Village View – Week of July 21
Sufi Message Class | Thursday, June 25 | 7:00 PM EDT
We pray you are well, healthy, and happy! The Inayati Center at the Abode will be Zooming it’s Thursday classes for the foreseeable future. Please join us on line for inspiration, meditation and social sharing! All are welcome.
Here is the link! Use the Password: 493634
In honor of Pride Month, the Abode will be sharing quotes and messages from LGBTI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, & Intersex) leaders of faith. This week we share the memory of and a quote from Dr. Ibrahim Farajajé. Known by his students and loved ones as Ibrahim Baba. Farajajé was a scholar, educator, mystic activist, father, partner, and public intellectual of many topics. Farajajé passed in February 2016.
From LGBTQ Religious Archives Network:
“[Farajajé] was born to a mixed racial heritage family in Berkeley, California, and his youth was spent in a religiously pluralistic, diverse mixed-class neighborhood…. He was taught at an early age that all paths lead to God and has maintained an openness to religion that is expressed in his current work on multi-religious theological education. His boarding school also exposed him to queer studies in a positive way and his early consciousness was untainted by negative associations of gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender persons.
“While a student at Vassar he participated in a survey on sexuality where he was given several categories to identify as, and he recognized that the term bisexual came closest to what he was theoretically experiencing. He celebrated the playfulness of his sexuality and contemporarily does not like the term bisexual because of its binary nature which he feels confines him to an identity when he is more than one identity formation. He had relationships spanning genders as well as across gender lines, and even though he is labeled as an openly bisexual black queer activist he prefers no label other than he’s a “full human being” that embraces all.”
Later in his life, while teaching at Howard Divinity School in Washington DC, he felt an urge to reconnect with Sufism and began embracing himself as a “mystic activist.” His activism in DC included work with ACT UP DC and DC Black Queer Coalition as well as a founding member of the Alliance of Multi-Cultural Bisexuals (AMBi), and founder of the first bi group for men of color in D.C named Moving Violations.
“Ibrahim’s spiritual practices are very important to him as is his commitment to activism that highlights the intersections of oppression and how they work to silence and erase persons’ humanity. He takes joy in being the father of a marvelous child, and in his role accompanying people who are dying and preparing their bodies for burial. In this role, he gets to be the last religious message for people bringing a message that is positive and affirming. Finally, he is grateful for the opportunity to provide people with another way of thinking that has brought tangible change in a variety of communities.”
For more about this founding father of the bisexual movement visit Ibrahim Baba’s website.
