Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800 (23 page)

Authors: Khaled El-Rouayheb

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

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added that the beginning of each line of the poem provides “a clue.” The first letters of the lines of the poem add up to form “Raba

Çelebi

al-Khayya

.”
¹¹⁴

(2) The Baghdadi scholar ʿAbdallah al-Suwaydi

(d. 1761), while in the town of Mosul, fell in love with a local youth named S

lih

. However, the youth vowed not to speak to him unless he composed a formal petition
(ʿard

l).
Suwaydi

duly composed such a petition in rhymed prose, to which he appended a poem. One verse of the poem alludes to the name of the beloved youth:

Not anyone who unites all charms is suitable
(s
a
lih
)
for being loved, or becomes worthy of my love.

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