Religious individualism in Queer Muslims

The subjects such as gender, gender roles, sexuality, and sexual orientations have always been talked about, wondered and argued upon throughout the history of mankind. In this research, the arguments about these topics are primarily looked into, later on, a group of participants' experiences is cited in this sense. Especially, in the matters of gender roles and sexual orientations "queer theory"s intellectual and institutional perspectives are practiced on. Queer Theory which approaches classifications, roles, and related definitions and concepts critically is the main concern of this work. The research is focused on "Queer Muslims", therefore, the study is carried on in relation to "Islamism" and "Queer Theology". Islamic Law articles, commentaries, and other Islamic Encyclopedia sources are used on the subject. Both the traditional and modern aspects of Islamism are tried to be shown. Accordingly, certain themes are determined and the participants are interviewed. The outcome of this data which focused on the perspectives of "Queer Theology" and "Islam" has indicated that a Muslim queer can exist in and be subject to an Islamic environment. "Religious Individualism" that is the foundation of this research, is a concept developing in the field of religion and becoming more popular day by day along with everchanging world order that changed after modernity, arousing the need of being independent in individuals. Almost all of the participants uttered that they prefer to practice their religion personally, and they do not marginalize themselves or others for that matter. It was established while they express themselves in the subject, they use vii expressions such as, "think of", "all-embracing", "contemplate", "question" and "independence". The majority of the participants stated that they do not talk about their orientation either to their family or friends. Very few are concerned about committing a sin by the way they behave because of their sexual orientations. In conclusion, the participants ground on the fact that God is merciful, forgiving, embracing and so on.