Homosexualities, Muslim Cultures and Modernity

The author, a Bengali male born in Britain, is associate professor of sociology at Trent University in Canada with ‘knowledge limited to English language publications’ (p. 201) Having outed himself as a ‘gay, Western, Muslim man who has chosen this sin’ (pp. 1–3, 9, 11, 125, 189), he specialises on topics related to homosexuality: Sexuality and Democracy: Identities and Strategies in Lesbian and Gay Politics (2000) and Gender and Sexuality (2010) being his other published books. Thereby he interprets the public acceptance of homosexuals as a manifestation of continued “homosexualisation” and a marker of the superiority of Western societies. (p. 5). In his appearance on television, the author already gave the impression of being homosexual. He now re-confirmed this in the book under review. It is usually assumed that queerness and Muslim culture exclude each other because of the well-known Muslim and oriental cultural and religious antipathy to homosexuals. That gay Muslims nevertheless do exist is undeniable.