The land of freedom, America, now boast of an
openly gay Imam. And the Muslim community is
not happy about it. Imam Daayiee Abdulah, the
only openly gay Imam in America & possibly the
world, was born and raised a Baptist Christian
faithful in Detroit but converted to Islam while studying in China. Upon his conversion, he noticed
the spiritual gap lesbians, gays & transsexuals in
the Islamic faith had and decided to become an
Imam so as to provide an ideal Islamic support for
them, he says. "Being an openly gay imam and having been
identified as such, I do get a lot of feedback
and also kickback, but that's OK,” he said. “I
think that when people are unfamiliar with
things, they tend to have an emotional knee-
Sometimes necessity is the mother of invention. And because of the
necessity in our community, that's why I
came into this particular role." Abdulah, who says he told his parents he was gay
at age 15, converted to Islam at the age of 33 and
went on to study the religion in Egypt, Jordan and
Syria. Asked what was his first spiritual act as an
Imam, Abdulahi says it was the funeral for a gay
Muslim who had died of AIDS. Continue... "They had contacted a number of imams, and
no one would go and provide him his janazah
services. This pained me. I believe every
person, no matter if I disagree with you or not,
you have the right as a Muslim to have the
proper spiritual rites and rituals provided for you. And whoever judges you, that will be
Allah's decision, not me. The beautiful thing
about God is that when you change your
attitude, and say, 'God, I need some help,'
and mean it sincerely, God is always there for
you,” Abdullah serves as the imam and educational
director of the Light of Reform Mosque in
Washington, D.C, a place he calls a a rare safe
space for Muslim LGBT. In his Mosque, which he
founded in 2011, women and men kneel side-by-
side and women are allowed to lead prayers, an action that has sparked controversy in the Muslim
world.
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