America's Openly Gay Imam!!!

Daayiee Abdullah believed to be the first only openly gay imam in America and is proud of his story despite several condemnations from Muslim leaders to the extent that some local imams have even refused to greet him.

 

Daayiee was born a Christian and raised in Detroit, where his parents were Baptists, according to a media report. At 15, he declared himself to his parents as a gay.

 

When he was 33, studying in China, he converted to Islam and went further to study the religion in Egypt, Jordan and Syria.

 

As a gay man in America, Daayiee viewed that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Muslims had not met 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 an American media 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.

 

“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.

 

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 Daayiee 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.

 

In a counter-act to this motion, several meaningful Muslims have been condemning this unlawful act in Islamic leadership.

 

"This kind of development in Islam needs quick interventions from various Islamic scholars because a lot of people who claim to be converted to Islam may not be well acquainted with Islamic teachings and probably some may not be real in their conversion. The primary purpose of their action is to disguise as a Muslim to destroy Islam. Those are kind of people who put fake quran chapter online for people to read to confuse and derail them of their faith or to destabilize Islam."

 

"Muslims should know which kind of religion gatherings they and their family attend. If any downplay is detected, we should just stop fattening such gatherings because there are lot of people out there who have powerful people supports mainly to destabilize Islam."