Collections by Michelle Brown WSG Imam Daayiee Abdullah

IMAM DAAYIEE ABDULLAH is said to be one of three openly gay Imams in the world. Born in Detroit, Michigan, he credits his parents with encouraging him and giving him the freedom to find his own spiritual path. His parents supported him and his to find religion despite their personal Southern Baptist beliefs. When he was 8 years old, he visited a Synagogue, a Hindu temple, and an assortment of Christian denominations. He continued to search for a religion he could put his faith into and converted to Islam at age 30.He lectures nationally and internationally on progressive Muslim concepts, intra-faith and interfaith networking, and the development of inclusive and progressive revisions of Islamic theological thought and Islamic law. He actively promotes understanding and awareness of issues of racial, gender and sexual equality as understood in the UN Declaration of Human Rights within and beyond Muslim communities.

He is Executive Director of MECCA Institute (Muslim Education Center for Creative Academics), a Muslim think tank and online Islamic theological school, teaching an inclusive liberation theology and interpretation of Quran. At Light of Reform Mosque, Imam Daayiee provides pastoral counseling for Muslim youth, adults, their families and friends. As former Director of LGBTQ Outreach for MPV, he produced a 14-part module on LGBTQ Muslim youth, their friends, family and community, funded by Carpenter, which was released in May 2014. On his 45 years of activism for LGBTQ rights and as a member of the faith community, he says “What I continuously hold on to is the ever-changing experience of the human story. We are still in process – the process of becoming more fully human with dignity, acceptance and respect – and we must remember that when good people do nothing the worst of atrocities can occur.”