Negotiating Homosexuality in Islam

A Legal-Hermeneutical Examination of Modern Shīʿī Discourse
Erscheinungsjahr 2024
ISBN: 978-90-04-69705-8
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 55, 346 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 239 mm, Gewicht: 658 g

Reihe: Studies in Islamic Law and Society

To enrich the existing debates on Islam and sexual diversity, in the present book, I seek the potential discursive spaces on homosexuality in modern Imami legal debates. I have undertaken this research on the thesis that modern Imami legal tradition on homosexuality is more flexible and dynamic than one might expect. To address this essential issue, I build the study around the following constructive question: what are the discursive spaces on homosexuality in contemporary reflections within modern Shi'i legal scholarship? Responding to this central query, the study is premised on the notion that Imami legal sources consist of a tradition of sacred (textual) sources, intellectual reasoning, a vast stockpile of (often contrasting) interpretations of these sources, and a distinguished methodological repertoire called ijtihad. Following the same methodology, in this work, I describe, analyse, and critique such textual-exegetical and intellectual-rational discursive aspects concerning homosexuality.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Alipour, Mehrdad

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Sonstige Religionen Sexualität & Gender in den Religionen
• Geisteswissenschaften Islam & Islamische Studien Islamisches Recht
• Rechtswissenschaften Ausländisches Recht Islamisches Recht

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Figures

Acknowledgments

Notes on Transliteration, Translation, and Dates

Abbreviations

Introduction

Part I. Preliminaries

Chapter One: Sexuality, Gender, and Marriage in Islam

Chapter Two: Modern Shi'i Ijtihad: a methodological discussion

Chapter Three: Modern Homosexuality and the Pre-Homosexual Categories

Part II. Homosexuality through the Lenses of Modern Shi'i Ijtihad (Four Sources of Argumentation)

Chapter Four: Examining the Qur'anic Discourse on Homosexuality

Chapter Five: Gauging the Sunna on Homosexuality

Chapter Six: Consensus and Reason on Homosexuality

Part III. Homosexuality through the Lenses of Modern Shi'i Ijtihad (Investigating Practical Solutions)

Chapter Seven: Homosexuality, Procedural Principles, and Legal Maxims

Chapter Eight: Same-sex Unions and Islamic Legal Ethics

Conclusion

Appendix 1. Typology of Shi'i hadith on Same-Sex Sexual Behaviours

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Mehrdad Alipour, Ph.D. is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Utrecht. His study and publications mainly focus on the transformation of Islamic legal and ethical traditions concerning gender, sex, and sexuality diversity in the premodern and modern eras.