This morning, having woken up at quarter to 6 and looking for something new to watch, I happened to come across "A Jihad for Love". And so I decided to watch it. (If you reside in the UK you can watch it on 4oD right now).
Being the absolute geek/Wikipedia addict I am, I had come across this film's name before whilst researching something or another related to homosexuality, purely for self-enrichment of course.If I must explain what this film is about, it is basically a documentary revolving around the lives of homosexual Muslims in various settings, including a Pakistani imam based in South Africa, a Turkish lesbian couple, a bunch of Iranian men fleeing to Turkey to seek asylum in Canada, homosexual Muslims in India and LGBT Arabs living in France. Also, as the title suggests, the film explores the "jihad" that defines the relationship between their sexuality and their religion, each person having their own different take on the matter.
If I must be honest, the film only served to strengthen my atheism as someone who was raised as a Muslim. I totally understood the feelings of the people depicted in this film and what they were going through, whilst also feeling intense anger towards the heterosexist clerics who were oppressing them. I found myself heatedly debating with the computer screen about why homosexuality is not wrong and why using the Qur'an to discriminate against homosexuals is complete and utter hypocrisy.
The reasons for my atheism mainly revolve around the paradox of free will as well as my alienation from religion as a whole through my experiences with it. But it is not my job, of course, to be forcing my beliefs on others. The whole topic of homosexuality and Islam does, nevertheless, beg the following question:
If Allah truly does exist, why would Allah have created us the way we are if he didn't want us to be homosexual (or bi or trans)?
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