Sexual Ethics in Islam (2 page)

SEXUAL ETHICS AND ISLAM

Published by Oneworld Publications 2006 Copyright © K. Ali, 2006

All rights reserved.

Copyright under Berne Convention. A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library

ISBN-13: 978–1–85168–455–7 (Hbk), 978–1–85168–456–4 (Pbk)

ISBN-10: 1–85168–455–7 (Hbk), 1–85168–456–5 (Pbk)

Cover design by Design Deluxe Typeset by Jayvee, Trivandrum, India Printed and bound by

The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group, Braintree, MA, USA

Oneworld Publications 185 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 7AR England

www.oneworld-publications.com

NL08

Learn more about Oneworld. Join our mailing list to find out about our latest titles and special offers at:

www.oneworld-publications.com/newsletter.htm

For my mother, my first instructor in ethics,

and for my children; may their instructor prove as capable.

Study of the tradition demands an exercise of the historical imagination that is sympathetic as well as critical; sometimes what is branded as obscurantism or bigotry is simply a reflection of a climate of ideas wholly alien from that of our own time. Some of the sexual notions transmitted to us from the past are unfounded, and their effect has proved to be damaging; but while we may deplore this, we must also make the effort to understand where they originated and why they were accepted – and to realize that their advocates were rarely moved by malevolence or stupidity.

Sherwin Bailey,
Sexual Ethics: A Christian View

Contents

Acknowledgements ix

Note on texts, translation, and transliteration xi

Introduction xii

1. Marriage, Money, and Sex 1
   

   “And according to what they spend from
   

   their wealth ... ” 3
   

   Sex 6
   

   Intermarriage 13
   

   Conclusion 21
   

2. Lesser Evils: Divorce in Islamic Ethics 24
   

   Untying the knot 25
   

   Extreme circumstances 29
   

   Prospects for reform 34
   

   Conclusion 36
   

3. “What your right hands possess”: Slave
   

   Concubinage in Muslim Texts and Discourses 39
   

   Islam and slavery: overview of sources
   

   and history 44
   

   Women, war captives, and withdrawal 47
   

   Conclusion 52
   

4. Prohibited Acts and Forbidden Partners:
   

   Illicit Sex in Islamic Jurisprudence 56
   

   Protecting chastity: the classical texts 60
   

   Paternity, legal fictions, and non-marital
   

   sex in contemporary Muslim thought 66
   

   Conclusion 72
   

   viii contents
   

5. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Same-Sex Intimacy in
   

   Muslim Thought 75
   

   History 79
   

   Don’t ask, don’t tell 85
   

   Same-sex marriage 91
   

   Conclusion 95
   

6. “Reduce but do not destroy”: Female
   

   “Circumcision” in Islamic Sources 97
   

   Islamic or un-Islamic? 99
   

   “Reduce but do not destroy” 105
   

   Conclusion 109
   

7. “If you have touched women”: Female Bodies
   

   and Male Agency in the Qur’an 112
   

   To whom am I speaking? 113
   

   A difficult verse 117
   

   Garments for one another 126
   

   Conclusion 131
   

8. The Prophet Muhammad, his Beloved Aishah,
   

   and Modern Muslim Sensibilities 135
   

   Apologetics and polemics 138
   

   Searching for solace 144
   

   Conclusion 147
   

9. Toward an Islamic Ethics of Sex 151
   

Acknowledgements

This book advocates, among other things, assessing customary practices and, rather than implementing them unquestioningly, modifying them as necessary. It seems fitting, then, that as I uphold the tradition of acknowledging the numerous debts accrued in writing this volume, I alter it in one important respect: I wish to thank my family first, rather than last. My hus- band Mohamad Ali has been extraordinarily supportive over the years I have worked on this project. Our children Shaira, Saadia, and Tariq continue to inspire me with their insistence on asking “why” when confronted with unfairness and injustice as well as their unwillingness to accept unconvincing answers. The confi- dence and encouragement from members of our extended family have sustained me over the years. They all have my grati- tude as well as my love.

This project has its roots in my work during 2001–2003 with the Feminist Sexual Ethics Project, funded by the Ford Foundation and led by Bernadette Brooten. The first versions of several of these essays, published on its website, took shape as I worked alongside Gail Labovitz, Monique Moultrie, Raja El- Habti, and Molly Lanzarotta. I collected additional material during 2003–2004, while working on another project as a research associate at Harvard’s Women’s Studies in Religion Program. My colleagues at WSRP were enthusiastic; Sharon Gillerman in particular helped by translating crucial portions of an article for me on short notice. The bulk of this book was writ- ten during my time as a Florence Levy Kay postdoctoral fellow at Brandeis University. A number of its ideas were first presented and discussed in public lectures and conferences at the Ameri- can Academy of Religion annual meetings, Brandeis University,

x acknowledgements

Boston University, Brown University, Clemson University, Duke University, New York University, and Princeton University.

It would be impossible to name all the individuals with whom I’ve enjoyed conversing and debating over the topics in this book, but a few cannot escape mention. Ebrahim Moosa and Bruce Lawrence at Duke University were particularly help- ful, as was miriam cooke, who read a complete draft of the manuscript and made many helpful suggestions. Farid Esack, Jamillah Karim, Kevin Reinhart, Omid Safi, Sa’diyya Shaikh, Laury Silvers, Harvey Stark, and Amina Wadud asked perceptive questions and prompted me to clarify certain points and expand on others. Zahra Ayubi, Ariel Berman, Ayesha Siddiqua Chaudhry, Aysha Hidayatullah, Scott Kugle (who also helped with translation in a pinch), Rusmir Music, and Audrey Shore commented on chapter drafts. Anjum Ansari, Afshan Bokhari, Sepi Gilani, and Mara Worle, as well as their respective husbands Bil Ragan, Scott Chisholm, Alex Norbash, and Amr Ragy, have been part of numerous dinner conversations on the topics of this volume. Needless to say, they did not always agree with me, or each other, but their astute comments and sharp observations have made this a better book than it otherwise would be. I owe Mara special thanks for her comments on drafts of chapters 1 and 5. Though I have appreciated the advice of all of these indi- viduals, I have not always taken it, and none of them is in any way responsible for any errors of fact or interpretation that remain. Finally, I would like to thank Hend al-Mansour for granting permission to use her painting on the cover. It contains text drawn from Surat Yusuf, the chapter of the Qur’an that tells the story of the attempted seduction of the Prophet Joseph by his master’s wife, traditionally known as Zulaykha. This “best of stories” includes passionate female desire, attempted sexual coercion, and divinely ordained standards of intimate conduct for men and women. It seemed particularly apt as an image: Muslim women are rereading and reimagining the Qur’an, in dialogue and in tension with previous approaches but still

bound by certain constraints of the text itself.

Note on texts, translation, and transliteration

Because the specific Arabic terminology and its connotations are so vital to the issues at stake, particularly where the words have legal implications, I have striven for consistency in my transla- tion of key terms. Where I had to choose between a literal- but-awkward rendering or a more idiomatic but less precise rendering, I have generally chosen the former. Unless otherwise noted, translations of works cited in Arabic are mine and works cited in English translation are by the translator. However, because of the nuances of the terms at stake, I have often chosen to retranslate passages from Arabic text included in a parallel English/Arabic edition of a particular text. I have made clear in the Notes where I have done so.

Where I have quoted hadith works and legal texts, I have provided the titles of chapter and subsection in addition to volume and page number for the editions cited in the Bibliog- raphy, so that those working with other editions of the texts can more easily locate the relevant passages. In the case of the
Sahih
s of Bukhari and Muslim, I have usually chosen to cite the English or English/Arabic editions for ease of reference.

I have generally followed the IJMES system for translit- eration but, for the sake of simplicity, I do not use diacritical marks with the exception of ’ for medial hamza and ‘ for ‘ayn. Those familiar with Arabic should not have difficulty recogniz- ing the terms used.

Introduction

For the vast majority of Muslims world-wide – not only extrem- ists or conservatives, but also those who consider themselves moderate or progressive – determining whether a particular belief or practice is acceptable largely hinges on deciding whether or not it is legitimately “Islamic.” Even many of those who do not base their personal conduct or ideals on normative Islam believe, as a matter of strategy, that in order for social changes to achieve wide acceptance among Muslims they must be convincingly presented as compatible with Islam. This focus on Islamic authenticity is particularly intense on matters relat- ing to women, gender, and the family, where complex issues are often reduced to fodder for charged debates over “women’s status in Islam.” The so-called woman question is central to both anti-Muslim polemic and the apologetic counter-discourse that adopts a terminology of liberation to describe the way “true” or “real” Islam respects and protects women, despite the existence of potentially oppressive “cultural” practices. The limitations of these dichotomous approaches are evident, and a rich and grow- ing body of scholarship by Muslim women and men seeks to deepen and complicate discussions of issues relevant to women’s lives as well as our understanding of the layered and intertwined nature of dominant discourses.

As a precursor to my own foray into these treacherous waters, I want to highlight the importance of questioning women’s status in Islam – a phrase that can be read at least three ways. First, despite its reductionist language, the notion of “women’s status in Islam” can serve as shorthand conveying the point that a number of interrelated inequities constrain the lives of many Muslim women. But this acknowledgement alone will

introduction xiii

not get us very far. A second approach would question the use- fulness of the concept of “women’s status” itself. Muslim women are so diverse in terms of class, geography, ethnicity, age, marital history, and education that generalizations about our “status” are meaningless. Even if one limits the application of the term to the realm of ideals rather than women’s lived experience, the presupposition of an idealized and uniform tradition dramat- ically oversimplifies a complex and heterogeneous intellectual and textual legacy that spans nearly a millennium and a half. Yet the tendency to cast discussions in terms of women’s status per- sists, particularly where Muslims want to point out that there is no necessary link between Islam and specific injustices. Several years ago, after the September 11 attacks, I contributed a chapter to an anthology of writings by American Muslims.
1
I chose a title, “The Problematic Question of Women’s Status in Islam,” appropriate to my essay’s argument that the formulation of the question was inherently flawed. An editor returned my proofs with the content intact, but a new and improved title: “The True Status of Women in Islam.”Although we did reach agreement on another title (which did not mention“status” at all), the incident made clear to me that even for those with a critical agenda, it requires vigilance to escape reliance on clichéd and defensive modes of presentation.