Transgender Islamic school in Pakistan breaks barriers

The madrasa is an important milestone for the LGBT community in a country where they normally face ostracism

The founder of the school said she wanted to offer transgender people a place to worship, learn about Islam and repent for past actions

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Rani Khan, a transgender woman who teaches the Koran at Pakistan’s first transgender-only madrasa, helps a student during a lesson on tailoring. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:21pm, 22 Mar 2021Updated: 10:38am, 29 Mar 2021

A long white shawl on her head, Rani Khan gives daily Koran lessons at Pakistan’s first transgender-only madrasa, or Islamic religious school, which she set up herself using her life savings.

The madrasa in Islamabad is an important milestone for the LGBT community in the overwhelmingly fundamentalist Muslim country, where transgender people face ostracism, even though there is no official restriction on them attending religious schools or praying at mosques.

“Most families do not accept transgender people. They throw them out of their homes. Transgender people turn to wrongdoing,” Khan, 34, said, as other trans people, their heads similarly covered, swayed back and forth behind her, reciting Koran verses.

“At one time, I was also one of them.”

A group of transgender women learn the Koran at Pakistan’s first transgender-only religious school in Islamabad. Photo: Reuters

Holding back tears, Khan recalled how she was disowned by her family at 13 and forced into begging.

At 17, she joined a transgender group, dancing at weddings and other functions, but quit it to connect with her religion after a dream in which a deceased trans friend and fellow dancer pleaded with her to do something for the community.