BERLIN (AP) — Ali Darwich, a gay Muslim influencer in Berlin, picks up a date from his plate, takes a sip of water, and addresses the 15 friends sitting around the table and breaking the Ramadan fast with him.
The 33-year-old German with Palestinian and Lebanese roots — who goes by @alifragt or “Ali asks” on Instagram — has a quickly growing following on Instagram, where he draws attention to the difficulties of living as a young, queer Muslim and calls for more tolerance and inclusiveness.
“Tonight we want to send a message that no matter where a person comes from, no matter who that person loves, no matter how queer that person is, they cannot be too queer … because they are exactly as they should be,” Darwich says, smiling at the diverse group of Muslims and Christians, Germans and immigrants, gay and straight people sharing this meal with him as the sun sets over Berlin.
Its certainly easier to prevent hegemonic religions from forming if you have a more equal society.
But hegemonic religion also maintains inequality, so you also need to combat it.
Islam is certainly not alone in being uncivilized. Any religion that maintains inequality is barbaric.
That is such a myopic view of religion. Not everyone who is a Muslim “maintains inequality” and “is barbaric”. I am not a Muslim myself, but there are many Sufi saints whose poetry I read as I find their philosophy and interpretation of Islam to be very eye-opening. Any religion can be used as a means of love or hate.
Much like people say that in the USA today, Jesus would be killed for his beliefs, you would likey find the same to be true for many of those saints in the middle east.
I think one needs to draw a distinction between religion as a belief and religion as a institution.
Its not the belief that is the problem. People should be allowed to find their own meaning to life.
The institution is where the problems lie.