Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed
{{Short description|Muslim imam and LGBT rights activist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed
| image = Ludovic Mohammed Zahed 06330.jpg
| caption =
| birth_name = Mohamed Zahed
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1977}}
| birth_place = Algiers, Algeria
| nationality = Algerian, French
| occupation =
| networth =
| spouse =
| children =
| alma_mater = Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
| website =
| signature =
| parents =
}}
Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed (born 1977) is a French-Algerian imam.{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.marianne.net/societe/progressiste-militante-et-surtout-discrete-bienvenue-a-la-mosquee-lgbt-de-marseille|title=Progressiste, militante et surtout discrète... Bienvenue à la "mosquée" LGBT de Marseille|work=Marianne|last=Rabino|first=Thomas|date=9 June 2021|accessdate=6 September 2022}}{{Cite news|language=en-GB|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20547335|title=Gay-friendly 'mosque' opens in Paris|first=Robin|last=Banerji|publisher=BBC News|date=30 November 2012|access-date=6 September 2022}} An openly gay Muslim, Zahed is the founder of an Islamic prayer room in Paris, France, with the goal of accommodating the LGBTQ and feminist Muslim communities. He also founded the LGBT Muslim association HM2F, and manages the Calem Institute in Marseille.
Biography
He was born Mohamed Zahed in Algiers, Algeria, in 1977.{{cite web|language=fr|url=http://www.liberation.fr/societe/2012/11/29/ludovic-mohamed-zahed-un-coran-d-air-frais_864023|title=Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed, un Coran d'air frais|work=liberation.fr|date=29 November 2012|accessdate=20 October 2013}}{{cite web|language=fr |url=http://www.france24.com/fr/20120330-france-mariage-homosexuel-musulmans-gay-religion-imam-coran-corps-livre-ludovic-mohamed-zahed|title=Concilier islam et homosexualité, le combat de Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed |work=france24.com|date=4 April 2012|access-date=20 October 2013}} Growing up between Algeria and France, he reported having felt "part boy, part girl" as a child. As a teenager, he struggled recognizing his own homosexuality while briefly involving himself in the Salafi movement; at the end of his teenage years, he rejected both Salafism and Islam{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.jeuneafrique.com/137659/societe/ludovic-mohamed-zahed-gay-et-musulman-il-garde-le-pr-che/|title=Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed : gay et musulman, il garde le prêche|work=jeuneafrique.com|date=19 April 2013|access-date=20 October 2013}} and followed Buddhism instead. He acquired French citizenship at the age of 20, changing his first name to "Ludovic". At the age of 21, he decided to come out to his family, getting mixed reactions.{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/les-pieds-sur-terre/l-imam-gay-8163316 |title=L'imam gay |work=France Culture|date=5 August 2019|accessdate=6 September 2022}} He later returned to Islam, and in 2010 founded the organization HM2F, Homosexuel(les) musulman(es) de France (Muslim Homosexuals of France).
In November 2012, Zahed set up an "inclusive" Muslim prayer room in Paris, which has been described by the press as "Europe's first gay-friendly mosque". In 2019, he opened the Calem Institute in Marseille, which includes a prayer room and aims to raise awareness of progressive values (such as LGBT rights and feminism) within the Muslim world.{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/3056943-20210609-marseille-ludovic-mohamed-zahed-imam-homosexuel-entend-laisser-religion-barbus-cisgenres |title=Marseille : Ludovic Mohamed Zahed, imam et homosexuel, entend ne pas " laisser la religion aux barbus cisgenres "|work=20 minutes|last=Vella |first=Alexandre |date=9 June 2021|accessdate=6 September 2022}}
Personal life
Zahed is HIV-positive, having contracted the illness as a teenager. In 2011, while same-sex marriage had yet to be legalized in France, he legally married a South African man in Cape Town. They later moved to France, and were united by another, religious marriage ceremony (having no legal value in France) performed by an imam in 2012.
In June 2019, Zahed gave an interview to Agenda, the blog of the World Economic Forum, regarding his experiences after his coming out as a homosexual man.{{Cite web|title=A gay imam's story: 'The dialogue is open in Islam – 10 years ago it wasn't'|url=https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/06/gay-imam-islam-paris-france-mosque/|access-date=2021-04-27|website=World Economic Forum|date=28 June 2019 |language=en}}
= Political views =
Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed has described himself as a "progressive Muslim" who argues that believers should "question institutional dogma" and insists that "neither homophobia or misogyny respect Islamic ethics".{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2012/nov/26/paris-gay-friendly-mosque|title=Why I want to open a gay-friendly mosque in Paris|work=The Guardian|date=26 November 2012|accessdate=20 October 2013}} Through his works, he has voiced his concerns for the Muslim community in France, and LGBT Muslims in particular, who according to him, are facing both threats of homonationalism and religious fundamentalism.{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://telquel.ma/2016/06/14/ludovic-mohamed-zahed-les-gays-musulmans-sont-la-meilleure-reponse-aux-fascismes_1501912|title=Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed : " Les gays musulmans sont la meilleure réponse aux fascismes "|work=TelQuel|last=Crétois |first=Jules |date=14 June 2016 |accessdate=6 September 2022}} In France, he has openly stood in favor of same-sex marriage.
Controversies
The opening of a Muslim prayer room by Zahed in Paris, which he described as more "inclusive" to LGBT believers, was met with mixed reaction from the rest of the Muslim community in France; a spokesman for the Grand Mosque of Paris stated that the prayer room did not belong to the Islamic community.{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2012/11/30/une-mosquee-ouverte-aux-homosexuels-pres-de-paris_1798351_3224.html |title=Une "mosquée" ouverte aux homosexuels près de Paris |work=Le Monde |date=30 November 2012 |accessdate=6 September 2022}}
In 2014, two Muslim Iranian women were married by Zahed in a religious ceremony held in Stockholm, Sweden, which prompted a group of Algerian Salafists to demand that Zahed be stripped of his Algerian citizenship.{{cite news|language=fr |url=https://www.parismatch.com/Actu/Societe/Ludovic-Mohamed-Zahed-un-imam-a-part-588938 |title=Musulman, gay et séropositif - Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed, un imam à part |work=parismatch.com |date=6 September 2014| accessdate=13 April 2019}}
Publications
- Homosexuality, Transidentity, and Islam: A Study of Scripture Confronting the Politics of Gender and Sexuality (2019), translated by Adi S. Bharat, Amsterdam University Press.
- LGBT Musulman-es: du Placard aux Lumières, face aux obscurantismes et aux homo-nationalismes (2016), Des Ailes sur un Tracteur.
- Queer Muslim Marriage: Struggle of a gay couple's true life story towards Inclusivity & Tawheed within Islam (2013), CALEM.
- Le Coran et la chair (2012), Éditions Max Milo.
- Révoltes extraordinaires: un enfant du sida autour du monde (2011), L'Harmattan.
See also
{{Portal|France|Islam|LGBTQ}}
References
{{Commons}}
{{Wikiquote|Homosexuality#Islam}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zahed, Ludovic-Mohamed}}
Category:20th-century French people
Category:21st-century French people
Category:20th-century French LGBTQ people
Category:21st-century French LGBTQ people
Category:Algerian emigrants to France
Category:Algerian LGBTQ people
Category:French LGBTQ rights activists
Category:French people with disabilities
Category:Algerian people with disabilities
External links
- [https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE3saqAXcc3ZA4xUaaUvmxpRxgREdTjvP A series of lectures by ludovic Mohmed Zahed, on is being LGBTQIA+ halal in Islam]