BERLIN (AP) — Ali Darwich, a gay Muslim influencer in Berlin, picks up a date from his plate, takes a sip of water, and addresses the 15 friends sitting around the table and breaking the Ramadan fast with him.
The 33-year-old German with Palestinian and Lebanese roots — who goes by @alifragt or “Ali asks” on Instagram — has a quickly growing following on Instagram, where he draws attention to the difficulties of living as a young, queer Muslim and calls for more tolerance and inclusiveness.
“Tonight we want to send a message that no matter where a person comes from, no matter who that person loves, no matter how queer that person is, they cannot be too queer … because they are exactly as they should be,” Darwich says, smiling at the diverse group of Muslims and Christians, Germans and immigrants, gay and straight people sharing this meal with him as the sun sets over Berlin.
Its guys like these that I would like to see put in charge of reforming Islam into something more civilized.
An example to be immitated on mass.
Sadly, they’re more likely to be murdered by a religious zealot than listened to.
I am pretty hopeful Tunisia will be spearheading those type of reforms.
They been big on feminism since their independence and any essay written in Arabic can spread through a lot of Muslim countries.
Would you recommend Tunisa as a “progressive” Islamic country to visit for a time ?
Ah they are definetely big on feminism even compared to US on some subjects (abortion) but I don’t know the general opinion on lgbtq+ groups.
They did have a gay man run for president once and there are about 7 organizations dedicated to lgbtq+ rights, however the act of gay sex itself is still a crime.
I never lived in Tunisia myself so this is as much info I can give without going into speculation territory.
Definetely can find more knowledgable people on lemmy than me for Tunisia.
I also have hope that Europe with its significant immigrant population will transfer more moderate ideas back to their countries of origin.
The more cultures mix the less chance there is for extreme views to take hold. Its easy to convince someone to attack someone who is different, if you have never met them.
This will be solved as class conflicts are solved. When people are not in a survivalist mindset, they can focus on the spirituality and philosophy aspects of religion rather than the rules and fundamentalism.
Look at how the Islamic State functions in the UAE vs Afghanistan for example. The problem isn’t an “uncivilized Islam”. Almost all problems in society can be boiled down to class struggles.
Its certainly easier to prevent hegemonic religions from forming if you have a more equal society.
But hegemonic religion also maintains inequality, so you also need to combat it.
Islam is certainly not alone in being uncivilized. Any religion that maintains inequality is barbaric.
That is such a myopic view of religion. Not everyone who is a Muslim “maintains inequality” and “is barbaric”. I am not a Muslim myself, but there are many Sufi saints whose poetry I read as I find their philosophy and interpretation of Islam to be very eye-opening. Any religion can be used as a means of love or hate.
Much like people say that in the USA today, Jesus would be killed for his beliefs, you would likey find the same to be true for many of those saints in the middle east.
I think one needs to draw a distinction between religion as a belief and religion as a institution.
Its not the belief that is the problem. People should be allowed to find their own meaning to life.
The institution is where the problems lie.
*imitated en masse