Progressive Muslims Launch Gay-Friendly, Women-Led Mosques In Attempt To Reform American Islam

[Electrequiem]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1368460.html

They're taking bold steps, reinterpreting Islamic norms and re-examining taboos. While far from accepted by mainstream clerics, these worshippers feel that the future of the religion lies not solely with tradition but with them. Women are leading congregations in prayer, gay imams are performing Islamic marriages, and men and women are praying side by side.

Reform within any ideology over time is inevitable. It is time for Islam.

Thoughts?

[bujhee kom]

Very good news Electriquiem bhai! My full support for this kinds of mosques, movements! We are all God's (Allah) creation/children, we all belong together when it comes to worshiping and everyone is equal in His (Allah's) eyes, it is us humans who bring this sense of fear, seperations, hatred and our own power control agenda. I am so pleased to hear this news, I would join efforts, institutions like this with a blink of an eye.

Concepts and like these kinds of open arm efforts, reforms to include everyone of the Creator's creations would only make Al-Islam a more loving, caring and less hateful segragationist practice than many of the evangelical right-wing hateful Christian/Protestant/Baptist(Southern Baptist) operations in this country! Big Thumbs up for this specific Islamic group/mosque!

[Electrequiem]

Originally Posted by bujhee kom
Very good news Electriquiem bhai! My full support for this kinds of mosques, movements! We are all God's (Allah) creation/children, we all belong together when it comes to worshiping and everyone is equal in His (Allah's) eyes, it is us humans who bring this sense of fear, seperations, hatred and our own power control agenda. I am so pleased to hear this news, I would join efforts, institutions like this with a blink of an eye.

Concepts and like these kinds of open arm efforts, reforms to include everyone of the Creator's creations would only make Al-Islam a more loving, caring and less hateful segragationist practice than many of the evangelical right-wing hateful Christian/Protestant/Baptist(Southern Baptist) operations in this country! Big Thumbs up for this specific Islamic group/mosque!

I love you, bro. We need more people like you in this world

[NoName]

Pretty neat, I wonder what the reactions would be from the various conservative and liberal Muslims.
I've also heard of Gay Imams/Gay Muslims who are devout, they just stay abstinent, just in case if anyone was curious.

[Banglaguy]

I'm fully against this, it is a fabrication of the quran allah has sent.

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[Murad]

Haire ajkalkar Muslims. Aro koto kisu korbe. Koidin pore shunbo ora new ekta muslim religion create korse.

Ekhon to men and women ek sathe namaz portese, tao shob dheke. Koidin pore dekha jabe men in underwear and women in bikini praying together in mosques. Ei dinta ar beshi dhure nai mone hoiteche. So called American Muslims!!

Manush je kotota selfish hote pare etai arekta example.

[BANFAN]

Originally Posted by Murad
Haire ajkalkar Muslims. Aro koto kisu korbe. Koidin pore shunbo ora new ekta muslim religion create korse.

".................."!

Manush je kotota selfish hote pare etai arekta example.

Bhalo e bolechen... tobe eita notun Islam mone hoyna? Nengti pore namaz pora porjonto opekkha korte hobe keno?

[mufi_02]

I am totally against it. Islam does not need any reform or evolution.

Allah has perfected the religion during the lifetime of Prophet. Thus there is no addition and deletion or even modification to it.

These are just complete Bidah.

[roman]

Why try to perfect something when it already has been perfected by Allah??

Our prophet clearly said that the religion has been perfected. Nothing will be added or deleted..Innovation is a sin and I believe what my prophet preached..His words are sufficient for me..So I am rejecting this idea.

Allah knows best..

[Zeeshan]

Ignorance IS bliss. Hmmph.

[Zeeshan]

On topic excellent initiative; it's about time the religion got a makeover from blind followers who would harp on imam's bokttobbya and parrot it back instead of taking the time and effort to interpret Quran from their own. OOhh oooh so and so Imam with phd said it then it must be the RIGHT way. That's argument from authority for you.

How many in this forum have actually bothered to learn the language and read Quran for themselves? NONE. Anyone fluent in Arabic? Thought so.

I will give an example. When you read an English translation, it has a very condescending tone with plethora of exclamation marks and sayings like O this and O that! But unless one reads the Quran in Arabic cultural background's context one fails to realize why is that so. In Arabic, THERE IS NO EXCLAMATION MARK.

It's very easy to parrot back other's ideas. Try to read on your own and keep the wisdom to yourself. Better for all of us.

[BANFAN]

Originally Posted by Zeeshan
On topic excellent initiative; it's about time the religion got a makeover from blind followers who would harp on imam's bokttobbya and parrot it back instead of taking the time and effort to interpret Quran from their own. OOhh oooh so and so Imam with phd said it then it must be the RIGHT way. That's argument from authority for you.

How many in this forum have actually bothered to learn the language and read Quran for themselves? NONE. Anyone fluent in Arabic? Thought so.

I will give an example. When you read an English translation, it has a very condescending tone with plethora of exclamation marks and sayings like O this and O that! But unless one reads the Quran in Arabic cultural background's context one fails to realize why is that so. In Arabic, THERE IS NO EXCLAMATION MARK.

It's very easy to parrot back other's ideas. Try to read on your own and keep the wisdom to yourself. Better for all of us.

Religion isn't Imam's Boktobbo, it's the BOOK (Quran For Muslims). You can throw away everything that he says and replace with a modern scientific Boktobbo no prob. But when you start making over the BOOK, it's no more that religion, but something else.

Ignorance is truly blissss.....

[shuziburo]

I am not going to comment on the topic itself, but you are absolutely correct about reading the Qur'an in the original language. I have been trying to learn for some time and have made only a small progress. Even with that, I already understand how much one misses while reading only the translation and how miraculous this Book really is.

It takes time and effort. But, if you are interested in learning about the Qur'an (either from the religious perspective or simple intellectual curiosity), nothing can be better than learning the Qur'anic Arabic.

Originally Posted by Zeeshan
On topic excellent initiative; it's about time the religion got a makeover from blind followers who would harp on imam's bokttobbya and parrot it back instead of taking the time and effort to interpret Quran from their own. OOhh oooh so and so Imam with phd said it then it must be the RIGHT way. That's argument from authority for you.

How many in this forum have actually bothered to learn the language and read Quran for themselves? NONE. Anyone fluent in Arabic? Thought so.

I will give an example. When you read an English translation, it has a very condescending tone with plethora of exclamation marks and sayings like O this and O that! But unless one reads the Quran in Arabic cultural background's context one fails to realize why is that so. In Arabic, THERE IS NO EXCLAMATION MARK.

It's very easy to parrot back other's ideas. Try to read on your own and keep the wisdom to yourself. Better for all of us.

[Purbasha T]

Originally Posted by Zeeshan
On topic excellent initiative; it's about time the religion got a makeover from blind followers who would harp on imam's bokttobbya and parrot it back instead of taking the time and effort to interpret Quran from their own. OOhh oooh so and so Imam with phd said it then it must be the RIGHT way. That's argument from authority for you.

How many in this forum have actually bothered to learn the language and read Quran for themselves? NONE. Anyone fluent in Arabic? Thought so.

I will give an example. When you read an English translation, it has a very condescending tone with plethora of exclamation marks and sayings like O this and O that! But unless one reads the Quran in Arabic cultural background's context one fails to realize why is that so. In Arabic, THERE IS NO EXCLAMATION MARK.

It's very easy to parrot back other's ideas. Try to read on your own and keep the wisdom to yourself. Better for all of us.

Rather than jumping onto sudden conclusions, we all need to research and research more. Learning is an ever-lasting and never-ending process. Islam is not like a box that only people entering it will be beautified by it, rather it's a ray of light that, unless we put our own obstacles in the middle, will continue to grace through everything around it.

Women leading prayers? Let's check out what the Qur'an and the Hadiths say.

Gay men leading prayers? Let's see if Qur'an and Hadiths have any prohibition on gay men leading prayers.

What we find may just surprise us.

[Purbasha T]

Although after reading the article, it seems to me that rather than just removing the radicalising aspects of Islam (which aren't 'Islamic' at all), the movement is trying to create a modified version of Islam... now that's something I'm totally against of.

But hey, one news article may not do justice to the efforts...so I'll look forward to more info.

[Purbasha T]

Here's an interesting talk on Islamic reforms etc.

[Electrequiem]

You can tell a lot about an ideology when "innovation is a sin."

Anyway, to those who are completely rejecting this as Un-Islamic and against the Qur'an: can you point to what exactly in the Qur'an negates this? It's one thing to say something goes against YOUR traditions/version/interpretation of Islam - and something completely else to say someone is WRONG in their interpretation. The Quran has no absolute interpretation. Like any religious book, it is open to picking and choosing (which 1.6 billion Muslims do every day).

[Boomerang]

I am totally against it. i think we should least bother at this. they are no muslims in any way. they are mentally sick. frustrated and losers. its better to ignore them. those who joined them or are supporting then were never a true muslim. only to get highlight they are performing such nonsense

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[Electrequiem]

Originally Posted by Boomerang
I am totally against it. i think we should least bother at this. they are no muslims in any way. they are mentally sick. frustrated and losers. its better to ignore them. those who joined them or are supporting then were never a true muslim. only to get highlight they are performing such nonsense

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"Ibn Umar related that the Holy Prophet said: If a Muslim calls another kafir, then if he is a kafir let it be so; otherwise, he [the caller] is himself a kafir.''

What is your definition of a true Muslim?

[NoName]

Originally Posted by Boomerang
I am totally against it. i think we should least bother at this. they are no muslims in any way. they are mentally sick. frustrated and losers

Oh really now? Its more like "they're different from me so yada yada yada"

[ammark]

Originally Posted by BengaliPagol
Somewhere in the Quran it states that if women start to lead prayers then judgement day is near. So if its gonna happen then its gonna happen.

Astaghfirullah. what you have written Is shirk and bida of the highest order. do not spread lies and falsehood about Allah and His word.

[BengaliPagol]

Originally Posted by ammark
Astaghfirullah. what you have written Is shirk and bida of the highest order. do not spread lies and falsehood about Allah and His word.

I might be right or wrong but my Arabic teacher told me that one of the signs that judgement day is near is when
1. Children become ignorant towards their parents
2. Women start to become Presidents/Prime Ministers/World Leaders etc.
3. Women become imaams and start leading prayers
There were other things as well but i forgot them.

Im not trying to spread lies or falsehood Ammark. Im just trying to state something which I have learnt from my Arabic teacher about my religion Islam.

If i am wrong then please forgive me Ammark and i will also ask for forgiveness from Allah Subhana Watala.

If women do end up leading prayers then that is whats going to happen because that is what Allah wants. We cant do anything about it because we are all created by Allah.

[ammark]

Originally Posted by BengaliPagol
Im not trying to spread lies or falsehood Ammark. Im just trying to state something which I have learnt from my Arabic teacher about my religion Islam.

If i am wrong then please forgive me Ammark and i will also ask for forgiveness from Allah Subhana Watala.

May Allah grant you that which is good. Thank you BengaliPagol, but be cautious about what you say. There is no ayat in the Quran that states what you wrote in that post. And saying so with certainty is in essence a lie or falsehood. Which is why I started with 'Astaghfirullah' - I seek forgiveness from Allah. However, I will not fault you for saying what you said. It is important that whoever our sources are for whatever we are taught, try and verify the authenticity of those claims.

There are many signs of the Qiyamah. Among them is that the Muslim ummah (which includes the followers of the prophets of Allah) will be continually divided into many groups. Only one of those groups will enter Jannah. This is pertinent to this thread because arguably the new divisions and reform movements may all be the ones wrongly guided. After all the hadith is that all the groups will enter the jahannam, except for one of those who follows in the sunnah of the Rasulullah.

[Electrequiem]

Side-note: I once asked a big Islamic scholar why many Muslims perceive Islam to be so rigid and unflexible. His reply: "It's because people's faiths are weak." Food for thought.

[zsayeed]

The Quran is a personal recitation. If you need to debate it, then it is useless.
Might as well go home - debate is for the mind.
Quran is for the heart. Period. Full Stop.

I think it is time for me to go back into my shell.