標題: Growing number of American Muslims challenging once-taboo causes
新聞來源: 美聯社 http://goo.gl/M890BD
大意：美國有一群穆斯林挑戰傳統穆斯林視之為禁忌的行為。他們相信一個人可以同時是
同性戀和穆斯林；男性與女性可一同在場禱告；女性可以佈道，並與不同信仰的人結婚─
他們主張對這些行為的限制來自於對伊斯蘭教法的保守詮釋，而他們可以指出支持其信念
的古蘭經經文（基於平等價值egalitarian values下的詮釋），據此形塑一個更為寬容的
伊斯蘭。
Omar Akersim prays regularly and observes the dawn-to-dusk Ramadan fast.
He is also openly gay.
Akersim, 26, is part of a small but growing number of American Muslims
challenging the long-standing interpretations of Islam that defined their
parents' world.
They believe that one can be gay and Muslim; that the sexes can pray shoulder-
to-shoulder; that females can preach and that Muslim women can marry outside
the faith – and they point to Quran passages to back them up.
The shift comes as young American Muslims work to reshape the faith they grew
up with so it fits better with their complex, dual identity, with one foot in
the world of their parents' immigrant beliefs and one foot in the ever-shifting
cultural landscape of America.
The result has been a growing internal dialogue about what it means to be
Muslim, as well as a scholarly effort to re-examine the Quran for new
interpretations that challenge rules that had seemed set in stone.
“Islam in America is being forced to kind of change and to reevaluate its
positions on things like homosexuality because of how we’re moving forward
culturally as a nation. It’s striving to make itself seen and known in the
cultural fabric and to do that, it does have to evolve,” said Akersim, who
leads a Los Angeles-based support group for gay Muslims. “Ten or 15 years ago,
this would have been impossible.”
The shift doesn't end with breaking obvious taboos, either. Young American
Muslims are making forays into fashion, music (Islamic punk rock, anyone?)
and stirring things up with unorthodox takes on staples of American pop
culture.
A recent controversial YouTube video, for example, shows Muslim hipsters – or
"Mipsterz" – skateboarding in head scarves and skinny jeans as Jay-Z's
“Somewhere in America” blasts in the background.
Nearly 40 percent of the estimated 2.75 million Muslims in the U.S. are
American-born and the number is growing, with the Muslim population skewing
younger than the U.S. population at large, according to a 2011 Pew Research
Center survey.
Advocates for a more tolerant Islam say the constraints on interfaith marriage
and homosexuality aren't in the Quran, but are based on conservative interpreta
tions of Islamic law that have no place in the U.S. Historically, in many
Muslim countries, there are instances of unsegregated prayers and interfaith
marriage.
"I think it’s fair to say the traditional Islam that we experienced excluded
a lot of Muslims that were on the margins. I always felt not very welcomed by
the type of Islam my parents practiced," said Tanzila Ahmed, 35, who published
an anthology of love stories by Muslim American women in 2012 called “Love
Inshallah.”
Many second-generation American Muslims still practice their faith in
traditional ways, but others are starting to see the Islam of their parents
as more of a cultural identity, said Dr. Yvonne Haddad, a Georgetown University
professor who has written extensively about Islam's integration into U.S.
society.
As a result, there’s a new emphasis on meeting for prayer and socializing in
neutral spaces, such as community centers, instead of mosques, and on universal
inclusion.
"Some of them still want a mosque, they still want to belong and to pray and
others are shifting and they are very comfortable being non-religious," Haddad
said. "These people feel that they can get rid of the hang-ups of what the
culture has defined as Muslim and maintain the beliefs and values, the
spiritual values, and feel very comfortable by shedding all the other
restrictions that society has put on them.”
In Los Angeles, a religious group called Muslims for Progressive Values has
been pushing the boundaries with a female imam who performs same-sex and
interfaith marriages, support groups for gay Muslims and a worship style that
includes women giving sermons and men and women praying together. The group
has chapters in half a dozen major U.S. cities and at least six foreign
countries and last year was recognized by the United Nations as an official
non-governmental organization.
Founder Ani Zonneveld, a Muslim singer and songwriter of Malaysian descent,
started the group in 2007 after she recorded some Islamic pop music that
generated a backlash because it featured a Muslim woman singing.
"For us, the interpretation of Islam is egalitarian values – and by
egalitarian it’s not just words that we speak. It’s practice,” she said.
"It’s freedom of religion and from religion, too."
Akersim, the gay Muslim, knows first-hand how hard this shift will be.
Last year, he fled his parents' home in the middle of the night after they
called him at work and demanded to know when he was going to get married.
He stays in touch with his mother, but hasn't spoken to his father in a year
and a half.
Now, he avoids mosques but prays privately. He has no regrets about coming out,
he said."All these struggles that I've had to endure have only brought me
closer to God," Akersim said. "Within that storm, I feel like I've been able to
persevere because of my faith, because of this strength from God."
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