Eroticism, Sexuality and Islamic Culture

Translated from Spanish to English - www.onlinedoctranslator.
com
ARTICLES
Shelf ofArabic Studies

ISSN-e: 1988-2645
http://dx.doi.org/10.5209/ANQE.55190
Eroticism, Sexuality and Islamic Culture: Notes on the thinkable

unthinkable
Mayra Soledad Valcarcel1
Received: September 10, 2015 / Accepted: February 8, 2017
Summary.Islamic epistemology has constructed - like any other tradition - its own discourses,
devices and technologies of sex/gender. This work constitutes a first approach, from an
anthropological and interdisciplinary perspective, to eroticism and sexuality in Islamic culture. For
authors like Abdelwahab Bouhdiba, Islam is a symbolic economy of pleasure; while for others –
such as Mohammed Arkoun or Fátima Mernissi – this statement is debatable. Therefore, this
article proposes an introductory and exploratory review of those aspects thought and unthought
within sexual ethics and the Muslim erotic imaginary. Based on recognized literary works and
other secondary sources, normative discourses and those that reveal traces of alternative and
even dissident ways of thinking and experiencing sexuality and eroticism in different spatio-
temporal contexts will be investigated. To conclude with a reflection on the obstacles and current
debates around the configuration of gender relations and the construction or affirmation of
contemporary sociosexual and religious identities.
Keywords:eroticism; sexuality; body; gender; Islam.
[en] Eroticism, Sexuality and Islamic Culture: Notes on the

unthoughtthinkable
Abstract.Islamic epistemology has, like any other tradition, constructed its own sex/gender discourses,
devices and technologies. This work represents a first approach to eroticism and sexuality in Islamic
culture from an anthropological and interdisciplinary perspective. For authors like Abdelwahab
Bouhdiba, Islam is a symbolic economy of pleasure; for others, like Mohammed Arkoun or Fatima
Mernissi, this is a debatable claim. This article accordingly proposes an exploratory introductory review
of thinkable and unthinkable aspects of Muslim sexual ethics and the Muslim erotic imaginary. Through
well-known literary works and other secondary sources, it examines normative and other discourses that
reveal traces of alternative – sometimes dissident – ways of thinking about and experiencing sexuality
and eroticism in different spatio-temporal contexts. It concludes with some reflections on the current
obstacles and debates surrounding the configuration of gender relations and
the construction or affirmation of contemporary socio-sexual and religious identities.
Keywords:eroticism; sexuality; body; gender; Islam.
Summary.1. Introduction. 2. The Islamic sex/gender system. 3. Behind the Muslim paradise. 4.
Approach to Muslim Eros. 5. Desire, interdict and transgression. 6. Mystical eroticism. 7. Final
Considerations.
1
University of Buenos Aires-Cocinet
Study shelf arabs28 2017: 181-208 181

182 Valcarcel, MSStudy shelf arabs28 2017: 181-208
How to cite:Valcarcel, MS (2017) Eroticism, Sexuality and Islamic Culture: Notes on the thinkable
unthinkable,inArabic Studies Shelf28, 181-208.
Should I sacrifice myself for you, just as he did for her? I will tell you the end of Majnun,
the crazy in love […] of all the great lovers and their friends. Do you know how
joined together, Shams?
They were united in death. While lodged in the body, the soul can only perceive the
soul of another loved one. Through the body we can inhale its sacred aroma,
we can glimpse its veiled light and hear its magical music.
We can guess what it would be like to touch and melt... but we will not experience touch
nor the merger.
The body is clay, modeled in its shape and its integrity.
The soul? It's fire. It jumps and dances, expands and shrinks…
It oscillates and sparks. The
epiphany, Shams? What is epiphany? A veil,
a burst of light, a burst of music...
Signs that say you are somewhere else
(Fragment of “Yo Giro”)
1. Introduction2
Trying to address the issue of sexuality in any religious tradition is challenging.

Religious systems are characterized, in general terms, by a tight control of
sexualities, corporalities and subjectivities. Theodicies, in the words of Bourdieu3,
they are always sociodicy. “In reality, it is clear – he tells us – that in history the
eternal can only be the product of a historical work of eternalization”4. Symbolic
alchemy guarantees the transubstantiation of relations of power and domination
by presenting them as a supernatural structure of the cosmos.5; thus legitimizing,
for example, phallocentric sexism. In this sense, we understand that gender
constitutes in itself a symbolic order6.
Following a method similar to that of Foucault7and combining it both
with a hermeneutic approach to sacred texts and with an epistemology
2
We especially thank Ian Barnett for the contributions and translations made to prepare this text.
3
Bourdieu, Pierre. Male domination. Barcelona: Anagrama, 2000. Pierre
4
Bourdieu, op.cit., p.104.
5
Pierre Bourdieu, op.cit., p.49.
6
Asakura, Hirako “Are we over gender yet? Symbolic order and feminine identity. In: Sociological Studies, vol.
XXII, n°003, 2004, pp.719-743.
7
Foucault, Michel. History of Sexuality I: The Will to Know. Mexico City: Siglo XXI Editores, 1998.
Valcarcel, MSStudy shelf arabs28 2017: 181-208 183
progressive-regressive history (short and long duration times), Mohammed

Arkoun8examines the Islamic discursive universe to try to unravel the unthinkable
and unthinkable elements and thus promote the transformation of repressive,
limiting and excluding structures. With the aim of transcending, in the words of
Shayegan9, the mutilated look10.
Arkoun analyzes the dialectical tension between the thought-unthought and the
thinkable-unthinkable within Islamic tradition and epistemology. But what does he
understand by these categories? Well, first of all, he defines what is thinkable as
everything that is possible to think and express within the framework of a specific
culture, society, religion or worldview; while what is thought is a tyranny, that is, that
thought elaborated and reified by hegemonic sectors. On the other hand, the
unthinkable is that which a culture refuses to contemplate; The unthinkable being the
sum of the unthinkable that has been forgotten, rejected and marginalized. That which
fixes the thinkable as the only imaginable form of expression. For Arkoun, sexuality is,
for example, an unthinkable factor in the Islamic worldview, at least in orthodox and/or
traditionalist discourse. Orthodox Islam is, following Aït-Sabbaheleven, a hierarchical
Islam in which women are defined in relation to the need of the believer and the
believer in relation to the need of God12.
The sacred word constitutes a logosphere13. That is, a linguistic mental
structure shared by believers through which they articulate their
representations, thoughts and collective memory. However, each society at
different historical moments has modified its parameters of what is thinkable/
unthinkable and what is thought/unthought.
Arkoun recognizes, along with other authors, the existence of different
rationalities beyond Western techno-scientific and positivist reason. For this
reason, he encourages the existence and development of an emerging reason (ER)
within the Islamic world. A universe of horizons of significance that not only
oppose hegemonic rationality, but also constitute a heterodox kaleidoscope of
voices that are heterodox and until now silenced or marginalized.14. The main
objectives and achievements of RE would be the permanent criticism of common
sense and reified traditions; reinterpreting religious, scientific, artistic and
philosophical discourses in their changing socio-historical contextsfifteen. This will
allow ideological borders and social solidarities to be extended; promoting
intercreativity and cultural dialectic16. It proposes, we venture to say, a kind of
diatopian hermeneutics17.
8
Arkoun, Mohammed. Islam: to reform or to subvert? London: Saqi Books, 2012 [Ebook, Eisbn 978-0-86356- 790-2]
9
Shayegan, Daryush. “Le Regard mutilé”, Le Débat, 42,1968.
10
Heller, Erdmute and Mosbahi, Hassouna. Behind the veils of Islam: Eroticism and sexuality in Arab culture.
Barcelona: Herder, 1995, p.19.
eleven
Pseudonym used by Fátima Mernissi.
12
Aït-sabbah, Fatna. The woman in the Muslim unconscious. Madrid: Ediciones del Oriente y el Mediterráneo, 2000
(1986), p.175.
13
Arkoun, op.cit., p.14.
14
fifteen
16
17
Santos, Boaventura de Sousa “Towards a multicultural conception of human rights.” In: The Other Right, 28,
2002, pp. 59-83. Translation by Libardo José Ariza.
This work reflects, from an anthropological and interdisciplinary perspective, on

those aspects that have been thought about and those that still remain
unthinkable in the Muslim discursive universe. We seek to trace in the competing
discourses, the elements, meanings and images that reinforce patriarchal
heteronormativity and those that, on the contrary, promote the emergence of an
emerging reason in Islamic culture. We choose to do so, paraphrasing Heller and
Mosbahi, “through the mirror of their erotic-sexual ideas, their multiple facets and
their literature.”18.
2. The Islamic sex/gender system: notes on a sacro-sexual relationship
For believers, Islam is more than a religion: it is a multifaceted system that

encompasses all dimensions of personal and social life. For this reason, it could be
conceived and defined – following the contributions of Merleau Ponty19– Dîn al-
Islâm as a way of being-in-the-world, that is, the Islamic way of being and being in
the worldtwenty. It constitutes, in the words of Aït-Sabbah, a calendar and a social
systemtwenty-one. A way of life in which the doctrine of tawhid (unity and oneness of
Allah) constitutes a neuralgic point; emphasizing the co-involvement of the
believer with the creation or unitary reality. If Islam is, as Talal Asad maintains22, a
certain cosmic framework in which “the religious” is not separated from other
dimensions such as politics or the economy, we understand that this discursive
universe concerning what is permitted (halal) and prohibited (haram) also covers
the scope of human sexuality.
In this sense, we believe that - beyond the plural and complex character that
the Islamic world presents - the sex/gender system model23It serves as a “neutral”
analytical category to explain the norms that regulate intra- and intergender
relationships, as well as conceptualizations about sexuality, marriage, and female
and male corporalities. Despite the presence of various schools of jurisprudence,
different theological currents and Muslim communities, we can formulate the
existence of an Islamic sex/gender system whose starting point is the Quran and
the Sunna of the Prophet Muhammad (the two main sources of the sharia). What
are the most notable aspects?
Firstly, Islam manifests, even in its most orthodox versions, a positive
conception of sexuality unlike what happens with other religious traditions.
Sex - says Waleed Saleh - is not taboo in culture
18
Heller and Mosbahi, op.cit., p.9.
19
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. Phenomenology of Perception. Barcelona: Peninsula Editions, 1994 (1945).
twenty
Consult: Valcarcel, Mayra. Muslim Women: Identity, Gender and Religion. Bachelor's Thesis in
Anthropological Sciences, FFyL, Uba, 2013. Valcarcel, Mayra. “Servant of Allah: Body, Gender and Islam.” In:
Culture and Religion Magazine, vol.8 (n°2), 2014, pp. 54-82.
twenty-one
Aït-Sabbah, op.cit., p.108.
22
Asad, Talal. “The Construction of Religion as an Anthropological Category.” In: Genealogies of Religion:
Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993
(1982), pp.27-54.
23
We understand the sex/gender system as defined by Gayle Rubin in “Trafficking in Women: Notes on a
Political Economy of Sex.” In: What is women's studies? Marysa Navarro and Catherine Simpson (eds.)
Mexico: FCE, 1998 [1975], pp. 15-74. Its category allows us to overcome the deficiencies and difficulties
presented by the concepts of patriarchy and mode of production/reproduction.
islamic24. It is considered a central aspect of human life and, for this same reason,
celibacy is not promoted nor the dogma of original sin is accepted. Sexuality is a
sign (ayah) of Allah's blessings25. Therefore, for Bouhdiba it is necessary to think
about the dialectic between sexual ecstasy and religious faith.26. However, Aït-
Sabbah considers Bouhdiba's statement somewhat hasty. He understands that
Islam does not condemn sexuality; but, on the other hand, he does consider the
desire illicit. The latter is conceived as an ungovernable force: a manifestation of
individual will. Therefore, opposed to divine will, reason and order27.
Although human reproduction is considered, it does not register as the only
objective of sexuality. A hadith of the Prophet is widely quoted and spread that says:
“There are three things in this world that I was made to appreciate: women, perfume
and the comfort of my eyes that is found in prayer.”28. Likewise, it is reported that the
Prophet scolded one of his followers for spending the whole night praying, instead of
cohabiting with his wife. For the Muslim community, these teachings demonstrate that
Islam is an affordable way of life for believers. Islamic ethics is eudemonic: it pursues
well-being and happiness in earthly life (dunia) and future life (ájira). Consequently,
sexuality is considered positively, but within a certain framework. “The sexual ethics of
the Islamic religion – says Rubiera Mata29– does not condemn sexual pleasure, as long
as it is legal, and the limits of legality in matters of eroticism are very broad.”30.
Secondly, we must point out that the Quran – a sacred book in which believers
are mentioned differently in several verses – maintains that men and women are
created from the same soul or essence (nafs in wahidatin). In this way, sexual
relations would be conceived as relationships of complementarity and pleasure.
Complementarity is directly linked to the concept of zawj (parity and opposition
between the sexes), that is, the idea of the creation of the world in pairs. The
complementarity-procreation binomial (alnasl) lays the foundations for a family
structure of inheritance and patrilineal lineage31. Consequently, motherhood will
be – par excellence – the feminine role to develop. Despite this, Bouhdiba insists
that sexual intercourse amplifies the cosmic order; materializing the dialectical
reciprocity between the masculine and the feminine, between creation and
procreation32.
In short, for Bouhdiba, sexuality in the Koranic worldview is total and
totalizing. It includes the different real and imaginary levels of life. It's diversity
24
Saleh, Waleed. Love, Sexuality and Marriage in Islam. Madrid: Editions of the East and the Mediterranean,
2010, p.77.
25
Hidayatullah, Aysha. “Islamic Concepts of Sexuality.” In: Sexuality and the World's Religions. Machacek,
David and Melissa Wilcox (Eds.) California: ABC-Clio, 2003. [Ebook, 1-800-309-6868]
26
Bouhdiba, Abdelwahab. Sexuality in Islam. London: Saqi, 2012 (1975), p.6. Translation by Alan Sheridan
[Ebook, Eisbne 978-0-86356-866-4]
27
Aït-sabbah, op.cit., pp.163-164.
28
A Bouquet of Flowers from the Garden of the traditions of the Prophet and Ahlul Bait. Isfahan: Amîr al-Mu'minîn 'Alí
Islamic Research Center, 2005, p.158.
29
Rubiera Mata, María Jesús. “Eroticism in classical Arab civilization.” In: The wings of pleasure: The shores of the
Mediterranean under the arrows of Eros. Pérez Jiménez and Salcedo Parrondo (eds.). Madrid-Málaga: Ediciones
Clásicas & Charta Antiqua, 2004, pp.201-212.
30
Rubiera Mata, op.cit., p.201.
31
Rubiera Mata, op.cit.
32
Bouhdiba, op.cit., p.15.
in unity33. Marriage requires fidelity and differentiates the simple sexual or carnal act
(wait) from the sexual relationship that creates or develops a higher level of religiosity
or faith (ihsan).3. 4. In this sense, marriage consists of the public legitimation of a sexual
relationship through its transcendentalization or sacred conversion. Marriage is
established as the legitimate (halal) framework for recreational and procreative sexual
relations35. It is not a sacrament in strictu sensu. On the contrary, it is a contract with
certain guidelines that establish its completion and dissolution.36. That is, between who
can (Quran 5:5) and who cannot take place (Quran, 4:23), how it is carried out (dowry,
women's rights, limited polygamy, etc.) and, ultimately, it is dissolved ( Quran, 2:231).
Divorce is a permitted act, but not desired since the marriage union is conceived as the
expression of tawhid37.
The right of widowed and divorced women to remarry (different, for example,
from what is promulgated in Leviticus 21:13-15) or the existence of the mutah38
(temporary marriage) in Shia Islam, demonstrate – in our opinion – not only the
regulation of sexuality within the marital context and with this, the promotion of
the family institution as a pillar of society; but also, the recognition of the sacred-
mundane importance of sexual desire. We will see, however, if despite this more
positive and lax perspective that exists in Islamic sources, sexuality and sexual
enjoyment are not restricted – at least within the mainstream – to male power.
If the sexual function is a sacral function39whose legitimate framework is

marriage (nikah), all extra and pre-marital sexual relations are condemned as
illicit (haram). Aït-Sabbah understands that Islamic tradition has found in
marriage the way to regulate the sexual act. That is: it has achieved its
territorialization. “The concept of zina is – for this author – the key to the family
system, since every sexual relationship is socialized.”40
The Quran establishes that zina, that is, adultery and/or fornication, is a hudud
crime. We will not enter into debates about the interpretation and application of verses
24:2-9, which supposedly establish that those who commit adultery must receive a
certain number of lashes. The validity of this type of regulations in some countries with
an Islamic majority refers to aspects and issues that are impossible to cover in this
work. But linked, without a doubt, to the re-emergence of currents
33
3. 4
35
36
Saleh, op.cit.
37
Cabrera, Hashim. Initiation to Islam. An essay about submission to reality and some reflections on
Islam and contemporary times. Córdoba: Islamic Board, 2006, p.105.
38
Mutah is a form of temporary marriage that Sunni Muslims say has only been permitted for a certain
time in the time of the Prophet and is therefore currently prohibited. On the contrary, for Shia Islam
it is permitted. It is understood as a mechanism to legally satisfy sexual desire if there is no
possibility of contracting a permanent marriage. The mut'a generates controversies and debates in
the Islamic world. For many it is a way of legalizing promiscuity and seriously harms women.
However, it is interesting to note how it can be used by Muslims in non-Islamic societies. For
example, in Shiite communities in Argentina it is presented as a way to sacralize or Islamize
courtship, taking into account that this type of relationship or bond does not exist in Islam (Valcarcel,
2013:114). For more information read: Eessa Ibarra, Muhammad. Risalatul Mutah (Temporary
Marriage in Islam). Ahlul Bait Islamic Library digital publication, 2003.
39
Bouhdiba, op.cit., p.22. Aït-
40
Sabbah, op.cit., p.37.
Islamists and the remnants of norms inherited from the period of colonization. Instead, we
are interested in investigating – taking into account the sharp opposition between nikah
(marriage) and zina (illicit relations) – whether the Islamic sex/gender system condemns
abject (non-heteronormative) sexualities.
Throughout history there have been various sexual epistemologies and in most
of them, women and subjects – today self-identified – LGTBQI have been
subordinated or excluded. As Oscar Guasch says41, heterosexuality is a mythos that
justifies an untouchable social order. With regard to Islam, traditionalist and
orthodox perspectives emphatically condemn homosexuality, relying on the
inclusion of the story of Lot in the Quran.42(verses 7:80-81, 11:78-80, 15:74,
26:165-174, 27:54-58 and 29:28-31, among others). From these visions
– illustrated, for example, in Yusuf al-Qaradawi's media fatwa broadcast on Qatari
television in 200643– Homosexuality and lesbianism (conjunction of equals or
mithliya) threaten the natural order that promotes the existence or
complementarity of peers (izdiwaj). They thus deny the existence or importance of
sexual orientation (jensiyya) as an integral and constitutive part of the individual's
personality.44. But two clarifications fit here:
The first is that – although sodomy is mentioned in the Quran in the context of
the story of Lot – at no time is a punishment made explicit as it appears with
respect to other practices. Likewise, it says nothing about relationships between
women, which do appear condemned – according to some – in a hadith of the
Prophet. However, for many Islamic jurists, the fact that marriage is the legitimate
framework for sexual relations and that in Islamic countries – until now – it is only
possible between people of different sexes, turns non-heterosexual practices into
zina. Some schools of jurisprudence classify these sexual practices as adultery and,
therefore, punished according to those criteria; while others consider them
fornication, establishing lesser penalties. Currently, these penalties range from
fines, jail time, to capital punishment. It is worth mentioning that today we find
much more rigorous and uncompromising legal and/or customary punishments
against homosexual practices than those existing in classical Islamic societies.
Stigmatization has increased since the 19th century. The colonial regime and
the influence of Western puritan ideology intensified the violent-genic nature of
pre-intrusion sociosexual systems.Four. Five. It does not imply that these practices
were publicly tolerated and accepted.46. But yes, treated with relative indifference47.
Perhaps the most excellent examples are the regime of Muslim Spain with
41
Guasch, Oscar. The crisis of Heterosexuality. Barcelona: Laertes, 2007, p.17.
42
The Koran. Qom: Fundación Cultural Oriente, 2010. Annotated translation by Raúl González Bórnez.
43
See: http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/178264/al-jazeera-star-death-apostates-frank-crimi. http://
www.webislam.com/articulos/27308-opiniones_juridicas_de_yusuf_qaradawi.html
44
Kugle, S. & Hunt, S. “Masculinity, Homosexuality and the Defense of Islam: A case Study of Yusuf al-
Qaradawi's media Fatwa” In: Religion and Gender, vol.2, no. 2, 2012, pp. 254-279.
Four. Five
Segato, Rita. “Gender and coloniality: in search of reading keys and a decolonial strategic vocabulary.” In:
Feminisms and Postcoloniality. Decolonizing feminism from and in Latin America. Bidaseca and Vázquez
Laba (eds.) Buenos Aires: Ediciones Godot, 2011, p.138.
46
Martin, SL “The Role of Homosexuality in Classical Islam.” University of Tennessee Honor Thesis Projects,
1997.
47
Dakhlia, J. “Homoérotismes et tramas historiographiques du monde islamique.” In: Annales Histoire, Sciences
Sociales, 62, n°5, 2007, pp.1097-1120.
countless cases of religious conversions and homosexual poets. Or the poetry

of Abū Nuwās who, through hedonistic language, flaunted his bisexuality and
homo-eroticism48. He even came to define himself as “the shameless
sodomite.”49. It is paradoxical that much of its production was destroyed by
order of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture in 2001 and not by the preceding
Muslim regimes.
The second clarification refers specifically to the categories of homosexuality
and lesbianism. Tolinofiftyexplains to us that, in Muslim societies until the period of
colonization, there was no distinction by sociosexual identity. The classification
criterion was the established and socially stipulated role. Passive sexuality was
represented both by the woman and by the figure of the ma'bûn, that is, the
incarnation of a patient and abject homosexuality. Likewise, the condemnation of
erotic practices between people of the same sex referred to the sexual act per se
and not to the sexual or gender identity of the individual. For this reason, many
authors consider it inappropriate or anachronistic to talk about homosexuality and
lesbianism in classical Islamic societies. Many choose to use the terms of Arabic
origin liwat (relations between men) and sihaq (relations between women) to refer
to practices that – they recognize – were common among the Muslim elites and the
Sufi orders of those societies. In fact, the existence of “slaves of pleasure” who
dressed as men to please their lovers demonstrates homoerotic aestheticism.51of
those societies.
More unease and controversy generated the figures of mukhannath
(hermaphrodite) and ghulamyyat (“masculine woman”). If these individuals
presented a greater number of characteristics attributed to one sex than the other,
they had to follow the rules concerning the former. If it could not be established,
its status was liminal. They could not wear a veil, but neither could men's Islamic
clothing. In the prayer room, for example, they were to be placed behind the men,
but before the women, and would only receive tayammum (dry) cleaning after
their death. Currently, the situation of trans people in countries with an Islamic
majority – as in other contexts – is extremely vulnerable. However, we found some
peculiarities. In Iran, for example, homosexuality is condemned and punished; but
sex reassignment surgery is allowed52with the aim of preserving the
heteronormative binary order.
Finally, today various LGTBQIA Muslim groups and theologians prefer to use
the term queer because they believe it better respects Islamic epistemology. In this
regard, Kugle explains to us that queer would be the literal translation of the term
shudhudh, which means rare or strange in the sense of numerically unusual, that
is, of a minority.53. Like other authors and activists, he seeks
48
49
In Saleh, op.cit., p.117. To better understand the work of this poet, we recommend consulting: Kennedy, Philip. Abu
Nuwas: A genius of Poetry. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2005.
fifty
Tolino, Serena. “Homosexuality in the Middle East: An Analysis of dominant and competitive discourses.” In:
Deportate, esuli, profughe, Revista telematica di studi sella memoria femminile, n°25, 2014, pp.72-91.
51
52
It is estimated that more than 200 surgeries are performed annually. Source: BBC, Mundo, November 6, 2014.
Consulted August 30, 2015. Available at http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2014/11/141105_iran_gay_
transexual_prejuicio_egn
53
Kugle, S. “Sexuality, Diversity and Ethics in the agenda of Progressive Muslims.” In: Progressive Muslims.
Safid (ed.). Oneworld Publications, 2003, p.199.
develop a sexuality-sensitive exegesis and theology54that deconstructs

patriarchal interpretations and recovers the recognition and valorization of
diversity within the Quran. Thus appealing, once again, to the principle of
tawhid: unity in diversity55.
3. Behind the Muslim paradise: myths, sensuality and orientalism
Eroticism in the Islamic world, mainly Arab-Muslim, has given rise to the most
disparate appreciations and imaginations in the West. All of them understood,
despite the antinomies, in orientalist thought.56. From those literary, military and
romantic artists who believed they found in Arab, Bedouin and Persian societies,
an exotic, lustful and intoxicating world. The trope of the dreamed East is
sexualized and sexualizing57. “The imaginary structures of desire that make up this
orientalism have - according to Fernández Hoyos - precise political and ideological
implications in their radical formulation: colonial literature is colonialist”58. The
atmosphere of the Muslim cities (their palaces, architecture, gardens, souks,
hamams and harems) composed, in all their dimensions, an erotic atmosphere.59
that European artists tried to capture and portray.
Women constituted the perfect “object” for the construction of endless
fantasies by both Muslim and European men. The sultan's harem, protagonist of
so many orientalist pictorial works, stands as a perishable paradise60. However, it
should be noted that the slaves and concubines of that harem could enjoy greater
“freedom” than the wives and “free women” of the time due to the education they
received, the development of their aesthetic creativity and their multifaceted life.
erotica61. For this same reason, they became the protagonists of poems, legends
and stories.
On the other hand, this world that fascinated so much was also a world to
conquer. Muslim societies were condemned by the puritan eye. Considered
“barbaric” and affected by the inclusion and imposition of Western civil and
criminal codes. For this reason, many authors highlight that the situation of
women in these societies was strongly harmed by the imperialist process.
Community structures were dismantled and new classification criteria were
adopted, including in terms of gender.
Europeans were surprised by many daily practices such as public displays of
affection between men, the existence of women with great social influence
and polygamy, among other issues. But, perhaps, one of the aspects that
54
Kugle, op.cit., p.203.
55
Valcarcel, Mayra & García-Somoza, Marisol. “Unity in Diversity: Gender and Sexualities in times of
transnational Islam”, Sexual diversity and religious systems: transnational dialogues in the contemporary
world. Jaime, Martín (ed.). Lima: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos and Flora Tristán Peruvian
Women's Center, 2016, pp. 93-132 (in press).
56
See Said, Edward. Orientalism. Barcelona: Ediciones Debolsillo, 2003 (1978).
57
Fernández Hoyos, Sonia. “The literary fascination with the East: the case of Trina Mercader.” In: Arenal, n°17, 2010,
pp.81-97.
58
Fernández Hoyos, op.cit., p.84. Heller
59
and Mosbahi, op.cit., p.219. Heller
60
and Mosbahi, op.cit., p.211. Heller
61
and Mosbahi, op.cit., p.212.
The most that caught his attention and that served, by the way, for various
mystifications was: Islamic cosmogony and eschatology. In short, his description and
definition of an earthly paradise (jannah) that broke, absolutely, with the body-soul
dissociation and with the idea of an intangible future life in an ethereal nebula. In an
ethnographic interview62, Nasreen – a young Islamic feminist from Chile – told us:
Look, the concept of paradise is the following. It even seems very new to me. One day I
was talking to a Moroccan friend and he told me that in paradise you don't age and the
flesh doesn't corrupt. There is no disease and if you want to eat something delicious
you never feel satiated. And you don't need to go to the bathroom. You have the
option to get married in Paradise. It is a very earthly concept of paradise. If you analyze
it, there isn't this ghost thing floating around. It is a very specific thing. It is a garden,
milk flows in rivers and is edible. You may eventually feel hungry and you never get
tired of eating. If you have had a husband, you have the option of finding yourself
there and having a marital life. You are not going to walk in spirit. You will never get
tired of feeling sexual pleasure, multiple orgasms by fifteen hundred powers. That's
why when the English arrive in Arab countries to colonize, they are scared of Muslim
beliefs and call them perverts. Therefore, next comes this whole process of
Christianization of Islam.
In short, paradise - in Bouhdiba's words - is an infinite orgasm63. The senses are

exalted and there is a complete union between the body and the soul or spirit of
the believer. Union expressed in erotic activity. There is no idea of disembodied
souls. It is, on the contrary, a materialized paradise that also constitutes the basis
of various constructions of great dream richness.64. One of them is, without a
doubt, the topical figure of the houris. Arabic linguists say that the word derives
from the root hwr, which would mean having the black and white of the eye very
marked or vibrant like the gazelle (an animal that is often used to metaphorically
refer to women in Arabic poetry since pre-Islamic times). Therefore, the beautiful
women who have these eyes (al-hur al-'in) and are found in the Muslim paradise as
a reward for believers, would be the famous houris (Quran, 56:21-23).
Some maintain that the houris have divine origin, while others believe that they were
created from flesh and blood; You can even see their organs because of how delicate and
translucent their skin is.65. Castillo relates that different classical Muslim authors describe
them as virgin women, luminous like the crescent moon, with faces of different colors (white,
yellow, green and red), who will be the age of the believer with whom they will be and whose
name they have. written on his chest next to one of the attributes of Allah66. They are women
who do not age, do not get irritated, sing with beautiful voices and wrap themselves in robes
and jewelry. They are maidens who exhale the aroma of saffron and smell of musk; turning
paradise into the place of permanent orgasm and perfect pleasure67.
62
Carried out in May 2013 to a 40-year-old Muslim convert. Bouhdiba,
63
op.cit., p.92.
64
65
Castillo, Concepción. “The Houris in Muslim Tradition.” Dissemination paper presented at the III Conference
on Arab and Islamic Culture, Madrid, 1983, p.104.
66
Castillo, Concepción, op.cit. Heller and
67
Mosbahi, op.cit., pp. 179-180.
This archetypal image of the houri has sparked strong criticism and rejection.
The reason why these special women, but women nonetheless, are the reward for
believers has been questioned. For many, this imaginary would feed back into the
objectification of earthly women and legitimize the precept of virginity as well as
the distorted interpretation of jihad as holy war. Paradise functions, according to
Aït-Sabbah, as an ideal model in which terrestrial life operates as its inverted
mirror.68. Paradise is presented as the project of a society under the absolute
divine will where the chosen ones will enjoy beauty, riches, harmony and
multiplicity of pleasures. In harmony, for this author, the houri becomes the
paradisiacal female model: mirror and embodiment of passivity.69. Consequently,
the keystone not only of the paradisiacal system, but also of the domestic space70.
Classical Tafseer such as those of Imam Abu 'Abdullah Al-Qurtubi71
They point out – following a tradition of the Prophet – that human women are seventy
thousand times better than houris because they pray, perform ablutions and give alms. That
is, they comply with the Islamic pillars72.
Finally, some authors, from a reformist theological perspective, will discuss
insights such as those of Aït-Sabbah. You will notice that women will also enjoy
the privilege of erotic life in paradise. In fact, Asghar Ali Engineer73explains that
hur is the plural of both ahwar (masculine) and hawra' (feminine). Therefore,
this term would include, equally, men and women who would be the morally
pure companions - Asghar tells us - for those salih people (who do good deeds
and guarantee the well-being of others) who will enter paradise. These
companions of paradise will stand out for the conversations they will offer and
for guaranteeing a peaceful and enjoyable stay. They try to break with the
paradisiacal imaginary built on the basis of male desire and promote another
conception of future life, reward and pleasure.
4. Approach to Muslim Eros: more than a thousand nights in a scented garden
The Arab-Muslim civilization has developed its own conception of love and erotic
production; recovering the influences of the Bedouin tradition, but also of
Hellenistic, Persian and Hindu culture74. For Rubiera Mata, an ultra-platonic version
of love emerges75. The idea that beauty inevitably leads to love is based on the
premise that Allah is beautiful and therefore appreciates beauty. In Bouhdiba's
words, the Islamic art of sexual ecstasy makes possible the integration of different
forms of sensuality into a lyrical vision of life that constitutes,
68
69
Aït-Sabbah, op.cit, p.143.
70
71
Muffasir born in Córdoba (Spain) in 1214 and died in Egypt in 1273. Thinker of the Maliki school. Castillo,
72
Concepción, op.cit., pp-17-18.
73
Read “Martyrdom and houris: Does this popular belief have a Quranic basis?” published in Webislam on
07/22/2010. Consulted on June 4, 2015. Available at: http://www.webislam.com/articulos/39409-
martirio_y_huries.html
74
Rubiera Mata, op.cit. Bouhdiba, op.cit.
75
in turn, its sensualization76. From this approach, eros and logos are simultaneously
carnal and spiritual.
Love and eroticism appear as the undisputed protagonists of a series of
speeches prepared during the golden age of Islam: from the literature of courtly
love, the ghazal77, the wonderful stories (The Thousand and One Nights), the 'uḏrī
poetry, the Sufi legends, even the medical-normative treatises. Bouhdiba groups
these discursive manifestations on sexuality into three types: misogynistic, mujun
(lustful/sensual) and mystical.78. Classification that reminds us of the three forms of
eroticism described by George Bataille79: 1) eroticism of the bodies (exclusively
physical), 2) eroticism of the hearts (prolongs the fusion of bodies on the “moral”
level) and 3) sacred eroticism (religious or mystical in nature).
The famous and controversial work Eroticism80de Bataille focuses on the
connection between death, sexuality and the sacred. For the French thinker, erotic
activity is synonymous with the exuberance of life, its approval until death. He
emphatically points out that humans are the only animals that have made sexual
activity an erotic activity. We are erotic animals. This conception could be, perhaps,
associated with the notion of Islamic ayah. The idea that playful sexuality is a
divine blessing enjoyed by men and women; only beings of creation with intellect
(aql) and, therefore, responsibility (ajlaq). Bataille explains to us that the sexual act
is the union (communication) of two discontinuous beings.81. Erotic desire is the
“drive” for the relative dissolution of the being constituted in a discontinuous
order. That is, a longing for continuity. However, not every sexual act is erotic, nor
is eroticism reduced to human sexuality. The author understands that the deep
knowledge of religion and eroticism share the need to consider the relationship
between the interdict (prohibition) and transgression. He proposes that the
famous nature-culture passage82It is marked by the imposition of restrictions that
distinguish human behavior from animal behavior. Sexuality and death are the
first and main objects of interdicts. Both events are processes that distract or
interrupt the world of work, which is the basis of human life. An attempt is made to
distinguish working time from instances of ecstasy and exuberance.
In this sense, religious polite literature is – following Aït-Sabbah83– the work of

imams, theologians and philosophers whose main objective was to rationalize desire.
The Perfumed Garden is, perhaps, one of the best known; but nevertheless,
76
77
The ghazal is a literary genre that emerged in the mid-7th century in the Hejaz region. The main theme of
these compositions is individual love for a woman. It arises in an urban context, a fact that differentiates this
literary genre from nasib or pre-Islamic poetry (jahiliyyah). The nasib was the prelude or loving introduction
to the qasida (poetic composition whose objective was praise or praise). The nasib is not a celebration of
eternal love; on the contrary, the beloved is sublimated by memory and subjected to the interests of the
tribe (Tornero, 2014:43). In the legends and stories (ajbar) of the jahiliya period, women are characterized as
a proud and self-confident person. Passionately loving a woman is synonymous with ecstasy, fertility and
possession over nature (Heller and Mosbahi, 1995:42).
78
Bouhdiba, op.cit.
79
Bataille, Georges. Eroticism. Barcelona: Tusquets Editores, 1997 (1957).
80
Bataille, op. cit.
81
It implies that each being is born and dies in solitude. Both experiences are non-transferable.
82
Unlike Lévi Strauss, he believes that the sexual interdict precedes the prohibition of incest. Aït-
83
Sabbah, op.cit.
It belongs to the last period of proliferation of treatise writers. Highlights include,

among others, Vituperation of the Passion by Ibn al Yawzi, The Garden of Lovers by Ibn
Qayyim Al-Jawziyya, The Necklace of the Dove by Ibn Hazm, Epistle on Love by Ibn Sina
(Avicenna) and The Return of the old man to youth in sexual potency attributed to Ibn
Kamal Basha.
Turner84He distinguishes three periods in the production of treatises on love and
sexuality. The first extends between the 9th and 11th centuries and marks the
beginning of reflection on the subject. The second covers the 12th to 15th centuries
and is characterized by the preeminence of authors from the Hanbali school of
jurisprudence. The third and final stage begins in the 15th century and ends in the 17th
century; standing out for the production of anthologies and compilations. These
treaties are paradoxical. They present an ambiguous conception of passionate love
(isq). Sometimes it is considered positively and other times negatively. They constitute a
rational explanation of that same loving passion that they deny and fight from reason,
religion and philosophy.85.
Passionate or romantic love (isq) is considered by writers as the result of
the sum of love (hubb) - like that one could have for one's country or one's
parents - and desire (hawa). The latter defined, for many, as a psychosomatic
illness86. However, for Ibn Hazm jealousy is a demonstration of love. His
absence would therefore signal the end of love.87. This author warns of a
graduation of love that starts from esteem or affection and ends in extreme
passion. Therefore, isq is a love that does not come from reason or intellect
(aql) but, instead, from the spirit (ruh). In the worst case, instinct. In this way,
writers will offer a series of tips to avoid or control falling in love; emphasizing
– in any case – that the latter must respond not only to beauty, but also to the
affinity (correspondence) of characters and behaviors. The licit union is, par
excellence, the Islamic marriage.
Misogyny will always be present, more or less explicitly, in these manuals.
Woman will be described as an omnisexual being: “concave feminine that catches,
swallows and retains.”88. Represented, for example, in the figure of the singing
slaves (qiyan) or the seductive adulteress. The image of the “eternal seductress”
has its origins in the Koranic story (pre-existing in the Old Testament) of Yusuf and
Zulaikha (Smurf's wife). All the condiments that are told in the stories of The
Thousand and One Nights or The Perfumed Garden already appear there. Namely:
the fascination with male beauty, adultery, female cunning and seduction89. The
image of a woman whose desire is animal, uncontrollable and insatiable. In this
sense, for Aït-Sabbah, erotic literature manages to mark a break with orthodox
Islam by recognizing female sexual desire and its cunning.90. The omnisexual
woman, the author states, becomes a source of subversion against hierarchical
and hierarchical patriarchal Islam.91.
84
Turner, Emilio. Theories about love in medieval Arab culture. Madrid: Siruela, 2014.
85
Tornero, op.cit., p.142.
86
Rubiera Mata, op.cit, p.206. Tornero,
87
op.cit., p.127. Aït-Sabbah, op.cit, p.49.
88
Heller and Mosbahi, op.cit, pp.97-98.
89
Aït-Sabbah, op.ci.t, pp.64-65. Aït-
90
91
The conflict between loving discourse and jurisprudence will constantly run
through the history of Islam, says Aït-Sabbah.92. This latent tension is expressed,
for example, in the stories of One Thousand and One Nights and The Perfumed
Garden (called the Kama Sutra of the Arab-Islamic world), which constitute,
perhaps, the best-known works of erotic literature outside the Muslim world. .
Although neither of these works is strictly religious, both emerge within Islamic
societies in splendor and their content combines cultural and religious traditions
and praxis of the time.
The Arabian Nights is a compilation of legends and stories from the Arab and
Persian world, supposedly carried out by Abu Abd-Allah Muhammad el-Gahshigar in
the 9th century. Its architecture is similar to the structure of Chinese boxes or framed
stories. Each story is intertwined with the previous one. The story that works as a vector
is that of Scheherazade and King Schahyr, which is said to have been introduced some
time later. The main story stands out in two aspects. The first, the central figure of a
heroine who manages to save a kingdom with her ingenuity, intelligence and creativity.
The second, the importance of eloquence and oral narration, both central to Arab-
Islamic culture. The Arabian Nights became very popular, becoming one of the works
most “consumed” by the Western public after its translation and compilation; first, into
French by Antoine Galland and then into English by Richard Burton. Over time,
differences and debates began to exist regarding which stories should be included and
excluded from the compendium.
With The Thousand and One Nights a new genre or literary form enters the
scene. This erotic poetic anthology includes humor (mujun), irony and satire when
talking about sex, love and authority/hierarchy93. “Perhaps it is – in the words of
Waleed Saleh – the most prolific and representative work on love passion”94.
We share the following fragments as an example. The first corresponds to
the Story of the Young Yellow Man (night 520):
The beautiful! If she appeared among the infidels, they would abandon their idols for
her and worship her as the only divinity!
If she were to appear completely naked on the sea, on the sea of bitter and salty
waves, the sea would be sweetened with the honey of her mouth!
If a Christian monk from the West were to be shown from the East, it is certain that the
monk would abandon the West and turn his gaze towards the East!
But I, who saw her in the darkness illuminated by her eyes, cried out to myself:
“Oh night! What I see?"
Is it a light apparition that deceives me, or is it an intact virgin demanding a
copulator?
And I saw that, upon hearing these words, he pressed the flower in the middle with his hand,
and he said to me, sighing with sad and painful sighs:
“Beautiful teeth, to look beautiful enough, need to be rubbed with the
aromatic stem! And the zib is to beautiful vulvas what beautiful teeth are
to the aromatic stem!
Oh Muslims, help me! Is there no superior zib among you who knows
how to stand?
92
93
94
Saleh, op.cit., p.48.
Then I felt my zib creak at its joints and he lifted his tunic to gain triumphant
momentum! And in her language he said to the beauty: “Here he is! Here he
is!”
Then I tore their veils! But she was afraid and she said to me: “Who are you?” I
replied: “A brave man whose upright zib has just answered your call!” And I
jumped over her without further delay, and my zib, powerful as an arm, pointed
triumphantly between her thighs!
So as soon as I finished inserting the third nail, she told me: “Deeper, O
brave one!, deeper.” And I answered: “Further in, Oh, my sweet! Deeper.
It's here!”95
And the second, to the Story of Ali ibn Bakr and the Beautiful Shams Al Nahar (night 153):
Schamsennahar was finally able to separate her gaze from Ali ben-
Bekar's eyes, to order her maidens to sing. Then one of them hurried to
tune the lute, and sang:
“O destiny! When two lovers, attracted to each other, find themselves worthy of
each other and join in a kiss, who is to blame but you?” And the lover says: “Oh my
heart, give me another kiss! I will return it to you with the same warmth as yours!
And if you wanted me to be hotter, how easy it would be to please you!” Then
Schamsennahar and Ali ben-Bekar sighed; and another young woman sang,
obeying a sign from her beautiful favorite:
“O dearly beloved! Light that illuminates the space where the flowers are, like the
eyes of the beloved. Oh flesh that filters the drink from my lips! Oh meat so sweet
to my lips! Oh dearly loved! When I found you, Beauty stopped me to tell me
excitedly: “Here it is! It has been shaped by divine fingers. “It is a caress, it is like
magnificent embroidery.”
[…]
When the singer had finished her verse, Prince Ali heaved a long sigh, and, unable
to suppress his emotion any longer, he burst into sobs. Schamsennahar, who was
no less moved, began to cry too, and not being able to overcome her passion, she
rose from the throne and went towards the door of the hall. Ali immediately ran in
the same direction, and when he got behind the curtain that covered the door he
met his beloved. Her emotion at their kiss was so great and her delirium so
intense that they fainted in each other's arms, and would surely have fallen to the
ground if they had not been supported by the maids who had followed their
mistress at a certain distance. The slaves hastened to take them to a couch, where
they brought them back to consciousness by sprinkling them with rose water and
life-giving perfumes.96
95
The book of One Thousand Nights and One Night. Madrid: Cátedra, 2011, p.1578. Literal translation from Arabic by
JC Mardrus -Spanish version by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez.
96
The book of Las…, op.cit., pp.785-786.
As we can see, the first story emphasizes what Bataille calls the eroticism of
bodies. The sexual act and the male genitals (zib) are mentioned without pruritus.
The act is described without referring to emotional ties. On the contrary, sexual
desire is the protagonist. While, in the second story, the sexual encounter
(represented in a much more subtle and metaphorical way) is framed in the
context of a loving relationship and an intoxicating and suggestive atmosphere.
Closer, perhaps, to an eroticism of the hearts. It is interesting to note that in none
of the stories the protagonist couple is a married couple.
In several of the stories in The Thousand and One Nights, there are stories of
“clandestine and fortuitous lovers”, of adulteries and not only of the classic “loving
couples” in the sense of Western romanticism. The woman who constituted the subject
of desire in medieval Arabic poetry was “the young woman in love.” The wife was, at
most, the recipient of elegiac poetry as were her mothers and daughters. Safi97explains,
in reference to Andalusian Arabic poetry, that the wife did not incarnate the sexual
ideal of masculine thought. For this reason, she had little place in love poems. She
represented the “sacred” so her body should not be the object of description. Above all,
her honor and the role that her figure embodied had to be preserved.98.
In the wonderful love discourse of The Thousand and One Nights, women –
contrary to how they were characterized by orthodox discourse – are not silent,
nor submissive, nor immobile.99. Scheherazade, taking up the words of Adriana
Caravero, symbolizes all of this:
Nevertheless, the most interesting element does not consist in this somewhat
anomalous victory of the feminine over the masculine, but rather in the type of
knowledge that Scheherazade embodies: the womanly art of narration […] thus
functions as a significant link between an East and a West that comes together
through the feminine matrix of the tales. Women tells stories: there is always a
woman at the origin of the enchanting power of every story100.
For its part, The Perfumed Garden101It constitutes a very particular work in terms of
its content and structure. It combines anatomical explanations and advice in the style
of a practical and medical manual with the narration of stories, some from The
Thousand and One Nights and others inspired - supposedly - by real events. It was
prepared by Shaykh Muḥammad al-Nafzawi around the year 925 of the Hijra at the
request, according to its author, of the vizier of the Hafsid dynasty in Tunisia, Abū Fāris
ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Mutawakkil. It was translated into French by a captain of the Algerian
General Staff in 1850 and later by the consul and orientalist Richard Francis Burton. Just
as it was also translated, along with The Thousand and One Nights,
97
Safi, Nadia. “The poetic image of the Arab and Hebrew Andalusian woman in the private space.” In: Meah, Arab-
Islam Section, 62, 2013, pp.157-175.
98
Safi, op.cit., p.160.
99
Ait Sabbah, op.cit, 29.
100
Cavarero, Adriana. Relating narratives. Storytelling and Selfhood. London: Routledge, 2006, p.122.
101
Nefwazi. The Perfumed Garden: for the delight of the heart. Madrid: Mamakel, 2009. Translation and correction by
Enrique González Rubio. Also, you can consult: The Perfumed Garden of The Shaykh Nefwazi Blackmask, 2001
[1886]. Translation by Richard Burton. Available at: http://www.sacred-texts.com/sex/garden/
by the Egyptian physician and intellectual Joseph Charles Mardrus102. It was even
banned and destroyed during the Nazi regime.103.
The author begins the book by recognizing himself as a servant of God and
pronouncing the shahada. In the introduction he thanks Allah for creating the
“natural parts” of women for the maximum enjoyment of men and offering their
parts for the enjoyment of men. The book is made up of several chapters (20
according to Richard Burton's translation) in which it describes the anatomy of the
female and male genitalia, the different names used to refer to them and various
advice - most of them based on physical, hygiene practices. and nutritional - to
improve health and sexual performance. Among them we can mention: 1) do not
eat before sexual intercourse, 2) cleanse the genital areas daily with warm water
and perfume them before sexual encounter, 3) do not consume acidic foods, 4) do
not travel for long periods of time, nor sleep too much, 5) take care of physical
health, 6) do not wash the virile member after sexual intercourse because it could
ulcerate, 7) do not abuse intercourse because sperm is the water of life, 8)
consume honey, eggs, almonds and aromatic plants because they improve the
quality of sperm and the intensity of the sexual act, 9) offer women a herbal tea
with ginger, cinnamon and cardamom to increase their desire and 10) get rid of
shame during the sexual act.
The Perfumed Garden is intended for the male audience, even though its
interior includes beneficial recommendations for women. They are not directly
questioned by their author. There is a masculinization of desire that has as its
counterpart the condemnation of female sexuality as long as it is not
subordinated to the satisfaction of men. Otherwise, it is dangerous lust
associated with adultery as told, for example, in the story of a woman of high
social status and her lover Ali ben Direme. The woman recited:
I prefer a young man to make love; May he be all

courage and have only one ambition, May his
member be strong to deflower a virgin, May he be
richly proportioned in all his dimensions
and have a head burning like a brazier.
enormous, like there is no other in creation;
[…]
Let him caress my back, my belly and my hips;
Let him kiss my cheeks and then bite my lips.
to embrace me and take me to his bed; May
she hold me in her arms as her beloved, and may
every part of my body receive her love;
to cover me with burning kisses
and turn me on with his gaze. May she
open my thighs and kiss my keuss
and put your dekeur in my
hand to knock on my door.
I know that soon he will be inside me, enjoying me.
102
Rubiera Mata, op.cit, p.204.
103
Saleh, op.cit, p.71.
It will take me and illuminate my

eyes. Oh my man above all men,
the one that gives me pleasure.
Oh, soul of my soul, you are like the devastating wind.

You have sworn by Allah that you will take me for seventy
nights and I know that you will want me to hold you
and hug you during all of them104.
The woman is characterized as a voluptuous and lascivious being. This description is

evident in the question of one of the protagonists of the story: “Did you know that women's
religion is in their keuss (vulva)?”105Finally, this story about the unfaithful woman, her lover
and the king, culminates with a “moral” pronounced by the author of the book that goes like
this:
This story is just a sample of the tricks and intrigues that women use to
deceive their husbands. It also contains the lesson that a man who falls in
love with a woman runs the risk of finding himself in great difficulties.106
On the other hand, the author details the characteristics of the ideal woman of his
society. A woman with dark hair, with eyebrows of Ethiopian blackness, long black eyes, an
elegant nose, a vermilion mouth, a long neck, a strong back, firm breasts, hips in good
proportion, a perfect and luscious waist, a fleshy and projecting vulva, and well-shaped
shoulders. developed, elegant hands and with a good aroma. A woman like that, says the
author, fascinates any man who sees her and would die of pleasure with her. But, in
addition, she must meet certain “moral” qualities. Such as: not showing your silhouette in
front of strangers, leaving your house rarely, not complaining to your husband, avoiding
excessive laughter and crying, not interfering in his affairs, accompanying him and helping
him in his problems, not betraying him, always being ready when he shows marital desires
and abstain when he does not have them, cleanse and perfume yourself for him.
This description not only summarizes a phenotype or ideal model of female
beauty in a 15th century Arab society, but also reinforces the stereotype of a
woman subordinated to male desire more than her own. Imaginary that, perhaps,
coincides with some practices of the time, but that also confronts the existence of
important women within the history of the Islamic world. We find ourselves, once
again, facing the borders between what is thought and what is unthought. The
valorization and public recognition of sexuality, expressed openly in an erotic
manual, but within certain limits imposed by men. However, in one of his chapters,
the author offers a recommendation in which, in contrast to other comments, he
seeks to guarantee female sexual pleasure. This does not mean, of course, that
there is a weighting of free choice and female sexuality. But, at least, the emphasis
is on achieving mutual enjoyment and pleasing the woman. In this sense, this
assignment is a slight compensation for the excessive masculinization of sexual
desire and act that prevails in the whole
104
The Perfumed Garden..., op.cit, pp.39-40.
105
The Perfumed Garden…, op.cit., p.46.
106
The Perfumed Garden…, op.cit., p.42.
of the work. Here, the author advises the man to excite, kiss and caress the woman,
demonstrating her love and submission.
It is said that a man, when questioning a woman about what things were
most appropriate to inspire her affection for a man, received the
following answer: "The things that develop love for intercourse are those
erotic games practiced previously and vigorous embrace." at the time of
ejaculation. Believe me, kisses, bites, tasting the lips, caressing the
breasts and drinking the passion-laden saliva ensure a lasting effect.
By acting in this way, the two ejaculations occur at the same time and the
enjoyment is complete for both. If "jadeba" (vaginal suction) also enters the
action, greater pleasure cannot be conceived.
If things do not happen that way, your woman's pleasure will be incomplete and, if her
desires are not satisfied and her jadeba does not come into action, she will not feel
love for her partner. But when the jadeba works, she will feel the most violent love for
her lover, even if he is the ugliest man on earth.
Try to ejaculate with her at the same time, because therein lies the secret of love."
107
We highlight this last quote because it recognizes a woman's right to

sexual enjoyment. She is given relative agency as a subject of desire and
not only as an object of male satisfaction. Sexual enjoyment or delight is
presented as a divine blessing shared by men and women: as “the secret of
love.” A kind of eroticism of the hearts.
5. Desire, interdict and transgression: body, purity and senses
Why does Bataille talk about three types of eroticism, including the sacred? What can
unite religiosity with eroticism? Initially the meeting point is the religious sacrifice. This
constitutes a transgression transfigured to channel violence and avoid “nausea.”108. In
this sense, for Bataille, both the sexual act and the religious sacrifice (death) reveal “the
flesh” (the convulsion of the organs); dissolving individual discontinuity. Secondly, he
unites them by the dialectical relationship between the interdict and the transgression.
Interdicts are not necessarily based on reason or the common good, but they generate
the illusion of order. An order that is always under the latent threat of transgression.
However, transgression is not its denial; but that which surpasses and completes it. It is
the mechanism that opens the lock of the interdict: it extends its limits, but preserves
them. It is the vehicle between the sacred and profane worlds. The sacred - like desire -
is the object of interdict. Provokes terror and fascination109. Therefore, it is protected by
prohibitions and attempted to be addressed or possessed through transgression.
In this order of things, religious sacrifice and sexual plethora are, for
Bataille, accepted “transgressions.” That is, “organized production of humanity
107
The Perfumed Garden..., op.cit., pp.55-56.
108
Bataille, op.cit., p.98.
109
Otto, Rudolf. The Holy The rational and the irrational in the idea of God. Madrid: Western Magazine, 1925.
for laborious activity”110. Eroticism, therefore, is much more than pure mechanism
or natural impulse. It is a violation of the interdict. The beauty of men and women
is appreciated, following Bataille, by what differentiates it from animality; desiring
it to “dirty” it or desecrate it111. The transgression that violates the interdict (that
which allows social life) is what turns physical sexuality (synonymous with
animality) into an erotic activity, the exclusive power of humanity.
From this perspective, the body bursts forth; causing anxiety and/or fear. But at the
same time, being the vehicle that allows communication with the other. In the sexual
plethora, each of those involved challenges the closure of the other. The body, in the
words of Merleau-Ponty112, is made from the fabric of the world and is part of its fabric.
There is a relationship of co-implication between it and the world. He opens himself to
others and his environment. It is systole and diastole of the symbolization of its
existence. It is the locus of awareness. The body is, for the phenomenological tradition,
a sexual being. Perception requires the erotic structure, that is, the
projection of a sexual world. In this regard, Merleau-Ponty states:
A spectacle has a sexual significance for me, not when I represent, even
confessedly, its possible relationship with the sexual organs or with the states
of pleasure, but when it exists for my body, for this power always ready to
bind the stimuli given in a erotic situation and adjust sexual behavior to it.
There is an erotic understanding that is not of the order of understanding,
because understanding understands by noticing an experience under an
idea, while desire understands blindly by linking one body to another body.113
The body that is hidden daily is “revealed” under certain circumstances. And he does it,
Merleau-Ponty warns, with fear or with the intention of fascinating. Modesty and impudence come
into tension: an almost ontological dialectic between the SELF and the OTHER, between being the
object and subject of desire.114. In short, the game between interdict and transgression, between
the consecrated and the profane.
In the Islamic worldview, the sacred and profane worlds are indissoluble.
Sexuality is regularized or normativized (it is inscribed within a legitimate
framework) to preserve the social order; but, at the same time, it is resacralized to
keep it united to the universal cosmos. A kind of organized and sublimated
transgression, we would dare to say115. In relation to the Muslim conception of
sexuality and its differences with the Judeo-Christian tradition, Heller and Mosbahi
explain that the figure of Iblis or Shaitan (“the devil”) is not directly associated with
the idea of original sin. However, according to some interpretations, Iblis is
presented with the intention of diverting believers from the right and pious path;
doing so, many times through the female body. In this way, for some traditionalist
currents, the woman (her body, her voice) is a possible cause of disorder (fitna).116.
110
Bataille, op.cit., p.114. Bataille, op.cit.,
111
p.149. Merleau-Ponty, op.cit., p.181.
112
Merleau-Ponty, op.cit., pp. 173-174.
113
Merleau-Ponty, op.cit., pp.183-184.
114
Bataille, op.cit., p.115.
115
116
Thus, for many religious leaders and believers, the veil functions as a way to
preserve and express feminine purity.117. A way to avoid temptation and
contain the force of sexuality.
Within Islamic ethics, the rules that avoid the disruption of social harmony
or order, as well as the loss of spiritual and physical purity, are of great
importance. In her classic studies of purity, nature, and social categories (grid
and group), Mary Douglas118maintains that the stronger the protection of
social borders (avoiding external contamination and hybrid figures), the
greater the care of the body and its fluids. Given the magnitude and
characteristics of contemporary transnational processes, certain norms,
symbols and rituals also function as identity signs or logomarks.119inscribed on
the bodies. Transportable practices and messages that differentiate
community members across territorial boundaries120.
In conversation with Douglas's theoretical model, we can think that Islam
– like every tradition – has its own criteria of purity-impurity; based, in this
case, on the halal-haram classification. We find, for example, the concepts of
nadafa (cleanliness) and tahara (purity). The first refers to hygiene or bodily
cleanliness, while the second refers to the purity of the soul, a kind of
metaphysical act of sublimation.121.
In this sense, body techniques122Hygiene and purification are an integral part of
the Islamic deen. They constitute, express and convey faith. Bouhdiba explains that
in the Islamic tradition, purity is a state that desires to be achieved permanently. A
metaphysical order that, by removing impurities, consists of the act of sublimating
the body; putting it at the service of the spirit123. Everything that is eliminated from
the body (sperm, menstrual blood, urine and stool) is considered impurity
(hadath). This is how we find both the prohibition of certain foods and the
ablutions (wudu or minor purification) prior to each salat, the rituals to keep the
urinary tract (istibra) and anal canal (istinja) clean, and the major ablutions (gusl).
after sexual intercourse, the menstrual cycle or childbirth.
In summary, the author describes Islam as a way of living corporality, continually
resacralizing it124. It is through purification that the human being is able to reconcile
with himself and with divinity. The ghusl is, therefore, a way of resuming control of
one's body after – presumably – disruptive events (menstruation, childbirth and sexual
intercourse). Its function is integrating and compensating; pursuing the confluence
(barjaz) between body-spirit (ruh)-soul (nafs)125. Breasts
117
Heller Y Mosbahi, op.cit., p.173.
118
Douglas, Mary. Purity and danger: An analysis of the concepts of contamination and taboo. Madrid: Siglo XXI
Editores, 1973. Douglas, Mary. Natural symbols. Explorations in cosmology. Madrid: Alianza, 1988.
119
Segato, Rita. The Nation and its Others: Race, Ethnicity, and Religious Diversity in Times of Identity Politics. Buenos
Aires: Prometeo, 2007.
120
Csordas, Thomas. “Introduction: Modalities of Transnational Transcendence” In: Transnational Transcendence.
Csordas (comp.). California: University of California Press, 2009.
121
122
Mauss, Marcel. “Techniques and body movements” In: Mauss, Sociology and Anthropology. Madrid: Tecnos Editorial,
1979.
123
124
125
Valcarcel, Mayra. Muslim Women: Identity, Gender and Religion. Bachelor's Thesis in Anthropological
Sciences, Ffyl, Uba, 2013, p.25.
For example, the importance of hamams within Islamic culture comes to mind.
These baths formerly constituted a kind of spa or modern beauty centers, but
within a space that was simultaneously social and ritual.126. Erotic and eroticized
spaces: a spectacle of the senses. In them, body practices of post-sexual
purification were developed, as well as preparatory practices (grooming, perfume,
hair removal, massages); highlighting the relationship between rituality,
purification and sexuality.
The hamam is - in the words of Bouhdiba127- epilogue of sexual pleasure and
prologue of prayer. But it also constitutes, together with the marabut (corners where
the cult of saints, magical formulas and rituals are practiced), “female refuges.” Sites
where information circulates, marriages are arranged, advice is exchanged and rumors
spread. They are also spaces of rebellion and female brotherhood.128
6. Mystical eroticism: love and glimpses of the divine
Of the three types129of discourses established by Bouhdiba or the three forms of

eroticism defined by Bataille, it remains for us to address the third and final
manifestation. We find it mainly in Sufi poetry and 'uḏrī love legends. Udri love is
an Arab-Bedouin creation that, unlike courtly love, will take up some aspects of
pre-Islamic nasib. But with superlative emphasis on eternal and chaste love. For its
part, the Sufi discourse consists - in the words Aït-Sabbah - of the passionate
search for God-Love.130. Feminine beauty becomes a parable of divine beauty; thus
opposing the conception of classical jurists for whom women are the cause of
fitna. The search for fusion with Allah is a kind of sublimation and
transubstantiation of earthly love and eroticism. This is demonstrated by the works
of Ibn Arabi131or Rumi's poems132. One of Rumi's best-known poems, which is
believed to be the inspiration for the dervish turn, says: “Atoms dance. The whole
universe dances thanks to them. “The souls dance, possessed by ecstasy.”133.
References to love, spiritual journeys or wine as a metaphor for spiritual
intoxication are frequent.134. Love, in the words of Ibn Arabi, is faith and law135.
126
For example, “bride's bathing party” (Heller and Mosbahi, op.cit., pp.302-307).
127
Bouhdiba, op.cit.
128
129
We understand them in the Weberian sense of “ideal types or models.”
130
131
Muslim mystic, philosopher, poet and scholar. He was born in 1165 in Murcia and died in 1240 in Damascus. He managed to refine and
consolidate Sufi elaboration. More than 200 works are attributed to him.
132
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi was a mystical poet and Muslim scholar who was born in 1207 in Bakhl and died in
1273 in Konya. After his death, his followers founded the Mevleví Sufi Order or the Whirling Dervishes; known,
precisely, for the dance or ritual ceremony (Sema) in which the dervishes spin on themselves with one hand raised
towards the sky and the other towards the ground, signaling the connection with the earth.
133
In: http://www.webislam.com/videos/81513-poema_de_los_atomos.html Published on 12/19/2012 and
consulted on June 5, 2015.
134
For more Read: Calderón, Alí “Lightning of Persian and Andalusian Poetry.” In: Círculo de Poesía, Electronic
magazine of literature. Published on August 28, 2013 and visited on May 20, 2015. Available at: http://
circulodepoesia.com/2013/08/relampago-de-poesia-persa-y-andalusi/ Kelly, Matthew. “Love in Sufi poetry.”
In: Cascada Magazine, n°5, 2013. Visited on May 20, 2015. Available at: http://www.revistacascada. com/
article/love-in-sufi-poetry.
135
Poetry and literature in Muslim societies has not been the exclusive privilege of men. On
the contrary, there are important authors, although unfortunately little is known about
them. It is enough to remember, for example, the romantic and erotic poems of Wallada bint
al-Mustakfi (the daughter of the Caliph of Córdoba) at the beginning of the 11th century. On
this occasion, we would like to remember the poetess Zebunissa (1048-1114). Her figure
could be homologated to that of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz within Christianity. Zebunissa was
the sixth daughter of the Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb. A young woman with studies in
different disciplines, she dedicated herself to literature, adopting the name Makhfi as a
pseudonym (in Persian it means “the hidden one”). She decided to lead a non-marital life
focused on her spiritual search. Next, we share this poem in which she simultaneously
speaks of voluptuous love - almost
tyrannical -, the spiritual path and prayer.
Tyrant love that stings me and does not give me peace, just
as you are arrogant, my heart is proud in its attachment,
and will keep love
in her pain, even if she is trampled by your indifference.
This mirror, my heart, crashed against my desire;

Don't give me your mercy, no, but admire, honey,
my proud soul.
My head, although I struck it with sorrow, never bowed in fear.
Do not think that I pursue my desire with ease and

joy; with a tired heart and a weary dragging walk,
I keep looking for my haven,
to reach the kingdom of rest along the thorny path.
Higher, Makhfi, the look from your nocturnal and desolate region,
and see how the army of sadness has retreated.
Dawn comes, and despair
It has vanished before the miraculous arrows of prayer.136
The constant search for reciprocity between the lover (believer) and the beloved
(Allah) through remembrance (dikhr) and longing are central to Sufism. The sacred and
mystical experience consists of the dissolution of the individual (annihilation of
selfishness and vanity) in the loved one (divinity). The end of individual discontinuity in
the words of Bataille. In this sense, the mystical effusion - according to this author - can
be compared to the movement of physical voluptuousness. The mystical experience
opens to immensity. It is the active search for the divine, even its appropriation or
immersion in it. Therefore, it implies the death of the self: the dissolution of being. The
divine-sensible is, therefore, a sensual order. It shares this characteristic with erotic
effusion. However, he recognizes that sometimes it may be necessary to renounce
desire and sensuality to create atmospheres of infinite and profound absence.
136
The Diwan of Zeb-un-Nissa: The first fifty Ghazals. London: John Murray, 1913, p.54. Exclusive translation for this
article from English to Spanish by Ian Barnett and Verónica Rubens y Rojo, based on the translation from Persian to
English, by Magan Lal and Jessie Duncan Westbrook.
infinitely present137. That is, to generate moments that last forever. However,
Bataille himself maintains that Muslim mysticism is one of the few in which
contemplation and married life can coincide simultaneously.138. Erotic-mystical
poetry expresses the sublimation of the isq (passionate love fought by jurists),
making it socially tolerable139. An example of this is 'uḏrī love.
Udri love arises during the Umayyad era (661-750 AD) in response to carnal love
or ibahi; becoming the germ of courtly love140. It is characterized by the idealization
and contemplation of women, monogamy and total fidelity. The Udrí lover remains
chaste, even with his own beloved. The figure of the martyr hero appears with
great force. Chastity (´iffa) and abstinence (zuhd) - Torneros points out - are
heroically practiced; preserving and increasing love passion141. Death is not
intentionally pursued, but the exhaustion caused by that eternal and chaste love
leads to it.
The story of Layla and Majnun142, although he does not belong to the 'Udra tribe, he
presents many of these attributes. It is considered the maximum expression of “love of
love.”143. The legend arises in Kufa and Basra at the end of the 7th century and has been
transmitted by Ibn Qutaybah and Abu'l-Faraj al-Isfahani. Later related by the Persian
poet Nezâmí-ye Ganjaví (1141-1209) in the Khamsa or Panj Ganj (in Persian it means 5
jewels). This work contains 5 extensive narrative poems, which also include the
romantic stories of Khosrow and Shirin. This story that begins with the “miraculous”144
birth of the protagonist, concludes with the death of both lovers who were never able
to consummate their love.
Majnun (the crazy one in love) loves Layla unconditionally, even though he can't see
her. He finds it everywhere and in everything. Layla's constant remembrance is a
metaphor for the importance of remembrance of Allah and divine omnipresence. Layla
and Majnun are two sides of the same coin. They would not exist one without the other.
They become pious or pious lovers: “servants of love.” Beings do not have importance
in their individual and isolated existence, but, instead, in the jointly constructed
essence. The fusion between them symbolizes the fusion in the sacred. She will suffer
in silence and self-denial as the female model of the time configures. He, on the other
hand, will experience mystical fusion (madness of love = sacred madness). He will
renounce his social ties and opt for total asceticism.145. It will develop an ascetic
subjectivity, but not anti-erotic. Sexual energy will be transmuted into spiritual power.
The transcendentalization of his love, that is, its “cosmization”.
137
Bataille, op.cit., p.240. Bataille,
138
op.cit., p.254. Rubiera Mata,
139
op.cit., p.208. Saleh, op.cit.
140
141
142
The Story of Layla and Majnun. London: Bruno Cassirer Ltd., 1966. Translation R. Gelpke.
143
144
Lourdes Rensoli Laliga maintains that the young Quays presents all the characteristics of the “inspired”:
miraculous birth, intelligence, precocious maturity and the gift of eloquence. Rensoli Laliga, Lourdes.
“Majnun, the unicorn (A study by Layla and Majnun)”. In: Taula, Qaderns de pensament, n°27, 1997,
pp.183-194. Also available at: http://literatura.islamoriente.com/content/majnun-el-unicornio-un-estudio-de
% C2%A8laylay-majn%C3%BAn%C2%A8
145
Rensoli, op.cit.
Love is sacralized through unconsummated desire. This effort, warns Rubiera Mata,
is considered a form of jihad146. “In Islamic mysticism, which is the opposite pole of
orthodox and legalistic Islam, - Heller and Mosbahi affirm - the love of woman is unified
with the love of God: the beauty of the beloved is a flash of the divine (...) radiance of a
great holy light"147. In Majnun's words, one can believe he sees him, but in reality he no
longer exists. He only endures and remembers what is loved. Love is the essence of
being: the fire that purifies your soul148.
7. Final Considerations
Islamic epistemology has developed its own technologies of sex-knowledge

and power. However, as has been seen through some discourses and literary
expressions, Muslim societies of the classical era showed relative flexibility
with respect to sexual morality. The interpretations and regulations that
appeal to tight control of individualities (especially over women's bodies) are
relatively recent and the result, first, of the impact of European colonization
and, then, of the rise of Islamist groups and currents during the process of
reconfiguration of the world geopolitical order. Those elements that are
presented as very ancient and unquestionable by certain groups and regimes
are mostly the product of reworkings that proliferated from the 19th century
and, especially, the 20th century.
In saying this, we do not want to fall into a romanticization of the golden age of
Islam. Stating that every time in the past was better leads only to a simplification of
the phenomenon. We try to find and highlight those elements that, within Islamic
culture, have already been thought of and those others that remain - paraphrasing
Arkoun - unthinkable. Talking about culture and not exclusively about religion
allows us to transcend the limits of the Quranic precepts. Cover a wide variety of
beliefs, praxis, imaginaries, discourses and representations in Muslim societies and
communities, beyond religious tradition. We wanted to make a brief introduction
to Muslim eros through an anthropological perspective with a gender perspective.
Recapitulate those elements that can be valued again, as well as update some
classic discussions between authors who have addressed this topic.
Playful sexuality (differentiated from reproduction) appears in sacred sources

(Quran and Sunna) and in various discursive productions such as, for example, The
Perfumed Garden. This shows that sexuality was not only something that was not
condemned but also a dimension of life that was attempted to be explored within
the limits established by the social and family structures of the time. Even so, we
encounter diverse ways of experiencing eroticism beyond normative heterosexism:
liwat and sihaq sexualities, mystical eroticism, and diffuse forms of female agency.
Perspectives that simultaneously desacralize and resacralize eros and human
sexuality. It is interesting to be able to explore, as Fátima Mernissi proposed some
time ago, the place given to desire within the
146
Rubiera Mata, op.cit., p.207. Heller
147
and Mosbahi, op.cit., p.129.
148
The Story of Layla and Majnun, op.cit., p. 195.
erotic discourse, as opposed to the attempt of orthodox discourse to govern it149. The
author maintains that the erotic discourse began a profane reflection through which
she recognized the desiring woman; thus disputing the monopoly or privilege of male
desire legitimized by orthodoxy150. This is, perhaps, an interesting vein of illustration151
develop. Celia Amorós maintains that the Enlightenment is not the exclusive monopoly
of Western society. On the contrary, she affirms that in all societies there are veins of
enlightenment, that is, critical-reflective processes of an emancipatory nature.152. In
every community a kind of ethical drive emerges153. It is possible, therefore, an Islam
des Lumières: to promote an emergent reason154.
Unfortunately, dogmatic and traditionalist currents have imposed themselves,
closing the possibilities of expanding the frontiers of thought. Instead of displaying
the historical background, they arbitrarily relegate or ignore it. For this reason,
Arkoun affirms that sexuality – in the Islamic worldview – has been selectively
excluded to the field of the unthinkable/unthinkable. In medieval Muslim societies,
the limit of what was thinkable was – without strict censorship and with a certain
casualness – erotic desire from a male point of view. Today, the criminalization of
sexuality155feminine and queer imposed by Islamist leaders, groups and regimes,
conditions and violates the lives of many believers; making dialogue difficult and
marginalizing alternative ways of thinking. Different gender and religious
experiences, identities and subjectivities are affected.
For Aït-Sabbah “the woman of religious, mystical, courteous or other literature has
nothing to do – she stated years ago – with the real woman [...] she underlies precisely
the tension between an impossible ideal and an ungovernable reality.”156. This
statement remains valid today.
There are many questions to think about. Such as: sexual diversity, gender
and sociosexual identities, the constitution of alternative families, sexuality
outside of marriage, the eradication of violence and gender inequality, among
many others. Making these debates visible – recovering them from the
ostracism of the field of the unthinkable/unthinkable – does not imply that the
responses and reflections are the same as those proposed and developed in
other societies. In the Islamic tradition and worldview, religiosity and
rationality are not antinomian poles. Faith, social justice, intellect and
responsibility are part of the same system of life. Will there – as Heller and
Mosbahi ask –157– another nadha (intellectual rebirth)? Surely. It begins to be
seen in political movements, reformist theological currents, cinema, literature
and art of recent decades. Let us think, for example, of the emergence of the
149
Aït-Sabbah, op.cit., p.179. Aït-
150
Sabbah, op.cit., pp.180-181.
151
Amorós, Cecilia Vetas de Illustration. Reflections on Feminism and Islam. Madrid: Cátedra, 2009. Amorós,
152
op.cit., p.222.
153
Segato, Rita. “Anthropology and Human Rights: alterity and ethics in the universal rights movement.” In:
Series Antropologia, 2004.
154
Arkoun, op.cit.
155
Hoodfar, Homa. “Muslim Women on the threshold of the Twenty First Century.” In: Wluml, Dossier 2, 1998. Aït-
156
157
Heller and Mosbahi, op.cit.
LGTBQI movements158and Islamic feminists159with their respective jihad160queer and

gender. These movements combine the discourse of human rights, contributions of
Western philosophy together with certain values and neuralgic principles of the
Islamic tradition. They place emphasis, above all, on the process of ascription and
identity recognition. Could its foundations and praxis be framed within the so-called
cosmopolitics?161? What will be its scope and obstacles?
The cosmos, following Latour, prevents the closure of the political. Therefore, it
challenges fundamentalisms162and his speeches about unitary realities closed to
interpretation163. This ontological turn164can be a contribution as long as it does not
become a new form of colonialism165of Western narrative and academia166. At this
point, the gender and feminist perspective has a lot to contribute. In the words of
Hemmings167: “feminist standpoint epistemology might be said to constitute and
established body of inquire into the relationship between ontological,
epistemological and transformative”168.
You can try, as several thinkers and academics have done, to rescue the
feminist breath of the Koran169. However, every sacred book has an ambiguity and
complexity that guarantees its timelessness. Therefore, it is also necessary to
identify and appreciate polyvocity within Islamic culture. Make visible the diversity
of discourses and look for those veins that allow us to question the considered
aspects and re-signify those unthought-unthinkable. Critically recover,
158
Valcarcel, Mayra, García-Somoza, Mari-Sol and Rivera De La Fuente, Vanessa. “Queer Jihad and the Muslim
public sphere: the case of The Inner Circle movement.” In: IX Mercosur Anthropology Meeting, December
2015.
159
Valcarcel, Mayra & Sánchez, Nazareth “Catholic and Muslim: Negotiating identities and challenging
hegemonies from the margins of feminism.” In: Gênero e Direito, Periódico do Núcleo de Estudos e
Pesquisas sobre Gênero e Direito, n° 02, 2014, pp. 98-125. Valcarcel, Mayra & Rivera De La Fuente, Vanessa.
“Feminism, Identity and Islam: Crossroads, strategies and challenges in a transnational world.” In: Tabula
Rasa, Bogotá, 21, 2014: pp.139-164.
160
Jihad is understood by the majority of Muslims as the individual and collective effort to promote peace,
social justice, and the common well-being. Fight against usury, selfishness and other negative attitudes. It is
related to the concept of khalifa, that is, the fact that every human being is a representative of Allah on
earth and his goal is the practice of good (adab).
161
Stengers, Isabelle. “The Cosmopolitical proposal.” In: Making Things Public. Bruno Latour and Peter
Weibel (eds.) Cambridge: MIT Press, 2005, pp.94-1003. Category used to (re)think political
movements and praxis based on indigenous worldviews. These pose another nature-society link,
opposing Western objectivist naturalism.
162
We emphasize the influence of the “West” in the consolidation of fundamentalisms of different kinds.
163
Latour, Bruno. “Whose Cosmos, which cosmopolitics? Comments on the peace terms of Ulrich Beck”. In:
Common Knowledge, 10 (3), 2004, pp.450-462.
164
In this regard, we recommend the following readings: Ruiz Serna, Daniel and Del Cairo, Carlos. “The debates of the
ontological turn around modern naturalism.” In: Journal of Social Studies, 55, 2016, pp.193-204. Descola, Phillipe.
Beyond nature and culture. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu, 2012. Viveiros De Castro, Eduardo. “Perspectivism and
multinaturalism in indigenous America.” In Rationality and mythical discourse. Adolfo Chaparro and Christian
Schimacher (eds.) Bogotá: Universidad del Rosario –Icanh, 2003, pp.191-243.
165
On discursive colonization we recommend reading Mohanty, Chandra. “Under Western eyes: Feminist
scholarship and colonial discourses.” In: Feminist review, (30), 1988, pp.61-88.
166
Todd, Zoe. “An Indigenous Feminist's take on the ontological turn: Ontology s just another word for
colonialism.” In: Journal of Historical Sociology, vol.29 (1), 2016, pp.4-22.
167
Hemmings, Clare. “Invoking Affect: Culture Theory and the Ontological turn.” In: Culture Studies, vol.19 (5), 2005,
pp.548-567.
168
Hemmings, op.cit., p.557. Heller
169
and Mosbahi, op.cit., p.123
for example, iconic figures such as Scheherazade, the great erotic production,
the work of thinkers such as Bint al Shati, Nazira Zain al Din, Qasim Amin,
Mauli Syed Mumtaz Ali, Mohamed Taha and Mohammed 'Abed al-Jabri, among
others, who were in favor of women's rights and reformist reinterpretations.
As well as hearing the voices of contemporary artists, activists and writers such
as Nadal al Saadawi, Wassyla Tamzali and Amina Wadud.
Such cosmopolitics – if such exists – would only be feasible if through it the

symbols of religious and cultural capital (academic, political, literary, economic,
among many more) can be disputed and reworked in order to activate an
emerging reason in the that the body as a locus of experience, social, spiritual and
erotic communication obtains a prominent place. It is necessary to recognize the
erotic dimension and sexuality within emotional territories. That is, the influence of
the body, affects and emotion on our ability to act in the world.170. Use the force of
the erotic as an agency of resistance in the resignification (of) and participation (in)
public-private spaces.
170Hemmings, op.cit., p.564.

Eroticism, Sexuality and Islamic Culture

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Eroticism, Sexuality and Islamic Culture

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Translated from Spanish to English - www.onlinedoctranslator.

Shelf ofArabic Studies

Eroticism, Sexuality and Islamic Culture: Notes on the thinkable

Mayra Soledad Valcarcel1

Received: September 10, 2015 / Accepted: February 8, 2017

[en] Eroticism, Sexuality and Islamic Culture: Notes on the

Study shelf arabs28 2017: 181-208 181

Trying to address the issue of sexuality in any religious tradition is challenging.

progressive-regressive history (short and long duration times), Mohammed

This work reflects, from an anthropological and interdisciplinary perspective, on

2. The Islamic sex/gender system: notes on a sacro-sexual relationship

For believers, Islam is more than a religion: it is a multifaceted system that

If the sexual function is a sacral function39whose legitimate framework is

countless cases of religious conversions and homosexual poets. Or the poetry

develop a sexuality-sensitive exegesis and theology54that deconstructs

3. Behind the Muslim paradise: myths, sensuality and orientalism

In short, paradise - in Bouhdiba's words - is an infinite orgasm63. The senses are

4. Approach to Muslim Eros: more than a thousand nights in a scented garden

In this sense, religious polite literature is – following Aït-Sabbah83– the work of

It belongs to the last period of proliferation of treatise writers. Highlights include,

I prefer a young man to make love; May he be all

It will take me and illuminate my

Oh, soul of my soul, you are like the devastating wind.

The woman is characterized as a voluptuous and lascivious being. This description is

We highlight this last quote because it recognizes a woman's right to

5. Desire, interdict and transgression: body, purity and senses

6. Mystical eroticism: love and glimpses of the divine

Of the three types129of discourses established by Bouhdiba or the three forms of

This mirror, my heart, crashed against my desire;

Do not think that I pursue my desire with ease and

Islamic epistemology has developed its own technologies of sex-knowledge

Playful sexuality (differentiated from reproduction) appears in sacred sources

LGTBQI movements158and Islamic feminists159with their respective jihad160queer and

Such cosmopolitics – if such exists – would only be feasible if through it the

170Hemmings, op.cit., p.564.

You might also like