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

Born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Zonneveld grew up in Germany, Egypt and India as her father moved between stations as a Malaysian ambassador. Her stay-at-home mom taught Zonneveld and her five siblings the basics of Islam. The family read the Quran together in Arabic and fasted from sunrise to sunset during the holy month of Ramadan. Mosques were scarce in Germany, so her parents invited other Muslims to pray in their home.

After attending college in Illinois, Zonneveld moved to Los Angeles with dreams of becoming a musician. That's where she met her husband, a Dutch-born agnostic who now runs a grocery delivery company. They are raising their daughter Jasmine, 14, as a Muslim.

For 20 years, Zonneveld worked behind the scenes in the music industry, writing and composing songs. She kept her faith hidden at work, though, out of fear that it would hurt her career. But everything changed after Sept. 11.

The attacks by terrorists invoking Islam for a war against the West had nothing to do with the religion Zonneveld knew. Imams appeared on television with politicians to condemn violence. They echoed her views, but she was put off. She had little in common with the bearded middle-aged men on screen.

"The vast majority of American Muslims believe in an Islam that is so different from the people that represent us," Zonneveld says. "It's like if you had an Orthodox Jewish rabbi representing all American Jews."

For the first time, Zonneveld put religion at the forefront of her music. Two years after the attacks, she released an album, "Ummah, Wake Up!" The word ummah means "community" in Arabic. In the opening track, she called for a new jihad. To her, that meant striving to be more merciful, not taking up arms. Another track, "Bury Me," lamented what she saw as the marginalized state of women in Islamic communities.

Her album didn't go over well. When Zonneveld applied to perform at an Islamic music festival in Toronto, the event's organizers told her that men are forbidden to hear women sing. Islamic retailers banned the album. Prominent Muslims said Zonneveld was focusing too much on the bad in Islam and not enough on the good.

Frustrated with the lack of outlets for her critiques, Zonneveld helped found a group called the Progressive Muslim Union of North America. The broad alliance of dozens of activists and academics struggled and bickered over political beliefs and whether members wanted to reform Islamic doctrine or simply alter social practices. The two-year effort, largely academic, collapsed by 2006, never having founded a mosque.

A year later, Zonneveld cofounded Muslims for Progressive Values, which has enjoyed more tangible success. Its spiritual work has drawn endorsements from well-known Muslim activists, scholars and politicians.

***

Most scholars agree that the Quran, which Muslims believe is the written word of God, does not explicitly prohibit women from leading prayers or gay people from taking leadership roles in Islam. The holy book also does not forbid men and women to pray together. Yet, centuries of scholarship on the Quran and the sunnah (the way the prophet lived his life) have resulted in the prevailing view among Muslims worldwide that prayer leaders should be male and that homosexual activity is a sin.

To answer the question of whether women should lead prayers, records of the prophet's life -- whose authenticity remains under dispute -- are seized upon by people on all sides of the debate. Progressive scholars say the prophet permitted women to lead prayers at any time.

In three-quarters of American mosques, women gather in separate rooms or behind partitions or curtains, according to the most recent mosque study by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The practice stems from Quran, which says that men and women should maintain modest relations. The Quran does not explicitly say the sexes must keep separate.

People like Zonneveld say they take their cue from the early years of Islam, when it was common for men and women to pray together. They point to Mecca, the holy Islamic city where Muslims go on pilgrimage every year and where men and women pray side by side.

There are parts of the Quran that condemn homosexual acts but their interpretation is debated. Today, in at least seven majority-Muslim countries, gay sex is punishable by death. Most opposition to homosexuality in Islam stems from the Quran's story of Lot, which follows the Old Testament story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Conservative clerics say Allah destroyed these cities because men were having sex with men. Like liberal Christians, progressive Muslims interpret this story to be one about condemnation of rape, not homosexuality.

The idea of welcoming gay and lesbian Muslims as part of the Islamic community is more recent, says Kecia Ali, an Islamic studies professor at Boston University who researches sexuality and gender in the Quran.

"We have always had gay people in prayer [groups], but they have been closeted," Ali says. "What's new is this idea that we are now thinking why we are praying the way we are praying, why we are Muslim and who is considered Muslim."

***

On a recent Saturday afternoon, Zonneveld and other spiritual activists gathered for one of Muslims for Progressive Values' biweekly salons in Los Angeles around a living room table strewn with pamphlets and books on Islamic law. Among those present were a Shiite from Iran, a Sunni originally from Iowa who dabbles in Sufism, a Muslim convert and an agnostic Palestinian. They were united by a question and a cause.

"What is Shariah?" asked Zonneveld, referring to the Islamic code that has been used to guide everything from rules for prayer and marriage to deadly punishments for minor crimes in majority-Muslim countries. As Muslims trying to establish a radically different Islam, they asked, How could Shariah be used to their benefit?

The answer did not come easily.

"Shariah is how we live according to God's will for us," said Jamila Ezzani, 28, an autism specialist who has been in the group for almost two years. "It's an ideal to reach for."

"But it's good to know scripture and verse," chimed in Vanessa Karam, a general education professor at University of the West. "No Muslim cannot say that's the foundation for everything, right?"

"I think Shariah [law] is totally made up," shot back Zonneveld. "It's not like there's a page in the Quran that says, 'For you to be Muslim, you have to live by these set of rules.'"

Their differing takes were emblematic of that often unspoken conflict within this community: Are the progressives practicing religion? Or do they resemble secular, cultural Muslims?

Yasir Qadhi, a popular conservative cleric and dean of academic affairs at Houston-based AlMaghrib Institute, holds the latter view. A lecture on progressives that he has given at Islamic conferences has garnered thousands of views on YouTube.

"The very fact that the movement is so small or marginal speaks volumes about their sway and influence," says Qadhi, who lives in Memphis, Tenn., and whose institute trains 6,000 students annually. "It's pretty clear the mainstream of Muslims of North America, who are under no pressure or threat of physical violence, have clearly identified with traditional voices."

"'Let's look at the text of the Quran and see what Allah and his messenger want us to do rather than to project our ideas onto the text," Qadhi says. "We traditionalists firmly believe the Quran is the book of Allah and the speech of Allah."

Dalia Mogahed, director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, also takes a critical view of the progressives.

Muslims for Progressive Values "are little more than a footnote or a special interest," she writes in an email. "Their actual influence in the [Muslim American] community is virtually non-existent," adds Mogahed, who spent six years collecting 50,000 interviews for the book "Who Speaks For Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think."

Mohamed Magid, the president of the Islamic Society of North America, takes a softer approach. As the imam of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, a 5,000-member cluster of mosques in Northern Virginia, he welcomes a "marketplace of ideas" competing within Islam. "I have no right to strip anyone from Islam who wants to be Muslim," he says. Men, however, always lead prayers at his mosque, and Magid doesn't believe Islam condones homosexuality.

« First  Prev  1  2  3  Next  Last »

Comments

[surferdude3522]

09:28 AM on 04/22/2013

Islam is next on the Gay dictators list.
if you do not conform you are homophobic,and will suffer persecution by way of master manipulation of words and the changing of your understanding and representation of Islam through mass media hype and continual protest.
we are GLBT and will not stop until we shove our ideology down everyone's throat.

[Jan Allen McDaniel]

11:19 AM on 04/10/2013

@ Abdul-Halim Vazquez:

I said:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Jan_Allen_McDaniel/progressive-muslims-launch-gay-friendly-women-led-mosques_n_1368460_243514746.html

Your answer:

16 hours ago ( 7:33 PM)
Prosecute violent terrorists at home. Fight against violent enemies in the battlefield. But acknowledge that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are neither criminals nor your enemy.
=======

Now I ask which of my quotes means what you say.

[Elisabeth Strout]

09:57 AM on 04/09/2013

The issue here is that this isn't Islam. This is some weird melange of Sufism, Shiism, homosexuality, and a whole truckload of practices that are specifically forbidden by the Qur'an and ahadith, so they're free and welcome to do as they wish, but there's no point in calling it Islam. It isn't. It isn't "reformed" Islam, it isn't "progressive" Islam. It's a whole other ballgame. Islam is peaceful submission to the morals and values and lifestyle ordained by the Creator in the Qur'an and sunnah, and this is a mockery of dozens, if not hundreds of those. So it's not Islam. Period.

And for those bellyaching about how the group is going to see fatwas issued calling for their killing, you can stop worrying - they don't even fall under the pale of Islam, so no proper Muslim is even going to take them seriously. Let alone the fact that homosexuality only carries the death penalty in places governed by shari'a morals [and No, neither Saudi nor Iran fall under that category - those are the most messed up, oppressive, hypocritical governments out there], and only if the acts are committed in public.

Further, I don't know where 90% of the commenters below got their ideas about Islam, but it certainly wasn't the Qur'an, let alone ahadith, so please, go educate yourself about Islam from reliable sources (like, umm, the Qur'an and ahadith), before spouting nonsense.

[Robert Cat]

02:26 PM on 04/10/2013

I get my ideas about Islam from being in Islamic countries, and seeing first hand what is going on.

I've read the Qu'ran. I haven't read anywhere in the Qu'ran where the "Kill the Infidel" passages, "Go ahead beat your wife," and "Men are superior to women" type passages, etc. are not meant to be open-ended. Where in the Qu'ran does it say these passages don't apply to today's situations?

You are inaccurate when you claim Iran is not governed by Sharia. It most certainly is.

I don't know where you are getting your crazy ideas about Islam, but you should educate yourself.

[Elisabeth Strout]

03:33 PM on 04/10/2013

I get my ideas about Islam from reading Islamic texts. There's no such thing as an "Islamic" country. There's such a thing as a country with a Muslim-majority population, i.e. lots of people who practice the real Islamic lifestyle imperfectly at best. If you want to educate yourself about *Islam*, not *Muslims*, go to the texts.

There is no passage in the Qur'an that condones in any manner whatsoever, wanton killing of non-Muslims, wanton beating of women, or general across-the-board inferiority of women. If there were, I wouldn't be a Muslim. Each of the passages generally misconstrued and wrangled completely out of context to mean so, have very specific purposes for very specific situations, at very specific times, which most sane human beings would agree make sense.

Iran does not implement sharia fully or perfectly, and is governed by Shiites who claim certain human beings had divine powers, a belief which puts them outside the pale of Islam.

I don't know where you are getting your crazy ideas about Islam, but "Islamic countries" is not a source, and you clearly have no more respect for women than your perception of the Islamic religion does, or you would have used a more polite tone.

[Jan Allen McDaniel]

09:12 AM on 04/11/2013

And for those bellyaching about how the group is going to see fatwas issued calling for their killing, you can stop worrying - they don't even fall under the pale of Islam, so no proper Muslim is even going to take them seriously.
=========

I notice that you omit sacred law from your list of things that define Islam. Is that intentional or accidental?

If it is accidental and you do think that sacred law defines what Muslims believe is right and wrong, how do you account for this Shafii law and others that condemn lesbian sex similarly:

"o12.0 THE PENALTY FOR FORNICATION OR SODOMY
[...]

o12.2 If the offender is someone with the capacity to remain chaste, then he or she is stoned to death (def: o12.6),"
[...]

http://www.shafiifiqh.com/maktabah/relianceoftraveller.pdf

[Galwag Jakob]

01:21 PM on 03/22/2013

This a something as a muslim first to read and from what i understand from my faith and example was the story of Sayidina lut(ra) it is not for a muslim to go on that road even given prayers,But for islam been a peaceful religion it gives choices and as we all believe in Allah and the day of judgement it is that every action of any one who says the shahada and performs the obligaotry prayers his affairs is with Allah(saw)The right of woman are respected and is to the woman to seek that knowledge.God is the creature of all some believers and others not with his power all things stand, and that some believe others dont and it is their right but when the hr comes which will come then we all account for our actions.You can change what the Quran or sunnah says about certains things,if you ague about a sunna that it was pass on the quran is all words of Allah and when one read it and lucky gets the miracle attach to it,It is free faith but dont commercilise it for we dont have that it accepted for gays,that is why the story of sayidina lut was said several times,and as the prophet mohammed(saw) said he is a warner not a manager on teh affairs of what u do so either u follow it or not but you are responsible for that action.Peace.

[Robert Cat]

02:31 PM on 04/10/2013

If the rights of women are so respected in Islam, how is that under Sharia Law women need several witnesses to claim rape, they only get half an inheritance, they don't get custody of their children, are viewed as only worth half a man, and can be Honor Killed?

Also, here are some typical Honor Killing laws. Tell me again, how "peaceful" Islam is, and how respectful of women.

Iran: Article 220 states: If a father “or his male ancestors kill their children, they will not be prosecuted for murder.”

Jordan: Article 340 “He who discovers his wife or one of his female relatives committing adultery with another, and he kills, wounds or injures one or both of them, is exempt from any penalty… he who discovers his wife, or one of his female ascendants or descendants or sisters with another in an unlawful bed and he kills, wounds or injures one or both of them, benefits from a reduction of penalty.”

Syria: “He who catches his wife, or one of his ascendants, descendants or sister committing adultery or illegitimate sex acts and he kills or injures one of both of will be exempt from penalty."

Pakistan: Families can escape punishment when a brother ‘confesses’ to having killed his sister. His father ‘forgives’ him, or accepts blood money. No money changes hands and the matter is closed. . . . "

[Galwag Jakob]

09:55 AM on 04/11/2013

thanks for ur comment ,to all what you said are laws of countries which the name sharia was attach to it so as in some western countrie havin laws that many arte still fighten to change.Sharia is a way of life like islam as a practice and only God can judge a person but gave us the source of makin our decisions and laws for here is what the Quran says simple of adultery and is sura An Nisa vers(15)Those who commit unlawful sexual intercourse of your women - bring against them four [witnesses] from among you. And if they testify, confine the guilty women to houses until death takes them or Allah ordains for them [another] way.(16)And the two who commit it among you, dishonor them both. But if they repent and correct themselves, leave them alone. Indeed, Allah is ever Accepting of repentance and Merciful. So please if you can understand every country has its own culture before Islam and how they treated situations like this,so islam change the way those people then treated woman and if you know the history of Arabs before the Quran was send to them you will understand so as was the Bible send when too cruel things was happenin in society as was the Thoura of the jews which are all faithfull books with guideiance.Today some countries in the western world have no similer law against what you just mention but all are havin different view on how they make their decisions.It

[Galwag Jakob]

10:13 AM on 04/11/2013

thanks for ur comment, a simple answere to ur questions.How was ur society and culture judgement to these kind of things before and still now?and Dont breng Islam to this for it is miunderstood and been wrongly used by the so called muslim countries which have also their culture and values before islam and still some of those things are been brought together and to the outside world is all Islam.Here is a vers on some of ur questions surat An Nisa vers(15)Those who commit unlawful sexual intercourse of your women - bring against them four [witnesses] from among you. And if they testify, confine the guilty women to houses until death takes them or Allah ordains for them [another] way.(16)And the two who commit it among you, dishonor them both. But if they repent and correct themselves, leave them alone. Indeed, Allah is ever Accepting of repentance and Merciful. The quran is a source of our guidiance and how to change those cruel decisions of judgement that was been made in the time before Islam as was in the western world inspirations was drown from the scriptures of the Bible the Thoura  and the zaboura of the prophets before in the makin of laws and decisions.
  Here is an example if a crime is commited in this modern day in europe like what you had in Norway and the same in America and Africa,middle east you will have different judgement why is that. To the countries you mention

[J O H N]

06:47 AM on 03/22/2013

It is an encouraging thing to see that there are progressive movements in the Muslim faith just as in Catholicism, the Protestant Church and Judiasm. Now that we all live together, Side by Side, it is crucial that we all can reconcile the most important tenets of our Beliefs Without Quashing the Civil Rights of our neighbors, OR Demonizing People who are not like us, Or Pre- Judging them. Along with this Liberalized, Civil & Respectful behavior towards others, Progressivism naturally follows.

[Galwag Jakob]

01:24 PM on 03/22/2013

yes so is faith as how it was send,And in islam it is that u learn to leave with that diffs of ur nieghbour.The Quran gave us all examples and that all is created with reason.So this they do who ever take that and readin well what the Quran said and the sunnah and understand it,his affairs is with our lord and as we all have the believe on the day of hour judgement then every soul anwseres to what he did.One love

[gatoraider]

09:09 PM on 03/20/2013

I am a bit surprised that Amina hasn't been attacked. She has barged into a couple of places where angels might fear to tread.

[simon Bar]

10:01 PM on 03/17/2013

Just leave it behind. Move toward thought, logic, reason, and mostly Humanism..

[reader1]

09:15 PM on 03/17/2013

I guess it was the same thinking that led to the demise of the Ottoman empire and Muslim Spain. Be afraid when you tamper with the reality of Islam, however, I do agree with women giving the Khutbah but not leading the prayer unless it's with other women. What would our prophet say of these developments? (pbuh)

[season555]

05:13 PM on 03/19/2013

You have said exactly what I was thinking, if we weren't friends I would friend you again. Islam is a not spring fashion that it will change in fall to please 'customers" either you follow it or you don't, you don't change it to suite you life style, like many other religions do.

But since I don't have to answer for anyone else on judgement day and the Quran there is no Compulsion in religion, They can practice Islam as they want to as long as they are not hurting others.

[Amber Horton]

07:24 PM on 03/20/2013

He would say that Islam is complete and in no need of change! Allah has told us that He has completed our religion. What in the world is our ummah coming to? Who needs enemies when we have people shredding Islam from the inside?! Astaghfirullah!

[reader1]

09:44 PM on 03/20/2013

You said it beautifully, this is not a passing phase, it's your life!

[season555]

02:50 PM on 03/21/2013

Have you heard the song My Ummah by Sami yusuf I think he is saying exactly that, I think he knows. How SAD, just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. He loves us so much, called us all his beloved yet look where we are. Shame on us

[reader1]

06:08 PM on 03/21/2013

True, however, InshaAllah, we will make it through!  This is where our faith comes in, just think, Mama said there would be days like this!

[Oblongato]

07:53 PM on 03/17/2013

We are used to Muslims who oppose human rights: free speech, equal rights for women, equal rights for non-Muslims, freedom of religion, freedom to deny religion.

If a new Islam proves to be compatible with secular liberal democracy, more power to it. I don't think we need religion at all, actually. But a religion that embraces secular government is certainly preferable to one the poses a threat to it.

Let us see whether this Islam can stand against the Islam that condemns it.

[season555]

05:15 PM on 03/19/2013

" We are used to Muslims who oppose human rights: free speech, equal rights for women, equal rights for non-Muslims, freedom of religion, freedom to deny religion."

WOW you must know all 1.9 billion of us. As for the "NEW" Islam I did not realize we had to change our religion to please people like you?

[Oblongato]

05:57 PM on 03/19/2013

Virtually all Muslim majority countries have governments that explicitly grant special privilege to Islam.

I think religion and government are a poisonous mix that result in corruption and injustice. The state of virtually all Muslim-majority countries would seem to prove my point.

I don't personally know every Muslim, but I place some credence in the Pew surveys.

Here's one, but they are all very interesting.

http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2010/12/Pew-Global-Attitudes-Muslim-Report-FINAL-December-2-2010.pdf

Apparently, 95% of Indonesian Muslims (total Muslim population 204,847,000) think it is good that Islam plays a large role in politics. (page 3) That's over 194 million Muslims right there.

38% of Indonesian Muslims (nearly 78 million) support laws segregating the sexes in the workplace.

23% (over 47 million Muslims) have a favorable view of al Qaeda. (page 8)

Those Muslims, and millions of other like them, were the ones I was referring to in my post.

Is it any wonder why we wouldn't prefer the "NEW" Islam?

[Jan Allen McDaniel]

11:23 AM on 03/20/2013

You don't have to change your religion for anyone, and no one can make you.

But you will eventually have to choose between:

1. the Islam of al Qaeda, the Taliban, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hizballah, Hizb ut Tahrir, of Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia and the OIC and

2. the reform version of Islam that is emerging, mostly in the West, in opposition to the above.

http://aifdemocracy.org/about/foundational-values/

Your choice.

[Galwag Jakob]

01:29 PM on 03/22/2013

this is people usin that freedom the other wayIslam is free to any body easy and simple,But all this is only Allah that grand that path to who he chooses and for islam being a peaceful religion it has no pressure or force to that you either thnak Allah which by sujud or not or be greatful or not,just like others pray in other ways and God answer their prayers.

[purplemax37]

06:42 PM on 03/17/2013

One has to pray that this endeavor begins to bring Islam up to some semblance of a religion that can co-exist with others without seeking totalitarian hegemony. Contrary to a relative handful of verses in the Koran, which can be understood as being generated in a circumstance of secular conflict, there is very little doctrinal impediment, certainly no more than is the case for Christians who are not literalists (ie., superficialist--not "fundamentalist"). But the current status of most of the umma and ulema suggests that the religion founded by Mohammed is in for mighty rough times as they resist reality, reason, the sciences, etc. Oh, wait a minute, are we talking about Christianity?

[doctorw2]

11:43 AM on 03/17/2013

These people would not be doing this in any muslim country because they would be killed.

[sweetpatriot]

09:02 PM on 03/17/2013

That is why it is America.

[simon Bar]

10:04 PM on 03/17/2013

agree, side note, how about old men?

[Robert Cat]

10:06 AM on 03/17/2013

Good for them for trying to reform Islam.

[Ahmed Ahmad]

01:27 AM on 03/17/2013

The Sunan Abu Dawud is also a reliable collection of hadith.

Book 38, Number 4447: Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:

The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: If you find anyone doing as Lot's people did, kill the one who does it, and the one to whom it is done.

Book 38, Number 4448: Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:

If a man who is not married is seized committing sodomy, he will be stoned to death.

[fetterless]

01:42 AM on 03/17/2013

You quote "Book 38, Number 4448: Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:

If a man who is not married is seized committing sodomy, he will be stoned to death.”

I know some Islm countries allow sodomy with a donkey as long as it's a female. Is bestiality behind the meaning of the quote (I know LGBT not OK in Islm)? Allowable only to non-married men?

[Ahmed Ahmad]

12:42 AM on 03/20/2013

Sorry, I have not yet checked into that.

[Jan Allen McDaniel]

12:01 AM on 03/17/2013

A reformed version of Islam will happen, I believe, at the expense of the Islamism of the Muslim Brotherhood, al Qaeda, Hamas, Hizballah, Hizb ut Tahrir, of Sudan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and others.

This new version of Islam will embrace the rights and responsibilities listed in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and governance by secular liberal democracy.

Each Muslim will eventually have to choose between the two Islams. We non Muslims should actively support reform minded Muslims and just as actively oppose Islamists everywhere in every way possible.

[Abdul-Halim Vazquez]

10:48 AM on 03/17/2013

But you don't embrace all the rights and responsibilities listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

[Jan Allen McDaniel]

01:34 PM on 04/10/2013

Why should Jan get to Jamal how he should live in his own country?
===========

No matter what I say, he is the one who chooses. I am predicting consequences of the wrong choice, from my point of view.

[purplemax37]

06:24 PM on 03/17/2013

Allah would hope so! Would that it could really occur!

[Kasper Dixon]

11:11 AM on 03/14/2013

I'm slightly worried for this group now that its appeared in the media.

[Ahmed Ahmad]

01:20 AM on 03/17/2013

Please explain.

[Kasper Dixon]

11:10 AM on 03/17/2013

There has been cases in Australia of punishment including beatings for not following hard line Islam. This is an insult to the Quran and the religion of Islam and its followers.Everything they are advocating is against the great book. I would assumeThat this is designed to cause Islam outrage And draw out hard liners.

[Kasper Dixon]

11:11 AM on 03/17/2013

Any of the things that they are advocating in this group do not match with the teachings of the Quran. So it's essentially not the Islam religion but posing as one. Either these people are incredibly stupid or naive or this is an undercover operation.