LGBT-friendly mosque to open in Britain

[Melech 9,900]

"A Muslim feminist who founded a liberal mosque in Berlin, triggering death threats and fatwas, is planning to open an inclusive place of worship in the UK, saying a revolution in Islam is under way.

Seyran Ateş, a Turkish-born lawyer and human rights campaigner, visited Londonthis week to investigate potential sites for a liberal mosque open to men, women and LGBT Muslims on an equal basis, and people from all strands of Islam.

She hopes to establish such a mosque within a year, and says her aim is to create similar places of worship in every European capital.

“I’m not alone with this idea. It is a movement, it’s a revolution,” she told the Guardian. “I may be the face of the liberal mosque, but I alone am not the mosque. We have millions of supporters all over the world.”

However, the opening of the Ibn Rushd-Goethe mosque, in a space rented from a Lutheran church in Berlin last month prompted a hostile reaction from conservative Muslims in Europe, Egypt and Turkey.

Ateş received death threats via social media and was told “you will die” during a street confrontation. Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta al-Masriyyah, a state-run Islamic body, declared the mosque’s principles incompatible with Islam. The legal department of Cairo’s al-Azhar University issued a fatwa against liberal mosques.

Turkey’s main Muslim authority, Diyanet, said the mosque was an experiment “aimed at nothing more than depraving and ruining religion”.

Ateş, 54, who has had police protection since 2006, was forced to step up her personal security. The itinerary of her two-day trip to London was unpublicised, and she was accompanied by close-protection officers. Asked if she feared for her life, she said: “Yes, a little bit. I could be in danger. People recognise me.”

Although the Berlin mosque was crowded on its opening day, numbers dwindled following the death threats. “It made people afraid to come,” said Ateş. But, she added, 95% of emails she had received since the opening of the Berlin mosque were supportive.

“There are more and more people wanting to break the chains. In many countries you can find people who are practising what we’re doing, but they are doing it under cover, privately,” she said.

“Liberal and secular Muslims are squeezed out by radical Islam, so they decide to be silent. It’s not so easy for liberal Muslims to be ‘out’. It’s like being homosexual. They are tarnished as the ‘enemy of Islam’.”

Ateş also takes a tough line on headscarves. When she opened the Berlin mosque, she said women wearing burqas or niqabs would not be admitted. She has since compromised: women must show their faces to her or other female leaders at the mosque but then will be given the option of replacing their head coverings. However, no woman wearing a niqab or burqa has as yet come to the mosque.

“There is no Islamic requirement [to cover one’s head]. There is no theological argument even in the most conservative interpretation of the Qur’an,” she said.

The hijab, niqab and burqa represented the sexualisation and subjugation of women, she added. “It’s men saying, ‘I cover her because she is my property.’"

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/26/seyran-ates-muslim-feminist-liberal-mosque-london-britain

 

 

[Drin Lon 7,875]

[Ken Zahn 3,117]

[Edonis 28,974]

Good for her for standing up for what's right regardless of backlash. Hoping more open up and follow suit. Progress 

[Melech 9,900]

Fun fact: Liberal Christianity, liberal Judaism and now maybe liberal Islam coming all from Germany 

[Haroon 49,685]

My first reaction to seeing and reading this was fear for the patrons of the mosque rather than celebration for what this is which I feel bad for in a way  Like I'm happy but I'm more worried about the backlash and abuse the visitors of the mosque could get. Really hope they've chosen the area carefully because there are majorly homophobic parts of London that a thing like this could go very badly in

What this is for and the aim is very admirable and commendable and the fact that this has been tried and tested already shows that religion and things that aren't in line with the religion aren't mutually exclusive  I mean nobody following a religion ends up following all of it, people can and will pick and choose the parts that work best for their lives to try to stay on the good side when all is totaled and weighed up  

[Melech 9,900]

1 minute ago, Haroon said:

My first reaction to seeing and reading this was fear for the patrons of the mosque rather than celebration for what this is which I feel bad for in a way  Like I'm happy but I'm more worried about the backlash and abuse the visitors of the mosque could get. Really hope they've chosen the area carefully because there are majorly homophobic areas in London that a thing like this could go very badly in

What this is for and the aim is very admirable and commendable and the fact that this has been tried and tested already shows that religion and things that aren't in line with the religion aren't mutually exclusive  I mean nobody following a religion ends up following all of it, people can and will pick and choose the parts that work best for their lives to try to stay on the "good side" when all is balanced  

Sadly she gets a lot of death threats. She opened a liberal mosque in Berlin, but sadly she is under police protection now

 

[LUO YI 6,089]

That's ****ed  I feel worried about her. This movement is goving hope.

[Haroon 49,685]

7 minutes ago, Melech said:

Sadly she gets a lot of death threats. She opened a liberal mosque in Berlin, but sadly she is under police protection now

Unfortunately I'm not surprised  There are already violent threats for LGBT people from people who practice Islam strictly. The fact that someone's gone and mixed LGBT with Islam it's a huge thing, like "HOW DARE SHE POLLUTE SOMETHING SO SACRED & PURE! "

[Melech 9,900]

Just now, Haroon said:

Unfortunately I'm not surprised  There are already violent threats for LGBT people from people who practice Islam strictly. The fact that someone's gone and mixed LGBT with Islam it's a huge thing, like "HOW DARE SHE HAVE THE AUDACITY TO POLLUTE SOMETHING SO SACRED & PURE! "

Yes, also because it's pretty much a feminist mosque. Like woman and men pray next to each other, which is also a deal breaker apparently in this case for many people.  

[Luc 4,776]

Islam needs more and more people like this. It's sad that it's so risky to do, but I hope it opens doors. Pioneers have to take risks, but those risks pay off in the end. Hopefully one will be opened in Rotterdam, I'm sure there's demand for it if it's inclusive and accepts people who had a conservative education but are willing to become more open..

[Laceface 2,964]

Hats off to her. Very commendable and brave but completely necessary to break down barriers. 

[CautiousLurker 19,709]

30 minutes ago, Melech said:

Sadly she gets a lot of death threats. She opened a liberal mosque in Berlin, but sadly she is under police protection now

 

Are they going to have security at the mosque? Considering that gay bars in London get regularly attacked to the point a lot of them have to close, I don't think this is going to work unless you can invest in security personnel... At least the chances of things going very wrong would be pretty high... 

[Serendipity 7,821]

I saw this Muslim forum a few days back and they were discussing about the LGBT mosque. I can assure you they were very homophobic to say the least.