This will be a very short note.

I recently received this message:

“A sister active in our community and Palestinian-rights activist would appreciate your consult and advice on the following matter:

A year ago she embarked on a journey to write a children’s book on the topic of Palestine and decolonialism. The publisher however repeatedly insists that LGBTQ themes be spread throughout the book, on the pretense that the queer community has been critically involved in the movement. She as the author has pushed back multiple times citing her religious reasons and now things are at a stalemate. She would like to seek your guidance on how to navigate the situation so that her book sees the light of day and helps the Palestinian cause.“

I have received this type of email several, several times, or been approached in person for advice regarding nearly identical scenarios. Here is my response, hoping it may benefit others in this situation:

The publisher's insistence upon the inclusion of LGBTQ themes in the Sister's book about Palestine and decolonizing is nothing short of the very re-colonization of Palestine and Muslim voices by another means. It is the denial of Muslim autonomy and the ability to tell our stories on our own terms, through our own language, and expressing our own values. It is arguably worse than the wild-eyed neocon calling for our physical extermination, because it is an insistence—cunningly cosplaying as progressive, enlightened, and liberating—on exterminating our voices, as if we only deserve to speak and live if it is on terms imposed upon us by those who don't share out values. It is a ridiculous double-standard that Muslims be forced to include and adopt the worldview of others as the price for their supporting a just cause. Would we be forced to include the worldviews of everyone who supports a free Palestine as well, including those on the political right? And how “critical” has such “support” really been? Did I miss it…was Palestine liberated under a rainbow flag, or is it still under occupation, apartheid, and genocide? Such insistence by the publisher merely shows that whatever "support" was given by this person for a free Palestine was transactional and selfish (dare I say narcissistic) in the first place. Such a person should withdraw their “support” for Palestine, we don't need it. We depend on Allah to deliver victory, not them.