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

221 Pages·2009·1.15 MB·English

by  Khaled El-Rouayheb

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

Before Homosexuality in the
Arab-Islamic World, 1500–1800
khaled el-rouayheb
chicago and london
The University of Chicago Press
Khaled El-Rouayhebis a British Academy Postdoctoral Research
Fellow at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2005 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2005
Printed in the United States of America
14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 1 2 3 4 5
isbn:0-226-72988-5 (cloth)
Parts of chapter 2 appeared as “The Love of Boys in Arabic Poetry
of the Early Ottoman Period, 1500–1800,” Middle Eastern Literatures8, no. 1
(January2005): 3–22, © Taylor & Francis Ltd.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
El-Rouayheb, Khaled.
Before homosexuality in theArab-Islamic world, 1500–1800 : Khaled
El-Rouayheb.
p. cm.
Revision of the author’s thesis (doctoral)—University of Cambridge.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn0-226-72988-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Homosexuality—Arab countries—History. 2. Sodomy—Arab countries—History.
3. Homosexuality in literature. I. Title.
hq76.3.a65e576 2005
306.76(cid:2)6(cid:2)09174927—dc22
2005008022
(cid:2)(cid:3)
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of the American National Standard for
Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ansiz39.48-1992.
To discover from the history of thought that there are in fact
no such timeless concepts, but only the various different concepts
which have gone with various different societies, is to discover
a general truth not merely about the past but about ourselves.
quentin skinner,
“Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas”

Contents
Acknowledgments • ix
Introduction • 1
Chapter One: Pederasts and Pathics • 13
Chapter Two: Aesthetes • 53
Chapter Three: Sodomites • 111
Conclusion • 153
Notes • 163
Bibliography • 191
Index • 205

Acknowledgments
The present work is a revised version of a PhD dissertation submitted at the
University of Cambridge. I would like to thank Corpus Christi College, the
Cambridge European Trust, and the Board of Graduate Studies of the Uni-
versity of Cambridge for jointly funding my PhD research. Without their
generous support, the present study would not have been possible.
My supervisor, Basim Musallam, was a constant source of support and
advice during the years spent writing my dissertation. Abd al-Rahim Abu-
Husayn of the American University of Beirut first supported me in my belief
that a study such as this would be feasible, and introduced me to the sources
of the period. Michael Cook, Geert Jan van Gelder, James Montgomery,
Samir Seikaly, and Tarif Khalidi kindly read earlier versions of this work, and
theircommentsandsuggestionssavedmefrommanyamistakeandoversight.
Two anonymous reviewers for the University of Chicago Press also wrote de-
tailed and helpful reviews of the penultimate version. My thoughts on the
topic have benefited from discussions with David M. Halperin, SalehJ. Agha,
Joseph Massad, Martha Mundy, Annabel Keeler, Jacob Skovgaard-Petersen,
Emran Mian, Frédéric Lagrange, and Mohammad Rihan. Douglas Mitchell
of the University of Chicago Press gave crucial support to the idea of pub-
lishing this work. Russell Harper carefully edited the manuscript I submitted,
correcting or pointing out a number of stylistic infelicities and obscurities.
Christine Schwab conscientiously supervised the book through the proof-
reading stage. My work is much the better for the kind contributions of
everyone mentioned. I have, however, undoubtedly failed to do justice to all
comments and suggestions, and the remaining shortcomings are my own.
My research would not have been possible were it not for the resources
of the following libraries, kindly made available to me by their curators, li-
brarians, and staff: Cambridge University Library; the Library of the Faculty
of Oriental Studies in Cambridge; the British Library; the Jafet Library of the
American University of Beirut; the Library of the London School of Orien-
tal and African Studies; the Berlin Staatsbibliothek (Preussischen Kulturbe-