Growing number of American Muslims challenging once-taboo causes

[William769]

Omar Akersim prays regularly and observes the dawn-to-dusk Ramadan fast. He is also openly gay.

Akersim, 26, is part of a small but growing number of American Muslims challenging the long-standing interpretations of Islam that defined their parents’ world.

They believe that one can be gay and Muslim; that the sexes can pray shoulder-to-shoulder; that females can preach and that Muslim women can marry outside the faith – and they point to Quran passages to back them up.

The shift comes as young American Muslims work to reshape the faith they grew up with so it fits better with their complex, dual identity, with one foot in the world of their parents’ immigrant beliefs and one foot in the ever-shifting cultural landscape of America.

The result has been a growing internal dialogue about what it means to be Muslim, as well as a scholarly effort to re-examine the Quran for new interpretations that challenge rules that had seemed set in stone.

http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/08/growing-number-of-american-muslims-challenging-once-taboo-causes/

[Scootaloo]

1. Like any other religion, Islam adapts to where it goes

You're a nut if you think the Islam of Java is the same as the Islam of New Delhi is the same as the Islam of Saudi Arabia is the same as the Islam of Morocco is the same as the Islam of Fairbanks. That's why the Saudi Wahabbi fundamentalists are so invested in spreading their nonsense everywhere, in an effort to instate orthodoxy - well, their version of orthodoxy.

[William769]

2. I thought this to be a good article

And wished other parts of the world would follow suit too. As I would of any Religion.

[Squinch]

3. This all can only lead to good things. I like to hear this.

[William769]

4. Agreed.

[greatauntoftriplets]

5. It probably was inevitable, given American diversity.

Great story.

[William769]

6. Agreed on both counts.