Under the veil of sexuality

Sexual Ethics and Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur'an, Hadith, and Jurisprudence

In modern-day Muslim societies, the struggle for greater sexual liberty is hampered by social taboo. Two recent titles attempt to remove the veil of modesty and secrecy surrounding homosexuality and the oft-neglected issue of female sexuality. They deliver surprises both to critics and defenders of Islam.

The first is Unspeakable Love: Gay and Lesbian Life in the Middle East, by Brian Whitaker, the Middle East editor of The Guardian, Britain's leading liberal newspaper. The book boldly delves into one of the biggest taboos in modern Muslim societies with subtlety and sensitivity, addressing both Arab reformers and interested Western readers. The book provides fascinating insights into the lives of ordinary gays and lesbians, and how society views and treats them.

In fact, Whitaker describes his book as "not primarily a book about sex, nor even a 'gay book' in the usual sense. It discusses society, culture, religion, politics, reform and East-West conflicts."
The title, of course, alludes to the famous description of gay desire as "the love that dares not speak its name," which first appeared in an 1892 poem by Lord Alfred Douglas, and was immortalized by Oscar Wilde during his 1895 trials for gross indecency. Many of the issues with which Arab societies are grappling are familiar, having been faced by the gay-lib movement in the West.

Although I am straight, my interest in the status of Arab gays was triggered by the traumatic arrest and 13-month imprisonment of a former workmate, now living in Canada, during the infamous Queen Boat case in 2001 -- when 52 men were arrested on a tourist boat moored on the Nile in Cairo, long known as a gathering place for the Egyptian gay community -- which marked the start of the current crackdown in Egypt.

According to the International Lesbian and Gay Association, of the 81 countries outlawing same-sex acts, roughly two-fifths are Muslim. Whitaker's book focuses mainly on Egypt, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia to highlight the diversity and complexity of the situation. The Egyptian government has no anti-gay laws, and uses emergency legislation originally designed to crack down on Islamists for its campaign against gays. Lebanon has anti-gay laws, but a more tolerant counterculture is emerging. Saudi Arabia threatens homosexuals with the death penalty, yet has a vibrant underground gay scene.

One of the cases in the book, Hassan, leads a dual life as good son and gay campaigner. He has kept his homosexuality secret from his wealthy Palestinian family for fear of hurting them. Meanwhile, he is an active member of al-Fatiha, a U.S.-based organization for gay and lesbian Muslims.

Laila, an Egyptian lesbian, had a gentler family experience. Her mother once asked her if she "really liked women," and seemed relatively unperturbed by her daughter's disclosure. Laila has two possible explanations for this more relaxed attitude: Girls are less important to an Arab family's social standing, and some cynical families see it as a way -- like hymen restoration -- of protecting that prized asset, virginity. Many Arab people are not convinced that lesbianism really exists, and regard it as just temporary fun between girls.

"There is comparatively little on female homoeroticism in Qur'an, hadith [the sayings of the Prophet Mohammed] or interpretive texts," writes Kacia Ali, a professor of religion at Boston University, in her book Sexual Ethics and Islam. "Several factors contribute to the silence. . . . Perhaps the most important is simply that many legal effects of sex depend on penetration by a penis."

Ali's book explores the entire body of sexual ethics -- both homo and hetero -- from a feminist perspective. While academic and legalistic in tone, it helps shed light on the roots of certain inequalities -- such as the notions of polygamy and marriage to non-Muslims -- and shows that, while some of these disparities appear to be intrinsic to Islam and other Near Eastern faiths, most are due to the interpretive biases of male scholars.

Amusingly, the book also reveals the role of medieval Islamic scholars as sex gurus -- the Dr. Ruths of their age. For instance, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali wrote much about the importance of foreplay in the 11th century. "The husband should not be preoccupied with his own satisfaction," the sage advised. "Simultaneity in the moment of orgasm is more delightful to her."

The condemnation of homosexuality in Islam is not as damning or clear-cut as many believe, and it has largely been tolerated throughout Islam's history. Islamic societies "provide a vivid example of a 'homosexual-friendly' environment in world history," U.S. scholar of Islam Scott Kugle wrote in Sexuality, Diversity and Ethics in the Agenda of Progressive Muslims (2003). This makes the current intolerance all the more surprising.

Ideologically, objections to homosexuality revolve around the belief that gay and lesbian sex cannot occur in a "licit" relationship, seen by the majority of Muslims as heterosexual marriage. "Same-sex marriage fundamentally challenges the basic sexual premises of marriage as a contract," Ali observes. However, some reformers are slowly challenging the view of what constitutes "licit" sex by focusing on consent.

Although many Islamic scholars permit anal sex in heterosexual relations, they ban homosexual sodomy, or liwat, as it is known to Muslims. This condemnation is based on an allegorical link with the Biblical tale of the Prophet Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah. However, the story of Lot's people in the Koran is fragmented and cryptic, and appears to be referring to rape and adultery, which, as Whitaker notes, makes it "unwise to claim that these verses condemn homosexuality."

The fact that Islamic scripture is largely silent on the subject makes the struggle for gay liberation a largely social one. A number of recent developments give hope for the future. In Lebanon, Helem, the Arab world's only official gay rights group, has aligned itself with other civil-rights organizations to push for the modernization of Lebanon's penal code. The group's Beirut office was one of the hubs of the relief effort during the recent conflict in Lebanon. "I think this is likely to strengthen Helem's position in the future," Whitaker says.

In Egypt, The Yacoubian Building, which has been the Arab world's bestselling novel since its publication in 2002, has a sympathetically portrayed gay character. Its film adaptation, released this summer, is the biggest-budget Arabic film ever made, and has become a box-office sensation. Despite calls to ban The Yacoubian Building by parliamentarians -- on the defensive because of the film's full-frontal attack on corruption in high places -- it has brought homosexuality out into the mainstream, sparking a much-needed public debate.

Sexual freedom is part of the general struggle for human dignity, which must be waged at every level. Change will come to the Islamic world when a critical mass of Arabs and Muslims begin to question the structures ruling their lives, from the family unit right up to presidents and kings.