Darwich’s inclusive Ramadan Iftar in Berlin centered on a message he has also been spreading online: that Muslims and Christians, and gay and straight people, should be able to share the meal without being excluded. During the evening fast-breaking gathering, Darwich addressed a group of friends at a table at sunset as they ate together and shared the experience of Ramadan.
Darwich, 33, is a gay Muslim influencer who goes by @alifragt on Instagram, and he has described what it means to navigate faith and sexuality in everyday life. In comments to The Associated Press, he said the goal of the night was to “send a message that no matter where a person comes from, no matter who that person loves, no matter how queer that person is, they cannot be too queer … because they are exactly as they should be.”
Darwich also said he considers himself a believer and described Islam as something he finds beautiful, comparing it to Christianity, Judaism and other religions. At the same time, he said acceptance is not always easy for homosexuals, describing challenges not only for gay Muslims but also for queer Christians and for believers of other faith backgrounds.
The gathering took place against a backdrop of concerns for LGBTQ+ safety in Germany. The Associated Press reported that attacks against LGBTQ+ people and gay-friendly establishments are rising across the country, including in Berlin. It cited 2024 figures saying violence targeting LGBTQ+ people increased 40% in 12 of Germany’s 16 federal states compared with 2023, according to the Association of Counseling Centers for Victims of Right-Wing, Racist and Antisemitic Violence.
Darwich used both social media and the Iftar table to address the isolation he said some Muslim homosexuals face when they are shunned by their families, particularly during holidays that are usually associated with togetherness. He called on people to open their hearts and doors to queer Muslims so they do not have to be alone for Iftar, saying to his gay followers on Instagram that they “deserve to break your fast surrounded by people who accept you — fully and without conditions.”
He told The Associated Press that his own coming out was difficult. When he told his mother, she initially did not want to believe him, then cried, and the two did not talk for half a year. He said that “From one day to the next, I was no longer invited. Not only to Ramadan, but also to family celebrations, and that was a very difficult time for me,” and he said many relatives were also taken aback.
Darwich said friends stepped in and became “a kind of family” during the time his extended family shunned him. For this week’s “real life” Iftar in Berlin, his friend Randa Weiser, 40, opened her home for Darwich and for friends of her own. Weiser, a German-Palestinian influencer who posts about her everyday life with three kids and her husband under the handle @randa_and_the_gang, cooked a meal that included freekeh soup, yellow rice with almonds, raisins and cardamon, grilled chicken drumsticks, and sweets for dessert.
Weiser described the table as a mix of backgrounds and said she received “some hate” on Instagram after posting earlier in the day that she would host an inclusive Iftar. She said that most of her followers nonetheless agree that “you can be Muslim and gay or lesbian,” and as guests ate, many recorded and shared videos of one another on their accounts.
Among the guests was Haidar Darwish, a belly dancer and artist who came from Syria in 2016, who dressed for the occasion with a red fez and a white, gold-embroidered gallabiyah. Darwich, who goes by @thedarvishofficial, said, “The hate and crimes against women, Muslim people, Jewish people also, and queers and trans siblings of mine have increased,” adding that people would be fine if they had “the help of our allies and friends and people that have our backs.”