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Reason #37163 why Harry is not in Ravenclaw

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:35:27 +0200

Seamus: Eye of rabbit, harp string hum, turn this water into rum...
Harry: What's Seamus trying to do to that glass of water?
WHAT IN THE BLOODY FUCK DO YOU THINK HE'S TRYING TO DO?

Q&A: Islam can be reconciled with homosexuality - S.African gay imam

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:31:35 +0200

Q&A: Islam can be reconciled with homosexuality - S.African gay imam:

queermuslims:

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 08:45 AM

Katie Nguyen

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - “The best thing was to just come out and be authentic - even if it means the world is going to kill you, but at least you die an authentic person,” says Muhsin Hendricks, one of the world’s few openly gay imams.

Born and raised in South Africa, the 46-year-old has spent years helping gay Muslims reconcile Islam with their sexuality through The Inner Circle, an organisation he founded that was set up in 2004.

Hendricks spoke to Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone from Cape Town about what the Koran says about homosexuality, the reality for gays in South Africa and what it was like coming out at the age of 29.

Q: What was your experience growing up being gay and a Muslim?

A: I come from a very conservative Muslim background. My grandfather was imam of our community mosque, so there was a lot of pressure on us children to be good Muslims - if there is such a thing as a good Muslim.

There was no expression for sexuality. There was nobody you could talk to about sexuality. So for the first 16 years of my life, it was a lonely journey with me having to deal with all these emotions on my own. My mother was ruling with the iron fist, so she was not somebody I could approach with that. I resolved at the age of 18 to further my studies in Islam because I couldn’t understand that when I went to the mosque, they preached a very compassionate and merciful God, but it was the same God that gave me this sexuality and asked me not to act on it. I needed to find out what the Koran was really saying about sexuality, and then at the age of 21, I won a scholarship to study at one of the universities in Pakistan.

I think it was during my studies when there was confusion - am I doing the right thing? Am I being the right person? That’s when I decided to get married. I thought if I’m not going to get married, I’ll probably go through the rest of my life thinking what if I had tasted a woman like they say I have to, would that have made me straight?

So I got married. Fortunately there was a girl very much in love with me. I told her a few weeks before I got married. I said, ‘Look, this is who I am. I’m willing to give it a try.’

But six years down the line, having had three kids, things didn’t happen and we both just felt that we had been doing an injustice to each other. The best thing was to just come out and be authentic - even it means the world is going to kill you, but at least you die as an authentic person.

I didn’t just take a small step out of the closet, I just jumped out and went straight to the papers and on the front page, it was: ‘Gay imam comes out’. I had three jobs at that time and I was fired from all three of them. I went through a kind of depression.

Q: How did your family respond to you coming out?

A: I was divorced for a whole month before my mother came to discover I was divorced. She said she was hearing some rumours I was divorced because I’m gay. I thought, you know what, this is the woman I most feared in my life but at this point I can’t hide it anymore, so I said, ‘It’s true, it’s not a rumour’ - and she fainted. After my sister came to help her, I thought I’ll just leave her to work on that. The next morning she came to me and she said, ‘We’re going to have to go to an imam. I think you’re jinxed. You need some spiritual help.’ I said, ‘No, mother, that’s enough. I’ve gone through that process for 29 years and I don’t think there’s anything wrong me.’

We had a tiff. She said, ‘I can’t accept it.’ I said, ‘Well what do you want to do? Because I can’t accept the fact you can’t accept it.’ I think because I spoke in a way I had never spoken to my mother before she could understand the seriousness of my pain and she said, ‘Show me what you think is right.’

I got her documentaries to watch, books to read on the issue. Then finally there was an acceptance. One day I heard my mother saying to a lady enquiring about this and about me - she said to her, ‘I know my son is a very honest child. He’s always been God-conscious, and I don’t think he would choose something like this. I’m not going to throw my son away. I still don’t understand it completely, but he’s my son and I’m leaving that up to God to decide.’ She accepted me and she accepted my partner. When she passed away I was the only one at her bedside.

Q: What does the Koran say about homosexuality?

A: The Koran only speaks about the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Koran doesn’t use the word homosexuality. It’s only a term that was coined in the 18th century, and the Koran was a 7th century book. The story has been interpreted for years to refer to the atrocities of Sodom and Gomorrah as homosexuality so what I do is I unpack it. One of the principles that we learn when we study the Koran is that you can’t quote a verse from the Koran out of context. It has a context, it has a history, there’s a real particular purpose. So, I say, ‘Let’s do the same with the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.’ We look at the archaeological findings, we look at what historians say about Sodom and Gomorrah, and once we piece that together we find that the story was really about economic exploitation, inhospitality to guests, rape, molestation, homosexual practices that were related to idolatry. So then I ask in my conclusion, ‘If you look at that and if you look at who you are in terms of your sexual orientation, do you think that story talks about you?’

Q: South Africa does not criminalise homosexuality. In fact, its 1996 constitution prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and has been described as one of the most progressive constitutions in the world - but what’s it really like for gays and lesbians in the country?

A: I think that that statement holds true, that we do have one of the best constitutions in the world, but it doesn’t translate to what happens at grassroots level. We still see that lesbians are being killed in the townships, there’s corrective rape happening. Now and then you hear that some gay person has been killed and nobody knows why, and I think that happens because there haven’t been enough programmes instituted by government to help with the transition. We come from a very violent history of apartheid and then suddenly into a very liberal constitution.

If you perhaps were living in more developed cities in South Africa like Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth, you’d probably see less of that discrimination, but the more you move you into townships where there is a lack of education, there is a lack of information around these issues, you do still see violence and discrimination happening.

People in work areas are very aware that they shouldn’t be discriminating, but if you dig deeper down you still wonder if people have really made peace with the fact that gay people are on the same level in terms of human rights as straight people.

Q: Is the situation getting any easier for gay Muslims in South Africa?

A: I’m not sure I can look at South Africa in isolation to what’s happening in the rest of the world. I think there’s gains in some areas and there’s losses in others. If we look for example at the recent statement from the president of the Muslim Judicial Council in Cape Town, we see that there’s a definite move in the last five years now from saying that queer Muslims should be killed - ‘If this had been a Muslim country they would have been killed’ - to ‘Let’s look at what kind of programmes can be instituted, what kind of help can amassed to help queer Muslims.’ They still think we should become straight, but at least they’re not saying we should be killed. That’s a big shift for us. Another big shift is the fact that for the first year at our annual international retreat, there were two straight imams willing to engage. Positive steps like that. We get more families coming into counselling where before it was only queer Muslims, now it’s queer Muslims and their families.

But on the other hand, look at the rise of fundamentalism on the African continent - the Sahel region, the sub-Saharan countries, and events like the Arab Spring - how that influences the way people practise Islam. What happens in other countries does affect Muslims in different parts of the world as well, so perhaps that’s the challenge at the moment.

Photo

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:29:46 +0200

nightmareloki: viridecinerem: oldenough2burmom: Someone...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:29:15 +0200

nightmareloki:

viridecinerem:

oldenough2burmom:

Someone please open a ‘cat cafe’ near my office like the ones they have in Japan. Visitors get to order coffee, tea and pastries and hang out with cats. Heaven.

I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE. I NEED IT.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHMYGOD

When you meet someone equally as weird as you

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:27:28 +0200

sodamnrelatable:

mungbeen: paulbearer: ladyfuzz: merlinthegrey: yourloveisout:...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:25:00 +0200

mungbeen:

paulbearer:

ladyfuzz:

merlinthegrey:

yourloveisout:

Britain, ladies and gentlemen - where this man was actually elected to stand as a Member of the European Parliament.

And just in case you were unfamiliar with Nick Griffin, he is the leader of the British National Party (BNP), a racist, discriminatory and vile political party who want to expel immigrants, rule out the Islamic faith in Britain and generally anyone who doesn’t conform to their standards. Adolf Hitler and the Aryan race, anyone?

What makes this all worse is the fact this tweet is in reference to Nigella Lawson being attacked in public by her husband, in which he grabbed her by the throat in front of a busy restaurant.

Absolutely sickening. Yet again embarrassed to be part of a country who holds people who actually follow this man and value his opinion.

Fuuuuuuck man.

I’m actually going to fucking punch his disgusting face

i’m sure anyone would take pleasure in squeezing his neck until his eyes popped out

KILL DESTROY

Photo

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:22:43 +0200

postcards-from-ur: Winter Walk

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:19:47 +0200

postcards-from-ur:

Winter Walk

bilbosexual: assvengersplz: petition for a road to el dorado movie starring chris hemsworth and...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:21:00 +0200

bilbosexual:

assvengersplz:

petition for a road to el dorado movie starring chris hemsworth and tom hiddleston

fahrlight: #asgard #tesseract NO, darling, that’s the casket of...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:16:44 +0200

fahrlight:

#asgard #tesseract

NO, darling, that’s the casket of ancient winters!

anekie: givemeajobplease: This was a man, dressed as a plant,...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:06:59 +0200

anekie:

givemeajobplease:

This was a man, dressed as a plant, making pigeon noises at people walking by. I said hello, asked if it was okay to take his picture, and then asked why he was dressed as a plant. He said, “I’m just working through some stuff. Thank you for asking. No ones asked yet.”

I’ve been dealing with stuff the wrong way.

underground-bizarre: on dark and stormy nights in June 1816…

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:04:20 +0200

underground-bizarre:

on dark and stormy nights in June 1816…

The Streets of São Paulo, Bá + Moon, RIGHT NOW:

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:01:10 +0200

mattfractionblog:

There are riots and protests happening right now, and Fábio + Gabriel are writing and drawing about it.

Makpal Abdrazakova, the only female eagle hunter in...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:59:56 +0200

Makpal Abdrazakova, the only female eagle hunter in Kazakhstan.

pastadeamendoimcomgeleia:

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:58:21 +0200

pastadeamendoimcomgeleia:

twisteddesai: can we just stop with this “real fan” shit if any of you were real fans, i’d have...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:57:04 +0200

twisteddesai:

can we just stop with this “real fan” shit

if any of you were real fans, i’d have yall plugged in and coolin me off during these hot summer days

robotrollcallbeforethestarsfall: youlighttheskyfanfiction: ja...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:56:17 +0200

robotrollcallbeforethestarsfall:

youlighttheskyfanfiction:

jabletown:

this is for everyone who, like me, when they saw this the first time went oh and realized that television can have truth and depth in it and slowly started selling their soul to joss whedon for more moments just like this

THIS IS HOW YOU DO DEPTH IN A CHILDREN’S SHOW BECAUSE BUFFY WAS FOR ADOLESCENTS IT WAS PRIMARILY AIMED AT PEOPLE IN MIDDLE THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL IT WAS DESIGNED FOR YOUNG ADULTS AND IT ADDRESSSES DEATH AND LOVE AND LOSS AND HOPE AND DESPAIR AND DEPRESSION AND RELATIONSHIPS IT FRAMES THE DIFFICULTIES AND CHALLENGES OF GROWING UP IN A SUPERNATURAL NARRATIVE BUT THAT’S JUST THE COVER ALL THOSE VILLIANS ALL THOSE PLOTS THE MEAT OF THE STORY IS FOUDN IN THESE MOMENTS IN THE CHARACTERS’ GROWTH AND INTERACTIONS WITH EACH OTHER SO DON’T TELL ME THAT AMY AND RORY JUST KISS AND MAKE UP INSTANTLY BECAUSE IT’S A KID’S SHOW DON’T TELL ME THAT YOU NEED TO DUMB THIS STUFF DOWN FOR CHILDREN YOU DON’T YOU REALLY DON’T IT’S INSULTING AND IT DOES NO ONE ANY FAVORS NOT THE CHILDREN AND CERTAINLY NOT THE WRITERS DEMAND QUALITY FROM POPULAR CULTURE FROM TV SHOWS AND BOOKS AND MAGAZINES AND MOVIES AS THE AUDIENCE WE HAVE A RIGHT TO DO SO AND IF ANYONE TRIES TO TELL YOU TO CALM DOWN ‘CAUSE IT’S JUST A TV SHOW/BOOK/MOVIE/MAGAZINE YOU TELL THEM TO FUCK RIGHT OFF

(tags from isilienelenihin)

*crying*

warning-i-bites: brosino: I actually get physically angry...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:55:18 +0200

warning-i-bites:

brosino:

I actually get physically angry whenever my mother says this to me

This. This relates to my life so so so much you do not even understand.

delights-fish: I’m sorry, Hannibal. I have too much on my fandom plate to get into your show.

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:54:44 +0200

delights-fish:

I’m sorry, Hannibal. I have too much on my fandom plate to get into your show.

Don't ever hesitate. Reblog this. TUMBLR RULE. When you see it, REBLOG IT.

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:53:36 +0200

The original post only has US helplines. I've added UK helplines underneath. It would be great if people could add numbers from everywhere in the world.
Depression Hotline: 1-630-482-9696
Suicide Hotline: 1-800-784-8433
LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255
Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386
Sexuality Support: 1-800-246-7743
Eating Disorders Hotline: 1-847-831-3438
Rape and Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673
Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272
Runaway: 1-800-843-5200, 1-800-843-5678, 1-800-621-4000
Exhale: After Abortion Hotline/Pro-Voice: 1-866-4394253
Child Abuse: 1-800-422-4453
** UK Helplines:
Samaritans (for any problem): 08457909090 e-mail jo@samaritans.org
Childline (for anyone under 18 with any problem): 08001111
Mind infoline (mental health information): 0300 123 3393 e-mail: info@mind.org.uk
Mind legal advice (for people who need mental-health related legal advice): 0300 466 6463 legal@mind.org.uk
b-eat eating disorder support: 0845 634 14 14 (only open Mon-Fri 10.30am-8.30pm and Saturday 1pm-4.30pm) e-mail: help@b-eat.co.uk
b-eat youthline (for under 25's with eating disorders): 08456347650 (open Mon-Fri 4.30pm - 8.30pm, Saturday 1pm-4.30pm)
Cruse Bereavement Care: 08444779400 e-mail: helpline@cruse.org.uk
Frank (information and advice on drugs): 0800776600
Drinkline: 0800 9178282
Rape Crisis England & Wales: 0808 802 9999 1(open 2 - 2.30pm 7 - 9.30pm) e-mail info@rapecrisis.org.uk
Rape Crisis Scotland: 08088 01 03 02 every day, 6pm to midnight