1 00:00:00,090 --> 00:00:05,580 Well, I think while we are waiting for everybody who would like to join us to do so. 2 00:00:05,580 --> 00:00:12,960 I will say a few words about our seminars on women's rights in the Middle East, which started in 2009. 3 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:25,320 For those of you who don't know these seminars and their idea was to actually find out more about what recent research is going on, 4 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:29,520 contemporary research in relation to women's rights in the Middle East, 5 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:37,040 as opposed to just repeating what we already know about women's rights in the least, because a lot of things have changed. 6 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:46,440 And as part of that, we also have included an immediate easterns in the diaspora or from the Muslim warning widely. 7 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:55,790 The other aspect which we have also covered is this a question of looking also at some historical context as well as contemporary want to give 8 00:00:55,790 --> 00:01:04,880 it actually proper framework to what in the past has been some women who had probably been activists in the field of Muslim women's rights. 9 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:10,160 So we are now assisting those and now we're in the 11th year of doing so. 10 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:15,750 And it is a particularly great pleasure for me to introduce our speaker today. 11 00:01:15,750 --> 00:01:26,300 Benjamin de Gaulle was currently a PHC candidate in sociology at the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences in Paris. 12 00:01:26,300 --> 00:01:33,540 He's also a member of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences and Religion at the Senate race, which is the on last year. 13 00:01:33,540 --> 00:01:41,150 Now there are whole show scientific centre for Studies in social sciences of religion in modern countries, 14 00:01:41,150 --> 00:01:52,550 and he's cutting it currently a member of Missal from says in Oxford, Benjamin, who is also a member of the Jewish Muslim Research Network. 15 00:01:52,550 --> 00:02:01,460 Benjamin's research is mainly situated in this intersection of social sciences, of religion, gender studies and queer studies. 16 00:02:01,460 --> 00:02:12,590 And it is looking at their initiatives designed by Muslim communities themselves to promote gender equality within an Islamic framework. 17 00:02:12,590 --> 00:02:20,210 And he also has got a particular interest in democracy and secularism and the way politics, 18 00:02:20,210 --> 00:02:26,340 the impact on lived experiences of Muslim minorities on the ground. 19 00:02:26,340 --> 00:02:36,620 At his presentation today is of particular interest to me, especially because this is an issue which has actually been very addressed, very little. 20 00:02:36,620 --> 00:02:41,810 I don't know of very many similar studies of how you're looking at the context of 21 00:02:41,810 --> 00:02:49,370 the mosque and the queer studies and and a comparison between France and the UK. 22 00:02:49,370 --> 00:02:54,440 So the title of Benjamin's presentation is God Does Not Discriminate. 23 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:59,990 Inclusive Mosques, Politics in France and the United Kingdom. 24 00:02:59,990 --> 00:03:03,920 Benjamin, please go ahead. You have got 45 minutes. All right. 25 00:03:03,920 --> 00:03:11,950 Thank you very much. Thanks for allowing me to be part of this and read it today. 26 00:03:11,950 --> 00:03:19,060 I would just share my point. So, no, you should see my slides is outright. 27 00:03:19,060 --> 00:03:23,200 Yes. OK, perfect. So, yes. 28 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:32,260 Thank you, everybody, for frightened things. This seminar. These studies I am presenting today is part of my ongoing research on practises of 29 00:03:32,260 --> 00:03:39,130 inclusion and care by and for queer Muslims groups in both France and the United Kingdom, 30 00:03:39,130 --> 00:03:43,180 which is a study that started in 2000 and 18. 31 00:03:43,180 --> 00:03:50,020 It relies on the Rafie data collected during moments of participant observation during social and religious events, 32 00:03:50,020 --> 00:03:56,590 organising inclusive musk and queer Muslim organisations. And there is also a similar structure. 33 00:03:56,590 --> 00:04:02,500 Interviews with religious leaders and organisation members. 34 00:04:02,500 --> 00:04:07,060 I am especially interested in feminist ethics of care. 35 00:04:07,060 --> 00:04:12,190 As theorised by John Tronto and every night come Glenn Beyond the Secret, 36 00:04:12,190 --> 00:04:18,170 our approach to Care I research health care can be performed in a religious framework in 37 00:04:18,170 --> 00:04:24,160 contemporary Muslim communities in line with what's a South African that's called our class. 38 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:35,690 Classing as your eyes, as pastoral care. And as Janet Julie argued, in light of the Islamic ethics of justice, 39 00:04:35,690 --> 00:04:42,050 they are political Solidarity's to be built between secular feminist and Muslim communities 40 00:04:42,050 --> 00:04:48,200 to emphasise the role of care as necessary to assist a noble and flourishing society. 41 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:59,630 So as he sees, this would be my theoretical framework. Today, I want to focus on two inclusive mosques, one in France and one in the United Kingdom. 42 00:04:59,630 --> 00:05:02,960 And how is the approach care by inclusive mosque? 43 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:13,320 I mean a mosque welcoming believers in Mink's congregations regardless of their gender, sexuality, ethnicity or even social status. 44 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:19,850 These bases especially care for Muslim marginalised within the larger Muslim community. 45 00:05:19,850 --> 00:05:25,520 There are a few more inclusive spaces in each country, in France and the United Kingdom. 46 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:36,080 But these are as a two must put spaces. So far as these last few years, Xao Bufferin by women and interesting Lizzies women, 47 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:42,730 all aimed at responding to the needs expressed by the religious community. 48 00:05:42,730 --> 00:05:43,570 So similarly, 49 00:05:43,570 --> 00:05:53,620 two Turkish women is a women in most movements that may not talked about during the last seminar as these women witnessed and experienced themselves, 50 00:05:53,620 --> 00:06:03,580 inequalities of access to religious spaces, they say, finds a woman's room of their most often dirty, difficult to access. 51 00:06:03,580 --> 00:06:09,370 They experience so no woman who experience difficulty to engage in religious rituals 52 00:06:09,370 --> 00:06:14,500 and to connect proves the divine because of a lack of appropriate facilities. 53 00:06:14,500 --> 00:06:19,860 And because a women's room. Often that's the end of a set of stairs. 54 00:06:19,860 --> 00:06:25,200 Elderly woman in D.C. Both women have difficulties to access these spaces, especially, 55 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:33,540 so it's because of all these difficulties that these spaces have been created in the first place. 56 00:06:33,540 --> 00:06:39,060 So this is a really important dimension of this mosque as they emerge from a sense of 57 00:06:39,060 --> 00:06:45,090 responsibility shared by Muslim woman to accommodate and care for marginalised Muslims, 58 00:06:45,090 --> 00:06:53,500 for women, but also for other groups. And in that sense, these women have the same rationale as more conservative Muslim woman. 59 00:06:53,500 --> 00:07:03,930 I am thinking of ethnographic studies conducted by John and Julie in France and Germany or Sonya Contracter in the United Kingdom on Orthodox 60 00:07:03,930 --> 00:07:13,440 Muslim woman groups who were sceptical of feminism and focussed preferred to focus on their role on the roles they could play for their community, 61 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:17,280 on their duties rather than their individual rights. 62 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:30,480 And in each case, for both feminist groups and more orthodox group of women, it's a sense of responsibility which always triggers that action. 63 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:36,600 So we're going to look at the best talker, different for queer Muslim woman especially. 64 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:46,200 Yes. I'm so sorry to interrupt you. I meant to ask people, please ask your questions as we go along so we can then address them off. 65 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:50,100 So that's finished. Sorry. Eventually. I have not mentioned. Please go at. 66 00:07:50,100 --> 00:07:54,240 No reason. So, yes, I as I was saying, we're going to cancel testimony. 67 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:58,540 Can't develop especially for Christmas with most. 68 00:07:58,540 --> 00:08:05,740 Just to be specific, as a lot of people may know, here is the word Craig used to be an insult against people, 69 00:08:05,740 --> 00:08:14,950 Priscu of deaths, sexually deviant in English, which has since been reappropriated by sexual minorities globally. 70 00:08:14,950 --> 00:08:26,650 It is mainly used in English speaking context. So in France, women would tend to use other words to define themselves, such as lesbian or transgender. 71 00:08:26,650 --> 00:08:32,740 But in the U.K. is the word queer is quite popular amongst Muslim woman. 72 00:08:32,740 --> 00:08:39,340 And I think especially because he does not refer to a particular gender or sexuality. 73 00:08:39,340 --> 00:08:45,370 It enables women to define themselves outside of a more normative framework. 74 00:08:45,370 --> 00:08:51,430 Why remaining unspecific about Sarah Purdy's, about their gender, about their sexuality. 75 00:08:51,430 --> 00:08:57,000 And that's such I think it's resonates with an aesthetic value of modesty. 76 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:05,520 So in this presentation, I will remain unspecific on purpose when it comes to the name of the participants as an image of the 77 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:13,290 organisations involved and the geographical location so as to protect the participants privacy. 78 00:09:13,290 --> 00:09:19,870 These two mosque above, including the Zavitz, slightly different atolls. 79 00:09:19,870 --> 00:09:26,920 I'm going to develop that idea later on. But first, I just want to give you a bit of background on the East story about this mosque. 80 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:28,210 So is he in inclosing? 81 00:09:28,210 --> 00:09:38,070 Mosque in France emerge from a small community locally, which has progressively been building up on social media through a Facebook page. 82 00:09:38,070 --> 00:09:48,750 The two founders are to enter a sexual woman who used to go to another inquisitive mosque which had been funded by a gay imam in Paris in 2010. 83 00:09:48,750 --> 00:09:58,330 This is the first mosque has since been clubs and these woman's and opened their own inclusive mosque in September 2019. 84 00:09:58,330 --> 00:10:00,460 So why comparing this to a mosque? 85 00:10:00,460 --> 00:10:08,950 We need to keep in mind that the French mosque is actually a young mosque, kissed a very recent project in the United Kingdom. 86 00:10:08,950 --> 00:10:15,450 As a woman and more time to attempt at practises and to, you know, get feedback from that congregation. 87 00:10:15,450 --> 00:10:25,400 So, Zain, because a mosque in London has been funded in 2012 by a group of Chrome was a woman who were previously involved in the LGBT Muslim 88 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:35,370 organisation and which were also involved in academic research projects regarding the needs of queer Muslim women in the United Kingdom, 89 00:10:35,370 --> 00:10:43,360 findings that must resources online and in real life, where mainly aimed at men, at queer Muslim men, 90 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:47,840 anxiety, there was a need for more inclusive space for vulnerable Muslim woman. 91 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:52,790 They created a mosque based on the principle of radical in Christianity. 92 00:10:52,790 --> 00:10:59,240 So a common pungency story of this mosque so far is that as a personal experience of career, 93 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:05,570 Muslims are always at the root of these initiatives because even in this case of France, 94 00:11:05,570 --> 00:11:14,270 the experience of as a gay imam, informed and inspire, was a project out of the current mosque. 95 00:11:14,270 --> 00:11:23,000 So the question I'm trying to answer today is, oh, is pastoral care being developed for Chrom Whistlin women in if mosques? 96 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:26,460 And we're going to go through three different key bombs. 97 00:11:26,460 --> 00:11:33,080 The first one is we're going to look at some different understandings that this mosque of inclusive team, 98 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:43,490 which is very much informed by different political imagineering, is an influenza kind of pastoral care, which is being provided INSS spaces. 99 00:11:43,490 --> 00:11:44,780 In a second part, 100 00:11:44,780 --> 00:11:54,350 we're going to look more closely at the care practises within the mosque and they participate in constructing the subjectivity of Muslim woman. 101 00:11:54,350 --> 00:12:02,000 And in the last hour, we're going to look at the obstacles says these women are facing while creating and developing their mosque. 102 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:09,510 And very quickly, that ambition for the future. So is the United Kingdom, is it intrusive? 103 00:12:09,510 --> 00:12:16,740 Musk embraces an Islamic feminism, which is heavily influenced by the work of I mean, why do it? 104 00:12:16,740 --> 00:12:24,370 And they find it's inclusive. As radical, inclusive. I will not talk about Savides sort of Islamic feminism, 105 00:12:24,370 --> 00:12:31,150 which are being developed globally because it's not really is a goal of this presentation and who take too long. 106 00:12:31,150 --> 00:12:37,900 What I am interested in, in this presentation is our particular kind of Islamic feminism, 107 00:12:37,900 --> 00:12:43,060 which will be a feminist Islamic feminism, sorry, promoted by I mean, we're doomed. 108 00:12:43,060 --> 00:12:52,560 And sisters in Islam manifest itself and is being implemented in a grassroots organisation in a local mosque in the United Kingdom. 109 00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:59,610 So there has been an epistemological shift in the work of I mean, what do these last 20 years? 110 00:12:59,610 --> 00:13:04,860 She previously understood women as part of the binary between men and woman. 111 00:13:04,860 --> 00:13:14,840 And within an eight or normative framework where men and women at complementary qualities and fraud's to the year 2000, 112 00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:23,730 what would progressively started considering gender as more Frade and gender as a category of and is conceptually allowed to 113 00:13:23,730 --> 00:13:32,940 move away from complementarity of the sexes and compulsory heterosexuality to give room to what she calls sexual diversity. 114 00:13:32,940 --> 00:13:37,810 It is visible in the literature she produces, but also in our discourse. 115 00:13:37,810 --> 00:13:44,280 And in addition to whether it's out, there is also the influence of the colonial studies, 116 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:47,910 which are very present in the discourse of the mosque members. 117 00:13:47,910 --> 00:13:54,190 So women running the mosque are characterised by a strong cultural and educational capital. 118 00:13:54,190 --> 00:14:02,430 So our highly educated peers deliver most of the time and often identify compulsory atter of sexuality 119 00:14:02,430 --> 00:14:09,600 as the produce of modern bioplastics systematically imposed on Muslim society through colonisation. 120 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:17,880 So therefore, critiques of colonisation and Aitor on the mighty V.T. often go hand-in-hand in the discourse of this mosque. 121 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:23,160 We can better understand the epistemological shift in the work of do it by 122 00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:29,370 looking at a speech she gave ING's Inclusive Moleskins the UK in September 2017. 123 00:14:29,370 --> 00:14:38,650 And this is how she introduced her speech. I quote. Because I am personally located in this as a cis gender female, 124 00:14:38,650 --> 00:14:48,310 I have not vetted myself for every single word about whether or not I am equally intrusive in terms of the location from the LGBTQ community. 125 00:14:48,310 --> 00:14:52,450 And that is also Konsta, contextually significant, I think, 126 00:14:52,450 --> 00:14:59,500 because working for what we used to call gender reform was primarily within the context of their own maturity. 127 00:14:59,500 --> 00:15:06,340 I think it's important for me to let you know that I might slip into a certain presumption of veteran immaturity, 128 00:15:06,340 --> 00:15:13,410 because that is a way in which the gender movement was shaped. But it is not where it is finished. 129 00:15:13,410 --> 00:15:24,210 So this can explain the rationale of the mosque of radical incredulity, the responsibility to care for the community is extended to sexual minorities. 130 00:15:24,210 --> 00:15:30,870 Amongst are ostracised groups was identities and specific position that issues are taken into account. 131 00:15:30,870 --> 00:15:38,460 And you can see in this text on the right, which promotes an Evans of the mosque, I quote, All are welcome. 132 00:15:38,460 --> 00:15:43,590 And we sometimes the voices of Muslims who are women, non binary, gender, queer, 133 00:15:43,590 --> 00:15:57,850 black and disabled especially so populations which are on the margins and who have difficulties to access religious spaces in the UK especially. 134 00:15:57,850 --> 00:16:02,220 So Roger Clinton credibility extends beyond gender and sexuality. 135 00:16:02,220 --> 00:16:07,330 Participant can share experience of being a marginalised minority, Weaving's and Muslim community. 136 00:16:07,330 --> 00:16:14,560 However, this shared experience does not mean there is no existing prejudices between the individuals in this mosque. 137 00:16:14,560 --> 00:16:18,490 If we consider the experience of being who is on the left, 138 00:16:18,490 --> 00:16:30,550 here is an utter or sexual sej under a man who has been occasionally leading the prayers and giving sermons on Fridays in these settings us, I quote. 139 00:16:30,550 --> 00:16:39,340 So I wasn't necessarily at the increasing mosque because of his gender politics at the beginning, such as seemed like a nice addition for me. 140 00:16:39,340 --> 00:16:49,790 What was more important was its non-sectarian nature. And that's because even though I grew up in a Middle Eastern country, I'm not from there. 141 00:16:49,790 --> 00:16:55,700 And in fact, I belong to a religious minority which falls under one of the Shia schools of Islam. 142 00:16:55,700 --> 00:16:58,640 And so in the Middle Eastern country. 143 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:06,410 And this is something that I contraries speak to openly about Zehr, is that my community is not allowed to practise freely. 144 00:17:06,410 --> 00:17:10,700 Because there are restrictions on Shia Muslims practising in that country. 145 00:17:10,700 --> 00:17:18,680 And so because of that, like I own race, that is a cute sort of sense that there was this part of me that I wasn't sharing. 146 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:25,970 So even though I would lead prayer in university, for example, most of my friends didn't know that I was Shia. 147 00:17:25,970 --> 00:17:34,070 And so that's not in fact, I also like so a lot of anti Shia sentiment being openly shared. 148 00:17:34,070 --> 00:17:39,350 And so because of that, I couldn't, in a sense, come out as Shia easer. 149 00:17:39,350 --> 00:17:46,100 So I think a similar vocabulary of aiding and not coming out is interesting in itself 150 00:17:46,100 --> 00:17:52,010 as it's triggered to be research for an inquisitive space when you move to the UK. 151 00:17:52,010 --> 00:18:02,560 So you lived in the UK for four years. And it's especially interesting to compare this to what being a queer Muslim woman with a Sydney background 152 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:09,180 to say about the presence of Shia Muslim in light of her own experience as part of a sexual minority. 153 00:18:09,180 --> 00:18:18,080 And I quote, There are some forms that I have recently found out of Shiite ism, which for me is slightly concerning, 154 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:24,580 but I'm not trying to put too much focus on it, because if I do that, then I feel lands of personal words, 155 00:18:24,580 --> 00:18:30,890 if I'm trying to do with myself, is going down with the roots that I am familiar with in terms of the judgement, 156 00:18:30,890 --> 00:18:37,370 the, you know, having an opinion and then just forcing it on everyone else kind of thing. 157 00:18:37,370 --> 00:18:46,730 So I'm trying to keep an open mind, is what I'm trying to say, because what I want to take out of this experience is a good that comes out of it, 158 00:18:46,730 --> 00:18:53,510 which is really just folding on creating connexion with people's Atami that have similar views. 159 00:18:53,510 --> 00:18:56,690 And that's how hope and being vulnerable. 160 00:18:56,690 --> 00:19:05,780 So the mosque is out for best with incredulity is not only postulated or photo if it is performed despite prejudices, 161 00:19:05,780 --> 00:19:11,300 sometimes Muslims who have different practises get together and engage in 162 00:19:11,300 --> 00:19:18,990 alternative practises in Shia or Sufi rituals to express Vivus way of being Muslim, 163 00:19:18,990 --> 00:19:31,860 ways of practising that they wouldn't necessarily be exposed to Exell local tradition of mosque or at home, especially share rituals that matter. 164 00:19:31,860 --> 00:19:36,040 So women's in because it musk in the U.K. follow an genetics of justice, 165 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:42,040 seeming out to more conservative Islamic movement but affected by an epistemological shift. 166 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:48,310 As we've seen in terms of gender and sexual age, politics as fear rise by Islamic feminist cutters. 167 00:19:48,310 --> 00:19:55,930 Beyond this, an ethos of radical incredulity is being applied, which Allen West came from different backgrounds to joins a community. 168 00:19:55,930 --> 00:20:01,480 Things are very different in France. Actually, it is interesting mosque in France. 169 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:11,830 When asked about the inclusion and care of Muslim sexual minority L, which is who is an imam and one of the funder of the mosque, responded to me. 170 00:20:11,830 --> 00:20:22,420 I quote, There are two things. First, that within the mosque there is no discrimination to be made on the basis of somebody's sexual orientation. 171 00:20:22,420 --> 00:20:27,250 And then we also have a theological discourse that we hold on this topic. 172 00:20:27,250 --> 00:20:31,420 And so, no, being Muslim and homosexual is not a problem. 173 00:20:31,420 --> 00:20:36,040 It is an incompatible. The Koran doesn't it doesn't deal with this. 174 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:42,400 So that's it. We also add these few logical positions that we affirm whenever necessary. 175 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:49,480 That's it. But then deep down, it's a bit like the motto of many men or a place of women. 176 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:54,340 Women should hold in Islam. We talk about it when it's necessary. 177 00:20:54,340 --> 00:21:00,250 But in the mosque, we don't talk about that. We really try to talk about spirituality. 178 00:21:00,250 --> 00:21:05,890 So it's pretty the same approach, actually, that we advocate with the matter of sexuality. 179 00:21:05,890 --> 00:21:12,280 We don't want to fall into feminism as much as we don't want or falling to LGBT priv indications. 180 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:17,590 It's really the same approach that we have on both topics. 181 00:21:17,590 --> 00:21:27,580 And so these two imams in France do not wish to talk about politics in the mosque and especially not identity politics, 182 00:21:27,580 --> 00:21:38,230 as this is a major difference with the increasing mosque in the U.K., which aims at, as we've seen, two Sunter marginalised individuals in its face. 183 00:21:38,230 --> 00:21:46,180 And to better understand disease. I think we need to consider that both imams in France are converts, 184 00:21:46,180 --> 00:21:53,620 Muslim converts from a white Catholic background, and they're ready tend to talk about identity politics. 185 00:21:53,620 --> 00:21:58,060 And I think it is useful to see how they pursue migratory culture, 186 00:21:58,060 --> 00:22:07,930 which will be a culture of most native Muslims in France when describing a previous experience in Tarique cards before opening the mosque. 187 00:22:07,930 --> 00:22:13,800 L can imagine one of the funder mentions feeling uncomfortable. 188 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:23,160 She says that there was a, quote, a mix of confusion between religion and culture, as these were Tarique, as meaning from the. 189 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:27,810 And there was really a mix what it was controlling marked as McGreavy. 190 00:22:27,810 --> 00:22:35,760 And it really made me uncomfortable because I converted to Islam because of the appeal of this religious tradition. 191 00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:40,470 But not at all for for a form of culture in relation to a nose. 192 00:22:40,470 --> 00:22:45,930 It was really like everybody in Jeddah back was goose and minty for lunch. 193 00:22:45,930 --> 00:22:55,470 And so Kay, which is Zahos, our cofounder, said, I quote, That is to say that we are we are above converts. 194 00:22:55,470 --> 00:23:01,950 We are from a European culture, Western, which makes mixed congregation for us. 195 00:23:01,950 --> 00:23:12,180 It's almost self-evident. So here we can see that LNKD of Distance himself from Negro culture and attributes some of their practises, 196 00:23:12,180 --> 00:23:17,290 such as mixed prayers as related to their own European culture. 197 00:23:17,290 --> 00:23:22,080 So this is coherent with the findings of Oser ethnographic studies for Europe, 198 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:28,080 where a group of Muslim converts seek what they sometimes call a church or free Islam. 199 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:35,010 For example, Venice Sovereign Nation in the Netherlands on Michela Rogas Insulter in Spain 200 00:23:35,010 --> 00:23:40,640 conducted ethnographic research with groups of Muslim converts and natives, 201 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:45,060 and officials at Comverse tend to distance themselves from immigrants culture and 202 00:23:45,060 --> 00:23:51,530 seek a practise of Islam in line with what they see as their own cultural values. 203 00:23:51,530 --> 00:23:58,100 So we need to ask yourself what would be and Kate, cultural values. 204 00:23:58,100 --> 00:24:04,580 And I think in France, Republican universalism is a dominant political imaginary. 205 00:24:04,580 --> 00:24:10,400 It is a legacy of the French, Lightman's and NYes. That's a foundation of French citizenship. 206 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:15,530 And aside from the dominant political culture, from the dominant French culture, 207 00:24:15,530 --> 00:24:21,050 sorry, any ethno religious particularism is seen as belonging to the private sphere, 208 00:24:21,050 --> 00:24:27,950 while in the public sphere, only a unique and universal citizenship ought to be expressed. 209 00:24:27,950 --> 00:24:35,540 And this is upheld by Lay Tate French secularism as a separation between the state and religion, 210 00:24:35,540 --> 00:24:41,480 which makes unlost impossible any political claim on religious grounds. 211 00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:53,660 So he sees the theory, and in practise it's even more true for Islam compared to Christianity and especially capitalism, which enjoy more privileges. 212 00:24:53,660 --> 00:25:00,530 I would say compared to Islam, which is still very much seen as a region of, 213 00:25:00,530 --> 00:25:07,580 you know, an outsider kind of religion by the state and by the political elite. 214 00:25:07,580 --> 00:25:16,580 So this might explain why in arms, both L and K are reluctant to engage in identity politics, 215 00:25:16,580 --> 00:25:24,830 which offers a vast contrary to our values of universalism and refuse to address political matters in a religious context. 216 00:25:24,830 --> 00:25:29,960 That is not to said that Zafrin nationalist understanding of religiosity as outgrowth, 217 00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:35,810 quite critical of the state discourse, stigmatising women, Muslim woman wearing a veil. 218 00:25:35,810 --> 00:25:40,730 But this criticism takes place in the framework of a broader political imaginary, 219 00:25:40,730 --> 00:25:45,320 which has an impact on the way religious minorities can express themselves. 220 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:51,890 So if we look at the work of the philosopher AbdelNaby DA, he's a strong inspiration for this mosque. 221 00:25:51,890 --> 00:25:57,930 What he's saying regarding justice and Islam is similar to the work of Islamic feminists, such as Why do the opposite? 222 00:25:57,930 --> 00:26:05,450 Banyo are saying he has no doubt that equality between men and women can be achieved in an Islamic framework, 223 00:26:05,450 --> 00:26:12,350 and it opposes rigid, fixed tradition to come back to genetics of justice against all professions. 224 00:26:12,350 --> 00:26:19,670 But his rhetoric is also very much informed by Republican universalism, creating a out on bigots and gender. 225 00:26:19,670 --> 00:26:29,360 He calls for a secular, centralised political movement where progressive Muslims would oppose obscurantism thanks to French humanist values. 226 00:26:29,360 --> 00:26:35,570 And its political imaginary has a strong impact on the way Islamic feminism develops in France. 227 00:26:35,570 --> 00:26:39,290 It is not discussed in a religious base such as inclusive mosque. 228 00:26:39,290 --> 00:26:48,500 But he's only talked about in one political organisation for Muslim woman who does not collaborate with the mosque and where solidarity between 229 00:26:48,500 --> 00:26:58,850 religious and secular organisation flourish in the UK context as a mosque and feminist organisation remains separated and isolated in France. 230 00:26:58,850 --> 00:27:05,480 Islamic feminism is just too political for inclusive mosque in France. 231 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:15,670 So within a mosque, this politically mature nery manifest in a different understanding of inclusive V.T. incredulity from universalism. 232 00:27:15,670 --> 00:27:22,740 Whereas us and paying special attention to the most marginalised LNKD choose to ignore the question of ethnic, 233 00:27:22,740 --> 00:27:26,280 gender and sexual identities altogether. 234 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:34,320 This is not without consequence consequences on the way pastoral care is fought off and conducted in the mosque. 235 00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:44,220 So now I want to look at the care practises within this mosque and this mosque have to come on the points when it comes to pastoral care. 236 00:27:44,220 --> 00:27:51,220 The first is that they focus on building and sharing knowledge, which is relevant with the experience of that congregation. 237 00:27:51,220 --> 00:28:01,240 And they do. So this is a civil point in a democratic setting, challenging traditional Iraqi education of all believers. 238 00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:07,300 And this is done for translation. Translation from Arabic to English or Arabic to French. 239 00:28:07,300 --> 00:28:15,070 An explanation regarding the historical context. During the Prophet's life and the time of the revelation. 240 00:28:15,070 --> 00:28:20,010 So to quote K one of the moment co-founder in France. 241 00:28:20,010 --> 00:28:27,510 I quote, The idea is that in a must creeley, let's say, ideal, it would be for each believer to be able, 242 00:28:27,510 --> 00:28:34,560 after some training, to turn to produce a discourse on the next hepped of the Koran on the theme. 243 00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:39,820 It is really is a slow cheque. I would say almost Democratic actually said if we want to, 244 00:28:39,820 --> 00:28:48,070 that we want to alight because I liked because in our eyes it is what Islam was about initially. 245 00:28:48,070 --> 00:28:53,740 An M an imam and co-founder in the U.K. says, I quote. 246 00:28:53,740 --> 00:28:57,790 No dates, people don't go to imams just to talk. 247 00:28:57,790 --> 00:29:04,890 Just to ask if they can do something, to ask if it's allowed in the Koran, say look online and read for themselves. 248 00:29:04,890 --> 00:29:09,340 The imams role is increasingly about pastoral care and counselling. 249 00:29:09,340 --> 00:29:13,220 And for many moms are important because women are of the community. 250 00:29:13,220 --> 00:29:20,320 I think trancing meme's or you mentally identify as queer is important to the democratisation of being an imam. 251 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:30,740 That's what it's all about. So, however, it is a different conception of increasingly to bring different practises of care. 252 00:29:30,740 --> 00:29:40,290 Why does the mosque and friends focus on generic religious practises discussing appropriate ways of fasting and praying in the sermons for everybody? 253 00:29:40,290 --> 00:29:50,390 The imams at a mosque in the U.K. tends to focus on social issues and often address issues relevant to specific experience of minorities. 254 00:29:50,390 --> 00:29:55,810 Pastoral care in the UK is being based on empirical evidence of what Krimsky women need, 255 00:29:55,810 --> 00:30:02,770 and I will therefore focus Norns of various practises designed for queer Muslim woman and Luskin's UK. 256 00:30:02,770 --> 00:30:09,850 The funders have conducted an ethnographic research from 2001 to 2005 and Benefit Qaid 257 00:30:09,850 --> 00:30:16,120 from the continued involvement of Krzeminski Woman from diverse backgrounds in the mosque. 258 00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:23,280 Pastoral care relies on the dialectic between the religious knowledge of the imams and the experiential knowledge of Krzeminski, 259 00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:28,690 a woman who attends Mass. So just to give you an example. 260 00:30:28,690 --> 00:30:32,620 This is what Vy is saying vs a member of the mosque. 261 00:30:32,620 --> 00:30:37,380 And here she explains what change in our understanding of the scriptures and Hogue's. 262 00:30:37,380 --> 00:30:42,850 This is relevant to our experience as a Krimsky woman. I quote. 263 00:30:42,850 --> 00:30:47,110 I knew what I was doing was sinful from a Koranic point of view, 264 00:30:47,110 --> 00:30:54,610 because the Quran suggests that homosexuality, Islam is based on the story of the prophet looked right. 265 00:30:54,610 --> 00:30:59,990 So I knew it was sinful, but I wasn't going to justify my action and change. 266 00:30:59,990 --> 00:31:07,840 What's the current saying, if that makes sense? So for me, I would rather see him sinful than say the Koran is wrong. 267 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:10,840 That was very important for me is to not alter was. 268 00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:19,390 The Koran is saying the workshops have helped me try to make sense of some of that, and that's altered some of my views that I had previously about. 269 00:31:19,390 --> 00:31:26,250 What does the Arabic actually say? Literally not having Arabic as a language that I was familiar with. 270 00:31:26,250 --> 00:31:29,590 I was I was in through prayers, et cetera. 271 00:31:29,590 --> 00:31:37,110 I think those are those that have that knowledge about Arabic language in the workshop helps to interpret what the Koran is trying to get. 272 00:31:37,110 --> 00:31:47,890 That's if that makes sense. So and that's at stage now where I'm kind of taking a step back and saying, well, actually, I didn't think about that. 273 00:31:47,890 --> 00:31:58,360 I didn't think about the fact that's the story of prophet. It was not actually directly linked to lesbians, you know, or men having consensual sex. 274 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:04,660 You know, that sort of valuations of some of the language and the linguistic that go now with it. 275 00:32:04,660 --> 00:32:11,640 I'm starting to appreciate, you know. So sharing's a few logical work of Islamic feminist, 276 00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:17,700 but also just considering the semantic complexities of Arabic can be especially of help for 277 00:32:17,700 --> 00:32:24,390 chromatin women who often feel guilt and shame over their personal aspirations and desires. 278 00:32:24,390 --> 00:32:28,980 But this requires to take into consideration their personal struggle. 279 00:32:28,980 --> 00:32:33,060 In the story of the Prophet looked the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. 280 00:32:33,060 --> 00:32:41,790 Punished by God for deep depravity is the dominant understanding in the Muslim world is a condemnation of homosexuality. 281 00:32:41,790 --> 00:32:46,390 As men engage in sexual acts with other men, however, 282 00:32:46,390 --> 00:32:52,620 such as Scott Cogo have argued that his intent crosses were not consensual and understand this 283 00:32:52,620 --> 00:33:01,460 as a condemnation of rape and its zis interpretations that he is referring to in this quote. 284 00:33:01,460 --> 00:33:08,630 So is a mosque in the U.K., Muslim women can express himself during monthly feminist discussion group, 285 00:33:08,630 --> 00:33:17,000 whereas I can read extract of the Koran and edits and analyse their relevance in light of that personal experience. 286 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:23,030 The Koran is often translated using gender neutral pronouns to refer to God. 287 00:33:23,030 --> 00:33:27,680 God is engender it is not a patriarchal figure anymore. 288 00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:38,150 And many women express relief at the idea that God did not have a specific gender which would make male domination a divine principle. 289 00:33:38,150 --> 00:33:44,640 The idea of an to go is also coherent with some system tests which are shared in the mosque, 290 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:50,300 especially if Arabie, fearing of a universe, duplicity of the soul. 291 00:33:50,300 --> 00:34:02,780 All living creatures sharing one soul regardless of gender. It must also occasionally asked workshops and Evans sexual health workshops, for example, 292 00:34:02,780 --> 00:34:07,640 addressing the vulnerability of sexual minorities in terms of mental and physical 293 00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:12,980 health and using the Koran to promote medical treatments and fight prejudice. 294 00:34:12,980 --> 00:34:18,910 For example, prejudice against sexual disease. They are HIV positive people. 295 00:34:18,910 --> 00:34:24,220 It can also be a space to open up, but expand Yancy's of abuse, 296 00:34:24,220 --> 00:34:31,780 sexual abuse in a community where these topics are not discussed and subject women to feeling shame and guilt on their own. 297 00:34:31,780 --> 00:34:40,770 Most of the time. They are also LGBT plus family workshops, which aim at preserving family bonds by sharing literature. 298 00:34:40,770 --> 00:34:46,230 Only Islam and homosexuality. So resources that mention I mean, why do its work? 299 00:34:46,230 --> 00:34:55,650 And Scott Cadel's work mainly and challenge the Dominion control narrative of coming out because in Western context, 300 00:34:55,650 --> 00:35:06,480 coming out as clear as gay as lesbian is celebrated more and more and is understood as a form of queer activism in itself. 301 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:10,500 And so they are trying to raise awareness that it is not mandatory. 302 00:35:10,500 --> 00:35:16,770 Coming out is not mandatory and that in some context it can be dangerous and harmful. 303 00:35:16,770 --> 00:35:23,830 So they are trying to put some distance with this kind of normalisation of coming out. 304 00:35:23,830 --> 00:35:33,400 They also recognised during this workshop and value queer families and queer Solidarity's as a different kind of kinship. 305 00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:39,640 So here we can drones the work of Saddam Mahmud's analysis of the mosque movement in Egypt. 306 00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:45,820 Reza discussed just best our fury of bloodily in speech performances as a condition of agency, 307 00:35:45,820 --> 00:35:49,330 signifying, interestingly, thanks to pictures of gnomes. 308 00:35:49,330 --> 00:35:57,620 So I would say that it isn't really between complying with or rebelling against one normative structure because these mass 309 00:35:57,620 --> 00:36:06,430 cosmopolis mosque cosmopolitan environments and they are a wide range of different normative structure at work here. 310 00:36:06,430 --> 00:36:15,820 But as men would fear rise and body as a medium rather than a sign of herself, a medium for which a pious self comes to be realised. 311 00:36:15,820 --> 00:36:24,550 And Mahmud especially takes the example of modesty and shyness who are being performed for wearing a veil 312 00:36:24,550 --> 00:36:34,720 and behaving in a shy way to then be internalised in constructing a pious self as a pious Muslim woman. 313 00:36:34,720 --> 00:36:40,990 I would argue that we can consider as a collective body of the congregation, 314 00:36:40,990 --> 00:36:50,170 as a medium for which collective virtuousness comes to be realised through inclusive, to bring to someone of a different gender. 315 00:36:50,170 --> 00:36:55,320 Getting conscious with your gesture because you're following the lead of a Shiite men while being silly, 316 00:36:55,320 --> 00:37:03,370 our performances seek to accommodate the awesomeness rather than rejecting it. 317 00:37:03,370 --> 00:37:08,590 One can train themself to accept an otherwise, you know, unusual presence. 318 00:37:08,590 --> 00:37:15,310 Try new religious performances and minorities who usually cannot access Prager's spaces at all. 319 00:37:15,310 --> 00:37:23,710 Get a chance to because to become pious subjects so makes prayers are not in appropriate ways of worshipping anymore, 320 00:37:23,710 --> 00:37:30,640 but to the contrary ways of worshipping in an inclusive manner that makes this base open to all Muslim. 321 00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:38,100 What one of the most funder's in the UK calls, I quote, a true Islamic utopia. 322 00:37:38,100 --> 00:37:43,590 So we can consider participation with these events and engagement and pastoral care as technologies 323 00:37:43,590 --> 00:37:49,680 of the self promising woman constricts himself as part of a career in social imaginary. 324 00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:56,430 We're navigating that identity outside of it on the March meeting allows them to build solidarity with us are much analysed. 325 00:37:56,430 --> 00:38:02,660 Muslim individuals caring for the margin is seen as FASFA, as full feeling sorry, 326 00:38:02,660 --> 00:38:12,960 a dirty of the duty of protection and strengthening of the goomar to larger and wider Muslim community against all systems of oppression. 327 00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:20,140 That queerness is fully encompassed within the Muslim ness and from a coherent identity. 328 00:38:20,140 --> 00:38:26,140 So, no, I just want to look at the obstacles that this woman face. 329 00:38:26,140 --> 00:38:33,290 And interestingly enough, both mosque in France and the U.K. face the same kind of obstacles. 330 00:38:33,290 --> 00:38:41,510 So funding a mosque, creating a space and caring for others requires certain resources that can be hard to get. 331 00:38:41,510 --> 00:38:48,530 And in line, we have an obstacles that many women face while caring for Ozawa's in modern society. 332 00:38:48,530 --> 00:38:52,120 The accumulation of duties between a professional life, 333 00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:59,870 the family life and the spiritual life makes it harder for them to find enough time to perform the task. 334 00:38:59,870 --> 00:39:05,990 So I supposed to perform so in France and then came manage that mosque on their own. 335 00:39:05,990 --> 00:39:13,850 And I quote Hell here, it's complicated because one starting to have too many things to do. 336 00:39:13,850 --> 00:39:19,400 In fact, yeah, I tend to say that I can several jobs, namely teacher Puji. 337 00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:24,200 Candidate Emam. Yeah, it's pretty complicated to manage. 338 00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:28,090 And it's even an obstacle actually. Very much so. 339 00:39:28,090 --> 00:39:38,910 So the lack of time represent an obstacle to the development of the mosque, but also to their personal lives and asking explains here, I quote. 340 00:39:38,910 --> 00:39:43,620 I know that now, if I wanted, I wouldn't be able to have children. 341 00:39:43,620 --> 00:39:52,170 Clearly, I have no time left. So if I had children, I would need to remove something from my schedule. 342 00:39:52,170 --> 00:39:54,960 So then there are solutions. 343 00:39:54,960 --> 00:40:04,110 It could be for us to make the organisation grow beets so that other people could take responsibilities and discharges of certain tasks. 344 00:40:04,110 --> 00:40:10,270 But it could be. And I don't think it could happen without it working part time only. 345 00:40:10,270 --> 00:40:17,510 Is a is the UK, a small group of women must manage the mosque, which allows them more time and more support. 346 00:40:17,510 --> 00:40:25,920 However, while I was visiting the mosque, they sometimes add to interim their prayers to make sure the event was running smoothly during. 347 00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:32,180 If there is a responsibility of preparing food, giving out information to the congregation, 348 00:40:32,180 --> 00:40:37,940 cleaning the dishes, leading the prayers of fell on the same group of women. 349 00:40:37,940 --> 00:40:47,540 So they are absolutely up to the task. But as a participant often says, I quote, I need more men to have my back. 350 00:40:47,540 --> 00:40:55,070 And in that sense, this feminist mosque spaces, which sometimes women, but where it's a reason, 351 00:40:55,070 --> 00:41:03,610 clearly an increasing call for Muslim men, including Krimsky main men, to engage in solidarity with women. 352 00:41:03,610 --> 00:41:13,190 Imam. Another obstacle is to the difficulty to find suitable spaces in big city centres, 353 00:41:13,190 --> 00:41:20,230 a space which would be big enough for that growing congregation and accessible to disabled individuals. 354 00:41:20,230 --> 00:41:25,870 Accessible spaces are rare and a bit more expensive. 355 00:41:25,870 --> 00:41:36,290 And in France, for example, they often have to conduct a prayer in two separate stations because the space is not big enough for everybody. 356 00:41:36,290 --> 00:41:45,050 Their ambition for the future is a common ambition as well, which will be to find a permanent, stable bidding for the mosque because that's immediate. 357 00:41:45,050 --> 00:41:53,570 They are each in your own mosque to build lasting solidarities and partnership within one neighbourhood. 358 00:41:53,570 --> 00:42:00,650 And I think it would be also a way to see themselves as a mosque, 359 00:42:00,650 --> 00:42:06,760 like all of the mosque, you know, a normal kind of mosque to to have a stable building. 360 00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:13,420 And that's a nice aspiration for a lot of women actually in this movement right now. 361 00:42:13,420 --> 00:42:16,390 So in conclusion, this two must be different, 362 00:42:16,390 --> 00:42:24,490 different understanding of incredulity due to the different positionally T of their funders and to the different political imagineering, 363 00:42:24,490 --> 00:42:29,230 they respond to this trigger different practises of pastoral care. 364 00:42:29,230 --> 00:42:36,680 January in France and focussed on lived experiences of individuals that's emerging in the United Kingdom. 365 00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:44,730 These practises of care are part of the constitution of queer amnesty movements, subjectivity that Coronis allows them to get solidarity with. 366 00:42:44,730 --> 00:42:50,370 Obama's claim that's a margin and therefore an ideal of a true Islamic dystopia. 367 00:42:50,370 --> 00:42:58,660 This observation need to be noons. So because, as I said earlier, Zimm Moleskins, the UK is seven years old, then sends a mosque in France. 368 00:42:58,660 --> 00:43:03,910 Muslim Rumanians France also faced a more offensive political context, 369 00:43:03,910 --> 00:43:12,260 which in Paris and Virginian's speech performances and therefore Esack practises of care they need to be supported. 370 00:43:12,260 --> 00:43:20,950 And this will be my references. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Benjamin. 371 00:43:20,950 --> 00:43:30,160 I really enjoyed your talk enormously because it raises so many more general questions. 372 00:43:30,160 --> 00:43:39,940 Actually, to me personally, this is completely new and fascinating and it just shows you the dynamics of how people, 373 00:43:39,940 --> 00:43:50,890 Muslims outside the Middle East or any other Muslim countries are actually engaging with the current issues and the change of generations. 374 00:43:50,890 --> 00:43:58,870 Different perspective. That's fascinating. And I wish you very good luck finishing your research and doing your APHC. 375 00:43:58,870 --> 00:44:07,360 Thank you so much. And for those who are again, less familiar with our seminars or seminars or disturb more finished, 376 00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:14,890 we usually have two seminars each term on weeks three and six of the Oxford academic term, 377 00:44:14,890 --> 00:44:19,450 and it will be advertised and sent out to all of you on the mailing list. 378 00:44:19,450 --> 00:44:24,040 And we hope to see some of you the following term and very soon in the flesh. 379 00:44:24,040 --> 00:44:28,900 I hope you know, because we don't we can't go on forever like this. 380 00:44:28,900 --> 00:44:35,770 But but it also has as its upside in that it has brought people, for example, from South Africa to participate. 381 00:44:35,770 --> 00:44:40,780 So very much. Maybe we can run them in parallel, both in the flesh. 382 00:44:40,780 --> 00:44:46,150 All right. But, Benjamin, thank you so much and wish you good luck. 383 00:44:46,150 --> 00:44:49,262 Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody, for participating.