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Download Thesis This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ The making of a gay Muslim: social constructions of religion, sexuality and identity in Malaysia and Britain Mohd Sidik, Shanon Shah Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 25. Sep. 2021 THE MAKING OF A GAY MUSLIM: SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF RELIGION, SEXUALITY AND IDENTITY IN MALAYSIA AND BRITAIN Shanon Shah Mohd Sidik PhD in the Sociology of Religion 1 Abstract This study challenges many popular views and some academic perspectives on the role of Islam and gay sexuality in personal identity construction. By investigating the lived experiences of Muslim sexual minorities, it examines the complex ways in which individuals can come to identify themselves as ‘gay’ and ‘Muslim’, how they negotiate belonging to the wider society that tends to marginalise them, and the consequences of holding these identities. It examines their experiences in two national contexts – Malaysia and Britain. Based on ethnographic research conducted between October 2012 and September 2013, this study involved participant observation and in-depth interviews with gay Muslims, supplemented by media analysis for context-setting. The study shows that in constructing their sexual and religious identities, gay Muslims adjust their responses – rebelling, conforming, innovating, retreating or merely keeping up appearances – based on how strongly anti-gay or anti-Muslim sentiments inform their immediate surroundings. As a minority within the religious majority in Malaysia, they contend with religiously-motivated, state-sanctioned moral policing. In Britain, they enjoy legal protection as sexual and religious minorities but are sometimes affected by stereotypes equating Islam with violence or extremism. In both countries, these conditions contribute to Islam becoming a primary referent in the construction of gay Muslim identities. However, gay Muslims form their own religious self-understandings through engagement with multiple social authorities, spaces and available interpretations of Islam. Islam therefore becomes a ‘cultural resource’ while the concept of ‘gay’ serves as an umbrella category in the construction of their self-identities. The outcomes of this study challenge the notions that Islam is ‘inherently’ homophobic and that there is essentially a divide between ‘Islam’ and the ‘West’. Rather, it suggests that the experiences of gay Muslims illustrate the fluid and variable roles of religion and sexuality in constructions of individual and collective identity. 2 Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................ 2 Table of Contents ................................................................................................ 3 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................. 7 Notes on transliteration and transcription ....................................................... 9 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 10 Structure of the thesis ............................................................................................................. 17 Chapter 1: Looking for gay Muslims in Malaysia and Britain .................... 20 1.1 Why ethnography? ...................................................................................................... 21 1.2 Participant observation: Context and complexity ....................................................... 23 1.2.1 Logistics of the research ..................................................................................... 26 1.2.2 Gender, class and power ..................................................................................... 27 1.2.3 Vulnerability, self-preservation and autonomy .................................................. 32 1.2.4 Belief, belonging and the research endeavour .................................................... 34 1.3 Interviewing: Power and presentations of self............................................................ 38 1.3.1 When interviewer becomes interviewee ............................................................. 40 1.3.2 Influences of electronic recording ...................................................................... 41 1.3.3 Confronting personal discomfort ........................................................................ 44 1.3.4 Physical, cultural and emotional locations ......................................................... 45 1.4 The mass media: context-setting and public debate ................................................... 47 1.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 49 Chapter 2: Studying Islam and homosexuality .............................................. 51 2.1 Studies of ‘Islam’ and ‘homosexuality’ ............................................................................ 51 2.1.1 A gay-friendly Islam? ................................................................................................ 52 2.1.2 Translating the past .................................................................................................... 57 2.1.3 Gay Muslims in the West – identities in flux ............................................................ 62 2.1.4 Sexual minorities in Muslim-majority countries ....................................................... 66 3 2.1.5 Muslim sexual minorities in Malaysia ....................................................................... 69 2.2 Beyond gay Muslims – potential analytical directions ..................................................... 71 2.2.1 Social constructions of deviance ............................................................................... 71 2.2.2 Related factors – ethnicity, nationalism, and social movements ............................... 75 2.2.3 Globalisation, religion and sexuality ......................................................................... 79 2.2.4 State regulation of sexuality and religion beyond Muslim contexts .......................... 81 2.3 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 84 Chapter 3: Emerging gay Muslim identities – comparing Malaysia and Britain ................................................................................................................ 86 3.1 From Empire to Commonwealth – shared histories and cultural exchange ..................... 86 3.1.1 Legal and political legacies – regulating Islam and sexuality ................................... 87 3.1.2 Nationhood, statehood, and the shaping of Islam ...................................................... 89 3.1.3 Implications of ethnic and religious diversity ........................................................... 93 3.2 Managing Islam ................................................................................................................ 96 3.2.1 Britain: Fostering obedient Muslims? ....................................................................... 96 3.2.2 Malaysia: An assertive Islam? ................................................................................. 100 3.3 Managing sexuality ........................................................................................................ 104 3.3.1 Britain: From criminalisation to equality ................................................................ 104 3.3.2 Malaysia: Politicisation of sexuality ........................................................................ 110 3.4 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 113 Chapter 4: The making of a gay Muslim ...................................................... 116 4.1 Two iftaris ...................................................................................................................... 118 4.1.1 London ..................................................................................................................... 118 4.1.2 Kuala Lumpur .........................................................................................................
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