out of Derby in England where leaflets were being circulated advocating the hanging of gays from lamposts.
As I commented regarding your piece of gays being burnt alive in Iraq I wondered what the reaction would be in Europe or the US if the first openly gay muslim is taken out. Perhaps we are about to find out.
On another tack, today is St Andrew's Day; I wonder how many of Scotland's burgeoning muslim population are celebrating the martyrdom of a Christian saint?
There are two suggestions here, the most radical of which would be to allow women to act equal to the men in a Mosque.
Assuming that such a mosque would require the security of a Fort Knox, not to mention that the individuals would need ongoing body guards like Motoon artists....it might actually be a great help to the anti-jihad and cause a huge cleavage in Muslim communities, so putting their attention on each other rather than Jew and kafir.
Islam's anti-philosophy falls apart on equalization of women. It requires a distortion of yin and yang to survive. That in balance, mature yin will destroy Islam. This may be be a great opportunity.
It is the Buddhist's responsibility for it's own self-respect, to see that by Buddhist standards, Islam does not rate as a serious religion and can't be allowed on their facilities. The emancipation of women and gays doesn't make Islam okay, it makes it fall apart.
"After my first night with a man, I realized that I was gay."
Only afterwards? Wow!
Zahed confuses me in the way Irshad Manji does: try to graft relatively normal ethics onto a religion which in its taproots is totally and violently opposed to tolerance and introspection.
Many religions can provide spiritual or mystical experiences. Once you have the perspective that gays should not be killed, that women should be treated with true respect as equals, that Islam should not be violently enforced, what is the kernel that holds these supposedly-enlightened people to the fundamentally rotten Islamic world?
These people are building their own delusional Islam out of whole cloth. Why they persist in identifying with their perverted, sociopath prophet is beyond my understanding.
'But if he is serious'
He is either very serious while trying hard to make a point or he is very deluded.
But either way he is destined to make a point.
I heard Raheel Raza (a "moderate muslim" from Canada) speak at a Freedom Association meeting in a pub.
She extolled the project of muslims remaking islam to be tolerant and moderate. I pointed out to her that Hizb ut Tahrir in Britain had a conference atteneded by 10,000 muslims. Now there are 20 muslim organisations in Britain espousing Hizb ut Tahrir's fascism.
Meanwhile, her book on moderate islam is out of print after less than 5 years. Clearly no-one is buying it. But 15 years after the tranlsation of The Reliance of the Traveller into English, it is still in print, because muslims are buying that.
Time is against any attempt to make a moderate western islam.
This gay mosque is inside a buddhist centre. That should tell you all you need to know about this futile gesture.
The gay muslim group in Britain said at a public meeting last year: "we welcome the coming of the caliphate".
"Meanwhile, her book on moderate islam is out of print after less than 5 years. Clearly no-one is buying it."
Great point!
Egghead
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