Marks of ambivalence of homosexuality between arab literary works and islamic jurisprudence: a brief historiographical commentary.

Abstract

Islamic attitudes about homosexuality have been discussed in Western literature for more than a century. Writers such as English Orientalist and traveler, Sir Richard Francis Burton, appeared resentful to Western prudery with writings unusually open and frank about his interest in sexuality. He postulated that male homosexuality was prevalent in an area of the southern latitudesknownas theSotadiczone.Aspecificgeographicalarea with specific longitudinal co-ordinates in which he theorized a blending of masculine and feminine temperaments responsible for a greater propensity toward homosexuality (Burton, 2002). The prolific T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia) wrote in Seven Pillars, when discussing relationships between young male fighters during theArabRevolt, referred tooneoccasion to“theopenness andhonestyofperfect love”andonanother to “friendsquivering together in the yielding sand with intimate hot limbs in supreme embrace” (Lawrence, 1991, p. 508). Contemporary Muslim scholars contend that all humans are “naturally” heterosexual and that homosexualitywas adeviation from that true nature. All Islamic schools of thought and jurisprudence consider homosexual acts unlawful. However, punishmenthasvariedaccording to the traditional schools of Islamic legal thought. Each differs in terms of penalty, ranging from severepunishment,suchasimprisonment,flagellationordeathto little or no punishment (Jamal, 2001). Certain minor doctrines, such as Zahiri (a Sunnite school of thought) and Rafida (a Shiite doctrine), affirm that homosexuals should not be punished (Dialmy, 2010). All these punishments addressed homosexuality as being the act of only anal penetration by aman.Kissing, caressing, and forms of intercrural sex were technically not homosexual behaviors and thusnot subject to suchpunishments (Amer,2009).TheHanafischoolof thought,whichwas theofficial school of the Ottoman Empire, considered anal intercourse between men the same as illicit vaginal intercourse between a man and a woman (El-Rouayheb, 2005). Previous positions on Islamic jurisprudence regarding homosexuality have argued that Islamic criminal law serves the interests of health and well-being of the individual and society by forbidding unlawful sexual intercourse, i.e., homosexual relationships (al-liwāṭ), adultery, and fornication (al-zina), labeling such activities as “destructive to the health ofman.” These positionsdeclared that Islamencouragesyouth tomarryandtosatisfy sexualurgeswithin theconfinesofmaritalboundariesasameans to prevent the spread of sexually transmissible diseases (STDs) (Deuraseh, 2008). Thedepthofanger towardsame-sexrelationshas led inmany Muslim-majority societies to the promulgation of legislation that not only criminalizes homosexual relations, but also imposing harsh penalties such as flogging and long prison sentences. Muslimethical literaturehas citedhomosexual andextramarital relations as primary reasons for the spread of STDs, specifically AIDS, since about 1985 as an illness pertaining to theWestern homosexual world. Its spread in Muslim countries has forced religiousfigures to confront theproblem, though thismeant recognition of a reality about sexuality that they would have preferred to ignore (Francesca, 2002). In effect, this may result in potential barriers to sex education and in the inability of selfidentifiedhomosexualpeople toeffectivelycommunicateopenly abouthealth issues related tosexualbehaviors, thereby reducing their ability to employ successful preventive strategies within the dimensions of safe sex education (Loue, 2011; Smerecnik, Schaalma, Gerjo, Meijer, & Poelman, 2010). Inmost parts of the Arabworld, homosexual activity or leanings, as with other expressiveways of sexuality, are rarely given much publicity. These are private affairs, especially considering that homosexual relations are forbidden according to the Holy B. H. Aboul-Enein (&) School of Health Sciences, University of South Dakota, 414 E. Clark St., Vermillion, SD 57069, USA e-mail: basil.aboulenein@usd.edu