Imam Daayiee Abdullah (1954-2025) returned to Allah recently. He was the author of Progressive Islam: The Rich Liberal Ideas of the Muslim Faith and the founder of the Mecca Institute. In addition to being a graduate of Georgetown, the University of Michigan, and the University of DC (law school), he also studied in Taiwan & China, where he was introduced to Islam. He then studied under Islamic scholar Dr Taha Jaber al-Alawani. Daayiee also lived and taught for a while in Saudi Arabia (a notoriously unfriendly place for LGBTQ+ persons).
He attended the Graduate School of Islamic & Social Science in DC but was discharged for being openly gay. He performed interfaith weddings & presented a progressive, queer friendly understanding of Islam. He was thought to be one of about 6 “out” gay imams in the world: South Africa, Australia, Iran, Canada, France, and the U.S. having one each. Daayiee in the U.S. and Muhsin Hendricks in South Africa have died this year, only 5 months apart. And then there were four.
