The Signs in Ourselves

The Signs In Ourselves is a fully-illustrated inclusive wellbeing resource inspired by Qur’an verses 41:53 and 51:20-21 (among others) that documents lived experiences of queer Muslims mostly from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, with snapshots of experiences from queer Muslims worldwide. Made possible by CSBR the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies, the publication is available as a free download for personal and collective use. 

It contains exercises and questions for personal and collective reflection. In sidebars, references to scholarly frameworks articulate an expansive and inclusive perspective to sacred texts and Islamic values.  Social acceptance is importance, but self-acceptance is a spiritual experience! Meant as a resource primarily for queers of faith, this text could also benefit allies and those seeking to expand their awareness of queer Muslim perspectives and experiences in Southeast Asia.

This guideline is created as part of a joint endeavour conducted by interfaith leaders to provide guidance for LGBTI people in finding religious interpretations that are more humanistic and fair to LGBTI groups; embracing and reassuring, not threatening and frightening.

It is hoped that these fresh and progressive inter-pretations can help LGBTI people to better understand and assent themselves as parts of God’s creations so that they can see and appreciate their own broad range of individual uniqueness and beauty.

Love and Marriage in Medieval Islamic Thought

The Qur’ān and Hadith encourage marriage, and the Prophet Muḥammad is said to have enjoyed the company of his wives. Medieval Arab writers produced a rich literature on the topic of love, which has been the focus of significant scholarly attention in the West. This attention has generally focused on the tension between piety and desire, between sacred and profane love. This essay will discuss the issue of marriage and where it fits in medieval Muslim discussions of love, spanning several centuries by authors of various doctrinal inclinations. 

Maruf Foundation

Maruf is an international platform for queer Muslims. We advocate for a dignified position of queer Muslims in the Netherlands and abroad. Maruf facilitates autonomous spaces where queer Muslims meet, exchange knowledge and co-create their own movement. We initiate collaborations and strengthen queer Muslim movement by providing support to our partners and allies.
 

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PROPOSAL

Book that will published in 2022

by: Dr Diego Garcia Rodriguez
Using the Indonesian island of Java as my key fieldwork site, this book aims to examine (a) how queer Muslims negotiate, navigate and come to their subjectivities in relation to the social institutions around them; (b) the emergence of queer religious agentic systems from submission to religious norms and rituals; and (c) the emergence of pro-queer Islamic discourses in contemporary Indonesia. Empirically, I provide a critical account of the lived realities of Indonesian queer Muslims and their allies, which have not been closely examined in existing literature. This will be accomplished by taking an ethnographic approach based on interviews, participant observation and media analysis. Theoretically, I use my empirical data to challenge the assumption that queer Muslims are oppressed subjects in need of saving by conceptualising queer religious powers as part of potential contingent and fluid ‘agentic’ processes and outcomes. An additional theoretical contribution is based on highlighting the role of those I present as ‘allies’, to call into question the essentialisation of Islam as a rigid and homophobic religion. Their strategies and actions will illustrate the complexity and multifaceted character of Islam.
Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast
Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast
Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast