The Islamic Cultural Center of Tempe was the subject of scrutiny months ago with the implementation of transgender policies for mosque members resulting in the banning of one transgendered member from the women’s section during prayer. Recently Tucson-based independent filmmaker, Jason Tillman interviewed Sumayyah Dawud about her experience with bigotry and the misconceptions about her.
Dawud was originally born a male but went through her gender transition years ago and found herself looking into many different religions to find her true calling. She eventually found Islam to be the most intriguing for her and converted to the faith in 2013. She has been attending prayers at the mosque in Tempe since that time.
Dawud, who describes herself as someone who has a deep interest in social justice, did not expect to be trying to fight for that against members of her own faith.
While attending the Tempe mosque for the last two and a half years, Dawud only started noticing things seemed a bit different after she saw someone she had recognized from protests and marches in the Phoenix area. That person was a detective from the Phoenix Police Department, according to Dawud, and his presence was a red flag for her because the mosque was well outside his jurisdiction.
Dawud believes that the leaders of the mosque had reached out to the officer in order to obtain information about her.
Later, Dawud learned of rumors spreading through the community regarding her gender. Initially no one came up to her and personally asked about her orientation or gender classification, but after she became a prominent activist things changed. The chairman of the board at the mosque called Dawud in to discuss the situation and ask questions. Dawud did not want to give up any sensitive information as it was a private matter but she did say that the mosque already had documentation as to what her gender was prior to the chairman bringing her in for discussion.
“So I had given the mosque about a year prior my driver’s license and my U.S. passport because they were printing up a document for me down the road that if I traveled to Muslim countries for certain religious functions they were going to want a piece of paper that said I converted. And I wanted that document just to have it on hand and they needed the passport number and so forth so I know that the mosque had already seen my identification. So I mentioned when this question about my gender came up that – ‘Well actually yes I am a woman. I don’t know why people are spreading rumors because until they talk to me, you are asking me as to why somebody would be accusing me and I don’t have all the information?’ But I told him I am a woman. The office has actually seen a couple of state ID’s that say I am female,” explained Dawud.
The chairman argued that the documents did not prove one’s sex. He argued that anyone can go to the government at any time and just change their gender. The conversation continued and Dawud mentioned seeing the Phoenix detective at the mosque. The chairman admitted to bringing up her name in meetings prior to talking to her, and advised that the detective was there because he was assisting the mosque leaders by providing a private background check. According to Dawud, that violation of privacy cost the mosque a mere $35.
In this search, the chairman apparently had Dawud’s original birth certificate that said she was a male at birth. Dawud explains that she was basically caught in a trap at this point. Also, there were multiple arrests on Dawud’s record with no convictions due to her involvement with protests and some of those were as a male. The most recent ones were as a female. Dawud tried to explain to the chairman that she had transitioned, but the chairman then requested a medical document to prove her gender. She gave him a HIPPA compliant form that did not list any medical procedures but stated that Dawud was in fact a woman. While the chairman promised to keep this meeting between the two of them only, he did not keep his promise.
Later, the mosque released their transgender policy (view below in a screen shot that was taken prior to the mosque deleting the post) that appears to be in violation discrimination laws.
While the policy sparked some interest, what happened to Dawud in August at the mosque lit a fire.
After a day of praying at the mosque, a woman with whom Dawud had positive previous encounters, approached her and said that she was not allowed to be there. When Dawud asked for clarification as to what she meant, the woman responded that she was no longer allowed to pray with the women. This caught Dawud off guard and she raised her voice slightly and lost her temper. A second woman then arrived and the two escorted Dawud to an office downstairs. The leaders of the mosque were there waiting to discuss the situation.
After one board began to address the issue, Dawud realized that not only had the confidentiality between her and the board leader been compromised; lies were told.
“Then I showed him my ID and I said I was tired of this. And it actually shows me in my hijab. And of course ID’s show your face but it does show me in my hijab and my head scarf. And it does say female. And he says that is not good enough, that I have male biology. And I asked what he talking about. He said they had a meeting about this. There was a board meeting and you had told this chairman in the original meeting that had male biology. I never said that. He knew that I was assigned male at birth but I didn’t understand this whole thing about male biology. I think I know what they were getting at but they weren’t clear,” said Dawud. She believed board members were trying to avoid words related to anatomy.
An Imam appeared and referenced the medical document Dawud had presented. “One of them was saying that this just applied to psychological, like a psychiatrist had done an evaluation where you mentally treat transition and that was not what it said. It was a primary care doctor. I can bring back the same document that you were given in the first place and show you what it says and they started saying that the document that I had male biology. I don’t remember what all they were saying but they were making accusations that the document didn’t say what it actually said. And they breached confidentiality on that too. And this chairman of the board actually admitted that he showed the document to the rest of the board and the Imam. So it was absolutely atrocious,” stated Dawud. “Apparently on this board there were some doctors because they said they had passed it around to some doctors and they didn’t like the way the document was worded. They didn’t like the type of doctor that wrote the document.”
Dawud explained that she did not have a doctor-patient relationship with any of those doctors and they had not been given permission to see those documents. The board had held meetings about Dawud without Dawud present. Word leaked out to the regular congregates and eventually Dawud was given an ultimatum. She was told to bring another medical document that they would accept. If she did this she would be allowed to use the women’s section. If she could or would not, she would have to pray in the men’s section and would have to start wearing men’s clothing. She owns none.
When she argued that those choices were no choices at all, she was told that there was a third option available; the police would be called to report her “trespassing” and the board members would obtain a restraining against her.
As of today, nothing has changed for Dawud including her desire to practice her faith as the woman that she is. She hopes to have another discussion with the mosque leaders. It is important for Dawud to be able to go to the mosque as it the only mosque in the area that performs Janazahs, or funerals, for members of the Muslim community. Should a friend pass, she would be denied access to the only mosque in the Phoenix-Tempe area that would perform the prayer and Janazah.
Last week, President Obama condemned the “inexcusable political rhetoric against Muslim Americans that has no place in our country,” while speaking to Muslim Americans at the Islamic Society of Baltimore. He stated, “We’ve seen children bullied, we’ve seen mosques vandalized. It’s not who we are. We’re one American family. And when any part of our family begins to feel separate or second class or targeted, it tears at the very fabric of our nation.” He was mute on the bigotry of Muslims and the plight of those like Dawud.