Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800

Author: Khaled El-Rouayheb

Hardcover

Attitudes toward homosexuality in the premodern Arab-Islamic world are commonly depicted as schizophrenic. This title argues that this apparent paradox is based on the anachronistic assumption that homosexuality is a timeless, self-evident fact to which a particular culture reacts with some degree of tolerance or intolerance.

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Summary

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Attitudes toward homosexuality in the pre-modern Arab-Islamic world are commonly depicted as schizophrenic—visible and tolerated on one hand, prohibited by Islam on the other. Khaled El-Rouayheb argues that this apparent paradox is based on the anachronistic assumption that homosexuality is a timeless, self-evident fact to which a particular culture reacts with some degree of tolerance or intolerance. Drawing on poetry, biographical literature, medicine, dream interpretation, and Islamic texts, he shows that the culture of the period lacked the concept of homosexuality.

Critic Reviews

“"This is the best contribution to the history of homosexuality I have read in some time. For centuries, Arabic-Islamic cultures have been notorious for their occasional celebration and practice of male homosexuality. Western travelers have talked about it and, in some cases, Western novels and scholarship have portrayed or alluded to it. Yet, there has never been a reliable or systematic treatment of the topic-that is, until now. Working from an impressive range of primary sources that include poetic, theological, Koranic, historical, legal, and literary texts, Khaled El-Rouayheb, with this book, fills an important gap in our knowledge about the nature of attitudes toward male eroticism in the early modern Arab-Islamic world."-David M. Halperin, author of How to Do the History of Homosexuality”

"Meticulously researched, lucidly written, nuanced, and brilliantly conceived, the book forthrightly takes on complex issues surrounding the culture of same-sex eroticism that existed in the Arabic-speaking lands of the early modern Ottoman Empire.... An important book by an excellent scholar." - Journal of Religion "Rectifies many... prejudices and misinterpretations in a masterly fashion." - Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies "A remarkably learned volume that provides an excellent introduction to a long-neglected area of study in the English-speaking world.... A trenchant, insightful, and even brilliant book." - Gay and Lesbian Review"

About the Author

Khaled El-Rouayheb is assistant professor of Islamic intellectual history in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University.