Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Politics and Religion
Muslims vs. Their Woke Allies

Muslims vs. Their Woke Allies

Last updated on: November 9, 2022 at 6:00 am by Gene Veith

0 Comments

Muslims vs. Their Woke Allies 2022-11-05T12:58:34-04:00 Gene Veith

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Among the biggest puzzlers of our time is why leftists are so supportive of Muslims, given their stance on women, LGBT issues, sexual morality, and other moral issues. Another is why Muslims are so supportive of leftists, given their stances on those issues.

The first puzzle can be partially solved by the leftist doctrine of ‘intersectionality.” Progressives maintain that Muslims are oppressed, due to Western colonialism and the “war on terrorism.” Plus, most Muslims have brown skin, so they qualify as “people of color.” Intersectionality teaches that all oppressed groups–women, homosexuals, Blacks, Hispanics, the disabled, etc.—must become “allies” of each other in their common struggle against white heterosexual male supremacy.

The second puzzle is more puzzling. Apparently, Muslims feel that leftists are at least on their side and that progressive politicians serve their rational self-interests when it comes to immigration, opposing Israel, and the like.

But Muslims seem to be waking up–as opposed to being “woke”–to the contradictions between their convictions and their leftist allies. In Dearborn, Michigan, which has a large Muslim population, parents of that religion have seen the explicit sex, promotion of homosexuality, and encouragement of gender changing in the public schools. Like Christian and even many liberal parents, they are shocked and appalled. So Muslims have been complaining at school board meetings, demonstrating, and exerting political pressure to get this kind of material out of the classroom and away from their children.

Progressives–including the Dearborn congressional representative Rashida Tlaib, who identifies as Muslim and is a member with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of the hard left “squad”– responded to the protests by calling them acts of “hate” and “bigotry,” in which Muslims were manipulated by Republicans and the Christian right. And yet, the protesting Muslims were more successful than Christians usually are, and the books were removed.

Two Muslims, Zain Siddiqi and Farhana K., have written a fascinating explanation of the Dearborn protests. They give cogent reasons for opposing the sexualization of children in public schools–reasons that Christians can agree with–and go on to object to the condescension neo-colonialism and racism of the left.

From the online Islamic magazine Traversing Tradition, Dearborn Schools and the Protests against LGBTQ Books:

The rhetoric leveled at protesters is largely ironic, considering that the Left has been long engaging in a subversion of the Muslim community in attempt to capitalize on the alienation perpetrated by the Right. Muslims have largely been convinced into supporting the Left’s social causes as a means to better their own situation regarding issues like discrimination and immigration. . . .

The premise that Muslims protesting these schools are falling prey to “culture wars” and are victims of a “dangerous ideology” also suggests that Islam is not at all morally opposed to the material being presented in these books. While the Islamic attitude to sin differs from Christianity, it does not mean that Islam gives a green light to hypersexualized content. This is the same case for viewing homosexual acts as a sin. . . .

For years, Islam in America has been racialized in the political sphere, assumed to be fully onboard the progressive bandwagon, given the decades of discrimination and scrutiny. Since we as Muslims are under the boot with other minorities, we are expected to automatically band together and support all causes amongst the subjugated. This idea supposes that Muslims should abandon their principles in support of an amalgamated idea of a “greater good,” an idea which contradicts the very spirit of Islam. . . .

We should note here that it is not only the sexual content and explicit nature of the books that are and should be protested. Considering the outrage to be restricted to “only” the pornography-esque presentation and not LGBT is a common refrain, but the situation is more nuanced than that. What is also being protested is the evolving nature of sexuality and hyper-sexualization of society. . . .What is at issue here is the condescending demands that the Muslim community confirm belief in hegemonic ideas about gender and sexuality, or be branded bigots.

Sexual activity between two men or two women fall under liwat, categorically forbidden in orthodox Islamic beliefs. Even if a Muslim were to engage in liwat, the deen necessitates its rejection as a moral act necessitating tawba (repentance). Furthermore, premarital intimacy is forbidden, and masturbation is largely prohibited. As such, even an ideal teaching and explanation of sexuality among Muslims conflicts with wider societal acceptance of fornication, masturbation, and affirming of same-sex sexual activity as moral.

See also a similar response to the LGBTQ Identity movement by a Muslim woman that we have blogged about.

Shouldn’t Christians make common cause with Muslims on these moral and civic issues? The article says that Muslim parents had no idea what their children were being exposed to, until a Christian woman showed them the textbooks. The authors say that while conservatives have sometimes favored discriminatory policies against Muslims–mentioning Trump’s restrictions on allowing Muslims into the country–at least conservatives support religious liberty and moral truth. Maybe, the authors say, on an issue-by-issue basis Muslims can “ally” with conservatives, using a term favored by the intersectionalists.

Photo: “Iftar at Habib’s Cuisine in Dearborn” from GPA Photo Archives via Flickr, CC 2.0 License

Education and Religion

Islamic sexual ethics

LGBTQ agenda in schools

Muslim alliance with the left

Muslim school book protests

progressives

Previous Post

November 8, 2022

Thoughts on Today's Election

Next Post

November 10, 2022 Midterm Election Post-Mortem

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Turns out, she wasn’t the right tool for the job."

1another

Luther on Tools

"You may have just given me my next sermon opening line."

1another

Luther on Tools

"So Katie Zacharia lasted only a demiScaramucci as press secretary......"

reg

Luther on Tools

"Apropos to the post on Gen Z a couple days ago: "If you want the ..."

Steve Bauer

Luther on Tools

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category America Apologetics Art baseball Bible Blog Christ Church crime Culture Economics Education Ethics Family Food Football Government History Holidays Holy Week Humor International Islam Language Law Life Issues Literature Media Medicine Movies Music Nature News Personal Philosophy Politics psychology Reformation Religions Sacraments Science sex Social Science Sports technology television terrorism Theology Uncategorized Vocation war

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many commandments were written on stone tablets?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Ten Thirteen Twelve Seven

Books by This Author Books by Gene Veith

See All Titles »