A Google search for queer Muslim may retrieve more results now than it did 10 years ago, yet there remains a drought in queer-affirming resources for Muslims. As sexuality finds increasing space on international agendas it seems urgent to consider just what is being said about queer Muslims, and to challenge simplistic answers. This article looks at a rereading of the Qur’anic Lut narrative that provides a crucial resource for queer Muslims. It then offers some questions that arose during my experience of reading it as a woman.
Abdel Haleem MAS trans (2005) The Qur’an. New York: Oxford University Press.
2.
Abu-Lughod L. ( 2002) Do Muslim women really need saving? Anthropological reflections on cultural relativism and its others. American Anthropologist104(3): 783-790.
3.
Ahmed S. ( 2006) Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others . Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
4.
Ali K. ( 2002) Special focus: Islam. Same-sex sexual activity and lesbian and bisexual women. URL, revised 10 December 2002 (accessed 15 January 2009): http://www.brandeis.edu/projects/fse/Pages/femalehomosexuality.html .
5.
Ali K. ( 2006) Sexual Ethics and Islam; Feminist Reflections on Qur’an, Hadith, and Jurisprudence. Oxford: Oneworld Publications.
6.
Althaus-Reid MMR ( 2003) The Queer God: Sexuality and Liberation Theology . London and New York: Routledge .
7.
Althaus-Reid MMR ( 2006) Feetishism: The scent of a Latin American body theology . In: Burrus V and Keller C (eds) Toward a Theology of Eros: Transfiguring Passion at the Limits of Discipline. New York: Fordham University Press, 134-152.
8.
Desai P. and Sekhon P. ( 2003) Red Threads: The South Asian Queer Connection in Photographs . London: Diva Books .
9.
Esack F. ( 2005) The Qur’an; A User’s Guide. Oxford: Oneworld Publications.
10.
Habib S. ( 2009) Islam and Homosexuality. California : ABC-CLIO.
11.
Habib S. ( 2009) Arabo-Islamic Texts on Female Homosexuality, 850-1780A.D. Teneo Press: New York.
12.
Hall DE ( 2003) Queer Theories. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
13.
Haritaworn J. ( 2008) Loyal repetitions of the nation: Gay assimilation and the ‘war on terror’. Dark Matter 3: Special issue on Postcolonial Sexuality. URL (accessed 22 February 2009): http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/
14.
Hekma G. ( 2002) Imams and homosexuality: A post-gay debate in the Netherlands . Sexualities5(2): 237-248.
15.
Hendricks P. ( 2009) Hijab: Unveiling Queer Muslim Lives. Cape Town: African Minds.
Isherwood L. and McPhillips K. ( 2008) Post-Christian Feminisms: A Critical Approach. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing.
18.
Jamal A. ( 2001) The story of Lot and the Qur’an’s perception of the morality of same-sex sexuality. Journal of Homosexuality41(1): 1-88.
19.
Khan B. ( 1997) Sex, Longing & Not Belonging: A Gay Muslim’s Quest for Love & Meaning. Bangkok: Bua Luang Publishing Company.
20.
Khan S. ( 2002) Muslim women: Negotiations in the third space. In: Saliba T, Allen C and Howard JA (eds) Gender, Politics and Islam. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 305-336.
21.
Khani S., Hudson-Rodd N., Saggers S. and Bhuiyai A. ( 2005) Men who have sex with men’s sexual relations with women in Bangladesh. Culture, Health & Sexuality7(2): 159-169.
22.
Knadler SP ( 2002) The Fugitive Race: Minority Writers Resisting Whiteness . Jackson: University Press of Mississippi .
23.
Kugle SSA ( 2003) Sexuality, diversity and ethics in the agenda of progressive Muslims. In: Safi O (ed.) Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 190-234.
24.
Lenon S. ( 2008) What’s so civil about marriage? The racial pedagogy of same-sex marriage in Canada. DarkMatter 3 : Special issue on Postcolonial Sexuality. URL (accessed 22 May 2009): http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/
25.
Malik F. ( 2003) Queer Sexuality and Identity in the Qur’an and Hadith . URL (accessed 5 December 2008): http://www.well.com/user/aquarius/Qur’annotes.htm .
26.
Mandaville PG ( 2001) Transnational Muslim Politics: Reimagining the Umma. London: Routledge.
27.
Manji TI ( 2003) The Trouble with Islam Today. New York : Random House.
28.
Massad J. ( 2002) Re-orienting desire: The Gay International and the Arab world. Public Culture14(2): 361-385.
29.
Miller AM ( 2000) Sexual but not reproductive: Exploring the junction and disjunction between sexual and reproductive rights. Health and Human Rights4(2): 68-109.
30.
Minwalla O., Rosser BRS, Feldman J. and Varga C. ( 2005) Identity experience among progressive gay Muslims in North America: A qualitative study within Al-Fatiha. Culture, Health & Sexuality7(2): 113-128.
31.
Munoz JE ( 1999) Disidentifcations: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
32.
Murray SO and Roscoe W. ( 1997) Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History and Literature . New York and London: New York University Press.
33.
Puar JK ( 2007) Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times . Durham, NC: Duke University Press .
34.
Qaradawi Y. ( 2003) Homosexuality in a changing world: Are we being misinformed? In: El-Awady N IslamOnline. URL (accessed 5 January 2008): http://www.Islamonline.net/english/Contemporary/2003/02/article01-1.shtml .
35.
‘Rashida X’ in Summerskill (2006 ) The Way We are Now: Gay and Lesbian Lives in the 21st Century . New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 151-158.
36.
Reham U. ( 2008) LGBT Muslims condemn ban on homophobic preacher . PinkNews, 7 February. URL (accessed 1 July 2009): www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6792.html .
37.
Rouhani F. ( 2007) Religion, identity and activism: Queer Muslim diasporic identities. In: Lim J, Brown G and Browne K (eds) Geographies of Sexualities: Theory, Practices and Politics. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing , 169-180.
38.
Roy O. ( 2004) Globlized Islam; The Search for a New Ummah. London: C. Hurst and Co.
39.
Safra Project, The (2002) Identifying the Difficulties Experienced by Muslim Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Women in Accessing Social and Legal Services. London: Safra Project.
40.
Sardar Z. ( 2008) Blogging the Qur’an, Homosexuality: part 1. The Guardian Online, 22 September. URL (accessed 10 June 2009 ): http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/quran/2008/09/homosexuality_part_1.html .
41.
Sedgwick EK ( 2008) Epistemology of the Closet. Berkeley : University of California Press.
42.
Shahidian H. ( 1999) Gender and sexuality among immigrant Iranians in Canada . Sexualities2(2): 189-222.
43.
Shannahan DS(2009) Sexual ethics, marriage, and sexual autonomy: The landscapes for Muslimat and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered Muslims. Contemporary Islam3(1): 59-78.
44.
Siraf A. ( 2006) On being homosexual and Muslim: Conflicts and challenges . In: Ouzgane L (ed.) Islamic Masculinities. London: Zed Books , 202-216.
45.
Stuart E. ( 2002) Gay and Lesbian Theologies: Repetitions with Critical Difference. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing .
46.
Thomas C (ed.) (2000) Straight with a Twist: Queer Theory and the Subject of Heterosexuality. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
47.
Toensing HJ ( 2005) Women of Sodom and Gomorrah: Collateral damage in the war against homosexuality? Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion21(2): 61-74.
48.
Turner WB ( 2000) A Genealogy of Queer Theory. Philadelphia , PA: Temple University Press.
49.
Wadud A. ( 2006) Inside the Gender Jihad: Women’s Reform in Islam . Oxford: Oneworld Publications .
50.
Waites M. ( 2008) Analysing sexualities in the shadow of war: Islam in Iran, the West and the work of reimagining human rights. Sexualities11(1-2): 64-73.
51.
Whitaker B. ( 2006) Unspeakable Love: Gay and Lesbian Life in the Middle East . London: Saqi Books.
52.
Yip AKT ( 2005) Queering religious texts: An exploration of British non-heterosexual Christians’ and Muslims’ strategy of constructing sexuality-affirming hermeneutics. Sociology39(1): 47-65.
53.
Yip AKT ( 2008) Researching lesbian, gay, and bisexual Christians and Muslims: Some thematic reflections. Sociological Research Online, 13(1). URL (accessed 10 June 2009): www.socresonline.org.uk/13/1/5.html .
