{"id":337997,"date":"2025-12-10T18:20:50","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T18:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/anthropology\/being-trans-and-muslim-in-malaysia-sapiens\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T18:20:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T18:20:50","slug":"being-trans-and-muslim-in-malaysia-sapiens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=337997","title":{"rendered":"Being Trans and Muslim in Malaysia \u2013 SAPIENS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Contrary to official claims about the success of Islamic \u201crehabilitation\u201d for trans people, I never heard any trans women say the programs \u201ccorrected\u201d their gender identity.<\/p>\n<p>Some trans women I met who participated in a program similar to Mukhayyam, established by one of the State Islamic Religious Councils, joined seeking community, a weekend trip, or deeper Islamic understanding. But most were older, ill, or in need of <em>zakat<\/em>, the Islamic financial assistance the program offered. Typically, zakat is meant for all Muslims in need without any obligation in return, but trans participants can only receive this aid money\u2014usually enough to cover monthly rent and food expenses\u2014if they contractually commit to attending the program.<\/p>\n<p>Malaysian state-sponsored authorities and their supporters <a href=\"https:\/\/www.malaysiakini.com\/letters\/537447\">deny their practices<\/a> share similarities with other \u201cconversion therapy\u201d practices that claim to \u201ccure\u201d queer and trans people. These can involve exorcism, medication, confinement, electroshock therapy, behavioral conditioning, and verbal, physical, and sexual abuse. In 2020, JAKIM reported an LGBTQ+ activist to the police simply for comparing the rehabilitation camps to \u201cWestern\u201d conversion therapy. However, several Malaysian NGOs and LGBTQ+ rights groups <a href=\"https:\/\/www.queerlapis.com\/evidence-of-state-sponsored-violence-and-discrimination-against-lgbt-persons-in-malaysia\/\">have spoken out against<\/a> Mukhayyam and similar programs, presenting evidence that they do use violent, coercive techniques associated with other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/sites\/default\/files\/Documents\/Issues\/SexualOrientation\/IESOGI\/CSOsAJ\/IRCT_research_on_conversion_therapy.pdf\">conversion therapies found globally<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past several decades, human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and academic societies such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apa.org\/topics\/lgbtq\/evidence-against-conversion-therapy\">American Psychological Association<\/a> have denounced conversion therapy practices aimed at LGBTQ+ people as harmful and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/location\/middle-east-and-north-africa\/middle-east\/iran\/report-iran\/\">amounting to torture<\/a>\u201d in some cases. While these practices are banned <a href=\"https:\/\/www.europarl.europa.eu\/RegData\/etudes\/BRIE\/2022\/733521\/EPRS_BRI(2022)733521_EN.pdf\">in some countries<\/a>, such programs continue to receive support from national policy initiatives and religious organizations. Conversion therapy programs remain legal in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statista.com\/chart\/27674\/map-of-where-conversion-therapy-is-banned\/?srsltid=AfmBOorEDK0OC2CldTFcYvpjgS1_NEDdSj4oVwEMg_-S5AyGhHVrIQo6\">most parts of the world<\/a> and are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/eu-pledges-crack-down-conversion-therapy-lgbtq-hate\/\">on the rise again<\/a> in increasingly conservative and authoritarian states, including in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/07\/us\/conversion-therapy-transgender.html\">the United States<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"heading__1\">NAVIGATING LIFE AS MALAY MUSLIM WOMEN<\/h2>\n<p>I met Ana, a devout Muslim and Dora\u2019s acquaintance, in one of the state-sponsored \u201crehabilitation\u201d programs. She initially joined for financial help and religious learning, but had grown disillusioned. Still, Ana remained in the program on and off for years, partly to receive zakat and partly to challenge the program\u2019s agenda. She resisted the religious teacher\u2019s efforts to make her conform to male rituals and appearances, and regularly challenged the anti-trans rhetoric of the program.<\/p>\n<p>Some of Ana\u2019s peers in the program compromised and changed their physical appearance to resemble a male person, although they claimed they were still women inside. JAKIM showcases these \u201crepented\u201d trans women as success stories. \u201cSome don\u2019t know who they are,\u201d Ana told me.<\/p>\n<p>I met other trans women who struggled more to find the self-acceptance Ana achieved. For example, I spoke with Zita, who was homeless and earned a living through sex work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow did it feel when you came out?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt relieved, like I didn\u2019t have to pretend anymore,\u201d she said. \u201cBut in the end, I\u2019m still pretending.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I could not hide my surprise. \u201cAre you pretending?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She sat quietly for a while before answering my question. \u201cYeah, in a way. I am pretending to God. Yes. Pretending to myself. Yes. That is hypocrisy,\u201d Zita said in a shaky voice.<\/p>\n<p>She believed that being trans was sinful, which is what most religious leaders preached. \u201cOf course, this [being trans] is wrong. But what are we supposed to do? How are people like me supposed to survive? I cannot live like a man, that\u2019s also hypocrisy,\u201d Zita said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contrary to official claims about the success of Islamic \u201crehabilitation\u201d for trans people, I never heard any trans women say the programs \u201ccorrected\u201d their gender identity. Some trans women I met who participated in a program similar to Mukhayyam, established by one of the State Islamic Religious Councils, joined seeking community, a weekend trip, or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":337998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11767],"tags":[14104,15594,12685,15831,5658,6692,2450,16132,28663],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-337997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anthropology","tag-activism","tag-gender","tag-law","tag-malaysia","tag-muslim","tag-politics","tag-religion","tag-sapiens","tag-trans"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Being Trans and Muslim in Malaysia \u2013 SAPIENS - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=337997\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Being Trans and Muslim in Malaysia \u2013 SAPIENS - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Contrary to official claims about the success of Islamic \u201crehabilitation\u201d for trans people, I never heard any trans women say the programs \u201ccorrected\u201d their gender identity. 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