Jakarta Globe, Ian Dulkowski, November 2012
Hajj season
just ended and Mohammed Ludovic Lutfi Zahed returned to France with an odd
idea.
After going
the holy pilgrimage, Zahed felt enlightened and realized he wanted to give
something to his gay Muslim community in Paris: Opening a "mosque for
gays."
"In
normal mosques, women have to sit in the back seats and wear a headscarf and
gay men are afraid of both verbal and physical aggression. After performing the
Hajj, I realized that a mosque for gays was a must for gay Muslims who want to
perform their prayers," Zahed said as quoted by Turkish Daily Hurriyet.
During
Hajj, Muslim women and men are not segregated. Both sexes crowd together in all
the rituals of Hajj. When they are doing "tawaaf" (circling around
Kaaba), all men and women are together.
Zahed,
founder of association of Gay Muslims in France (HM2F), said he will use a
Buddhist chapel where Friday prayers and gay marriages would be performed.
"We
will start with Friday prayers, but we will perform marriages afterwards,"
Zahed explained his plan.
Zahed is
also convinced that the mosque will help to fight against homophobia in Islam
and Islamophobia within the gay community in France.
France has
not yet legalized same-sex marriage. Although France is home to at least four
million Muslims — the largest Islamic community in Europe — it has not been
open to accepting Islamic practices.
A French
magazine in September this year risked Muslim fury by printing cartoons of the
Prophet Mohammed, a move seen linked to an anti-Islamic film "The
Innocence of Muslims."
Earlier in
July — when Muslims observed the holy month of Ramadan — Muslims in Montauban,
a town in south western France, were outraged after two pig heads were dumped
at a local mosque.
Related Articles:
France adopts gay marriage plan despite opposition
About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man – Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channelled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack) - “You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.”
About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man – Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channelled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack) - “You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.”
"The Akashic System" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)
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