Interview by Esra Oziskender.
"I went to Georgetown University for undergraduate in Law. Dr. Jonathan Brown at Georgetown University invited me to come and talk about being gay and Muslim where he had a graduate discussion and so he had several people there. A couple of professors, Islamic scholars and some other people. They were trying to play the game of you shouldn't be doing this and follow tradition. I had brought with me Mohammed Assad version of the Koran and I said several of you grew up with the Koran in your house. So please tell me when the Koran says that the heterosexuals are better than homosexuals. And there was silence. So there's this false sense of authority is only in your head, not in reality." Daayiee Abdullah
EO: Who are you? How do you define yourself?
DA: I am a Sunni Muslim by training, but have evolved into an Inclusive Liberation Theological Progressive Muslim, which involves revival and reform of the current orthodox views to make them more inclusive for women and LGBTQ Muslims and other denominations of Muslims and interfaith communities.
EO: You became an authority on homosexuality and Islam and traveled widely lecturing that the Quran does not speak against homosexuality. How do you define yourself as an Imam?
DA: I am a modern day Imam.
EO: Can you explain it more please?
DA: Koran encourages us that we don't have to follow what the forefathers and foremothers did but we can learn from them. People want to debate me and I tell them, I don't debate a lot. I don't debate our creator’s messages but I will discuss with you alternative opinions on it.
Because so often what they want to claim is that it is their God and I tell them no, it is our God and therefore you have no authority over me. We have responsibilities to each other's voice as people who are to take care of this creation. But you are no better than me.
EO: What is Al-Fatiha Foundation?
DA: The Al-Fatiha Foundation was an organization which advanced the civil, political, and legal rights of LGBTQ+ Muslims. It was founded in 1997 by Faisal Alam, a Pakistani American LGBTQ+ rights activist, and was registered as a nonprofit organization in the United States until 2011. I started volunteering with Al-Fatiha as a board member and religious advisor in 1999. I was a member of and spiritual advisor of the Al-Fatiha Foundation until it closed in 2011.
EO: Why was the foundation closed in 2011?
DA: At the end of 20th century, people started developing more regional organizations that responded to the LGBTI Muslim communities. The Al-Fatiha foundation couldn't be everything to everybody, but it was instrumental in getting things started. So I think it had run its course. I knew it from the very beginning and I think that by that time it had basically worn out.
EO: So it was closed voluntarily.
DA: Yes, it was closed voluntarily. Now, during that time Muslims with progressive values had started, I believe it was in 2007. But there were a couple of other things.
EO: Yes, please tell us about Muslims Progressive Values aka MPV. https://www.mpvusa.org
(Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV) was founded and incorporated by Zuriana (Ani) Zonneyeldand Pamela K. Taylor in 2007, headquartered in Los Angeles with regional offices in Malaysia, Holland and various other countries under diffrent names such as Universal Muslim Community.)
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