SLOAT

[…]

“ It’s a lovely morning in the village and you are a horrible goose. A new game by us, coming 2018. “

In the beginning there were no fixed prices. Every transaction involved a negotiation between buyer and seller. Then in 1861, as Guardian reporter Tim Adams informs us, Philadelphia retailer John Wanamaker introduced price tags, along with the slogan, “If everyone was equal before God, then everyone would be equal before price.” Wanamaker’s stated intent was to establish “new, fair and most agreeable relations between the buyer and the seller.”

For the next 150 years, fixed pricing became the norm. Companies determined prices either by pegging them to those of their competitors or by calculating the cost of a good or service and adding a profit, with an occasional white sale or going-out-of-business sale, or discounted day-old bread.  

In the 1990s came the internet, and in the 2000s, online shopping and smartphones. Prices could be changed remotely and frequently. Initially businesses changed their prices largely to take advantage of a shortage of supply (e.g. Uber with its surge pricing) or an increased demand (airlines, in essence, auctioning off tickets to last-minute customers).

Big data emerged and with it the ability for businesses to know their customers in a most intimate and detailed fashion. Initially, sophisticated algorithms allowed businesses to individualize ads. Now as they’ve gathered even more of our personal data they’ve begun to individualize prices. As Adams notes, the travel site Orbitz calculated that Apple Mac users would pay 20-30 percent more for hotel rooms than users of other brands of computer and adjusted its pricing accordingly. Jerry Useem in the Atlantic maintains the price of Google’s headphones may depend on how budget-conscious our web buying history reveals.

Electronic price tags may soon allow dynamic pricing in brick and mortar stores. Such tags are already in stores in France and Germany and parts of Scandinavia.

The Guardian reports that B&Q, the largest home improvement and garden center retailer in the UK and Ireland, has tested electronic price tags that could change the price of an item, based on which customer is looking at it, something it can derive from the Wi-Fi connection to the customer’s mobile phone. Not yet in stores, but that may be just a matter of time.

This post pretty much came about because I was asked if I had resources for Muslims who were discovering or newly coming to terms with their sexuality. I didn’t, and the poor advice I had to offer was … poor. So, I pulled up a few of the blogs I followed that are targeted towards queer Muslims, and put together this little post for you! Last updated: 02.16.17 (outdated info italicised)

Queer Muslim Blogs:

QueerMuslims

IamNotHaraam

Ace-Muslim

Trans Muslims

Ahwaa: An open space to debate LGBTQ-related issues in the Middle East

AllahMademeQueer

ComingOutMuslim 

YouKnow-You'reaQueermuslim-When

InQueeries channel with Yusef Woof (contact [email protected])

Salaam Canada 

TheBisexualBangladeshi

Muslims Against Homophobia and LGBT Hate facebook group

Queer Palestinian Empowerment Network (QPEN) facebook page

Queer Muslims of Boston facebook page

Totally Radical Muslim Zine

Queer Muslim 101:

A quick gender/sexuality 101 (An in-depth gender/sexuality/identity 201)

But what does a queer Muslim even look like? (hint: they look like people)

Defining homonationalism and pinkwashing. [A little bit more on pinkwashing.]

PDF:Homosexuality In Islam, by Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle (Intro + 1st Chap) Buy your own copy!

PDF:Muslim LGBT Inclusion Project, by Intersections International

More reading (a list w.some repeats): [x]

Why Safe Spaces are Important [reposted with permission from author]

“I’m confused about my sexuality.”

“I need proof from Qur'an and Sunnah that I’m not Haraam.”

“What about the Qur'an and Hadith that chastise LGBTQ Muslims?”

“You cherry pick your hadith!/You cherry pick from your religion!”

Some hadiths can be read in different ways, so it’s best to look at the outcome.

“Islam and LGBT are not mutually exclusive.”

“But I was taught Islam was the most heterosexist religion.“ 

”But all Muslims are homophobic!“ (spoiler alert: you’re wrong.)

”But Muslims hate sex - it’s ~dirty~ to them!“ (I would recommend this class for basic 101 on marriage and love [sex] in Islam. Take it with Basyouni.) (See also: x and x)

”Love the sinner, hate the sin, and why that’s bullshit.“

”Should I come out?“ (spoiler alert: that’s up to you!)

”Is there a place for LGBTQ Muslims?“ (Or ”There’s no place for LGBTQ Muslims/no organisations/no hope.“)

”Will LGBTQ Muslims go to hell?“ (spoiler alert: I’m not God, how would I know?) 

”But it’s unnatural!“ (lolk)

”There aren’t any gay Imams or Sheikhs, so you’re just making things up!“ (Also here.) (And here.)

“But scholars don’t condone it!”

”But no fatwa was made!“ (It’s Wahabi.)

Egyptian fatwa

Indonesian fatwa [link broken, seeking replacement]

A post about other Sheikhs’ opinions.

”But there are no inclusive mosques for LGBT Muslims!“ (Just stop. x)

There is no place for homophobia in Islam.

Let’s repeat that: There is no place for homophobia in Islam.

Ayahs that talk about Prophet Lut.

A closer reading of ayahs re: homosexuality (prev here).

See also: You decide how you interpret your religion.

Homosexuality in Sharia

Homosexuality in Predominately Muslim Countries (and some more on homosexuality in Pakistan)

Pride Parade in Bangladesh (Please remember "hijra” is a slur depending on where in South Asia a person is from – please ask before using it as a catchall!)

Predominately Muslim Countries who are taking steps toward equality. [x] [x, x] [x] [x] [x]

Same-sex marriage

MASGD Statement on SCOTUS Marriage Equality Ruling

Queer Muslim Cinema: Azizah, Illuminations, Coming Out Muslim, A Jihad For Love, I Exist, Al-Nisa [BONUS: Show Al-Nisa and Red Summer (the producer) some love!], Circumstance, Naz + Maalik, Gay Muslims (a documentary produced by Channel 4 in the U.K), City of Borders, The Bubble, Out in the Dark (Palestinian and Israeli fall in love. facebook page), Facing Mirrors (2011; ft. an FtM Iranian), I Accept Me! (2011), Hir Poem, My Child. Sexualities and Queer Imaginaries. Oriented. [Article about Oriented, A Gay Girl in Damascus, and A Sinner in Mecca] [Muslim Drag Queens][Color of Water is trying to get funded]

Queer Muslim Music: Tum Hi Ho (by a drag artist in Lahore).

Queer Muslim Literature: [x] [x] [Four Gay Arabs Break the Silence] [Embracing Ramadhan in the LGBT Muslim Community] [Gaylaxy magazine] [Queer Beirut] [Sex and Desperate Hearts] [Bareed Mista3jil] [Totally Radical Muslims Zine] [5 Queer Magazines] [Not Your Tragic Queer Muslim Story/How to De-Queer Your Apartment] [Brown and Queer in America] [Queer South Asians and the Politics of Family] [A Thing of the West] [Coming Out in the Muslim Community] [Queer and Muslim At the Same Time] [9 articles on being LGBTQ in MENA] [Queering the Middle East] [Seeking Home: The Lives of Gay and Transgender Asylum Seekers of the Middle East] [Trans Muslim Honours His Faith] [Under the Gay Skin of Tehran] [Syrian and Iraqi Members of the LGBT Community Find Safe Haven in Istanbul] [Queer and Muslim] [On Community Spaces and Being A Trans Muslim] [‘Yousef and Farhad’ has been crafted by Algerian-American political cartoonist, Khalil Bendib, and Iranian-American author, Amir Soltani.] [Artist Mohammed Fayaz Draws Queer Muslims of Colour] [Xukia][Why I Can’t Quit Islam]

[Puu] webcomic about indian shi’a cuties

Desi LGBTQ Hotline

Queer Pakistan LGBTQ Voice and Support Group [and here is a news article]

Resources

A good thing to remember is to avoid the self-hatred phase, if you can. Focus on loving yourself, and realising that Allah made you just the way you are, and that you are loved, and that none of this is permanent. If this phase is unavoidable, here are some helpful sites:

Help! I’m losing my Islam

Counseling and Prevention Resources

Feeling suicidal?

Suicide prevention

Supporting someone who self-harms

Suicide and Crisis Hotlines

Online Crisis Network (for those with anxiety which prevents them from talking on the phone)

Online Chat (Arabic) for Queer Arabs

Canadian Queer Muslim Support Group (facebook page)

If you are a student and would like to get Faisal Alam to speak at your uni, or to see if he is coming to your uni soon, click here.

If you would like to attend Faisal Alam’s Retreat for Queer Muslims and their partners, here is more info.

If you would like to book Irshad Manji for an event click here.

If you are a PoC LGBTQ identified Muslim, QWOC is looking for submissions.

If you are from Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, or India and want to share your experiences (anonymously), please click here.

If you are South Asian and queer, consider submitting to Dayaar-e-Yaar! And if you are South Asian, queer, and between 18-25, consider attending this SoCal retreat (deadline for 2015 registration is Dec. 8th, 2014).

If you are a young activist, an independent researcher, a graduate student, or a fresh graduate, consider submitting a paper to the second issue of Kohl,  a journal for body and gender in the MENA region that wishes to explore the ways in which the erotic has been used as a means of economic and political exploitation in the MENA, within the region and outside it. Deadline to submit is Aug 2, 2015.

If you can spare some funds, help navigatethestream, a queer Muslim, become an Imam to help the Muslim LGBT community!

Lastly, here is a link if you are NOT a queer Muslim, but want to be a good ALLY! (And here is another on how NOT to be a saviour!) (And here is another on how to support a queer Muslim you happen to be dating!)

Muslim-Queer-Friendly Blogs: