Dr. Ibrahim Abdurrahman Farajajé: A Legacy of Afrocentric, Decolonial, In-the-Life Theology and Bisexual Intersexional Philosophical Thought and Practice

This book is a posthumous tribute to bisexual philosopher, theologian, AIDS-activist and educator, Shaykh Dr. Ibrahim Abdurrahman Farajajé (b. 1952; d. 2016) and contains scholarship, critical engagement, and creative responses that illustrate the significance of his life and work to queer theory, liberation theology, decoloniality, Islamic/Tasawwuf studies, sacred sexuality, religious responses to HIV/AIDS, and a counter-hegemonic understanding of our world. In addition to the work of his former colleagues, students, mentees, and those his work inspired, the collection contains Dr. Farajajé’s essays and speeches—many of which were not previously published. Because of the breadth and depth of its contents as a definitive text, this collection is a foundational guide to proceeding scholarship on Dr. Farajajé and his legacy. Born in Berkeley, CA, one of the earliest male students to graduate from Vassar College, Dr. Theol. magna cum laude from University of Bern, holder of a chair in the sociology of religion at Howard University during the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis, and provost of Starr King School for the Ministry, the premier hub for the academic and vocational exploration of multi-religious identity and practice, Dr. Farajajé lived the values advanced in his work through his choice of professional affiliations and modes of activism-scholarship. This book will be a key resource for scholars of queer theology and ethics, Islamic studies, cultural and social understandings of HIV/AIDS as well as religious studies and theology more generally. One of the chapters in this volume was originally published in the book titled, Male Lust: Pleasure, Power, and Transformation, edited by Kerwin Brook, Jill Nagle, Baruch Gould. Other chapters were originally published as a special issue of Journal of Bisexuality.

Table of Contents:
1. Breaking Silence: Toward an in-the-Life Theology 2. Seeds in My Soul: Memories of Ibrahim 3. Creating Change (1995) Keynote Speech 4. Sex Toys on the Altar 5. Andalusia and Beyond 6. Atzmotai: My self, My bones 7. Fictions of Purity 8. Power to Become Children of God: Remembering in-the-Life with a Johannine (Dis)Position 9. Forum II – Affirming Diversity: Promise and Challenge 10. A Tribute to Ibrahim Baba Farajajé: An Intersectional Perspective on Sexual Violence, Decolonization, and Standing Rock 11. Starr King School Symposium 2012: Ibrahim Farajajé Opening Sermon (Excerpt) 12. Celebrating Dr. Ibrahim Farajaje: A pioneer of Islamic studies 13. Remembering Our Wholeness: Starr King School for the Ministry 2015 Symposium Opening Remarks 14. The Closest Thing to God in a Body 15. Queer(y)ing Religious Education:Teaching the R(evolutionary) S(ub)Versions) or Relax! … It’s Just Religious Ed 16. Whatever Way Love’s Camel Takes: Remembering Baba Ibrahim Farajajé 17. Holy Fuck 18. Oceans of Mercy: African American Sufi Muslims in the San Francisco Bay Area (2003) – A critical understanding/review of David Dezern and Ibrahim Abdurrahman Farajaje’s Religious Documentary

About the Author :
H. “Herukhuti” Sharif Williams, PhD, MEd is Founder and Chief Erotics Officer, Center for Culture, Sexuality, and Spirituality LLC. He is Core Faculty at Goddard College, Adjunct Associate Professor, City University of New York, and Visiting Associate Professor, Pratt Institute. Believing that he/she/they was important to the contextualization and advancement of his work, prior to his ancestral transition Dr. Farajajé asked Dr. Herukhuti to edit this collection.