“As a Muslim gay man, I find it hard to understand how people can commit such acts in the name of my religion,” 33-year-old Shauket Ali tells Queerty. “My religion teaches love, peace and tolerance.”
Related: BREAKING: Orlando Shooter Was A Regular At Gay Club Before Attack, Witnesses Say
Ali currently lives in the U.K., but his parents are from Kashmir in Pakistan. Like the rest of us, he was absolutely horrified when he learned about the bloodbath in Orlando. But he would like to remind everyone, specifically members of the LGBTQ community, that last weekend’s terrorist attack is not representative of Islam as a whole.
Related: Queer Muslim Pleas To LGBTQ Community For Compassion Fall On Deaf Ears
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As a Muslim gay man, Ali is regularly subjected to hatred from all sides–from members of his own community, the larger LGBTQ community and even ISIS. But he is determined not to let the unending bigotry he experiences prevent him from spreading his message of tolerance and acceptance.
Scroll down to read what he had to say…
QUEERTY: What was your first thought when you heard about the shooting in Orlando?
ALI: I hate to say this, but my first thought was: It is going to be a Muslim guy? I watched the news unfold throughout the day. Then, as I predicted, the attacker was a Muslim who had phoned the local police department pledging allegiance to the ISIS leader Abu bakr Al-baghdadi. Then video footage started to appear across the Internet of what happened inside the Pulse nightclub, along with screen shots of text messages of people trapped in the club sent to loved ones saying goodbye. One such message that has been stuck in my mind since it happened was the ones Eddie Justice sent to his mother just before he was murdered in cold blood. I can’t imagine what this brave man was going through while texting his mother his final goodbye and what she must have endured knowing her son was being murdered in the name of my religion.
What was your second thought?
After processing what had happened my second thought was: When is the blame going to start? Almost straight away it came. Lots of anti-Muslim hate being said online, Donald trump gloating about how he was right all along. I think when people start attacking Muslims and calling us crazed jihads and Islamic extremists it’s because it’s easier to use hate rather then to try and understand us.
What about when gay people specifically make those kinds of remarks?
The gay community has fought long and hard for the rights we have now. Not so long ago we could be jailed for being gay and we couldn’t be married to the person we loved. Why has the LGBTQ turned on all of Islam because of the actions of the few? Gay people know what it feels like to be discriminated against, so why are they doing it to the entire Muslim community?
You identify as gay and Muslim. A lot of people don’t understand that dichotomy.
Yes. I am gay and I am Muslim. A lot of people don’t think we exist or, if we do, we hide it away, which a lot of young Muslim people do because many are scared to speak out. I have had many experiences from being gay and Muslim. Death threats on a weekly basis, getting homophobic abuse from random people I don’t know sending me messages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Some of those attacks come from people claiming to be members of ISIS.
The threats came from ISIS when I hash-tagged #gaymuslim in some of my tweets, saying I was proud to be gay and a Muslim. I am very active within the online community in getting ISIS accounts on Twitter and Facebook taken down. Tweets come through from various people claiming to be members of ISIS saying I’m going to be killed, I can’t be a Muslim and gay. I am very proud to be a Muslim and gay and I refuse to be silenced by people who say they follow my religion by killing people.
How do you respond to them?
I am very thick-skinned, so none of this bothers me. Am I scared of Isis? Not in the slightest. I reply back even when I know I shouldn’t. I feel like I need to defend my religion against people from within the Muslim community and outside as well.
If you could say anything to the members of ISIS on behalf of LGBTQ Muslims, what would it be?
I would say: Whatever you’re doing is not in the name of my religion, or for majority of good Muslims out there. What you do is for your own distortion of my religion and how you think Islam should be. You do what you for your own evil agenda and it has nothing to do with Islam.
And what is one thing you would like to say to members of the larger LGBTQ community about Muslims?
The only thing I would like to say to members of the LGBTQ community is to remind them that they know how it feels to be discriminated against. Must we, the entire Muslim gay community, fight the same way as you did for your rights just because of the actions of a few people? As a Muslim gay man, I find it hard to understand how people can commit such acts in the name of my religion. My religion teaches love, peace and tolerance. But if I lived under ISIS law, I would be thrown from the tallest building in Raqqa, and if I survived that I would be stoned to death. If these people carry out attacks on members of the LGBTQ community, it’s not in the name of my religion.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I will leave you with a quote from the Quran, which I think sums up what happened in he night club in Orlando and I hope you bear this in mind when you think about Muslims and Muslims who are members of the LGBTQ community:
“..if anyone killed a person, it would be as he killed the whole of mankind; and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole of mankind….”
The Holy Quran Chapter Five, Verse 32
Related: Orlando Couple Who Hoped To Get Married Will Get A Joint Funeral Instead
Billy Budd
I had a muslim friend in the US when I was getting my PhD. His name was Muntazir (Munti). He was also a PhD student at my school. He was an extremely nice guy, he knew I was gay, and he helped me out many times. He was respectful of me and showed tenderness towards me. No, he was not gay and not interested in me. He was straight and happily married and had a kid. To this day I am grateful for his friendship.
badtungsten
@Billy Budd: I have had similar experiences. I work in the tech industry and have encountered many, many coworkers who are Muslim. Almost all are straight, married, and male. None of them have treated me disrespectfully in any way. They have all known that I am gay and we have developed genuine friendships over the years. I find the rush to judgment over the motivations of the Orlando killer to be repulsive.
Stache
This guy is so full of shit or just ignorant. He just likes to cherry pick out the verses he likes. The Quran is anything but love and peace though. It’s extremely homophobic, violent, and barbaric.
https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/quran/homosexuality.aspx
gayhope1990
Pick and choose like any so called religious.
badtungsten
@Stache: All three Abrahamic religions are violent and their holy books are full of death sentences for gays. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all sprang from the same source material, after all. It’s not what the holy books say, but how followers interpret and implement those scriptures that matters. You can see some very vile celebrations of the Orlando murders from Christian pastors on YouTube if you want to lose your lunch.
Paco
@badtungsten: I remember reading somewhere that the holy books were never meant to be in the hands of the uneducated commoners. I guess we can see the results of allowing anybody to interpret them on their own.
joeyty
Western gays in the U.S. and Europe will be learning what it’s like to live under Islam more and more from now on. And to the very end gays will try to blame homophobic violence on anybody BUT Muslims.
Billy Budd
@Stache: The first testament of the bible is equally repulsive. Please read the Leviticus and you will see. Death threats everywhere.
KDub
Poor thing. Clearly Stockholm Syndrome. Let’s see what song he’s singing when he’s about to be thrown off a rooftop or stoned to death because of what his religion of “love, peace and tolerance” says.
“…For ye practice your lusts on men in preference to women: ye are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds…. And we rained down on them a shower (of brimstone)” -Quran (7:80-84)
gayhope1990
Islam religion of peace?It’s a joke
Stache
@KDub: Yet raping “young effeminate boys” is completely normal. Talk about fucked up.
“Interestingly, the same rules don’t seem to apply in paradise, where martyrs for the cause of Allah enjoy an orgy of virgins and “perpetual youth” Quran (56:17) (otherwise known as “boys” Quran (52:24)). Quran (76:19) bluntly states, “And immortal boys will circulate among them, when you see them you will count them as scattered pearls.” Technically, the mere presence of boys doesn’t necessarily mean sex, however it is strongly implied from the particular emphasis on the effeminacy, handsomeness and “freshness” of the boys. The female virgins of paradise are also compared to pearls (56:23).
Muhammad’s preferred wife was a 9-year-old girl.”
Xzamilio
Islam is indeed a religion of peace… it is also a religion of violence. As are most religions, there are peaceful elements and violent elements, so let’s not pretend one or the other is the be all – end all point.
Stilinski26
This is beyond pathetic! First of all he lives in the UK where gays are protected by the Law! what slap in the face to all the LGBT victims who have been killed prosecuted and executed in the middle east! If Islam is all about “Love and tolerance” then why is homosexuality still illegal in Muslim majority countries?
Even though I am not a supporter of any religion I find it bit rich from gay media trying to defend Islam after the attack saying its not a representation of all Muslims but at the they waste no time bashing Christians after the cake scandal!
Stache
@Stilinski26: Yup. In his homeland this is what happens with those liberal views.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB2BLg0A0vw
SnakeyJ
I’m getting tired of gay people still belonging to a religion that’s homophobic, and then make excuses trying to validate their choice. I was raised Catholic, but I am NOT a Catholic because the Catholic religion does not recognize me as a full person. Depending on the diocese, the reaction to gays is either all out hatred, or tolerance for the “person” but hating the “sin”. You can’t be Muslim and gay. Period. Just like you can’t be Catholic and gay. You can’t twist and pick and choose passages to support your decision. If you’re someone who needs a god in your life, find a religion that doesn’t preach homophobia. Better yet, drop the whole religion thing all-together. It’s amazingly freeing knowing that you’re responsible for your own life and there are no rules that need to be followed or else you face some sort of eternal damnation. Enjoy your life NOW, when you can.
Stilinski26
@Stache: Regressive left and political correctness will be the end of Western Liberal values!
archiesdaddy
I rite and I offer this in the full knowledge that all the politically correct brothers and sisters will jump up and down on my head but I do not believe that the ideology we know as Islam is anything remotely like a ‘religion of peace’. They would kill us all – or they would stand to one side and allow their ‘muslim brothers’ to kill us all – with no more regret or compunction than any Iranian homophobe or any fully-paid-up member of so-called islamic state. Would I trust them? Do I trust them? Iuxta modum – with significant reservations, perhaps, but I cannot in all honesty say ‘Yes’ and I cannot in good faith advise anyone else to do so. Confidence and trust must be earned and they have done nothing to earn my trust, quite the contrary, in fact. I fear them. I fear them because I know them, not because I do not know them. It is wrong to place trust and confidence in those who will not tell the truth about so central a matter as their guiding religion. ‘Religion of Peace’…sorry, no. I see no reason to buy into that misleading and untruthful mantra. By their deeds we must judge them, not by their words or their self-serving slogans.
DCguy
Oh look, the anti-gay log cabiners are in here screaming that it’s time for gays to vote for the party where EVERY SINGLE presidential candidate that ran this year attacked gays….because “People in the middle east are scary!!”.
I could JUST as easily tell them “Oh gosh, you guys shouldn’t support the GOP because Christians in Africa kill gays.”
Oh now GOP gays!! What are you going to do now?!?!?! I just pointed out that there are scary murderous Christians overseas also!
Basically their game is “Ignore how much the GOP hates you, because in some other country, somebody else also hates you.
Kangol
@Stache: The gay Muslim guy in the article is from the UK. His parents are from Pakistan, which is in South Asia. Not the Middle East. The two young men were hanged in Iran. Not his “homeland.” Maps are free online, you know.
Stache
@Kangol: Yes but I’m sure there’s as many Muslims that would like to do the same thing in Pakistan.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/563152/pakistan-among-least-tolerant-of-homosexuality-globally-survey/
Hussain-TheCanadian
@Stache: Actually he is not ignorant at all; with all do respect, you’re the ignorant one for going to a random website that cherry picks the verses right out of their historical and religious contexts.
I clicked on your link, read the 4 or 5 verses there, pulled up my Qur’an to read the verses in their contexts, not to mention the commentary as to why the verses were revealed, and it has nothing to do with “homophobia”.
If I would ask you to explain why the verses were revealed and who were these verses talking about, would you be able to answer that? or are we going to post links to websites regarding scriptures we know nothing about?
As for the Hadeeths, which supposedly claim to be the words of the Prophet, I highly doubt it because we have equal amount of Hadeeths about the prophet not only being friendly to gay Arabs, but also employing them.
You are welcome to say that Muslims, and a large chunk of their scholars are homophobic, i’ll give you that, but to say that the Qur’an is homophobic or encourages the murder of gay people, here once again, you’d be the one who is full of shit.
@Stache: God I hate defending the Iranian government or its stupid policies, but as a person who’s been to Iran twice, been to the quite gay scene, I would hardly classify Iran as a “death dungeon” for gay people.
Also there are Iranians who are claiming that the video you posted is of the hanging of two young men who apparently raped another teen, could it be true? maybe, could it be false, yeah maybe – I think its better to use rationality when dealing with two dueling propaganda machines.
dwes09
@joeyty: “Western gays in the U.S. and Europe will be learning what it’s like to live under Islam more and more from now on. And to the very end gays will try to blame homophobic violence on anybody BUT Muslims.”
Proof? Factual support? Anything but a sad sick imagination behind your post?
Put up or shut up.
dwes09
@Xzamilio: “Islam is indeed a religion of peace… it is also a religion of violence. As are most religions, there are peaceful elements and violent elements, so let’s not pretend one or the other is the be all – end all point.”
I am afraid that is a bit too complex intellectually for the usual suspects here. Especially for those on the right for whom the ideas of change through time and nuance/interpretation are way too difficult.
dwes09
@archiesdaddy: ” but I do not believe that the ideology we know as Islam is anything remotely like a ‘religion of peace’.”
Not going to “jump up and down on your head”. Simply going to point out that discounting the words of a huge number of individuals (the majority of Muslims, especially gay Muslims, such as the man interviewed), based on what you simply BELIEVE (as opposed to what you can support with facts and actual observations) is stupid. Yes, it is undeniably true that considering belief more real than fact is at best stupid, at worst a sign of serious mental illness (it is called delusion).
dwes09
@archiesdaddy: ” Confidence and trust must be earned and they have done nothing to earn my trust, quite the contrary, in fact. I fear them. I fear them because I know them, not because I do not know them.”
I fear people like you who make statements like this. Christians have done nothing at all as a group to gain my trust as a Jew, but as a reasonable person I judge on the basis of actions…not the actions of a tiny minority but the actions of those I come onto contact with. You quite obviously fear Muslims because you DO NOT know them, but buy into myths and lies spread specifically to cause fear.
dwes09
@Stilinski26: “Regressive left and political correctness will be the end of Western Liberal values!”
Given that words have actual meanings, regressive is more correctly applied to the right wing, who look backwards. And all too often look backwards at myths rather than at actual history. Political correctness refers to giving people respect and refering to them as they prefer to be referred to, also avoiding insults based on race, faith sexuality and gender identity. I realize people like you have few tactics for discourse that do not involve those kinds of insults.
Political correctness in most cases is at the base of Western Liberal values (granted it can go too far and be easily lampooned, but the foibles of the right are more easily lampooned especially as epitomized by Trump) . Again, words have actual meanings and making up the meanings to suit myth or lie based agendas is not too bright.
Xzamilio
@dwes09: I agree with that, but with Islam, the right are not the only ones tone deaf. All too often, I hear my own liberal brethren bending over backwards to dismiss the violence in Islam as just “a few” and “It’s not all Muslims” as though that solves the problem. When you have individuals like Maajid Nawaz being targeted by the left and wanting to reform Islam, you have a problem. When regressive rags like Salon and The Young Turks trying so hard to muddy the waters and blur the lines between the religion and the violent attacks, you have a problem. So, yes there are peaceful Muslims, and Jews, and Christians, and they are by far the majority. But the minority that are violent have all the justification they need in their holy books, and ignoring that doesn’t help anything.
Stache
@Hussain-TheCanadian: I can post lots more videos of gay men being hanged in Iran and other shit holes. The whole town comes out like it’s the super bowl to watch the queers getting their due. Yes they used the rape excuse after being rightly condemned for the hanging. They do it all the time though.
I’d say it’s all pretty clear to me. However, keep twisting the truth till you find the meaning that suits you.
Stache
@Hussain-TheCanadian: Btw. I had a recently moved here Iranian Uber driver telling me how great Iran was too. Talking how they don’t have a homeless problem and how the people don’t tolerate vice as opposed to our horrible country I guess.
Damn. I sure loved giving him a 1 star that day.
Hussain-TheCanadian
@Stache: Yes I’ve seen those videos, and i’ve seen the stoning videos, quite repulsive and disgusting to say the least – The Iranian government (due to public and clerical pressure) has already outlawed stoning in 1998 or 1999; as for the execution of gay men, who knows, last time I was there was in 2012 and I didn’t feel threatened one bit.
You might be right, they might use the charge of rape to kill these men for being gay, I wouldnt put it past them, they are a shitty, repressive government. However what I’m trying to say is that neither of us really knows.
Hussain-TheCanadian
@Stache: Why are you reading my comments in the most extreme way possible; I said living in Iran would be great for me? I don’t think I would last the weekend because the one taboo I can’t talk about is the legitimacy of their government, and im sure i’d be spending the weekend in Irvan prison moments after I open my mouth.
All i’m saying be reasonable in your criticism, don’t fall into the extreme.
Stilinski26
@dwes09: Being politically correct also censors free speech if we criticize for instance Islam than we will automatically be called “Islamophobic”.
DutchGay
I was baptised as a baby so I was registered as being “Catholic”. A few years ago I send letters to the bisdom and local church requesting to be deleted from their registration as I do no longer want to be associated with the Catholic church. Indeed I received a letter that I am no longer registered 🙂
Brian
Here’s a really disturbing article which says that the Clinton’took money from countries that execute gays:
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/06/14/hillary-clinton-took-millions-anti-lbgt-countries-gays-jailed-put-death/
Kangol
@Brian: You’ve completely jumped the shark posting articles from right-wing sites like Breitbart. No thanks! No one is fooled by their hateful nonsense. The Right Wing wants to strip away your rights in the US and make you a third-class citizen, girl. WAKE UP!
Brian
@Kangol: Oh, really? So we should only post items from Left-wing sites, right? LOL. Just goes to show how brainwashed the gay community has become as a result of Left-wing indoctrination.
We should get information based on the truth. The truth might be distasteful but it’s still the truth. I don’t care whether it’s Left, Right or whatever.
Message to the Left: we are going to stop your takeover of the homosexual rights movement.
SnakeyJ
@DutchGay: All that did was remove you from a list as a registered patron of that diocese/church. This is an old time practice to formalize where your money went (taxes, tithe… when the church still had that type of power). The Catholic church, however, still considers you a Catholic. If you want to change that, you have to be excommunicated by the Pope. Although it seems like a nonsensical step considering that if you don’t believe in that dogma, then you simply stop going to that church.
joeyty
The biggest question now (as we move into this new world, faster than I predicted) is which gay venue the Muslims will be hitting next.
Hussain-TheCanadian
@joeyty: (Rolls eyes) …a bit dramatic don’t you think?
Invert
@Stilinski26: but, big deal, someone calls you islamaphobic. Sun still rises tomorrow. What is the impact of being called something? Surely you’ve had experience with being called names before- why does being called an islamaphobe irk you so much?
Even if someone calls you all the nasty names under the sun- how does that matter?
Stilinski26
@Invert: because it censors our freedom of speech we have every right to critisize a relgion.
SnakeyJ
@Stilinski26: It doesn’t censor anything. You have every right to say what you want, but then so does the person who disagrees with you. People don’t seem to realize that what you say causes reactions, and just because you don’t like a certain reaction doesn’t mean you can then censor them. It’s hypocritical.
stoyan
I’m sorry but this idea is more than ridiculous. If you are muslim – you must follow the rules of Quran. If you don’t follow the Quran you not a muslim and you are in position of mortal danger. And the Quran is very specific about homosexuality. My comment is not some kind of hate speach, but logical fact. I can point you ? lot of good quotes from the Quran but in same times this book is full of instructions for murders and blood. Islam can’t be religion of peace – giving instruction for killing infidels.
More info here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuID-GS–k0 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ByeZi3QlT8
GayEGO
The problem with religious extremists/terrorists is they do not use their brain to think about humanity, something science has proven many religious phrased to be wrong. People back in the day wrote those religious books and knew little about the Earth and humanity, guessing what they thought – the world is flat and the sun revolves around the Earth as depicted in the Aurora. Each of us is the only one who knows ourselves, no one else. I was born gay and have been with my lifetime partner of 54 years, married 12 years, and are both retired, living the American dream. We served our country, worked and paid bills and taxes, followed the civil laws of our country and fought for our equal, inalienable rights. We are winning, little by little, and the hate mongers are losing which is why they commit these horrible acts. Most people are good people, regardless of race or religion. The Oklahoma city bomber killed 168 people and he was not a muslim, he was a Christian. The Westboro Baptist church claims to be a Christian church but is having problems because of their bigotry. The religions that teach hatred instead of love and inclusiveness need to change their ancient, meaningless doctrines by removing the phony, fictious phrases. The religions that are changing are winning support of civilization.
Stilinski26
@SnakeyJ: Just look at twitter they have suspended Milo yiannopoulos account who is gay because he has been very critical about radical Islam in the wake of Orlando shooting!
montydaman
PLEASE PAY ATTENTION!!!!
Nothing,I repeat NOTHING ISIS is doing is Islamic!!!!!! NOTHING.
Muslim’s are a people and Islam is a religion. The Muslim people following ISIS are in no way, shape or from following the Islamic Koran’s teachings!! They are liars and murderers hiding in disguise as Islamic religious followers. Islam has no common place and ideology with ISIS!
President Obama knows this too as told by hundreds of Islamic leaders. That why he only refers to ISIS as
Muslim extremists/terrorists, because that’s JUST WHAT THEY ARE!
Someone tell Trump so he can keep that ugly mouth of his shut!
montydaman
@GayEGO: Your very right. We here in America have our very own religious extremists/terrorists!! Loads of them. Here’s a few examples: The religious Christian extremists/terrorists who kill blacks in their own church, Burn Black Churches with Children in them,Gun down patients in Planed Parenthood clinics, Gun down abortion Doctors at their homes, and pose as a gay person to entrap a gay person only to pistol whip and leave them to die roped to a fence!
Christian extremists/terrorists ARE among us! They would love to be as potent as ISIS is you can feel it. Cruz,Huckabee,Farwell and others all want the gays dead. I chose to believe…..In the Beginning man created God!
jdboston617
@Stache: @Stache: Personally, I think it’s a turning point, for at least me. Where most of my life I respected the status quo and respected religion and religious people even when I completely disagree with it. But now, it’s different. I’m tired of it. It’s all bullshit theory and means nothing. Hate is hate is hate. So I’m no longer silent. I respect people/individuals, but if you follow a thought or religion that preaches hate and ignorance, then I’m simply calling you out on that. It’s not scared anymore.
Bob LaBlah
The root cause for ALL of this is Bush’s foolish invasion of Iraq back in 2003. Had he left the strongman in power (Sadaam Hussein) in power ISIS and company could have NEVER come about because he (Hussein) would have crushed them like a bug as soon as he heard about them. It was said right after the invasion that it wouldn’t be tomorrow morning but SOON the world would regret allowing him to make that mistake. That prediction has come true.
By the time this is all over these people are going to have the entire world in chaos.
Tobi
@Bob LaBlah: Bush and Blair have a lot to answer for. The US/UK led invasion of Iraq was illegal and breached the UN Charter and destabilised the whole of the Middle East. I honestly believe criminal proceedings should be brought against the pair of them for war crimes. The oft-delayed Chilcot Report is due to be published the first week of July. It has been leaked that its findings are absolutely brutal against Blair and Straw who are apparently savaged throughout for the lies they told to the electorate about weapons of mass destruction as a premise for war. I’d like to see Blair end up being tried in The Hague but I doubt it’ll happen.
Ogre Magi
Why should I feel anything but hostility towards a religion that feels so much hostility towards us?