₦airaland Forum

richidinho:
WASHINGTON – He’s been condemned by other Muslim leaders, and some local imams have even refused to greet him. But Imam Daayiee Abdullah – believed to be the only openly gay imam in the Americas – is proud of his story.

He was born and raised in Detroit, where his parents were Southern Baptists. At age 15, he came out to them. At 33, while studying in China, Abdullah converted to Islam, and went on to study the religion in Egypt, Jordan and Syria. But as a gay man in America, he saw that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Muslims had unmet spiritual needs and he became an imam to provide community support.

“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 America Tonight about his journey.

His first act as an imam? Performing funeral rites 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,” he said, referring to the Muslim body cleaning ritual. That pained him.

“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.”

It’s one of the mantras he lives by in his work, even as others condemn him.

“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 told congregants one night during a regular sermon, known as a khutbah, at the Light of Reform Mosque in Washington, D.C.

He serves as the imam and educational director of the mosque, which he helped form more than two years ago to be a safe space for values and practices that other mosques may eschew.

During his service, women and men kneel side-by-side and women are allowed to lead prayers – actions that have sparked controversy even among American Muslims.

"We do not limit people by their gender or their sexual orientation, or their particular aspect of being Muslim or non-Muslim,” he told America Tonight. “They're there to worship."

Imam Daayiee provides other services that are unique for an imam of a Muslim community, like marrying same-sex couples. So far in his 13 years as imam, he has performed more than 50 weddings.

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/america-tonight-blog/2013/12/20/meet-america-s-firstopenlygayimam.html

cc:lalasticlala ishilove

first of all, men and women don't mix in Islam. next time before attempting identity fraud ask questions. foolish strategy to seek acceptance. trying times indeed.

southernbelle:
@op, is she the birth-mother or the stepmother of the child? if she's the birth-mother, i see no reason why she should see your daughter as a rival (sorry to put it that way but that's how it seems to me).

smh. you've obviously never been married to say you see no reason. it's more common than a bird poop on a windshield.

I will have to go for red. You have no idea how much access to information you can have and stuff. I will have to go for red. yeah

My point exactly. It already shows that she doesn't even rate you with the guy(s) she saw fit to taste the fruit without commitment. That's a slap to come from a non virgin. But in reality she will always say that so you value her more but once she feels you just might be the one and you play your cards right she will gladly let you have all of her.

Youngpo413:
everything is wrong if the lady is not a virgin.

You can recover everything lost via a PC. Just install Recuva app on the PC (you can get it from filehippo.com) then connect your phone with a USB and choose Connect as mass storage. The app will guide you from that point to select Location of drive to recover items. Good luck

omortoyosi01:
I downloaded a mojo and was about to delete it wen I mistakenly deleted all The pictures on my phone.
So the question now is any one in here that knows how I can get back the pictures I mistakenly deleted back on my android phone. NOTE: UR CONTRIBUTION IS HIGHLY APPRECIATED

It's a theme.

BarryX:
So what is Mojo?

Anything that seems ignored is either still being investigated or inconclusively false. You can't open a public investigation on utterances made by one going against the provisions of the law. That will only encourage all their acts.

natas22:
They pass so much hate messages that I will agree with NBC but they made some claims about how corrupt our leaders are to the point of giving details only an insider should know but the so called EFCC, ICPC etc ignored such infor. And the so called leaders should be checked because millions of Nigerians are suffering in a land filled with honey.

I believe in one Nigeria and all my life I have never seen were hate overshadowed LOVE.
www.

That will completely crash the economy. Everyone can't be an entrepreneur. The system is designed to only function with some needing jobs and some creating them. Only too much money starts flowing it will lead to an economic mess. Even an OND graduate knows that. Unless you are into fairy-tale dreams that deceives. Plus where will the government fund such unreasonable project from? Even America and Britain combined can't fund such a project and not go under in 10 years.

atiakatata:
You steal biafra money and take it to feed 2 million terrorist in the name of celebration.

SMH. You guys need to calm down and stop using the word terrorist synonymously with the word Islam unless of course you have an ill intention of creating anger in people's heart or if we should take you to be one without the intelligence to reason sensibly (which I suspect not to be the case).

As for what El Rural did, he has always been one to take the bull by the horn right from his time as minister banning sermons on loudspeakers and demolishing illegal structures. Thumbs up for futuristic thinking. Now is the time to also create a channel for philanthropic individuals to donate through the Government so it can be distributed to the less privileged.