In the Midst of Ramadan, Queer Muslims Have Stories to Tell

March 27, 2024
HANK ORSO

Queer Muslims Have Stories to Tell

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The Queer Muslim Project (@thequeermuslimproject) • Instagram photos and videos

One cannot argue that being an observant Muslim in these times is an easy thing. Islamaphobia in the US has been on the rise for over twenty years since the towers fell, and with the current Israeli/Palestinian war, histories and misunderstandings only stir the muck when trying to gain understanding, acceptance, and education. Public Throw into the mix being a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and heartfelt understanding is almost impossible. So at this particular time, in the middle of Ramadan (March 10th-April 9th), we wonder what is it like being a gay Muslim these days.

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Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar year. It is believed to be the time when the prophet Muhammed was given the first revelations of the Quran, the holy book of Islam, from the angel Gabriel. It is a time of intense spiritual introspection, highlighted by complete and total fasting by all healthy and capable Muslims from dawn to dusk. A pre-dawn meal and post-dusk meal are allowed, with daylight hours often filled with a concentration of prayers and reading of the Quran. Ramadan is capped by Eid-al-Fitr when families come together and gifts are often exchanged.

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"Queer Muslims have always existed. Queer Africans have always existed. Queer Arabs have always existed. Queerness and queer people, Two-Spirit people, gender non-conforming people, all these identities are so historical and so embedded in our cultures," says Marwa Eltahir, a 2022 Activist-in-Residence, through The LGBTQ Community Center of NY fellow. They contend that, as in many Christian communities, religion is used as a tool to disengage queer people from the religion, to separate them out as something singular and different. But "I know that Allah created me exactly the way that I am," Eltahir says. "There's a really big myth that homosexuality is something that was imported or brought to the Muslim community. That's just historically false. What was imported into our psyche and cultural understanding is homophobia."

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To be honest, as I started looking into this subject for this post, this old-ish gay cis dude quickly realized that the respect owed to the queer men and women of the Muslim community is greater than what I could fathom to tell their story. So I'm not even going to try. The religious and social politics that swirl throughout their histories and current states are wide and varied and deserve much more than a blurb post. But I will happily point you to a few artists who are telling their own stories and those of others.

It seems to be that through stories we can best allow individuals to share their own, in their own words and visuals. This post started off with the IG page of The Queer Muslim Project, which began on Facebook by PhD student in 2017, in an attempt to create a safe space for LGBTQ+ Muslims to share their stories. Now on IG, it has almost 50K followers across the globe.

Samra Habib is a queer Muslim photographer who has used their travels and camera to tell the stories of queer Muslims across North America, culminating in the book We Have Always Been Here. The stories they present are from a wide swath of the community, young and old, and every nuance of sexuality and orientation therein. You can also follow their "Just Me and Allah" photography project on Tumblr.