Sexuality,
Gender and Islam - Bibliography Summary Page of:
Queer Sexuality
and Identity In The Qur'an and the Hadith
By Faris Malik (undated)
Link to full article: http://www.well.com/user/aquarius/Qurannotes.htm
Summary by Al Fatiha (USA), distributed via the Al Fatiha Newsletter
(al-fatiha news@yahoogroups.com) on 20 November 2003:
The Qur'an generally scorns "approaching males in lust",
as well as the castration of males, as the sin of the people of Lot (Qur'an
7:81, 26:165-166,
27:55, 29:28-29).
7:81: "Indeed you approach males in lust excluding women..."
Arabic: "Innakum lata'toona ar-rijaala shahwatan min doon in-nisaa'i."
26:165-166: "You approach the males of the worlds
and forsake those whom your Lord has created for you for your mates."
Arabic: "Ata'toona adh-dhukraana min al-'aalameena, wa tadharoona ma
khalaqa lakum Rabbukum min azwaajikum."
27:55: "Will you indeed approach males in lust
excluding women?"
Arabic: "A 'innakum lata'toona ar-rijaala shahwatan min doon in-nisaa'i?"
29:28-29 "Most surely you are guilty of an indecency
which none of the nations has ever done before you; What! do you come unto
the males and cut
the passageways [i.e. vas deferens and/or urethra] and do so in your private
clubs?"
Arabic: "Innakum lata'toona al-faahishata ma sabaqakum biha min ahadin
mina al-'aalameena. Innakum lata'toona ar-rijaala wa taqta'oona as-sabeela
wa ta'toona fee naadikumu?"
But the Qur'an does not prohibit using, as passive
sex partners, the ancient category of men who by nature lacked desire for
women, since such men were
not considered "male" as a result of their lack of arousal for women.
This kind of man is often known as "gay" in modern times, but in
the ancient world he was identified as an anatomically whole "natural
eunuch." Although the Qur'an never uses the word eunuch [khasiyy], the
hadith and the books of the legal scholars do. Furthermore, the Qur'an recognizes
that some men are "without the defining skill of males" (24:31: "ghair
oolaa il-irbati min ar-rijaali") and so, as domestic servants, are allowed
to see women naked. This is a reference to natural eunuchs, i.e. gay men.
A person had to be indifferent to women's bodies in
order to assume the role as a servant in women's private space. In one case,
a servant who had been
assumed to be indifferent to women due to his being an "effeminate" [mukhannath]
was evicted by the Prophet because he unexpectedly demonstrated a lascivious
attitude toward a woman: