CSBR CSBR Activities

Befriending the Quran Community Course – Surah Maryam

CSBR has opened the call for application for the third in our series of “Befriending the Quran” community courses for queer Muslims, this time on Surah Maryam ✨?

Apply by 16 October here: http://bit.ly/QQ3_SurahMaryam

????? ??? ?????: This course is offered for all queer Muslims, regardless of where they fall on the faith and practice spectrum. All points of view are respected and honoured. The main aim of the space is to open up the possibility for participants to befriend the Quran.

???? ??’?? ?????: The course will focus on a close textual study of Surah 19, Maryam, and other passages of the Quran where Maryam is mentioned. ⁣⁣We’ll also read some academic articles written on Surah Maryam and the Mary passages in the New Testament. Our study of Surah Maryam will be supplemented by discussion of Sufi poetry: a tafsir / commentary on Quranic passages in the vernacular and culturally accessible form. ⁣⁣The intention of the course is to invoke and experience the spirit of Maryam as a lover of the Divine, inshallah.⁣

Read more about CSBR’s courses on offer here: https://csbronline.org/?page_id=2833

CSBR CSBR Activities, Featured

Gender, Sexuality, Islam & Science

CSBR is pleased to offer a new discussion-based course on “Gender, Sexuality, Islam & Science”, for those keen to bridge philosophical, academic and personal perspectives on these themes to advance a holistic understanding of faith & sexuality.

We developed this course in response to questions, needs and experiences raised by activists in some of our prior courses & Institutes. We hope it will expand the entry points through which especially queer activists, and allies, are able to self define, advance advocacy, and strengthen community mobilization on religion and rights.

Course Themes:

Science and religion are often seen as conflicting forces in today’s world. Navigating your place in such a world is difficult as it is, but becomes even more so if your gender and/or sexuality are in conflict with cultural expectations. You want to believe in the modern scientific developments on gender and sexuality in particular, and about the universe in general, without having to forgo your relationship with the divine that you already have limited access to, given you are of the margins.

In light of the above, this course aims to initiate discourse & debate amongst participants, to explore how definitions of philosophical concepts in science and religion (from the authors we read on the subjects) not only possess a harmonious relationships with one another, but also make our understanding & acceptance of gender and sexual diversity more holistic & consistent. While the course has a deeper focus on Islam, we also bring in perspectives from Christianity, and explore the cross-overs amongst different traditions.

Course Objectives:

  • To provide queer community, and allies, with a hermeneutics/method-of-interpretation of religion (particularly Islam) on matters of gender and sexuality, that is intellectually in line with modern developments.
  • To enable participants engage in a constructive dialogues about gender, sexuality, Islam and science.
  • To create a supportive space for participants to further define and find their unique place in a universe full of conflicting ideas.

See the Course Outline & Readings Here: CSBR-GenderSexualityIslamScience_CourseOutline2020

Apply here: http://bit.ly/CSBRIslamScience

Applications Due: 25 September 2020.