Friday, 27.07.2018, 17:24
When I was on Christopher Street Day two years ago, I noticed that only a few people from the Muslim culture are there.
Although I know some gay Muslims and ex-Muslims, they hardly dare to come out.

We fight for a common solution
Last year, I happened upon an article about the London Pride. There, ex-Muslims have campaigned for the LGBTQ * community (lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, queer) and held signs saying "Allah is gay" (Allah is gay). The action was then criticized as Islamophobic.

What I can not understand.

Why can not Allah be just as gay? People do not want to create a conflict with this statement, but fight for a common solution. For understanding between Muslims, ex-Muslims and the LGBTQ * community.

This action inspired me so much that I thought that it must be possible in Germany too, in a country of freedom of expression.

I never expected such reactions
This year I want to go back to the Christopher Street Day in Berlin. Spontaneously, therefore, I made a T-shirt with the imprint "Allah is gay" and made matching signs, such as "Solidarity with LGBTQ Muslims" (Solidarity with LGBTQ * Muslims).

I also posted my shirt and the banners on Facebook - as a personal statement for "Oriental Diversity". I knew, of course, that provoking some people as an ex-Muslim for the LGBTQ community and making them strong will provoke some people.

Gay and atheistic: For fundamentalists, that is a potentiation of evil. However, that this post would cause such violent reactions, I honestly never expected.

Allah can be everything - even gay
My shirt has made me hostile to people, insulting and making mischievous sexual allusions. "Miserable dirty dog, are not you ashamed (sic) of religions making fun of you." Or "I think it's a pity that there are such people like you in the world" - I had to read such sentences. But I did not really get scared until I found death threats in my inbox.

"If I see you in Berlin tomorrow, you can plan your funeral at your event."

"You say 'Alah is gay' ?? You will die tomorrow. I know where your stand is, I mobilize all over Berlin. "

This is not the first time that I have been threatened with death here in Germany. But this time I have not even commented on Islam.

On the contrary.

Anyone who believes in Allah has to accept that he has created many people and therefore can be everything himself. So gay too. In a homophobic culture, such as the Muslim one, the saying "Allah is gay" is of course a provocation and is probably taken as an insult.

But for me, being gay is not a negative thing and simply an invitation to look at Islam from another angle. And if you want to make a difference, you also have to cross borders.

I was afraid for my life
I became an ex-Muslim at the age of 14. At that time, I was still living in Iraq. My dad reported me because my neighbors had put pressure on him.

I was then arrested and tortured.

This memory shapes me to this day. The police of the Kurdish regional government picked me up. In the police station, they interrogated me for several hours and tortured them with electric shocks. They made me dance like a monkey - according to the motto: "You think you're from monkeys? Then dance like a monkey. "

After that, I was taken to the juvenile detention center in Erbil (capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq) and again beaten by guards. The other prisoners also attacked me.

After 13 days of torture my uncle got me out on bail.

The matter has caused a great stir in the Iraqi media. That's why people used to call me "atheist" - which made it impossible for me to live safely in Iraq.

My case also got a big media swirl because I was still so young. I received mass threats and felt constantly at risk. I had no choice but to flee from Iraqi Kurdistan.

I was terrified of Islamization
I paid a very high price for showing myself out as an ex-Muslim. I fled to Europe to finally be free. That's why I've always spoken out loud here.

At first I completely changed my worldview. Just as I once despised unbelievers, I hated Muslims after my flight. And just as the Koran was good for me, it was the epitome of evil after that.

I was terrified of Islamization - and everyone was hating Islam