There has recently been an exchange, prompted by events in Malaysia, about paying attention to the issues raised by Islam.
Dede [Oetomo] forwarded a paper by Dr. Siti Musdah Mulia "Promoting LGBT Rights through Islamic Humanism". He said it was in Indonesian, but I am not sure what version he circulated. In any case, I attach a version in English.
Dr. Siti Musdah Mulia has impressive Islamic credentials - a graduate of the state Islamic university in Jakarta with a thesis on the Islamic state. She became a lecturer there. She is the former chair of the Indonesia Conference on Religion and Peace. She was in the Ministry of Human Rights of the national government, and is now an adviser to the Minister of Religious Affairs and an adviser to the Indonesian Women's Coalition. In 2006 she was elected to a committee of the National Commission of Human Rights. She is a member of the selection committee for candidates to be commissioners (and in that capacity supported two waria as candidates).
There is an assumption that the Koran condemns homosexuality unequivocally. But I remember when it was assumed that the Torah and the Bible unequivocally condemned homosexuality. Now both Judaism and Christianity are divided on the issue. An important study is the book "What the Bible really says about Homosexuality" which has been translated into Korean, Japanese and other languages. It is a serious examination of the biblical texts and the problems around what they mean. We need some parallel publication on Islam. In 2001 or 2002 there was a two part article in the Journal of Homosexuality on the texts in the Koran. But I don't think that has gained the audience of the book on the Bible.
Islam is now divided on the issue of homosexuality, but this is actually not well known and information is often not accessible to those whose lives are being affected by the issues.
Doug Sanders
[Download file here.]
Dede [Oetomo] forwarded a paper by Dr. Siti Musdah Mulia "Promoting LGBT Rights through Islamic Humanism". He said it was in Indonesian, but I am not sure what version he circulated. In any case, I attach a version in English.
Dr. Siti Musdah Mulia has impressive Islamic credentials - a graduate of the state Islamic university in Jakarta with a thesis on the Islamic state. She became a lecturer there. She is the former chair of the Indonesia Conference on Religion and Peace. She was in the Ministry of Human Rights of the national government, and is now an adviser to the Minister of Religious Affairs and an adviser to the Indonesian Women's Coalition. In 2006 she was elected to a committee of the National Commission of Human Rights. She is a member of the selection committee for candidates to be commissioners (and in that capacity supported two waria as candidates).
There is an assumption that the Koran condemns homosexuality unequivocally. But I remember when it was assumed that the Torah and the Bible unequivocally condemned homosexuality. Now both Judaism and Christianity are divided on the issue. An important study is the book "What the Bible really says about Homosexuality" which has been translated into Korean, Japanese and other languages. It is a serious examination of the biblical texts and the problems around what they mean. We need some parallel publication on Islam. In 2001 or 2002 there was a two part article in the Journal of Homosexuality on the texts in the Koran. But I don't think that has gained the audience of the book on the Bible.
Islam is now divided on the issue of homosexuality, but this is actually not well known and information is often not accessible to those whose lives are being affected by the issues.
Doug Sanders
[Download file here.]
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