Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed

Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed (; born 1977) is a French-Algerian imam. An openly gay Muslim, Zahed is the founder of an Islamic prayer room in Paris, France, with the goal of accommodating the LGBTQ and feminist Muslim communities. He also founded the LGBT Muslim association HM2F, and manages the Calem Institute in Marseille.

Biography He was born Mohamed Zahed in Algiers, Algeria, in 1977. Growing up between Algeria and France, he reported having felt "part boy, part girl" as a child. and followed Buddhism instead. He later returned to Islam, and in 2010 founded the organization HM2F, (Muslim Homosexuals of France). He also has a master's degree in Cognitive Psychology from the École Normale Supérieure, a PhD in The Social Psychology of Religions from the University of Nantes, and a further PhD in Anthropology from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris.

In November 2012, Zahed set up an "inclusive" Muslim prayer room in Paris, which has been described by the press as "Europe's first gay-friendly mosque".

Personal life Zahed is HIV-positive, having contracted the illness as a teenager.

Political views Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed has described himself as a "progressive Muslim" who argues that believers should "question institutional dogma" and insists that "neither homophobia or misogyny respect Islamic ethics". Through his works, he has voiced his concerns for the Muslim community in France, and LGBT Muslims in particular, who according to him, are facing both threats of homonationalism and religious fundamentalism. In France, he has openly stood in favor of same-sex marriage.

In 2014, two Muslim Iranian women were married by Zahed in a religious ceremony held in Stockholm, Sweden, which prompted a group of Algerian Salafists to demand that Zahed be stripped of his Algerian citizenship.

Publications Homosexuality, Transidentity, and Islam: A Study of Scripture Confronting the Politics of Gender and Sexuality (2019), translated by Adi S. Bharat, Amsterdam University Press. LGBT Musulman-es: du Placard aux Lumières, face aux obscurantismes et aux homo-nationalismes (2016), Des Ailes sur un Tracteur. Queer Muslim Marriage: Struggle of a gay couple's true life story towards Inclusivity & Tawheed within Islam (2013), CALEM. Le Coran et la chair (2012), Éditions Max Milo. Révoltes extraordinaires: un enfant du sida autour du monde (2011), L'Harmattan.