Michael Mumisa: misunderstood? May 2, 2006
Posted by Rasheed Eldin in Islam, Media, Proggies, Shari'ah.3 comments
You may remember the name of Michael Mumisa from an early post, in which Mujahid refuted an obscure and untenable opinion he cited, while not describing it as either his (Mumisa’s) own opinion, and certainly not the ”standard interpretation”:
Interestingly, the radio segment also features one Michael Mumisa of the Al-Mahdi Institute, Birmingham. He refers to an interpretation of the Qur’anic narrative on the People of Lut (peace be on him), namely that they were punished for “molesting someone’s guests”, i.e. the angels who had come to Sodom. What is so preposterous about this claim (apart from the idea that a lack of hospitality warranted the unique triple-destruction dealt to the Sodomites by God) is that the angels had been sent by God for punishment for their sins! See this passage from Surah Hud (11), especially after verse 77. What were the “abominations” (sayyi’aat) [v.78] that Lut’s people had been engaged in before rushing to the handsome angels? Why did the angels say to Abraham (peace be on him) beforegoing to Sodom: “The decree of thy Lord hath gone forth: for them there cometh a penalty that cannot be turned back” [v.76]?
The radio segmentin question was from BBC Radio 4′s Sunday programme, and was presented by Shazia Khan. Khan says, after the quote we hear from Mumisa:
“Shaykh Michael believes that the Qur’anic text is open to various interpretations and that there is no clear answer as to whether homosexuality is morally wrong or unacceptable according to Islam. Even the Sharia, or Islamic Law, which prohibits homosexuality, is, in his view, no more than a collection of interpretations from jurists.”
Naively, we took Shazia Khan’s word and assumed that Sh. Michael is of the same ilk as Scott Kugle and others. This was further suggested by the mention by Tamsila Tauqir’s Safra Project that they met with the man in question in January 2006. More remains to be known, but since coming across a particular publication by Mumisa, it seems that the Radio 4 reporter has misrepresented his views, most likely on purpose. Either that, or Mumisa must be rather confused.
QJ Hookups and Cluelessness May 1, 2006
Posted by Rasheed Eldin in Queer Muslims, StraightWay.3 comments
Let's start with the cluelessness, because the other part will be a bit stomach-turning for some readers. Here's a query from one Brian Tipton on the Queer Fasad group:
Brothers…
Has anyone heard anything about this Muslim cleric in Europe who "reforms" Muslim men who have SSA? A month ago I was communicating online with another gay identified man in a predominately European Muslim community. He mentioned his uncle recommended he go visit this so called "reformer." I have lost touch with this online chat buddy, but have been fascinated by his story. Does anyone know anything about this in Europe? Or maybe this man was in the Middle East somewhere? I've heard about the Christian right in America having crusade type weekends for ex-gays. But I've never heard anything about a Muslim in Europe or the Middle East who does this specifically for Muslims. Anyone?
Salam.
Note: he's not the one I'm calling clueless, as he's just making a query. It's even possible that he's interested in personal reform himself, but is afraid to write that explicitly, knowing the kind of reactions he would get.
Anyway, my reply is that I'm unaware of any Muslim scholars (not clerics: we have no clergy) who specialise in this issue; indeed, it seems most are oblivious and quite content to be so. The kind of answers they give to the questions on the issue tend to lack nuance, and even where the scholar is more understanding and compassionate towards people experiencing this struggle, they lack the knowledge (and terminology) to provide a helpful way forward, other than in generalities. They might recommend counselling, which is not a bad idea, except that the counsellor would need to be sympathetic to the religious orientation of the person seeking help.
