Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800 (63 page)

al-Ra
fiʿi
[i.e., ʿAbd al-Kari
m al-Ra
fiʿi
(d. 1226)] has said: ... saying love poetry of women and boys {
al-tashbīb bi-al-nisa
ʾ wa al-ghilma
n)
without specifying identity (
min ghayr
)
taʿyīn)
does not contravene the status of being
ʿadl
[i.e., eligible for being a witness in a court of law], since the aim of the poet is to produce attractive discourse, not the verisimilitude of what is mentioned. The author of
al-Imta
ʿ
[
fī aḥka
m al-sama
ʿ—
Kama
l al-Di
n al-Udfuwi
(d. 1348/9)] has said: This is the position favored by enquiry, and if I were to cite the poetry of exemplary scholars, and examples of their listening to this kind of poetry, it would be plentiful, and God knows best.
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