BREAKING NEWS
Breaking

728x90

468x60

Meet America's First Openly Gay Imam

photo

He’s been condemned by other Muslim leaders, and some local imams have even refused to greet him. But Imam Daayiee Abdullah believed to be the only openly gay imam in America is proud of his story.



According to Aljazeera, Imam Abdullah was born a Christian, born and raised in Detroit, where his parents were Southern Baptists.

But at age 15, he told his parents he was gay.

At 33, while studying in China, Abdullah converted to Islam, and went on to study the religion in Egypt, Jordan and Syria.

But as a gay man in America, he saw that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Muslims had unmet spiritual needs, so he decided to become an imam to attend to their needs.

“Sometimes necessity is the mother of invention. And because of the necessity in our community, that's why I came into this particular role,” he told America Tonight about his journey.

His first act as an imam was performing funeral rites, Muslim body cleaning ritual for a gay Muslim who died of AIDS.

Pained Abdullah said:

“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 mosque he helped form more than two years ago, to be a safe space for values and practices that other mosques may eschew.

In his mosque, women and men kneel side-by-side and women are allowed to lead prayers – actions that have sparked controversy even among American Muslims.

His mosque’s congregants are diverse and represent a wide range of cultures, religious upbringings and sexual orientations.

For its LGBT congregants, the Light of Reform Mosque is a rare safe space. But not all of them are gay. Many are just Muslims looking for a mosque that accepts all kinds.

Not everyone is happy with the mosque though. Some local imams have refused to greet Abdullah, and many others across the country argue his work performing same-sex marriage is not legitimate, and that he should control his “urges.”

But Abdullah is firm in his belief. "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-jerk reaction to it.

Abdullah has hope that the message he is working to spread will continue to resonate: "It is our relationship with God and our relationship with each other that really establishes our faith." Not whether you are gay or straight.

 Aljazeera
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday


Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
« PREV
NEXT »

11 comments

  1. Hahahahahaaaaaaaaaa,i laugh in Mr Ibru's voice,are they also free to marry four husbands?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Na wa oh na for husbands them go marry be dat.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This man is in sane and looking for recognition. Am very very sure that, its the work of America. They sponsor him and all Muslims know that all his deeds are totally against Islam.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Another calcuated attempt by America to destabilze Islam. Its not going to succeed In shaa Allah.

    ReplyDelete
  5. From the statement one should not doubt it, that, it was american's plan to ruined islam, in qoute Abdullah was born as a christain, at the age of 15years he told his parents that he was a gay stil in christanity and trained for another 18yrs (all together 33yrs in christenity in gay b4 he embraced islamic religion) so what do you expect; he is an enemy of islam so stop calling him a muslim. His one of the America agent set to distroyed islam. Allah will surely distroyed him b4 he perpetrated his evil. Ameen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Guy! Mind u, nobody calls him a muslim, he calls himself one so what do u expect? America sponsoring him! Funny! fact is, evil is in the world and with this I'm sure other imam in hiding will surface as we already know all muslim or all christian cannot make it to God so why say this one or that one is not a christian or muslim? U a muslim are u even sure you are in right tune with Allah? Please leave everything to Allah.

      Malik.

      Delete
  6. An agent of satan never succeed, shame on you!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Please muslims America does not have your time,honestly the man has been misled by the devil, this is why Parents should pray for their children that they don't become slaves to their lust...this is simply confusion spread by the devil,to decieve the children of God Christian, muslims and other religions alike...

    ReplyDelete
  8. This man could not have been a Muslim in the first instance. A mosque where 'men and women kneel side by side' is not an Islamic mosque. Sahara reporters should please spare us the embarrassment of this man's story. America is a land where everything under the sun is possible.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What has America got to do with destroying Islam ? Y'all need to rethink before commenting on a post. So would you prove to me Americans are the one behind Boko boys too ? Use ur brain wenever you comment.

    ReplyDelete

Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)

Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com