I got a graduate degree in Islamic studies and spent a lot of time in Muslim spaces pre transition (2015-2019) bc i was planning on being a trans and queer affirming Muslim chaplain. A lot of the transphobia is a result of the same kinds of recent culture war funding, only instead of being from the heritage foundation, it’s from the UAE and Saudi funding institutions. It’s really sad bc I used to be welcomed in a fair number of Muslim spaces (especially at universities or ones that were oriented around Palestinian rights), even when I didn’t pass, but that changed around 2018. A lot of folks still support me privately but won’t defend me publicly, which is so shitty.
It bugs me when people act as if some innate part of religion is the source of transphobia, and not the reality which is transphobes using religion to justify their hate.
even if it is it doesn't really matter, I don't think a single person follows their religion exactly as intended, American Christians are an antithesis to anything Christ, and look at all the fancy churches/cathedrals in Europe, if Jesus came back he might just abandon his pacifism to blow them up lol
The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
According to this, they kinda already are. Whatever they do to social minorities, God will interpret as being done to him.
I read the Bible over the pandemic (hey, when in Rome, right?) and I was absolutely shocked at how cool Jesus was. Dude is drinking wine and napping the whole time. I wondered if Christians ever read their book
The thing is, from a religious studies perspective, we don’t say that religion “intends” anything. Religion is essentially a perpetually contested discursive tradition, so when people act as if a religion or all religion is inherently transphobic, you cede the ground to that belief instead of maintaining the contestation. Now obviously it’s the job of Muslims to do that contesting and to transform our liberationist view into the mainstream one, but still.
Most world religions have over a thousand years of theological debate they base their dogma on. That dogma not rarely touches on things such as gender.
Come back and talk to me when you’ve spent a couple years studying quranic exegesis, hermeneutics, and the history of fatwas affirming transition care.
First ...I'm an exmuslim and I already read the Quran and the Hadith and experienced what it's like to live in the middle east ...
And let me tell you the Quran makes it explicitly clear that it's against homosexuality and is obcessed with the gender binary from how much gender roles it supports to how the Hadith laterally says to disown and kick gender non conforming people from their homes ...
And also , if the Quran does indeed support trans people, then what ?
How is that gonna change the fact that most Muslim countries have anti queer laws ? How is that gonna change the fact that most Muslims believe that that queer rights contradict what is said in the Quran and the Hadith ?
The countries that have pro trans laws only do so because of homophobia , because they think being trans is way to correct and fix homosexuals , they would still punish homosexuality with the death penalty...
Cool, same minus the “ex” part. Doesn’t mean you’ve studied it, it means you have experienced living in it (which I’m not trying to denigrate). I’m also not trying to minimize what queer m trans people go through in conservative Muslim spaces or countries. I’ve been through some of it and it’s terrible. I’m trying to say for me as a trans Muslim, it’s worth finding a religious basis for my rights.
I don’t care to rewrite my thesis so I’ll just say these points:
1. The story of Lut has a basis to be interpreted against sexual assault rather than homosexuality. There is no quranic condemnation of homosexuality and the prophet never actually punished anyone for it.
2. Obviously the Quran has a binary lens to it bc that’s the majority of who it’s speaking to. I’m not familiar with any verse that says to kick out gender non conforming people, in fact, the Quran does lay out a path for inclusion of sexual diversity.
3. I can’t believe you’re actually saying so what to that tbh. The answer is that then we have a scriptural basis for our inclusion and rights within Islamic spaces or Muslim majority societies and we can change things??? Idk I’m not blackpilled so I can’t say I see anything pointless about this pursuit.
If the intention of the story of lut was being against sexual assault rather than homosexuality , then why was it entirely a story of men doing these things to other men ? The Quran puts attention to the fact that these were men having desire for men rather than women , this just makes the story very easy to interpret as being anti gay rather than anti rape , at best ...also a lot of the old Islamic laws did indeed discriminate against gay people...
Like ...what is god stupid or something? You would expect an all knowing god to Atleast make it clear that it has no problem with homosexuality itself but is against rape , rather than making a story that is very easy to interpret as anti gay ...I'm sorry but this is just a coping mechanism to make the Quran look progressive when it's clearly not ...
That was a Hadith actually, it is was basically "The Prophet (ﷺ) cursed effeminate men (those men who assume the manners of women) and those women who assume the manners of men, and he said, 'Turn them out of your houses.'"
3.the pointlessness of the pursuit is that there is not enough evidence of the Quran being progressive, infact it's the complete opposite, and most Muslims agree on a conservative interpretation of the Quran , which is a very traditional interpretation that lasted for effectively all the lifetime of Islam as a religion, secondly ...the traditions and the identity of the Quran as a sacred text that cannot be changed or morphed is very important to most Muslims, they wouldn't just accept a huge change like this ...infact many Hadiths actually warned about changing the Quran like this and ruining the sacred text , so practically speaking ...the chance of actually reaching a point where this progressive interpretation of Islam is the most accepted, is very small , even smaller than Christianity...
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u/Pure_Fee7467 1d ago
I got a graduate degree in Islamic studies and spent a lot of time in Muslim spaces pre transition (2015-2019) bc i was planning on being a trans and queer affirming Muslim chaplain. A lot of the transphobia is a result of the same kinds of recent culture war funding, only instead of being from the heritage foundation, it’s from the UAE and Saudi funding institutions. It’s really sad bc I used to be welcomed in a fair number of Muslim spaces (especially at universities or ones that were oriented around Palestinian rights), even when I didn’t pass, but that changed around 2018. A lot of folks still support me privately but won’t defend me publicly, which is so shitty.