Ibrahim Abdurrahman Farajajé facts for kids
Ibrahim Abdurrahman Farajajé (born December 19, 1952 – died February 9, 2016), also known as Elias Frajajé-Jones, was a very important scholar, professor, and spiritual leader. He was also a strong advocate for people with AIDS and for the LGBTQ+ community.
Farajajé grew up in Berkeley, California, in a neighborhood with many different cultures and religions. His parents were both activists who worked to improve education. He was one of the first Black male students at Vassar College, where he earned a degree in religion in 1972. Later, he taught at Howard University in 1986. He was also an ordained priest in the Santería religion. In 1995, he joined the faculty at Starr King School for the Ministry. At Starr King, Farajajé was a provost (a senior leader) and a professor of cultural studies and Islamic studies until he passed away in 2016.
Early Life and Learning
Farajajé grew up in a neighborhood that welcomed everyone, no matter their race or how much money they had. His family was also a mix of different religions and backgrounds. He often said his parents taught him how important it was to stand up for others and work for fairness in society.
When he was young, Farajajé had tutors to help him with school and to learn new languages like Spanish and French. He was the oldest of his biological and adopted brothers and sisters. He believed his childhood helped him become an excellent student, a good leader, a strong public speaker, and someone who cared deeply about helping his community.
Early Activism
As a child, Farajajé learned about many religions, including different types of Christianity and Judaism. When he attended boarding school at age 13, he learned about Islam. His father also introduced him to Buddhism. He was baptized as a child, but he didn't stick to just one faith. He said his teachers at boarding school first sparked his interest in Islam. Around 1966-1967, he began to identify as someone who supported the Palestinian people and was against certain political actions in the Middle East.
Farajajé also said his high school education helped him see LGBTQ+ identities in a positive way. He mentioned in an interview that he didn't grow up hearing negative messages about LGBTQ+ people as he started his journey to become a religious scholar.
He also said his time at Vassar College, where many students were women, helped him develop his feminist views. He wanted to study and learn at an Orthodox seminary in Oxford, not necessarily to become a priest there. In the late 1970s, while finishing his studies in Switzerland, Farajajé joined a theater group that focused on feminist, anarchist (meaning they believed in self-governed communities), and LGBTQ+ themes. After facing some challenges in Switzerland, he wanted to teach at a Black school. He moved back to the United States in 1985 and began teaching at Howard University in 1986.
Beliefs and Activist Work
Farajajé followed Sufism, which is a spiritual and mystical form of Islam. In Washington, D.C. during the 1980s, Farajajé was one of the few religious scholars who spoke out and advocated for people affected by HIV/AIDS. He was also one of the first Black theologians to openly identify as queer and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community.
Farajajé did not believe in a fixed way of looking at gender and race. Instead, he thought identity was more flexible and fluid. From the start of his career, he studied Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and queer theology. He created a program at Howard University that taught African American religious leaders how to help during the HIV/AIDS crisis. In his class, students learned to be HIV test counselors, and people living with HIV/AIDS would share their stories with the students.
In 1987, Farajajé helped direct a TV series for Howard University. In 1988, he co-directed a performance called "Conviction: A Healing Stream." This show talked about how some Black religious communities were unwilling to bury people who had died from HIV/AIDS. Farajajé organized a healing service in Washington D.C. where different churches and HIV support groups came together. The performance was inspired by the ancient Greek story of Antigone. It was about a woman who had to convince a pastor to allow her to bury her son, who had died from HIV. At the end of the show, there was a pretend funeral. The audience was asked to look at the "body," but inside the casket was a mirror. This showed everyone that anyone could be affected by HIV/AIDS.
Farajajé also taught a course called "Sociology of Hetero Patriarchy." This class explored how different forms of unfair treatment and control are connected. He required students to spend time with the queer community to understand their experiences of unfair treatment. He also became a faculty advisor for an LGBT group at Howard University, which helped make the group more recognized and accepted. This group studied African traditional religions and named themselves "Oxala" after an African Yoruba deity that represented a combination of genders.
In 1986, Farajajé earned his doctorate degree in theology (the study of religious faith). He believed that issues like unfair treatment based on identity were part of what it meant to be "queer." In a book called Black Theology: A Documentary History (Vol 2), Farajajé wrote an essay titled "Breaking Silence: An In-the-Life Theology." In this essay, he talked about ending prejudice against gay and bisexual people in society, in the "Black church," and within Black theology. He argued that queer Black people face unfair treatment from both white communities and heterosexual Black communities.
Farajajé also stated that this unfair treatment could make queer Black people feel bad about themselves. He believed this was one reason why society, especially in the United States, was not more active in dealing with the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s. His essay suggested that being forced to hide one's identity could lead to risky decisions that contributed to the rise of HIV/AIDS. Farajajé's main solution was to use theology to help queer Black people feel less isolated from the wider Black community.
In 1990, Farajajé wrote In Search of Zion: The Spiritual Significance of Africa for Three Black Religious Movements. This book explored the religious and spiritual roots of Afrocentrism, which focuses on African culture and history. It also discussed how African Americans reinterpreted Christianity. The book was written in the context of the separation of African American communities in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Politically, Farajajé described himself as an anarchist, meaning he believed in self-governed communities without a ruling government. In Washington D.C., he was very active in the "ACT UP" group, which protested for better HIV/AIDS policies. He was also arrested for peacefully protesting during HIV activism. He served as the chair of the political action committee for the D.C. Black Queer Coalition and appeared on TV to speak about these issues.
Early Works
- "Other Voices" (1987)
- "Conviction: A Healing Stream.” (1988)
- African Creative Expressions (1991)
- In Search of Zion: Spiritual Significance of Africa in Black Religious Movements (1990)
- "Breaking Silence: an in-the-life theology" (Published in Black Theology: A Documentary History Vol 2 1980-1992) (1992)
- Piercing analysis/ or In-to-body Travel/ or What is All that Piercing Stuff?” (1995)
