Welcoming Islam: Gender and Sexuality

We aim to create a safe space for queer/femme/trans/non binary Muslims in London to share their experiences to a wider audience. In light of rising Islamophobia across the world, we aim to celebrate queer/femme/trans/non-binary Islamic and Muslim histories, peoples and culture in all of its diversity. The event will be held during the holy month of Ramadan and we want to share this experience of community, compassion and learning to those outside of our communities.

The evening will consist of talks, lectures and poetry readings by various people in the community. We hope to share our voices, experiences, histories, dreams and realities with you in a safe, engaging and inclusive way.

[17:00] Islam, Gender and Sexuality
Noorulann Shahid, is a queer, trans, disabled, desi Muslim activist and organiser living in London. They are currently NUS LGBT+ officer (open place), where they work on issues such as QTIPOC inclusion, Queer prisoners and estrangement amongst other things. They are on twitter as @yxxxnghippie.

[18:15] Homos in Classical Arabic Literature
Yousuf Toon, is a white gender questioning person from Birmingham who converted to Islam a year ago. They have been living in Cairo for the past year to improve their Arabic and work on their artistic projects which focus on pedagogy, sexuality, history and language.

[19:30] Poetry Readings
Shiri Shah, is currently working on a project to deconstruct femininity in Islam and the diaspora through literature and philosophy. They’re a writer and poet and use make up as a performance in my day to day life which untangles the complexities of being a diasporic queer Muslim woman and also to illustrate what their faith means to them.

Xena Hussein, is a poet, writer for gal-dem magazine, and founder of besthibusters, an online community for South Asian women to discuss shaming cultures. She’s originally from Birmingham, and has been described as the best thing to come out of Small Heath for at least the last couple weeks.

Sara El-Harrak, is an emerging poet, now soaking her feet in the world of performance. She also writes, sings, DJs, curates and paints. Sara will be sharing a poem, highlighting her experience as a young western Arab Muslim woman.

To book please use the followingt link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/welcoming-islam-gender-and-sexuality-tickets-5712333744

This event is part of the Antiuniversity Now festival 10-16 June 2017
See the full programme on www.antiuniversity.org
By signing up to this event you will be added to the Antiuniversity mailing list.
To opt out please email antiuniversitynow@gmail.com