Dr Amina Wadud is a prominent Qur’anic scholar and feminist known for leading mixed-gendered prayer in the Claremont Mosque, Cape Town, in 2005. She is LGBTQ+-affirming and this interview outlines the case for accepting diversity within Islam. She specifically addresses what she has coined the ‘Takfiri Factor’, where Muslims with a view on specific issues that are not deemed as orthodoxy will be dismissed by stating that the holder of the view is not Muslim. For Wadud, this mechanism is used to prop up a patriarchal and conservative understanding of Islam as a reaction to imperialism rather than something that is part of the genuine tradition of Islam. She gives a scholar’s emphasis on the diversity of opinions in Islam, which will support students and teachers alike when they encounter views that may differ greatly from what they currently perceive as ‘Islam’. 

This award-winning documentary tells the heart-breaking story behind the setting up of the Naz and Matt Foundation. Matt has chosen to tell his story to allow discussion around the ‘religious’ justifications given for homophobia. The documentary illustrates some of the possible consequences of familial intolerance of LGBTQ+ identities, focusing on the experiences of different Muslims who identify as LGBTQ+. The range of reactions from families and ways that LGBTQ+ people have found peace surrounding their identities offers the opportunity for students to hear voices that may not always be present in resources on this topic in the classroom. 

 | Dr Kugle has said that writing as an academic on Islam and sexuality and gender identity has caused him to come out twice: first as a gay man within the Muslim faith and second as a practising Muslim within academia. A prominent scholar on the issue of Islam and LGBTQ+ identities since the early 2000s, he states the 9/11 bombings in New York as a historical moment that encouraged him and others to publish on themes around progressive Islam. While his work has been rejected and even boycotted in various Muslim settings where his Qur’anic interpretations are not accepted, it has also been favourably received by many across the globe. Kugle hopes to help LGBTQ+ Muslims reconnect with their faith and contribute to academic support for LGBTQ+-accepting Islam. As a North American Sufi Muslim, Kugle would also be of interest to students as an example of the diversity of experiences within the Islamic tradition. 

This blog post from the University of Vermont sets the diversity of views around LGBTQ+ identities and Islam within a broader context of the need to decolonise discussions of Islam and Muslim worldviews. The article examines the discourse on Islam and LGBTQ+ identities and the experience of people of faith within a secularised worldview of the LGBTQ+ community. With various case studies of Queer Muslim community leaders and unpicked cultural assumptions, this article will be of particular use to teachers when planning curriculum on this topic. 

A testimony from a Muslim woman planning a marriage of convenience.