Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800 (28 page)

BOOK: Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800
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i
n al-La
la
ti
was said to be “the innermost core of every heart, and the beloved of all chests and bosoms... God has endowed him with a guileless mind, and beautified his appearance, so if you were to see the blackness of his well-contrived eyebrows, above the night of his striped beard-down, on the duskiness of his dark cheek, you would acclaim the opinion of the overwhelming majority.”
121
The Egyptian historian Jabarti
mentioned a handsome young beardless preacher of Turkish origin named Mus
t
afa
al-La
ziji
(d. 1792/3) who used to attract scores of men to the Muʾayyadi
mosque in Cairo “to listen to his sermons and watch his person.” Jabarti
mentioned one Mamluk notable in particular who fell in love with the young man.
122
The biographer Muh
ammad Khali

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