Muslims for Progressive Values Celebrates New, Inclusive, LGBT-Friendly Mosque in Paris

Dec. 11, 2012 - PRLog -- Muslims for Progressive Values Celebrates New, Inclusive, LGBT-Friendly Mosque in Paris

Los Angeles, CA - December 10, 2012: Muslims for Progressive Values launches its Paris chapter with the mission to provide a place that is safe for people who often feel unwelcome in traditional mosques.

The new mosque will “emphasize accepting everyone as equally God’s creation,” says founder, Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed, an Islamic scholar. This welcoming acceptance is especially extended to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Muslims. The mosque also intends to be a space of gender equality, in which women and men can pray together unsegregated, and women can lead prayers in mixed gender groups.

The new mosque is a chapter of Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV) originally founded in the United States in 2007. One of its missions is the nurturing and support of prayer spaces that champion equality, inclusion, and compassion among Muslim communities.

MPV believes that Islam is inherently progressive, inclusive and egalitarian, an understanding rooted in the traditional Qur’anic ideals which informs the ten principles of MPV. One of its principles is Equality - we affirm the equal worth of all human beings.

During the Hajj experience at Mecca, pilgrims do not separate themselves out according to gender, class, race, or other social identities. We come together as one community of believers, knowing that all people are equal before God. MPV promotes that same spirit of equality in local Muslim communities with its established chapters in Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Columbus (OH), Atlanta, Washington D.C., Canada and now France.

Many Muslims use the rhetoric that Islam is a “religion of peace.” In order for peace to be sustainable though, we must also seek justice. And there’s no justice when we discriminate against people based on their gender, sexual orientation, or other identities.

MPV celebrates the new inclusive mosque in Paris that embodies both the peace and justice that is native to Islam.

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To arrange for an interview of Ani Zonneveld please contact her at 323-696-2678 (PST) or ani@mpvusa.org

Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV) is a 501 (c) (3) founded in 2007. MPV asserts that Islam is inherently progressive, inclusive and egalitarian which is an understanding that informs our ten principles. In the short years since its inception, MPV has expanded to include chapters in Los Angeles, Washington DC, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Columbus (OH), Ottawa and Toronto, Canada as well as Paris, France. More information can be found at www.mpvusa.org.