Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800 (40 page)
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Authors: Khaled El-Rouayheb
BOOK: Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800
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The intended effect of such conscious breaks with the conventions of love poetry was, first and foremost, humorous. The cited verses need not be particularly revealing of the poet’s “real” attitudes toward love, and may simply be playful contributions to the established genre of
muju
n—
bawdy poetry.
149
However, in a society whose religion proscribed lust except between husband and wife or master and concubine, the cynical-reductionist perspective tended to be coupled with a general disapproval of
ʿishq.
One of the hallmarks of this position was a rejection of the authenticity of the following tradition attributed to the Prophet: “He who loves and is chaste [variants add: and conceals his secret] and then dies, dies a martyr
(Man ʿashiqa wa ʿaffa [wa katama] thumma ma
ta fa-huwa shahi
d).”
150
The tradition rests on two suppositions: that
ʿishq
could be lethal, and that it overwhelmed a person independently of his will. Together, the suppositions tended to assimilate dying of love with, say, being murdered or dying of plague, and the latter fates were generally believed to confer martyr status on the deceased.
151
Those who rejected the tradition contested the second premise. For such scholars, passionate love was simply the consequence of transgressing the religious prohibition of looking at attractive women and boys, in much the same way that intoxication could be the outcome of flaunting the religious ban on drinking alcohol.
152
According to the Palestinian jurist and scholar Muhammad al-Saffa
ri
ni
(d. 1774): “Giving free rein to the eyes leads to inattention to God and the other world, and brings about the intoxication of
ʿishq
... The look is the cup of alcohol, and
ʿishq
is the intoxication of that drink.”
153
A deflationary reduction of love is also apparent in the opinion, indignantly rejected by the “idealist” Muh
yi
al-Di
n al-S
alti
, that
ʿishq
is the effect of the excessive accumulation of semen in the body, and could thus be cured by engaging in copulation with a wife or concubine.
154
muju
n—bawdy poetry.
149
However, in a society whose religion proscribed lust except between husband and wife or master and concubine, the cynical-reductionist perspective tended to be coupled with a general disapproval of
ʿishq.
One of the hallmarks of this position was a rejection of the authenticity of the following tradition attributed to the Prophet: “He who loves and is chaste [variants add: and conceals his secret] and then dies, dies a martyr
(Man ʿashiqa wa ʿaffa [wa katama] thumma ma
ta fa-huwa shahid).”150
The tradition rests on two suppositions: that
ʿishq
could be lethal, and that it overwhelmed a person independently of his will. Together, the suppositions tended to assimilate dying of love with, say, being murdered or dying of plague, and the latter fates were generally believed to confer martyr status on the deceased.
151
Those who rejected the tradition contested the second premise. For such scholars, passionate love was simply the consequence of transgressing the religious prohibition of looking at attractive women and boys, in much the same way that intoxication could be the outcome of flaunting the religious ban on drinking alcohol.
152
According to the Palestinian jurist and scholar Muhammad al-Saffa
rini(d. 1774): “Giving free rein to the eyes leads to inattention to God and the other world, and brings about the intoxication ofʿishq
... The look is the cup of alcohol, and
ʿishq
is the intoxication of that drink.”
153
A deflationary reduction of love is also apparent in the opinion, indignantly rejected by the “idealist” Muh
yial-Din al-Salti, thatʿishq
is the effect of the excessive accumulation of semen in the body, and could thus be cured by engaging in copulation with a wife or concubine.
154
The “idealist” position shared the negative evaluation of illicit lust, but nonetheless maintained a positive evaluation of love. Such a combination of attitudes rested on maintaining a clear distinction between the two. “Love
(al-mah
abbah)
is different from sexual desire
(al-shahwah),
and this everyone knows from himself if he abandons obstinacy,” said ʿAbd al-Ghani
al-Na
bulusi
, one of the most fervent defenders of chaste love in the early Ottoman period.
155
On several occasions, poets expressed the chaste nature of their passion. ʿAbd al-H
ayy T
arrazalrayh
a
n, purporting to address a beloved, assured:
(al-mah
abbah)is different from sexual desire
(al-shahwah),
and this everyone knows from himself if he abandons obstinacy,” said ʿAbd al-Ghani
al-Nabulusi, one of the most fervent defenders of chaste love in the early Ottoman period.155
On several occasions, poets expressed the chaste nature of their passion. ʿAbd al-H
ayy Tarrazalrayhan, purporting to address a beloved, assured:Have you not known chastity from an ailing person who does not enter the alleys of vice,And by nature disdains any indecency not accepted by the schools of religious law?
156
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