1

Licit and illicit sexuality in Islamic law

by
Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh1
«Man is neither angel nor beast; and the
misfortune is that he who would act the angel
acts the beast»
Pascal, Pensées, VI, 358.

Lausanne, October 9, 2003

www.sami-aldeeb.com
saldeeb@bluewin.ch

1 Christian Arab of Palestinian origin and Swiss citizenship, holding a

doctorate in law from the University of Fribourg. Graduate in political sciences
from the Graduate Institute of International Studies of Geneva. Responsible for
Arab and Islamic law in the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law in Lausanne
(http://isdc.ch). He has written many books and articles on Arab and Islamic law
besides more general works on the Middle East (see the list and some articles in:
www.sami-aldeeb.com).
 2

INTRODUCTION
I will not speak here of Islam, but of Muslims. Islam, like Christianity or Judaism, is an
abstraction that does not exist as a body or entity in itself.
In any society, there are laws. They are supposed to regulate the society and, in the
same time, to be adapted to the evolution of the society. This adaptation takes time in
democratic societies, but it is almost impossible in theocratic ones as the laws are
attributed to God. Even where such an adaptation has been possible, religious
authorities continue pushing in favour of the application of the religious norms,
provoking a conflict between the state's law and the religious norms. This is what we
will see in this article devoted to the study of sexuality in the Muslim society.
I. General notions of the Islamic law
A) Sources of the Islamic law
Muslims inherited from the Jews the belief that God dictated norms according to which
the humanity must behave. These norms are formulated in the Koran and the Sunnah of
Muhammad that constitute the two main sources. We will say here some words about
them:
- The Koran: disarticulated book, with lapidary expressions, whose 114 chapters are
classified by order of length (to the exception of the first chapter). It includes
contradictory verses that Muslim jurists tried to reconcile by supposing that
posterior verses abrogate those that precede, but without knowing with certainty
the chronological order of these various verses. In spite of its obvious
imperfections, Muslims consider the Koran a matchless work whose author is
Allah himself.
- The Sunnah: words, gestures and facts of Muhammad, infallible messenger of
God, dispersed in many compilations, often contradictory, whose authenticity is
put in doubt. It serves to solve the difficulties of the Koran, to complete it, or even
to abrogate some of its verses.
In addition to these two sources, Muslims believe that the religious norms revealed to
prophets who came before Muhammad apply to Muslims also whenever they are not
abrogated by the Koran or the Sunnah. But as Muslims consider the Jewish and
Christian holy books are falsified, they only trust what the Koran and the Sunnah tell
about these prophets.
From these sources, tainted with uncertainties, Muslim jurists tried to systematize the
Islamic law, fixing its principles and specifying norms, necessarily divergent, that must
apply to the relation of human beings between themselves and their religion with God.
These acts are classified in five main categories: obligatory, advisable, forbidden,
reprobate or authorized. The role of the Muslim jurist consists to decide according to
these sources in what category sexual relations have to be placed.
As the Jews, Muslims consider that the religious norms apply at all time and in all
places. The Koran imposes their application:
No believing man or believing woman, if God and his messenger issue any command, has any
choice regarding that command. Anyone who disobeys God and his messenger has gone far astray.
(33:36).
The only utterance of the believers, whenever invited to God and his messenger to judge in their
affairs, is to say: "We hear and we obey". These are the winners (24:51).
Muhammad Mitwalli Al-Sha’rawi (died 1998), religious leader and Egyptian politician,
explained that revelation is called upon to decide equivocal questions, thus freeing
mankind of the anguish of solving a difficult case by discussion, or by exhaustive
repetition of experiences. The Muslim does not have to look outside Islam for solutions
 3
to any problem, since Islam, according to Al-Sha’rawi, offers absolute eternal and good
solutions . He adds:
2

If I were the person responsible for this country or the person charged to apply God’s law, I would
give a delay of one year to anyone who rejects Islam, granting him the right to say that he is no
longer a Muslim. Then I would dispense to him of the application of Islamic law, condemning him
to death as apostate3
The non-application of the Islamic law is the major reason of tension between Muslim
fundamentalists and Islamic regimes.
B) Islamic criminal Law
The Islamic criminal law distinguishes between two categories of offences:
- Offences punished by fixed punishment (had) foreseen by the Koran or the
Sunnah of Muhammad. These are: theft, banditry, armed insurrection, adultery,
false accusation of adultery, drinking alcohol, apostasy and reach to life or
physical integrity. Punishments foreseen for these offences are applied under strict
conditions that vary according to Islamic schools.
- Offences punished by discretionary sanction (ta‘zir). This category covers the
aforesaid offences when one of its conditions is missing. It covers also offences
that are not foreseen in the first category.
If the conditions of the offences are fulfilled, the guilty cannot be pardoned (reduction
of the pain, completely or partially or its commutation in a softer pain). The Koran says:
"These are God's laws (hudud); do not transgress them. Those who transgress God's
laws are the unjust" (2:229). The fixed offences are imprescriptible. The forgiveness of
injured or of the person concerned can play a role regarding the reach to life or physical
integrity (the price of blood replaces here the punishment), the accusation of adultery
and the theft, but doesn't affect the offence of adultery. The repentance of the guilty can
also play a certain role for offences of banditry and apostasy; the fixed punishment is
cancelled in this case, but the state keeps the right to apply a discretionary sanction.
From what we have just seen, the adultery and the false accusation of adultery,
constitute two offences punished fixed punishment, but there are other sexual offences
punished by discretionary sanction.
II. Licit sexual intercourse in Islamic law
A Muslim author says that the only licit sexual relations according to the Islamic law
are those taking place between spouses. All other sexual or passionate practice on the
body of others constitutes a reach to honour and a crime. In positive law, on the other
hand, all validly agreed acts are licit . One should however take into consideration that
4

Islamic family law establishes sexual relations in favour of the man. This unbalance is
also effective in the Islamic concept concerning the situation after the life. But women
know how to take their revenge. This is what we will see in the following points.
1) Privileges of men
A) Four women and unlimited number of slaves
a) Privileges of prophets
The polygamy is a known in the Bible. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David and Salomon
were polygamous. Salomon had "had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three
hundred concubines" (First book of Kings 11:3). According to Isaiah: "In that day seven
women will take hold of one man and say: "We will eat our own food and provide our
own clothes; only let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!" (Isaiah 4:1).

2 Al-Sha’rawi: Qadaya islamiyyah, p. 35-39.

3 Ibid., p. 28-29.
4 Muhsin: Al-himayah al-gina'iyyah lil-'ard, p. 17-18.
 4
This misogynous attitude of the Bible passed in the Koran. As the Jewish prophets,
Muhammad had the right to marry as many women that he wanted: "This provision is
only for you, and not for other believers" (33:50). As these women are supposed to
remain the wives of Muhammad in the other life, the Koran prohibited them from
getting remarried after the death of Muhammad, while assigning them the honorary title
of believer mothers (33:6). Sexual intercourse with mothers is forbidden by the Koran
(4:23).
It is reported that Muhammad appreciated sexual intercourse. He said in this respect:
"I have been preferred on the other people by four qualities: generosity, courage, big
number of sexual intercourse (kuthrat al-jima') and big strength (batsh). Anas said that
Muhammad was able to have sexual intercourse with all his eleven women in one hour,
during the day or during the night. And when one asked Anas how Muhammad afforded
so many sexual activities, he answered that he had the strength to thirty people.
Muhammad said: "I have been given strength of thirty people in sexual intercourse".
Others say that he had the strength of forty or even forty-five men, specifying "men of
the Paradise". Muhammad said: "The Angel Gabriel angel brought me from the Heaven
a harissah (dish of wheat with meat) that I ate, and so I acquired the strength of forty
men in sexual intercourse". He also said that he was able in any hour to go the women.
Annotating the verse: "Are they envious of the people because God has showered them
with his blessings?" (4:54), Muqatil Ibn-Hayyan says that this verse has been revealed
because the Jews were jealous of the sexual strength of Muhammad similar to seventy
young men". According to a narration, Muhammad said: "The starved can be satiated,
and the thirsty watered, but I never satiate of the prayer and the women". Al-Tirmidhi
report of Muhammad the following narration: "I got the strength of forty men in sexual
intercourse and the believers the strength of ten". He explains that prophets had a
surplus by force in sexual intercourse because of their prophecy: when the light fills the
chest, it penetrates the vain, the body and the soul, exciting the concupiscence and
reinforcing it . 5

b) Privileges of the Muslim man

The Koran limits the number of women for a Muslim at one time to four. However, it
recommends: "If you fear you will not be able to do justice, then marry only one" (4:3)
while adding: "You can never be equitable in dealing with more than one wife, no
matter how hard you try" (4:129). In addition to these four women, a man could marry
an unlimited number of slaves . Following the model of Muhammad, Al-Hassan, the
6

son of Ali, had sexual intercourse with two hundred women, or even seven hundred
women . The woman, on the other hand, can marry only one man at one time. A woman
7

who marries two men is considered an adulteress, liable of lapidating in certain

countries such as Saudi Arabia or Iran.
Polygamy is forbidden in Tunisia and Turkey. In this latter country, however, polygamy
is still practiced and the State promulgates from time to time decrees aiming to
legitimize the children born out of such marriages. Measures have been taken by certain
Arab legislators aiming to limit the polygamy invoking the aforesaid Koranic verses
(4:3 and 129). These measures vary from a State to the other and can be summarized as
follows:
- The woman can include in the contract a clause of non-remarriage giving her the right to ask for the
divorce if the husband takes another one.
- The woman can ask for the divorce in case of remarriage even in the absence of a contractual clause.

5 See Al-Sayyuti: Al-wishah fi fawa'id al-nikah, p. 29-36.

6 See verses 4:3 et 25, 23:5-7 et 24:33.
7 See Al-Sayyuti: Al-wishah fi fawa'id al-nikah, p. 38.
 5
- The husband who wants to marry a new woman must fulfil some conditions submitted to the judge’s
appreciation.
B) Temporary Marriage
The Shiite Islamic law has a form of marriage called zawag al-mut’ah (literally:
enjoyment marriage) translated often as temporary marriage. This kind of marriage,
based on the Koranic verse: "whoever you like among them, you shall pay them the
dowry decreed for them" (4:24) is defined expressly in the Iranian Civil Code . 8

According to this code, the husband would be able, in addition to the four regular wives
he is permitted in Islam, to take other women in temporary marriage, a union that can
last for only one hour or as long as several years, depending on the circumstances in
which he finds himself. Some do not hesitate to call this marriage prostitution . 9

Banou Parsi, an Iranian woman, writes: "After the revolution, the quarter of prostitutes
in Tehran has been burnt and a prostitute died. Yet, prostitution didn't disappear. There
are places where men can choose a woman in an album of photos. Mullahs are present
and can conclude the temporary marriages that can last from one hour to 99 years. At
the end of the contract, the woman doesn't have any right, but she receives money: it is a
form of legalised religious prostitution" . 10

Temporary marriage is forbidden in Sunnite Islamic law. Sunnis believe that this
practice has been forbidden by Muhammad and that the aforementioned Koranic verse
has been abrogated by verses 23:1 and 5-7: "Successful indeed are the believers … who
abstain from sex. Except with those joined to them in the marriage bond, or the captives
who are rightfully theirs,- for (in their case) they are free from blame. But those whose
desires exceed those limits are transgressors". But Sunnite religious authorities allow
their co-religionists who are in the West for studies or a mission, to marry monotheist
non-Muslim women with the explicit intention of separating them once they finish their
stay abroad. Such a marriage permits these students the loophole of engaging in sexual
intercourse without technically breaking Islamic law, which of course forbids sexual
intercourse outside of marriage . 11

This problem raised a big debate in the Muslim community of the United States,
following a fatwa in favour of marriage with the intention to repudiate after the end of
the stay abroad. The Islamic Center of Washington submitted the question to the
Academy of Islamic law, which depends on the Organization of Islamic conference. But
the Academy refused to decide the case due to divergent opinion among its members,
some being in favour of this marriage, and others considering it fraudulent . 12

Customary marriage in the Sunni societies plays the same role as temporary marriage.
We will speak about it latter.
C) Marriages with minors
Some Muslim jurists consider as valid the marriage with minors. It is deducted of the
verse 65:4: "As for the women who have reached menopause, if you have any doubts,
their interim shall be three months. As for those who do not menstruate, and discover

8 Articles 1075 and 1077 of the Iranian Civil Code. On this marriage, see Haeri:
Law of desire.
9 See Haeri, notamment p. 55, 89, 157, 173, 196, 203 et 215.
10 Parsi, p. 13.
11 Fatwa of Ibn-Baz, president of the Saudi Commission of Fatwa in: Majallat al-
buhuth al-islamiyyah, no 25, 1989, p. 89.
12 See the fatwa of Ibn-Baz in Magallat al-buhuth al-islamiyyah, no 25, 1989, p.
89. See also Magallat magma' al-fiqh al-islami, no 3, part 2, 1987, p. 1107,
1141, 1170, 1232-1233 et 1374-1376.
 6
that they are pregnant, their interim ends upon giving birth". The period of interim
(before contracting a new marriage) being required only from a married woman that one
wants to repudiate, the last sentence has been interpreted in the sense that a girl who
does not menstruate can get married. Jurists also invoke a precedent of Muhammad
who, 50 years old, married ‘Ayshah when she was six years old . 13

One can find in the Arab World little girls married to grand-fathers incapable to fill their
conjugal duties and to assure an honourable life to their young wives. The girl's parents
are motivated by the fear or by the material cupidity.
Some Arab legislators try to put end to such abuses: by fixing a minimal age for the
marriage and forbidding the disproportion of age between the two spouses.
D) Right of the husband to force his wife to have sexual intercourses
The marriage in classical Islamic law is generally defined as the contract that allows the
two contractors to enjoy legally each other . The code of personal statute of Yemen
14

unified (1992) says: "The marriage is the tie established by a legal pact between two
spouses making a woman legally permitted to a man, and whose goal is the constitution
of a family based on the good company" (art. 6). It adds that one of the woman's duties
is to allow her husband to possess her, being capable of the legal coitus without the
presence of another person" (art. 40). This duty is not mentioned in the catalogue of the
husband's duties towards his wife.
A fatwa of Qaradawi exposes the position of the Islamic law in this domain as follows:
The man, in sexual matters, is the requesting person, and the woman is the requested one. She is
held to satisfy her husband's sexual desires. A narration of Muhammad says: "If a man asks her
wife to satisfy his sexual needs, she must agree even though she is on a burning oven". The woman
is warned not to refuse the demand of her husband without valid reason because she risks pushing
him to have an anomalous behaviour. Muhammad says: "If a man calls her wife to join him in his
bed, and that she refuses to come letting him sleep angry against her, angels curse her until the
morning". The woman cannot undertake voluntary fasting (by opposition to the fasting of
Ramadan) without her husband's authorization because she must remain on her husband's
disposition. Qaradawi affirms that the woman also has rights on her husband on this plan. The
husband should prepare her wife to the sexual act and should bring her to the pleasure15.
Another author writes that the worse of the woman's disobedience consists in refusing to
join her husband in bed if he calls her. In addition of the narrations mentioned by
Qaradawi, he mentions the two following narrations:
By the one that holds the soul of Muhammad between his hands, the woman doesn't fulfil her duty
towards her God unless she fulfils her duties towards her husband's and does not refuse to submit
to him even on the saddle of a camel.
Any woman who dies having satisfied her husband enters in the Paradise; most cases where the
woman went to Hell are following her disobedience to her husband and her ingratitude towards his
kindness16.
The woman who would refuse to submit to the sexual act is in situation of disobedience
towards her husband. He may castigate her to reach his aim. The Koran says in this
respect:
The men have authority on women, because God has endowed them with certain qualities, and
made them the bread earners. The righteous women will cheerfully accept this arrangement, since
it is God's commandment, and honour their husbands during their absence. If you experience
rebellion from the women, you shall first talk to them, then (you may use negative incentives like)
deserting them in bed, then you may (as a last alternative) beat them. If they obey you, you are not
permitted to transgress against them. God is Most High, Supreme (4:34).

13 ‘Aqlah, vol. I, p. 204-205.

14 Abu-Zahrah: Al-ahwal al-shakhsiyyah, p. 16.
15 Al-Qaradawi: Min huda al-islam, p. 483-490.
16 Sabbagh, p. 137-138.
 7
As for the woman's right to have sexual intercourse, opinions diverge. Some say that the
husband fulfils his duty if he makes love once a month, or every four months . Hanafi
17

School doesn't recognize her the right to ask, during the marriage, more than one sexual
intercourse. But today one considers the abstinence of sexual intercourse on behalf of
the husband as prejudice to the woman. She has in this case the right to ask for the
divorce, if she manages to prove this abstinence. Her demand is rejected if the husband
swears that he has sexual intercourse with her, unless she remains virgin and that two
women confirm this status. If the woman is not virgin and pretends to have been
penetrated by other means than the sexual act, her demand is also rejected if the
husband swears the opposite . 18

Prejudices between spouses are sanctioned by the general legal norms, but no norm is
foreseen for the case of rape between conjoined. It doesn't enter in the setting of article
6 of the Egyptian law 25 of 1929 that permits the divorce because of prejudice that
prevents common life.
A recent Egyptian survey demonstrates that husbands often resort to violence to get
unwanted sexual intercourse by their wives. And although these wives disapprove the
attitude of their husbands, some finds a justification in the fact that sexual intercourse is
a right of the husband dictated by God .19

E) Excision of women to tame them

In Egypt, 97% of the women are circumcised: 99.5% in countryside and 94% in the
cities . This practice is sustained by the high Muslim religious authorities that consider
20

female circumcision as a means to protect the woman's virtue. Professor Al-‘Adawi

from Al-Azhar says that female circumcision is makrumah, that is helps (the woman)
"to remain shy and virtuous. In the Orient, where the climate is hot, a girl gets easily
aroused if she is not circumcised. It makes her shameless and prey to her sexual
instincts, except those to whom God shows compassion" . Gad-al-Haq, Great Sheikh of
21

Al-Azhar, adds that our times call for female circumcision "because of mixing of the
sexes at public gatherings. If the girl is not circumcised, she subjects herself to multiple
causes of excitation leading her to vice and perdition in a depraved society" .22

Doctor Hamid Al-Ghawwabi admits that female circumcision does reduce the sexual
instinct in women, but he sees this as a positive effect. With age, the male sexual
instinct lessens. His circumcised wife will then be at the same level as him. If she was
not, her husband would be unable to satisfy her, which then would lead him to drug-use
in order to succeed .23

The favourable modern Muslim authors to male and female circumcision, copying the
concept that prevailed in the West, think that this practice serves to prevent
masturbation. Al-Sukkari writes that male circumcision "protects the person from
numerous illnesses including cancer and incontinence, while reducing excess
masturbation" . 24

17 Ibn-al-Siddiq: Ma yajuz, p. 60-68.

18 Mustafa: Da‘awi al-talaq wal-ta‘ah, p. 28-29.
19 Al-Samari: Al-intihak al-ginsi lil-zawjah, notamment p. 72-92.
20 Egypt Demographic and Health Survey 1995, p. 3.
21 ‘Adawi: Khitan al-banat, p. 97-98.
22 Gad-al-Haq: Khitan al-banat, p. 3124.
23 Al-Ghawwabi, p. 57.
24 Al-Sukkari, p. 64. See also Ibn-Asakir: Tabyin al-imtinan, préface d'Al-Sayyid,
p. 12-13.
 8
Nur Al-Sayyid Rashid writes: "Male circumcision reduces danger of excessive
masturbation because the foreskin's accumulated secretions underneath excite the sexual
nerves on the glans, pushing the teenager to scrape his glans, to caress it and to caress
his penis". She holds that female circumcision consists in cutting the clitoral foreskin
"because this tissue causes over-lubrication and excess masturbation by reason of
rubbing the clitoris" . 25

Dr. Al-Ghawwabi says that female circumcision consists in cutting the clitoris and labia
minora because the clitoris "erects as the man's organ and pushes the woman to
masturbate provoking numerous illnesses and the thickening of the labia minora in a
repugnant manner . 26

Dr. Ramadan rejects the justification of female circumcision by it preventing

masturbation. He says that if it were necessary to circumcise girls to stop them from
masturbating, it would be necessary to also cut the glans of boys to make them stop
masturbating, especially as masturbation is more dangerous for them than for girls. The
girl masturbates with or without a clitoris. And if she masturbates, it is because of
idleness, isolation, difficulty to get married, and media excitation. Some brides also
masturbate when they fail to enjoy sexual intercourse . 27

The West practiced female circumcision as a means to fight against female masturbation
and homosexuality. In his book Surgery of Love, of 1975, James Burt affirms that
female circumcision reduced homosexuality among women . 28

Such a belief is found among Egyptian women. They say that uncircumcised girls
become lesbians, lascivious or loose . The compilation of Sunnah published by the
29

Egyptian ministry of religious affairs advances the support of female circumcision with
the following argument: "Events demonstrate that the abandonment of female
circumcision drives to the most dangerous of habits which is lesbianism. Figures prove
that this habit only exists in countries where women are not circumcised" . 30

This theory, prevailing in the West and Egypt, is based on the idea that the woman uses
her clitoris as a small penis to practice sex with other women. But, Dr. Ramadan
contradicts:
Reality denies this fact. Homosexuality is the result of a psychological and behavioural variance
and doesn't depend on a small or large sexual organ. The man has a penis for sexual intercourse,
and it doesn't determine his sexual desires. Even if one were to blame this organ, what kind of
remedy is it to cut the woman and reduce the man? Such a remedy lacks approval in law and
religion. No one can prove that cutting a man's sexual organ will stop him from homosexual
activity31.
Let us signal here that the excision of women is bound to the institution of the
polygamy. Being unable to satisfy the sexual instincts of four women, the man arrives
through the excision to tame them better.
2) Revenge of women
A) Sleepy Child
The Koran says:
Mothers shall give suck to their children for two whole years; this is for those who desire to
complete the period of suckling (2:233).

25 Rashid, in Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh: Khitan, annexe 13.

26 Al-Ghawwabi, p. 62. See also Ammar, p. 47; Al-Jamal: Nihayat al-bayan, p. 52.
27 Ramadan, p. 60.
28 Wallerstein: Circumcision: an american health fallacy, p. 190.
29 Abd-al-Salam: Female sexuality, p. 75.
30 Al-muntakhab min al-sunnah, vol. 3, p. 96-97, footnote 1.
31 Ramadan, p. 53.
 9
His mother bore him arduously, gave birth to him arduously, and took intimate care of him for
thirty months (36:15).
From these two verses, the Muslim jurists say that the minimal length of pregnancy is of
six months (30 months of pregnancy and suckling - 24 months of suckling = 6 months
of pregnancy). But they are shared concerning the maximal length: 9 months, one year,
two years, or even four years . This length of pregnancy is in fact a legal ruse aiming to
32

save from the discredit the pregnant woman of an illegitimate child. And so some Saudi
judges considered legitimate a child born four, five, or even seven years after the
divorce or the husband's death . Such a child is considered sleepy. To put a term to such
33

doubtful practices, article 15 of the Egyptian law no 25 of 1929 said: Is not receivable,
in case of denial, the action in recognition of fatherhood... 2) when the child was born
one year after the husband's absence; 3) when the child was born after one year from the
date of divorce or widowhood". With regard to the succession, the article 43 of the
Egyptian law no 77 of 1943 says that the minimal length of pregnancy is 270 days, and
the maximal 365 days.
B) Sex with geniuses
According to Muslims, the Koran and Muhammad are truthful. They speak of geniuses
and the sorcery. Therefore it is necessary to believe in everything that they say on that
topic. Such a belief constitutes an "essential element of the religion"; those who do not
believe in the existence of geniuses must be considered as unbelievers (kafir) , and 34

deserve the death penalty.

The Koran uses the term Malak (88 times), Shaytan (88 times), Djinn or Djann (29
times ), Iblis (11 times), and Ifrit (1 time) to designate geniuses or invisible spirits, a
35

mythology bound to the Semitic demonism that can be found in the Jewish and Arab
belief. These creatures (created from blazing fire, 15:27) are often in relation with
human beings (created from aged mud, like the potter's clay, 15:28). They form nations,
are recipient of prophet messages (6:130), including the message of Muhammad (46:29
and 72:1), become Jew, Christian or Muslim, or remain unbelieving (see 72:14), and
they may die . They enjoy the Paradise or go to Hell (7:38 and 179; 47:12 and 72:15).
36

The human being can be possessed and can be manhandled by the geniuses. The Koran
says: "Those who devour interest do not rise except as rises one whom Satan has
smitten with insanity" (2:275); "Remember our servant Job: he called upon his Lord:
"The devil has afflicted me with hardship and pain" (38:41). These geniuses can
transform themselves and appear under the shape of an animal or a human being . They 37

can also enter in the human body through his orifices . Their misdemeanours can be the
38

result of wizard's intervention and other intermediate agents. The sorcery is considered
by the Koran like a science transmitted by the demon (2:102). This term and its
derivatives are used about fifty times in the Koran.

32 Madkur: Al-ganin wal-ahkam al-muta’alliqah bih fil-fiqh al-islami, p. 140-150.

33 Al-Bar: Khalq al-insan bayn al-tib wal-Qur’an, p. 448, footnote 1.
34 Al-Mawsu'ah al-fiqhiyyah, Kuwait, 1989, vol. 16, p. 91.
35 Chapiter 72 of the Koran has as title Al-Djinn.
36 This is based on the verse 46:18 and on a narration of Muhammad. See Ubaydat:
'Alam al-gin fi daw' al-kitab wal-sunnah, p. 52-54.
37 This is based on a narration of Muhammad. See Al-Mawsu'ah al-fiqhiyyah, vol.
16, p. 94.
38 This is based on the verse 8:48 and on a narration of Muhammad. See Al-
Mawsu'ah al-fiqhiyyah, vol. 16, p. 91.
 10
To put an end to the misdemeanours of geniuses and wizards, nothing is better than
using the Koran by reciting verses suitable to the treated case. The Koran says: "We
send down in the Koran healing and mercy for the believers" (17:82).
Geniuses get married between them and have children, otherwise they would
disappear . According to certain Muslim jurists, they can also get married and commit
39

adultery with humans. They deduce such a reasoning from the Koranic verse concerning
the Houris promised to the elected persons: "Their beautiful mates were never touched
by any human or jinn" (55:56) as well as from the verse: "God says [to the Demon]....
You may entice them with your voice, and mobilize all your forces and all your men
against them, and share in their money and children" (17:64). Muhammad informed his
mates that the mother of Balqis, Queen of Saba, was a Djinn. We will see latter similar
narrations of Muhammad.
Taking into consideration the Koranic verses and narrations of Muhammad, jurists
question whether mixed marriages between geniuses and human are licit. Some jurists
say that it is illicit because Muhammad would have otherwise forbidden it. One jurist
mentions the Koran: "God made for you spouses from among yourselves, and produced
for you from your spouses children and grandchildren" (16:72), which means that the
mixed marriage between human and Djinns is prohibited. Other jurists say that such a
marriage, although not forbidden, is considered blameful (makrouh). People from
Yemen wrote to Malik asking him whether they can give a girl in marriage to a Djinn
that passed at home or not. Without denying the possibility of such a marriage, Malik
answered: "Nothing bad in it, but I abhor it because if a woman falls pregnant and
somebody as her: who is your husband? She will answer: a Djinn. Consequently
corruption will increase among Muslims". After having discussed different opinions, the
author of a doctorate thesis on geniuses affirms that a marriage between geniuses and
humans is possible, but it is illicit. He adds: if however such a marriage takes place
under the constraint of the genius, the human partner doesn't commit a sin for such a
marriage .
40

Can one have of children of this mixed marriage between Djinn and human being? A
recent Egyptian author gives an affirmative answer. According to this author, the child
can be from the race of the Djinn, therefore invisible, or from the human race but with
distinctive marks. Muhammad said: "If a man penetrates his wife without pronouncing
God's name, the Djinn gets on his verge and penetrates the wife"; "If a man penetrates
his wife during her menstrual, the devil precedes him and makes her pregnant with a
hermaphroditic child". Muhammad qualified this child as "mugharrab", - having
foreign blood. Such a child is recognized, according to the Egyptian author, by the very
dark colour of their frightening eyes, their leaning for crimes and suicide and their
distract behaviour .
41

The belief in geniuses is devastating in the Arabo-Islamic society and opens

perspectives of gain and profit to a number of men and women that present themselves
as "healers by the Koran". Hundreds of costless booklets can be bought from
booksellers installed on sidewalks of Cairo. Healers don't hesitate to display in these
books their extraordinary powers in front of their customers who belong to all classes:
using cuts of newspapers and narrations of their capacities. Here, as elsewhere, there is
the competition: one justifies himself and discredits others: "Contrary to other
impostors, I use only the Koran to heal". All believe themselves with a divine mission to
39 This is based on the verse 18:50 and 72:6. See also Ubaydat: 'Alam al-gin fi
daw' al-kutab wal-sunnah, p. 42-46.
40 Ibid., p. 325-341. See also Maghawri: Zawag al-djan min bani al-insan.
41 Maghawri: Zawag al-djan min bani al-insan, p. 29-32.
 11
save the humanity of genius's misdemeanours. And the simplistic falls in their traps as
flies in the pot of honey. They heal physical and psychic illnesses, scramble of spouses
to obtain the return of the fugitive lover, assure success, find the buried treasure, stop
fires, etc. To convince unbelievers, some healers present attestations of a religious
authority or a centre of astrology . Attestations signed by Ibn-Baz, the highest Saudi
42

religious authority, circulate in Egypt . 43

Women are victims of this unhealthy climate. Those living domestic crises believe or
suggest that they are possessed by one or more geniuses that repulse their husbands
prevent them from marriage. They declare that they have some sexual relations with
these geniuses. The exorcisor intervenes with Koranic verses and other objects that the
woman sometimes swallows. He undertakes a dialogue with the genius: Your name,
your religion, your origin, the reason of entering the and what are you doing there? And
the genius answers, sometimes saying that he fell in love with the woman and makes
every day love with her . Sometimes, he declares frankly that he got married with her.
44

Comes then the exhortation so that the genius leaves the woman. If he refuses, he is
threatened he will be burned by fire by reciting specific verses of the Koran. In certain
narrations, the genius repents, converts to Islam and ask the address of the mosque
frequented by the exorcisor so that he can follow the religious courses. This is the happy
end as told by the exorcisor in his books . 45

A journalist presents another version of the exorcism sittings. According to him, these
exorcisors are impostors and swindlers who exploit the credulity of others to swindle
and sometimes to abuse them sexually . In some sittings of exorcism, the genius
46

requires that all the family leaves the house to remain in tête-à-tête with the exorcisor.
Sometimes the woman goes alone to the exorcisor. Some of them diagnose that the
genius needs the low sorcery (al-sihr al-sufli). They have sex with the woman and
sodomize her (although sodomy is forbidden between husband and woman) and use
their semen to write on belly magic formulas and Koranic verses to expel the genius . 47

Others estimate that the genius will only leave through her breasts by sucking them . 48

The sitting of exorcism can be repeated as long as the genius refuses to leave his victim.
The exorcisor is paid every time and sometimes he abuses sexually the victim. And
when the woman has scruples, the exorcisor signs a customary marriage document
which makes sexual intercourse licit . This journalist tells that such squalid histories
49

happen within Saudi families where women are oppressed by flighty men. This situation
constitutes for these women a means to affirm themselves. Egyptian exorcisors are
welcomed in these families of good faith. Provided with the Koran and an attestation of
Ibn-Baz, they expel the geniuses of these women and abuse them sexually as their
parents are not allowed to assist .
50

42 See Shahine: Rihlah ila mamlakat al-gin, p. 306. He produces eleven attestations
from religious authorities in Egypt, USA, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia,
Erythria, Kenya, Japan, Morocco, Lebanon and Ukrainia which confirm the
possibility and liceity of healing by the Koran (Ibid., p. 267-276)
43 Shawkat: Al-Djan wal-gamilat, p. 97-98. He produces a copy in p. 210.
44 Shahine: Rihlah ila mamlakat al-gin, p. 147-153.
45 See for example the twoo volumes of Al-Sayim: Hiwar ma' al-shayatin.
46 See Shawkat: Al-Djan wal-gamilat, p. 107.
47 Ibid., p. 171.
48 Ibid., p. 92.
49 Ibid., p. 166.
50 Ibid., p. 101-102.
 12
This journalist reproduces an article of a Kuwaiti newspaper about an Egyptian girl who
had married a genius. The author of the article asks the exorcisor about the possibility of
a marriage between a genius and a woman, and if this is possible, does the girl lose her
virginity. The answer of the exorcisor is clear: the marriage with a genius is possible,
and if the genius has a human form, there is defloration and the child will be an ifrit. He
adds that if a woman lies down with a genius, she refuses to marry a man because the
pleasure procured by the genius is stronger than the one procured by the man. After
investigation, the journalist discovered that the girl in question had had some incestuous
relations with her deceased brother. To avoid the scandal, the family invented the story
of the marriage with the genius . This is a part of the ruses to which resort the Egyptian
51

girls who lost their virginity . 52

The journalist reports that an exorcisor married a man possessed by a female genius to
another man possessed by a male genius. So the two geniuses left their victims . 53

This journalist affirms that half of inhabitants of Egypt fear misdemeanours of geniuses
and sorcery , that the artistic milieus maintain very strong ties with wizards and healers,
54

who abuse them sexually, and that the political and parliamentary milieus frequent these
circles and consult them . 55

C) Customary marriages and artificial virginity

In most Muslim countries, a religious authority or a civil authority with religious
connotation generally celebrates the marriage. If these countries insist more and more
on the necessity to write down the marriage in a State register, they admit even today
the so-called customary marriage which is established in the presence of two witnesses,
as long as it is not contested on behalf of the two spouses. This situation is the result of
the classic Islamic law, which does not prescribe an official form for the celebration of
marriage. The customary marriage is becoming a social curse in a country such as Egypt
where students resort to it secretly because of economic difficulties that prevent them
from contracting a normal marriage. These marriages are formed and dissolved without
any control on behalf of state or family; they imply social insecurity for the women.
Once a woman finds the man she likes, she resorts to a physician who helps her to find
again her virginity. This phenomenon is explained by a work published in Egypt . 40% 56

of the Egyptian university female students are married in this way without informing
their parents . A famous dancer confessed in the Egyptian television that she had
57

contracted eight marriages; six of them are customary. She added: "By the way, the
customary marriage is not illicit as some repeat it. I lived the most beautiful days of my
life in this marriage" . Let us signal here that a widow who marries a man in a
58

customary marriage doesn't risk losing her widow's pension since this marriage remains
unknown by the authorities.

51 Ibid., p. 105-107. On the marriage with the jinns see also Shahine: Rihlah ila
mamlakat al-gin, p. 242-248.
52 Maghawri: Zawag al-djan min bani al-insan, p. 5. this author says that
defloration by the jinn happens very rarely "one case among a thousand or
hundred thousand marriages" (Ibid., p. 29).
53 Shawkat: Al-Djan wal-gamilat, p. 98-99.
54 Ibid., p. 114.
55 Ibid., p. 123-134. See also his book Shawkat: Asrar ahl-al-fan wal-siyassah ma'
al-sihr wal-gin.
56 Shawkat: Al-ghisha' wa-ahlam al-'adharah.
57 Ibid., p. 57.
58 Ibid., p. 57.
 13
These adventures under the cover of religion and anonymity can cost the life of the girl
the dishonour to her family if the official "husband" discovers the night of marriages
that his wife is not virgin. This husband must prove to guests in jubilation his wife's
virginity by throwing the sheet of the bed marked by the blood of his deflowered wife . 59

To save the honour of her family and her life, the girl resorts to a surgeon who will redo
a virginity before her marriage. The cost of such an operation varies according to the
girl's social statute and the surgeon: between 100 and 30'000 Egyptian pounds (often got
through prostitution). The operation is done under the medical secret . 60

According to the book we are quoting, the operation of mending the virginity concerns
yearly 500'000 Egyptian women, and 500'000 other women coming from other Arabian
countries . Some girls resort several times to such an operation . The revenue of
61 62

surgeons and clinics of aesthetics from this operation is estimated between one and
three billion Egyptian pounds .63

The author of the book considers that this phenomenon risks destroying the domestic
life in Egypt . He explains that, contrary to the West, pre-matrimonial sexual relations
64

are not admitted in Orient. Husbands believe that "neither man nor Djinn ever touched
before them" (55: 74) the girls they marry. So the common life starts by a cheating and
a lie and nothing guarantees that the woman who tasted so many men before the
marriage can be satisfied with one alone after the marriage . As a remedy, the journalist
65

proposes a special chastity belt that would prevent sexual relations. This belt would
include a piece of iron as big as a currency piece that one would put in the girl's vagina
and that could be removed only by the husband during the wedding night. The husband
can also install it back into his wife before travelling. This device, currently under
study, would include blades that would wound those who try to have sexual intercourse
with the girls equipped with it .
66

The journalist pretends that, to get information on this phenomenon, had opened a
recruiting office of customers he directed to surgeons. Himself he served as an assistant
of a surgeon . 67

3) In the Heaven as on the Earth: the sex in Paradise

The bibliographer Ibn-Hisham tells how Muhammad informed his followers that he has
been brought in the night on the back of the Bouraq, the winged animal which is a cross
between a donkey and a mule, from Mecca to Jerusalem. Once in Jerusalem,
Muhammad was driven by Angel Gabriel to see marvels between the Heaven and the
earth. Hearing this story, some of his followers considered it a mark of lunacy and left
Islam . Others tried to interpret this extraterrestrial journey like a vision or a dream. But
68

whatever be the nature of this journey, Muslims believe that it took place and that
Muhammad saw during this journey the Hell as well as the seven Heavens. One finds a
detailed report of it in a large number of verses of the Koran and narrations of
Muhammad. Some classic and modern authors dedicate chapters or even complete

59 Ibid., p. 88.
60 Ibid., p. 33 et 37.
61 Ibid., p. 12, 28 et 69.
62 Ibid., p. 104-109.
63 Ibid., p. 69.
64 Ibid., p. 6.
65 Ibid., p. 6.
66 Ibid., p. 129.
67 Ibid., p. 75-80.
68 Ibn-Hisham: Al-sirah al-nabawiyyah, p. 5.
 14
books to this event. Lately, a Muslim author published an analytic book of 450 pages
titled "The geography of pleasures: the sex in Paradise" . He preceded it with another
69

book titled "The sex in the Koran" . 70

The description of the Heaven and of the Hell goes beyond the human intendment to the
point that the famous Al-Ghazali warned his readers: "It is the character of the human
being to deny what is he is not accustomed to... Therefore take care not to deny marvels
of the day of the resurrection because they don't correspond to what is known on the
earth" .
71

The Islamic sources give a picture of the sufferings that will undergo the fallen and of
the pleasures the elected will enjoy. In these sources, we find the prejudices against
women and the privileges in favour of men that prevail in this world. Thus, Muhammad
noted while seeing the Hell that "the majority of its inhabitants are women". "And
why?" his followers asked him. Muhammad answered: "Because they disparage
(yakfurna) their husbands and negate the benefits. Even though you make good to one
of them all the time, as soon as she sees something wrong with you she will tell you: I
never saw good thing from you" . Muhammad answered to a woman: "You curse so
72

much and you disparage the husbands" . An Egyptian author used the sentence "the
73

majority of its inhabitants are women" as a title of a booklet whose cover includes a
drawing in colour showing suspended women in the flames of the Hell, one of them
lynched by a viper . 74

The obedience prescribed to woman in Islamic law is a guarantee to escape the Hell.
Muhammad says: "Any woman who dies leaving her husband satisfied enters in the
Paradise". Mentioning this narration, the aforesaid author adds: "It is woman's duty to
search for her husband's satisfaction, to avoid his anger and not to refuse to him when
he desires her, as says Muhammad: If a man asks her wife to satisfy his sexual needs,
she must agree even though she is on a burning oven" . 75

In the Paradise one eats, drinks and enjoys sexual intercourse with the famous Houris
mentioned in the Koran:
We shall give them as companions fair maidens, having large, black eyes (44:54).
And he will say to them, `Eat and drink with happy enjoyment because of what you used to do'.
On that day they will be reclining on couches arranged in rows. And we shall give them as
companions fair maidens, having wide, beautiful eyes. (52:19-20).
Which of your Lord's marvels can you deny? Fair maidens with lovely black eyes, guarded in
pavilions - Which of your Lord's marvels can you deny? Whom neither man nor jinn will have
touched before them (55:71-74).
And there will be fair maidens with wide, lovely eyes, like pearls well-preserved, as a reward for
what they did.... Verily, WE have created them a good creation, and made them virgins, loving, of
equal age (56:22-24 and 35-37).
Verily, for the righteous is decreed a triumph - Walled gardens and grapevines, and young maidens
of equal age, and over-flowing cups. (78:31-34).

69 Mahmud: Gughrafyat al-maladhdhat.

70 Mahmud: Al-gins fil-Qur'an.
71 Al-Ghazali: Ihya 'ulum al-din, vol. 4, p. 514.
72 Ibn-Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah: Hadi al-arwah, p. 29. See ces récits dans: Al-Nisa'i:
Kitab 'ishrat al-nisa', p. 213-217; Ibn-al-Jawzi: Kitab ahkam al-nisa', p. 126-129.
73 Ibn-Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah: Hadi al-arwah, p. 120-121.
74 Al-Zughbi: Al-nissa' akthar ahl al-nar, 1997.
75 Ibid., p. 9.
 15
Invoking these verses and the narrations of Muhammad , the Muslim authors make
76

conjunctures on the number of Houris that will be assigned to the elected. Thus, the
least elected would have 72 Houris, but some manage to possess 343'000 Houris,
according to the account of a modern author . The Koran says: "Verily, the inmates of
77

Heaven will, on that day, be happy in their occupation" (36:55). The term "occupation" is
interpreted as designating "the defloration of virgins" . According to narrations of Muhammad, the man
78

will daily deflower 100 virgins that recover their virginity immediately . To arrive to this end, the
79

man is bestowed the strength of 100 men , his age will remain 30 (or 33) years (age of
80

the Christ), his height will be 60 cubits and his width 7 cubits (as Adam), he will be
beautiful (as Joseph) and speaks Arabic (as Muhammad) . 81

In addition of these Houris, the Koran mentions the presence to the Paradise of young
boys in the Paradise:
And there will wait upon them youths of their own, pure as though they were pearls well
preserved. (52:24).
There will wait on them youths who will not age (56:17).
There will wait upon them youths who will not age. When you see them, you think them to be
pearls scattered about (76:19).
A Muslim author estimates that these youngsters are destined to the homosexual reports
of the elected . Another decries such an affirmation as a scandal .
82 83

The defloration of virgins in the Paradise as reward of believers indicates that the sexual
pleasure is reserved to the only men since the Koran and narrations of Muhammad are
silent concerning the women. Women are there to satisfy the sexual needs of men.
There is still a problem. If the majority of inhabitants of the Hell is composed of women
(according to the narration of Muhammad), how then to reconcile this data with the
large number of women that every man of the Paradise will possess and deflower? The
answer would be that the majority mentioned in the narration of Muhammad concerns
the terrestrial women, whereas the Houris for the enjoyment of men are heavenly,
elevated in the Paradise to satisfy the sexual pleasures of the elected . 84

III. Illicit sexual intercourse in Islamic law

76 Description of the Hell and of the Paradise can be found in the following
classical and modern books:
- Ibn-Abi-al-Dunya: Sifat al-gannah wa-ma a'ad Allah li-ahliha min al-na'im.
- Al-Salmi: Kitab wasf al-firdaws.
- Ibn-Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah: Hadi al-arwah ila bilad al-afrah.
- Al-Qurtubi: Al-tadhkirah fi ahwal al-mawta wa-umur al-akhirah.
- Al-Tibi: Al-Jannah ru'yah min al-dakhil.
- Al-Ashqar: Al-yom al-akhir al-jannah wal-nar.
The first four books are classical.
77 Mahmud: Gughrafiyyat al-maladhdhat, p. 253.
78 Ibn-Abi-al-Dunya: Sifat al-gannah, p. 194; Sabbagh: Al-‘iddah fi ahkam al-nikah, p.
205.
79 Ibn-Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah: Hadi al-arwah ila bilad al-afrah, p. 144 et 211.
80 Ibid., p. 211.
81 Ibid., p. 143-144 et 346. See on the sexual relations in Paradise: Al-Sayyuti: Al-
wishah fi fawa'id al-nikah, p. 64-67.
82 Kishk, p. 200-214. See also Mahmud: Gughrafiyyat al-maladhdhat, p. 385-386.
83 Abdel-Hamid: Al-sa'iqah al-azhariyyah li-ibadat al-khawatir al-shaytaniyyah, p.
22-49.
84 Mahmud: Gughrafiyyat al-maladhdhat, p. 381-382; Ibn-Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah:
Hadi al-arwah ila bilad al-afrah, p. 120-122.
 16
1) Illicit sexual intercourse between spouses
A) Sexual intercourse during menstruation
The Koran says:
They ask you about menstruation: say: "It is harmful; you shall avoid sexual intercourse with the
women during menstruation; do not approach them until they are rid of it. Once they are rid of it,
you may have intercourse with them in the manner designed by God. God loves the repenters, and
He loves those who are clean" (2:222).
Islamic sources indicate that this verse has been revealed as an answer to the practice of
the Jews who don't eat and don't drink with a woman who is menstruating and don't
have any sexual intercourse with her. Muhammad annotated this verse by saying:
"Make all except the sexual relations". He also specified that in case sexual relations
during the menstruation, the man has to pay an alms of one dinar or half a dinar.
According to another narration, Muhammad didn't hesitate to have sexual relations with
his wives during their menstruation . 85

Let us notice here that the Islamic law considers the blood of menstruation as impure.
During this period, the woman should not pray, fast, turn around the Kaaba, go to the
mosque, or read the Koran or touch it. She can recite the Koran or listen to its
recitation .
86

B) Anal coitus between the spouses

After having treated sexual intercourse during the menstruation in the verse 2:222, the
Koran adds: "Your wives are a sort of tilth for you; so approach your tilth when and as
you like" (2:223). The sense of this verse is not clear. Several narrations are proposed to
interpret him:
- This verse has been revealed to contradict the Jews who pretend that the
penetration of a knelt woman provokes a squinting child.
- A man had anal relations with his wife and he felt bad. This verse has been
revealed to relieve him.
- Muhammad says: "God is not inconvenienced to say the truth: don't penetrate
women by their anus"; "It is illicit to penetrate women by their anus".
- One asked to Muhammad what does he think about penetrating a woman by the
anus. He answered: "It is the small sodomy".
- Muhammad says: "God won't look at the day of the resurrection a man who
penetrates a woman by her anus ".
- Muhammad says: "Be cursed the man who penetrates his wife by her anus".
- Muhammad says: "A man who penetrates a woman during her menstruation or by
her anus becomes an unbeliever " . 87

The Koranic verse, according to these narrations, permits all kind of sexual positions.
But it may also mean that the anal sexual intercourse between conjoined is forbidden, or
on the contrary authorized.
Taking into consideration these contradictory narrations, Muslim jurists estimate that
the anal intercourse between spouses doesn't constitute an offence of adultery since the
husband has the right to have sexual relations with her, even though she doesn't agree.
But such an act is illicit (haram) and must be punished by discretionary sanction
decided by the imam. Shafi'is say that the husband won't be punished unless he relapses

85 See these narrations in: Al-Nisa'i: Kitab 'ishrat al-nisa', p. 115-123.

86 Al-Tawil: al-tarbiyah al-ginsiyyah fil-islam, p. 44.
87 See these narrations in: Al-Nisa'i: Kitab 'ishrat al-nisa', p. 63-83. See also
Al-Sayyuti: Al-wishah fi fawa'id al-nikah, p. 48-50
 17
after having been warned by the judge who should signal him that it is illicit act. Some
jurists however permit the anal intercourse . 88

A modern author estimates that the anal intercourse between spouses is forbidden
because it can drive to homosexual intercourse . 89

According to the Egyptian jurisprudence, if the husband asks his wife to have anal
intercourse, she can refuse and ask the divorce according to article 6 of the Egyptian law
25 of 1929 that permit the divorce because of a prejudice preventing the common life . 90

There is still the problem of the proof.

2) Adultery and false accusation of adultery
The adultery is foreseen in different contradictory Koranic verses that jurists tried to
reconcile:
Those who commit adultery among your women, you must have four witnesses against them, from
among you. If they do bear witness, then you shall keep such women in their homes until they die,
or until God creates an exit for them. If two men among you are guilty of lewdness, punish them
both. If they repent and amend, leave them alone. God is Redeemer, Most Merciful. (4:15-16).
This passage would have been abrogated by the following verse:
The adulteress and the adulterer you shall whip each of them a hundred lashes. Do not be swayed
by pity from carrying out God's law, if you truly believe in God and the Last Day. And let a group
of believers witness their penalty. (24:2).
This verse is to complete by the following verses:
Those who accuse married women of adultery, then fail to produce four witnesses, you shall whip
them eighty lashes, and do not accept any testimony from them; they are wicked. If they repent
afterwards and reform, then God is Forgiver, Merciful. (24:4-5).
Those among you who cannot afford to marry free believing women, may marry believing slave
women. … They shall maintain moral behaviour, by not committing adultery, or having secret
lovers. Once they are freed through marriage, if they commit adultery, their punishment shall be
half of that for the free women (4:25).
The Koran doesn't define the offence of adultery. The Muslim jurists say that this
offence consists in introducing the penis in the woman's vagina as "needle in the small
bottle of eyewash (stylus in pyxide) and the rope in the well", according to the
expression of Muhammad. It is sufficient in this respect that the glans (or its equivalent,
if the glans is cut) disappears in the woman's vagina. It is not important whether the
penis is in erection or not, that there is ejaculation or not, that the penis is naked or
rolled up separating material which does not forbid the realization of the pleasure . 91

Adultery requires illicit sexual intercourse. A man who has sexual relations with his
wife or his slave doesn't commit an adultery, even though these reports took place under
the constraint, while hitting her for example, provided that he doesn't pass the
authorized limits by the Islamic law. If he passes these limits, he must be punished by a
discretionary sanction for the exceeding violence and not for the sexual act . 92

Sexual intercourse committed under the effect of mistake is not considered adultery.
One mentions here the Koran: "You do not commit a sin if you make a mistake in this
respect; you are responsible for your purposeful intentions" (33:5). One also mentions a
word of Muhammad: "Separate the application of the fixed punishment as much as you
can. If there is a possibility not to apply it, it is better not to do it. It is preferable that the
judge makes a mistake by forgiving than by punishing" . As case of mistake, one gives
93

88 Muhsin: Al-himayah al-gina'iyyah lil-'ard, p. 45-46; 'Awdah: Al-tashri' al-gina'i

al-islami, vol. 2, p. 353.
89 Mudhhir: Al-mut'ah al-muharramah, p. 137.
90 Al-Samari: Al-intihak al-ginsi lil-zawjah, p. 12-13.
91 Muhsin: Al-himayah al-gina'iyyah lil-'ard, p. 37-38.
92 Ibid., p. 51.
93 Ibid., p. 67.
 18
the example of a man who lies down with his divorced wife thinking that he had still the
right to do it, with a woman while thinking the existence of a contract of marriage, with
a woman being in his bed believing that she is his wife, and with a woman while
believing that the temporary marriage is permitted . 94

Sexual intercourse committed under the constraint doesn't constitute adultery for the
one under constraint. The Koran says ":… save him who is forced to make a declaration
of disbelief while his heart finds peace in faith" (16:106; see also verse 24:33). Malikis,
Hanbalis and Zahiris refuse to the man the right to invoke the constraint in adultery
because he cannot be in erection under constraint . 95

The consent of the man and the woman doesn't exclude the application of the
punishment. The same if the husband agrees that his wife has sexual relations with
another . Sexual intercourse with a male or female minor, according to some jurists, is
96

not adultery and must be punished by a discretionary sanction. Others affirm the
opposite .97

The tentative of adultery (a man tries to penetrate a woman but he is prevented by the
arrival of someone or he has been stopped), is not assimilated to an offence of adultery,
even though he had already introduced a part of the glans. This act is punished by a
discretionary sanction . 98

The adultery can be proven by the confession of a free person capable of discernment.
Jurists invoke here the two verses Koranic 2:282 and 4:135. The confession must be
detailed. The guilty can retract before the judgment. Some jurists require that the
confession takes place four times . If a person denies to have committed the adultery
99

and there are no other proofs, neither of the two persons engaged in sexual intercourse
will be punished. Some jurists punish the person who confesses the adultery . 100

The adultery is also proven by four male and equitable witnesses, but some admitted
that a male can be replaced by two women . If there are only three witnesses, these will
101

be punished for false accusation of adultery according to verses 4:15; 24:4 and 24:13.
The two first have been mentioned before. We mention the last:
Only if they produced four witnesses (you may believe them). If they fail to produce the witnesses,
then they are, according to God, liars (24:13).
The witness must be adult, having mental capacity, capable to memorize, equitable,
Muslim. The testimony of the non-Muslim is excluded; jurists invoke here several
Koranic verses . Abu-Hanifah accepts the husband's testimony against her wife,
102

because it is not for his advantage . Some jurists estimate that the testimony must be
103

rejected if it is reported a long time after the act, because it can be motivated by harmful
intentions . 104

If the adultery is proven, the punishment becomes obligatory. The judge cannot
commute it or pardon it. Parties cannot agree between them. No compensation is

94 Ibid., p. 57-61.
95 Ibid., p. 75-79 and. 83-86.
96 Ibid., p. 87-88.
97 Ahmad: Al-himayah al-gina'iyyah, p. 404.
98 Muhsin: Al-himayah al-gina'iyyah lil-'ard, p. 39-40.
99 Ibid., p. 151-163.
100 Ibid., p. 90-93.
101 Ibid., p. 140-142.
102 Ibid., p. 105-124.
103 Ibid., p. 134-140.
104 Ibid., p. 146-150.
 19
possible. The adultery is considered as an offence against the whole society and does
not concern only the guilty or the victim.
With regard to the punishment, jurists distinguish between the adultery committed by a
person muhassan, and by a non-muhassan. The term muhassan indicates a person
bound by a valid marriage. Some jurists estimate that if a Muslim marries a Christian
woman, he is not considered muhassan . Stoning is the punishment of a person who is
105

muhassan, and flogging is the punishment of a non-muhassan. If a non-muhassan

commits the adultery with a woman who is muhassan, or vice versa, the married party
will be stoned, and the other flogged.
Contrary to the Bible, the Koran doesn't foresee the stoning, but the flogging. The
stoning is mentioned in the Sunnah; it was applied by Muhammad in a case concerning
two Jews which was submitted to him. Jurists mention also a narration of Muhammad:
"It is not permitted to spill the blood of a Muslim than in three cases: an adulterant
muhassan, he will be stoned; a man who kills another deliberately, he will be put to
death; a man who abandon Islam, he will be killed, crucified or exiled". Some jurists
also say that the Koran included the following verse recorded by the Caliph ‘Umar: "If
an old man or an old woman fornicate, stone them to death as punishment of God". This
verse has been abrogated but its normative effect remains. Notice that the Libyan law
foresees the flogging because Colonel Kadhafi rejects narrations of Muhammad as
source of law and limits himself to the text of the Koran.
The adultery is the only sexual offence fixed by the Koran. All other acts, such as to be
in bed with a woman, to kiss her or to put the penis between her legs doesn't constitute
an act of adultery, but it is punished by a discretionary sanction. The interdiction of
these acts are deduced from verse 23:5 (abovementioned) and a narration according to
which a man had come to Muhammad and said that he had made everything with a
woman, but without penetrating her. Muhammad imposed to him to make prayers as
penitence .
106

3) Anal coitus between unmarried man and woman

Jurists assimilate the anal coitus between unmarried man and woman to normal illicit
sexual intercourse. Abu-Hanifah rejects this qualification invoking the fact that this
sexual intercourse does not produce parental ties and does not provoke bloody conflicts.
He adds that this relation is called loat (sodomy) and not adultery. The difference in the
name implies a difference in the punishment. If it was adultery, companions of
Muhammad would not have diverged on it. Nevertheless, Abu-Hanifah doesn't see an
inconvenience to punishing the author by the jail until death or repentance. And if the
person is an accustomed, he can be killed . 107

Those that consider anal coitus as adulterous vary on the punishment. Malikis and
Hanbalis foresee the stoning according to the narration of Muhammad: "If you find
someone practicing as the people of Lot, kill him as well as the person which whom he
is practicing". In another narration, Muhammad says: "Stone the one that is above and
the one that is down". The Shafiis treat it as adultery: if the person is married, he is
stoned; if not, he is flogged .
108

4) Homosexual reports
A) Homosexuality in the Koran
105 Ibid., p. 200-206.
106 Ibid., p. 32, 38-39.
107 Al-Kasani: Bada' al-sana'i, vol. 7, p. 43; Al-Mannawi: Fayd al-qadir sharh al-
jami al-saghir, vol. 4, p. 150.
108 Sharbini: Mughni al-muhtag, vol. 4, p. 114.
 20
The Koran mentions in a dozen of chapters the biblical narration (Genesis, chapter
18:16-33 and chapter 19:1-29), according to which the inhabitants of Sodom practiced
homosexual intercourse and had tried to abuse the male guests of Lot. For this reason
God decided to destroy the city . The English language uses the terms "sodomite" and
109

"sodomy", while the Arabs use the terms "loti" and "loat". These terms are reserved to
sexual intercourse between men. As for relation between women, Arabs use the terms
sahiqah and sihaq, literally the "crushing" and the "crusher". We give here the different
Koranic versions:
Lot said to his people: "You commit such an abomination; no one in the world has done it
before!"You practice sex with the men, instead of the women. Indeed, you are a transgressing
people". His people responded by saying: "Evict them from your town. They are people who wish
to be pure". Consequently, we saved him and his family, but not his wife; she was with the
doomed. We showered them with a certain shower; note the consequences for the guilty! (7:80-
84).
When Abraham's fear subsided, and the good news was delivered to him, he proceeded to argue
with us on behalf of Lot's people. Indeed, Abraham was clement, extremely kind, and obedient. "O
Abraham, refrain from this. Your Lord's judgment has been issued; they have incurred
unavoidable retribution". When our messengers went to Lot, they were mistreated, and he was
embarrassed by their presence. He said: "This is a difficult day". His people came rushing; they
had grown accustomed to their sinful acts. He said: "O my people, it would be purer for you, if you
take my daughters instead. You shall reverence God; do not embarrass me with my guests. Have
you not one reasonable man among you?" They said: "You know well that we have no need for
your daughters; you know exactly what we want". He said: "I wish I were strong enough, or had a
powerful ally!" (The angels) said: "O Lot, we are your Lord's messengers, and these people cannot
touch you. You shall leave with your family during the night, and let not anyone of you look back,
except your wife; she is condemned along with those who are condemned. Their appointed time is
the morning. Is not the morning soon enough?" When our judgment came, we turned it upside
down, and we showered it with hard, devastating rocks. Such rocks were designated by your Lord
to strike the transgressors. (11:74-83).
He said: "What is your mission, O messengers?" They said: "We are being dispatched to guilty
people". As for Lot's family, we will save them all. "But not his wife; she is destined to be with the
doomed". The messengers went to Lot's town. He said: "You are unknown people". They said:
"We bring to you what they have been doubting". We bring to you the truth; we are truthful. "You
shall take your family during the night. Stay behind them, and make sure that none of you looks
back. Go straight as commanded". We delivered to him this command: those people are to be
annihilated in the morning. The people of the city came joyfully. He said: "These are my guests;
do not embarrass me". Fear God, and do not shame me". They said: "Did we not enjoin you from
contacting anyone?" He said: "Here are my daughters, if you must". But, alas, they were totally
blinded by their lust. Consequently, the disaster struck them in the morning. We turned it upside
down, and showered them with devastating rocks. This is a lesson for those who possess
intelligence. This will always be the system. This is a sign for the believers. (15:57-77).
As for Lot, we granted him wisdom and knowledge, and we saved him from the community that
practiced abominations; they were wicked and evil people. (21:74).
The people of Lot disbelieved the messengers. Their brother Lot said to them: "Would you not be
righteous?" I am an honest messenger to you. "You shall reverence God, and obey me". I do not
ask you for any wage; my wage comes only from the Lord of the universe. "Do you have sex with
the males, of all the people?" You forsake the wives that your Lord has created for you! Indeed,
you are transgressing people". They said: "Unless you refrain, O Lot, you will be banished". He
said: "I deplore your actions". "My Lord, save me and my family from their works". We saved him
and all his family. But not the old woman; she was doomed. We then destroyed the others. We
showered them with a miserable shower; what a terrible shower for those who had been warned!
This should be a lesson, but most people are not believers. (26:160-174).
Lot said to his people: "How could you commit such an abomination, publicly, while you see?"
You practice sex with the men, lustfully, instead of the women. Indeed, you are ignorant people".
The only response from his people was their saying: "Banish Lot's family from your town; they are

109 7:80-84; 11:74-83; 15:57-77; 21:74; 26:160-174; 27:54-58; 29:31-35; 37:133-

138; 54:33-39.
 21
people who wish to be pure". Consequently, we saved him and his family, except his wife; we
counted her among the doomed. We showered them with a certain shower. It was a miserable
shower upon people who had been warned. (27:54-58).
When our messengers went to Abraham with good news (about Isaac's birth), they also said: "We
are on our way to annihilate the people of that town (Sodom), for its people have been wicked". He
said: "But Lot is living there". They said: "We are fully aware of everyone who lives in it. We will
of course save him and his family, except his wife; she is doomed". When our messengers arrived
at Lot's place, they were mistreated, and he was embarrassed by their presence. But they said:
"Have no fear, and do not worry. We will save you and your family, except your wife; she is
doomed. "We will pour upon the people of this town a disaster from the sky, as a consequence of
their wickedness". We left standing some of their ruins, to serve as a profound lesson for people
who understand. (29:31-35).
Lot was one of the messengers. We saved him and all his family. Only the old woman was
doomed. We annihilated all the others. You still pass by their ruins by day and by night. Would
you understand? (37:133-138).
The people of Lot rejected the warnings. We showered them with rocks. Only Lot's family was
saved at dawn. We blessed him and his family; we thus reward the appreciative. He warned them
about our requital, but they ridiculed the warnings. They negotiated with him about his guests; we
blinded them. Suffer my retribution; you have been warned. Early the next morning, a devastating
retribution struck them. Suffer my retribution; you have been warned. (54:33-39).
This disconcerting repetition of the Koran is interpreted by Muslim authors as
indication of the aversion towards this practice and of the will to make it repugnant to
its readers . It can also mean that Muhammad has been confronted often with this
110

practice.
The Koran speaks in the aforesaid passages about the relation between men, and not
between women. But some commentators estimate that the two categories are
designated by term fahishah in aforesaid verses 4:15 and 4:25 . 111

B) Homosexuality in the Sunnah

Muhammad mentions male and female homosexuality in several narrations. We
indicate some of them:
When a man mounts another man, the throne of God shakes.
Kill the one that is doing it and also kill the one that it is being done to.
Sihaq (lesbian sexual activity) of women is zina (illegitimate sexual intercourse) among them.
If a man who is not married is seized committing sodomy, he will be stoned to death.
Whoever gratifies his sexual urge with another (individual), of his own sex, Almighty will not so
much as look at him.
Muhammad said: "Four types of people awake under Allah's anger and go to bed under Allah's
displeasure". Those who were listening asked: "Who are they, Messenger of Allah?" He replied:
Men who imitate women, women who imitate men, those who have sex with animals, and men
who have sex with men".
The world won't end until men are satisfied with men, and women with women. The sexual
relations between women are adultery between them.
If a woman has sexual relations with a woman, they are all two adulterants, and if a man has
sexual relations with a man, they are all two adulterants.
People of Lot had ten habits for which they have been annihilated: sexual intercourse between
men….. The supplementary habit which will be added by my nation consists in sexual intercourse
between women.
If my nation makes licit five things, it will ruin itself: slander, alcohol drinking, silk wearing,
singing, men being satisfied with men and women being satisfied with women.
C) Sanction of homosexuality

110 Muhammad: taqdimat kitaban fil-loat, p. 50-51.

111 The Koran uses the term fahishah in the following verses: 4:15 et 25; 7:28, 80;
17:32; 24:19; 27:54; 29:28; 33:30; 65:1. It uses the term Fahsha' in the following
verses: 2:169 et 268; 7:28; 12:28; 16:90; 24:21; 29:45.
 22
The Koran doesn't foresee a sanction against male and female homosexuality even
though it condemns it firmly. Narrations of Muhammad qualify it adultery. The Muslim
jurists vary on its qualification:
1) Some jurists qualify homosexual relations as adultery and recommend the stoning for
the guilty married, and the flogging for the non married. They invoke the Koran: "You
commit such an abomination; no one in the world has done it before! You practice sex
with the men, instead of the women. Indeed, you are a transgressing people" (7:80-81);
"If two men among you are guilty of lewdness, punish them both. If they repent and
amend, Leave them alone" (4:16). They mention also the aforesaid narrations of
Muhammad . 112

2) Other jurists estimate that homosexual relations are not covered by the offence of
adultery since each of these two offences is designated by a particular name. On the
other hand, companions of Muhammad didn't consider these acts as adulterous. Finally,
homosexuality doesn't create a mixture of paternity, reason for which the law punishes
adultery severely. These jurists recommend burning the guilty by fire, to destroy the
wall of a house on him, or to throw him from the highest place followed by stones.
Abu-Hanifah recommends jailing him until his death or his repentance, and if he is
accustomed to such act, the governor may kill him . Mentioning Muhammad: "If you
113

find someone doing as the people of Lot, kill the one that is doing it and also kill the
one that it is being done to", a modern author recommends stoning since Sodom has
been destroyed by stones coming from the sky (15:74) . 114

So Khalid Ibn-al-Walid asked the opinion of the Caliph Ali about a man who is
penetrated. Ali answered that this offence was practiced by the people of Lot, and God
told us what he did with them. I recommend burning him. And it is what Khalid did . 115

This sanction has been applied by the caliphs Abu-Bakr, Ali, Abd-Allah Ibn-al-Zubayr
and Hisham Ibn Abd-al-Malik . 116

D) Homosexuality and social reality

The legal rigor contrasts with the social reality. The Tunisian judge Shihab-al-Din Al-
Tifashi, deceased in 1253, dedicated a work to sexual intercourse in the Arabo-Muslim
society. He indicates many stories of male and female homosexuality . The modern
117

books against homosexuality estimate that this practice has been introduced in the Arab
society by the Persians. In Baghdad, capital of the Abbasids, the beautiful male slaves
bought were dearer than the female slaves. Abu-Nawwas, a poet of Persian origin, was
known for his dissolute living in this domain . Homosexuality also spilled into
118

Andalusia and the Ottoman Empire. In these societies, it was practiced notably
119

between men and hairless children (amrad, ghulam, sabiy) aged between 10 and 21
years . One often finds in the Arabian writings the expression: "He has a leaning for
120

children", or more discreetly "He has a leaning for beauty" (jamaly, or yuhib al-jamal).

112 Muhsin: Al-himayah al-gina'iyyah lil-'ard, p. 41-43.

113 Ibid., p. 44.
114 Ibid., p. 470
115 Al-Dhahabi: Kitab al-kaba'ir, p. 48.
116 Ibn-Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah: Rawdat al-muhibbin, p. 386-397
117 Tifashi: Nuzhat al-albab
118 Mudhhir: Al-mut'ah al-muharramah, p. 62-79
119 Mudlij: Al-hub fil-Andalus, p. 251-259.
120 See sur les rapports avec les enfants, Mahmud: al-mut'ah al-mahdhurah, p. 145-
227
 23
In these writings, the one who penetrates is considered as virile (fuhuliyyah), and the
penetrated (ma'bun, mukhannath), is effeminate, humiliated.
This phenomenon is explained in three manners:
- Because of the separation between men and women, it was easier for men to find
boys than of girls to have sexual intercourse.
- As markets were overflowed with female slaves, men tried to vary their pleasure
with boys.
- Those who could not get married with a woman, turned toward boys to appease
their sexual needs . 121

Homosexuality occuried in different milieus:

- The army: The Turkish soldiers in countries they dominated didn't hesitate to
kidnap boys and to sodomize them.
- Schools: In Muslim society there were no schools, but private teachers who
granted certificates to youngsters attached to them. These teachers easily abused
children confided to them . 122

- Soufis: Some Sufi circles dressed beautiful boys and installed them in the middle
of their devotion rituals (dhikr). This ceremony turned to sodomy. The coitus is
deemed as a means to transmit the Sufi spirit. In Morocco, the baraka of the
marabou or the sharif (descendant of the Prophet) was transmitted by the coitus . 123

- Coffee shops: These local used some young boys to serve coffee and to attract
their customers, becoming places of dissolute living.
- Hamam: Here boys served to wash customers behind closed doors.
- Slaves: sexual intercourse with a woman slave was free, but it happed that the
master abused his male slaves, although such relation is forbidden by Muslim
jurists . 124

Shihab-al-Din Ibn-Ahmad Al-Abshihi (died in 1446) tells that a merchant went to

complain to the judge of Homs (in Syria). He found him lying on his belly and being
penetrated by a boy. The judge explained to the plaintiff that the boy's father died with
great fortune; he was put under the judge's tutelage. Some people asked the judge to
give back the fortune because the child became adult. To have the conviction, the judge
did the test of the adulthood: he wanted to know whether the boy could ejaculate or
not . 125

Serhane explains that traditional Moroccan parents send their male children to Koranic
schools. In these schools, children are confided to the faqih (religious expert), from
sunrise to sundown. The authority of this faqih is unlimited. His role doesn't limit itself
to instruction and education of the child. The sexual dimension occupies a large room
there. The child can become the object of sodomy that he undergoes in fear,
submissiveness, and violence. These schools, whose goal is learning the divine word,
can serve as tacit courses of applied pederasty, with or without the participation of the
honourable master of the school. It is a place of contradiction where the Koran can
cohabit with rape. A Moroccan proverb says: "He who wants to learn must pass under
the master". Everybody accepts it as if it's a ritual during which the faqih transmits to
his pupils his blessing and his knowledge through sexuality. Although everybody is
informed of the faqih's practice, people obligate their children to go into Koranic school
and close their eyes to homosexual or even paedophilic practices in these places. This
121 El-Rouayheb: Attitudes to homosexuality in early Ottoman Syria, p. 31.
122 Ibid., p. 39-41.
123 Ibid., p. 42-45
124 Ibid., p. 45-49.
125 Al-Abshihi, p. 319-320.
 24
wanton complicity, parentally and socially maintained, has at all times encouraged the
development of pederasty in traditional Moroccan circles. And it is on purpose that
parents only send male children to Koranic schools. Knowing the perversities of the
faqih, they prefer to limit the damages by protecting their girl's virginity.
Serhane adds that parents tolerate such practices by these men who carry, in his breast,
the divine word. Indeed, how can one accuse a man who learned the Koran? In the
traditional mind, the rape of the faqih is not considered a real rape since the man is an
illuminated of God. Some people even go to the point of believing that the faqih's
semen contains a dose of intelligence, and it is a desirable divine blessing that the
Koranic master transmits directly to the pupil. This means the pupil must therefore put
his body at the disposition of the Koranic master . 126

5) Sexual relation with a dead person

Jurists discussed the case of a man who penetrates a dead woman, or a woman who puts
the penis of a dead man in her vagina. No sanction is foreseen for such an act if it
happens between spouses. If they are not spouses, Abu-Hanifah says this act cannot be
considered as adultery, but the offence must be punished by a discretionary sanction.
Such a person is abnormal and the act does not generate parental ties. Other jurists
qualify this act as adultery doubled of a reach to the dead, liable of a discretionary
sanction .
127

Other jurists distinguish between the dead man and the dead woman. If a man penetrates
a dead woman, he commits adultery because he feels the pleasure. But if a woman
introduces in her vagina the penis of a dead man, she doesn't feel the pleasure, and
therefore she does not commit adultery; she is however liable of a discretionary sanction
.
128

6) Sexual relation with animals

The Koran doesn't mention any such reports. But Muhammad said:
Among those whom Allah will not look at on the Day of Resurrection, and to whom He will say:
"Enter the Fire along with those who enter," the Prophet counted the following: The active and the
passive partners in homosexuality; the one who has sex with animals; the one who is married to a
woman and her daughter at the same time; and the one who masturbates regularly, unless they
repent and reform.
May God curse a person who penetrates an animal and the one who makes as the people of Lot.
If someone penetrates an animal, kill him as well as the animal.
The man who penetrates an animal and the woman who is penetrated by an animal do
not commit adultery, but are liable of a discretionary sanction. Shafiis, however, qualify
this act as adultery invoking the Koran verse 23:5-6. If the guilty is married, he must be
killed; if not, he is flogged .
129

Malikis and shafiis don't foresee any sanction against the animal. If the animal is killed,
his meat can be eaten although considered as repugnant. Hanafis say that the animal can
be killed but its meat cannot be consumed. If the animal is not killed, it will recall this
act and its owner will be laughed at.
7) Masturbation
The Muslim sources consider the masturbation as a forbidden act according to the
following Koranic verses:

126 Serhane, p. 44-47.

127 Al-Ansari: Nihayat al-muhtaj, vol. 7, p. 405; Al-mughni, vol. 10, p. 152.
128 Muhsin: Al-himayah al-gina'iyyah lil-'ard, p. 46-47; Jabr: Al-Zina, p. 60. Sharh
Al-Zarqani, vol. 8, p. 76.
129 Muhsin: Al-himayah al-gina'iyyah lil-'ard, p. 47-50.
 25
- Successful indeed are the believers [...] who maintain their chastity. Only with their spouses, or
those who are rightfully theirs, do they have sexual relations; they are not to be blamed. Those
who transgress these limits are sinners (23:1 and 5-7).
- Those who cannot afford to get married shall maintain morality until God provides for them from
his grace (24:33).
- He exhorts them to be righteous, enjoins them from evil (7:157).
The classic jurists don't permit masturbation other than a means to avoid adultery. One
who does it in this case chooses the least improper solution . Al-Juzayri summarizes
130

their position in these terms: "According to the jurists' consensus, legal sanction
[relative to adultery] won't be applied for masturbation because it is an incomplete
pleasure, even though it is forbidden. But one who masturbates must be punished by a
discretionary correction" . Itfish, an Ibadite jurist (d. 1914), was very strict. Whoever
131

sees a man or a woman masturbating can summon them to stop. If they don't stop, he
can fight them as rebels . Ibn-Hazm (d. 1064) is on the contrary very liberal. He
132

permits masturbation invoking the verse: "He already indicated to you what was
forbidden you" (6:119). As the Koran does not explicitly forbid masturbation it means
that it is not forbidden. Ibn-Hazm invokes the verse: "It is he who created for you
everything on earth" (2:29). He adds however: "Such an act is repugnant because it is
not matter of a good customs or virtue" . He requires washing after the masturbation
133

according to the verse: "If you are unclean, purify yourselves" (5:6). But, contrary to the
other jurists, he surmises that masturbation doesn't invalidate the fasting, the spiritual
retirement or the pilgrimage . 134

Today, Muslim authors don't permit masturbation other than to avoid adultery. In
addition of the above verses, they invoke: "Be not cast by your own hands to ruin"
(2:195), as well as Muhammad's narrative: "There should be neither a damage nor a
reciprocal damage". A Saudi author writes that masturbation is a harmful act. It can
provoke negative effects on physical, sexual, and psychological levels.
- On the physical level: weariness of strengths, thinning, tremor of members, beating of the heart,
decrease of the view, gastric mess, tuberculosis and anaemia.
- On the sexual level: sexual impotence. This one causes the misunderstanding between the
spouses, their separation or the conjugal treason.
- On the psychological and mental level: distraction, oblivion, weakness of will and of the
memory, isolation, shame, fear, laziness, melancholy, suicidal thought and other damages that
paralyze the mind, dissolves the will and destroys the personality135.
With regard to women, an author from Oman writes that masturbation induces her with
the following negative effects:
- Her breasts fall and tremble; a pestilential whitish matter secretes of it; the girl seems silly and
ends up sinking into lunacy.
- Feeling of guilt.
- Sexual organ inflammation and vaginal secretions difficult to heal.
- Thickening of the labia minora, painful and difficult sexual intercourse.
- Tearing of the hymen, injuries of the labia majora and strong haemorrhage.
- Difficulty to achieve orgasm outside of masturbation may lead to matrimonial failure136.

130 Al-Qurtubi: Al-jami, vol. 12, p. 105-106.

131 Al-Juzayri, vol. 5, p. 152.
132 Itfish, vol. 14, p. 559.
133 Ibn-Hazm, vol. 11, p. 392-393.
134 On masturbation in Muslim law see: Mawsu'at al-fiqh al-islami, vol. 8, under
istimna.
135 ' Alwan, vol. 1, p. 229-230.
136 Al-Riyami, p. 42-43.
 26
To prevent this habit, the two above authors counsel: precocious marriage, fasting,
remoteness from excitement, good company, cold baths, sport, non-spicy food,
moderate consumption of tea, coffee and meat, not to sleep on the back or stomach . 137

This black picture that current Muslim authors draw about masturbation is absent in
classic jurists. Some Muslim authors however try to reverse this rigorist concept. They
believe all evils assigned to masturbation are ungrounded, and masturbation in itself can
be useful for the rest of the body, but it is necessary to avoid over doing it . 138

IV. Perspectives of future

Muslim authors expose extensively the sexual deviance in the western countries and
their results, notably the big number of illegitimate and abandoned children, the
increase of the sexual crimes such as rape, the questioning of the institution of the
marriage, the increase of single mothers, venereal illnesses, and AIDS.
These authors don't hide, however, that Muslim countries are also beginning to know
those same problems. According to them, the solution lies with the return to the Islamic
sexual morals and the application of the sanctions foreseen in Islamic law . In addition
139

to the penal measures, these authors recommend some preventive social measures.
Some even envisage the return to the system of slavery that permitted relations between
the master and his slaves. Let us see these three points:
1) Return to the Islamic criminal norms
The application of the Islamic criminal norms is a permanent request of Islamic
fundamentalists. In Egypt, many penal code projects have been presented to the
parliament. Most important is the one of 1982. The commission charged with this
project was composed from scholars of Al-Azhar, academic professors and judges.
Among them the mufti of the Republic, an ex-president, a vice-president and advisers of
the Cassation Court, the Secretary General of the supreme Council of Islamic affairs,
several professors of Al-Azhar, Cairo, Ain-Shams and Mansourah universities.
These scholars worked hard during 40 months and wrote 630 articles imposing
memorandum of 230 pages covering all the panoply of Islamic sanctions: lex talionis
(life for life, eye for eye, penis for penis, testicle for testicle, etc.), stoning for adultery,
death penalty by hanging for apostasy, amputation of hands and feet and flogging. The
President of this commission said in the presentation of this project: "This day is a great
feast for us because it achieves the biggest wish of every member of our nation" . 140

The Egyptian government archived this project without ever allowing the parliament to
debate it, probably as a political calculation. But this project gives a clear idea of the
intention of the fundamentalists. It indicates also that the ideas of these milieus are
shared extensively by a large number of the Egyptian elite who believe that the Islamic
criminal norms are an integral part of the Islamic faith and an expression of Allah's will.
A similar project of Criminal code for the whole Arab countries was also prepared by
the League of the Arab States; it was presented to the Council of the Arab Ministers of
Justice in November 1996 . 141

2) Preventive social measures

In addition of the return to Islamic criminal norms, Islamic fundamentalists propose a
set of social norms aiming to warn the depravity of sexual morality. They propose:
137 Alwan, vol. 1, p. 232-237; Al-Riyami, p. 72-82.
138 See Kisk, p. 77; Al-Qabbani, p. 178-179; Al-Huwayni, p. 41-42.
139 Ahmad: Al-himayah al-gina'iyyah lil-akhlaq, p. 58.
140 Iqtirah bi-mashru‘ qanun bi-isdar qanun al-‘uqubat, Lagnat taqnin ahkam al-shari‘ah al-isla-
miyyah, dossier de la 70ème séance de Maglis al-sha‘b du 1er juillet 1982, p. VII.
141 Sur ces activités, See Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh: Unification des droits arabes et ses
contraintes, p. 177-204.
 27
- To facilitate the access to marriage as unique legitimate means to satisfy the
sexual instinct. This may be reached by assuring a job and a home, reducing the
amount of dowry and bestowing subsidies to those who want to get married.
- To control the means of communication in conformity with the Islamic norms and
to censor the press, the movies, video clubs and the theatres so that they don't
propagate immorality, anarchism, atheism and perversion.
- To create organisms for control of morals (amr bil-ma'ruf wal-nayh 'an al-
munkar) composed by devout religious scholars. In every city, it would be
necessary at least four of these organisms. They should have the right to receive
denunciations, to investigate them and to stop the guilty so that the sanction
against adultery may be applied . 142

- To maintain the women in their home and pay them half of their salary when their
children are in school. Her right to education and work must not be on the
expenses of children and the educational role of the woman. Such a measure will
procure job to many unemployed persons.
- To forbid the travel of the fathers abroad for work, excepted for cases of
necessity. In these cases, fathers must come back home every six months to
control their families.
- To restrict the travel of girls to oil-producing countries to protect their honour 143

and to regulate the marriage of the Egyptians with the non Egyptians . 144

- To reconsider the jail system which became a training place for prostitution . 145

3) Return to the slavery

As discussed above, the Islamic law permitted the sexual relations between slaves and
their masters. By putting end to slavery, this outlet was closed
The slavery has been abolished by the Arabo-Islamic States, but actually it persists in
certain countries as Mauritania and Sudan . More serious, some Muslim authors extol
146

the return overtly to slavery, as provided by the Islamic law.

According to a book on the slavery in Islam written by a Saudi professor from the
Islamic university of Medina:
The legitimate war (shar'iyyah) is the war in which Muslims fight against their enemies to
proclaim God's word, to discard the danger of those who oppose by the force the propagation of
Islam, are harmful to Muslims or terrorize those who adopt it. Every time that the Prophet sent an
army, he ordered it not to begin the fight before giving the choice to enemies between the
conversion to Islam, the payment of the tribute and the war147.
This professor adds that those that refuse to submit to Muslims and carry weapons
against them will be fought. In case of victory of Muslims, women and children of
losers will be taken like slaves, because it is prohibited to kill them. Concerning the
men, if they don't adhere to Islam, they can be freed, purchased, exchanged against

142 Hussayn: Al-hurriyyah al-shakhsiyyah fi Masr, p. 471-472.

143 Ahmad: Al-himayah al-gina'iyyah lil-akhlaq, p. 521-538.
144 Nassif: Fatayat lil-tasdir, p. 123.
145 Ibid., p. 124.
146 See the references in Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh: Les musulmans face aux droits de
l'homme, p. 268-270. See also the article published by The Economist, 21
September 1996: "The flourishing business of slavery", as well as the article of
Nhial Bol: Sudan-Human Rights: Khartoum accused of selling slaves for arms,
Inter Press Service, 12 July 1996. According to this article, the Sudanese
gouvernment has gathered 15,000 to 20,000 persons from South Sudan to sell
them to Libya as exchange for weapons.
147 Fayid: Al-riq fil-islam, p. 42.
 28
Muslim prisoners, killed or enslaved. If they convert to Islam before being captured,
they will be free. If they convert after capture, they won't be killed, but enslaved . 148

The sheik Salah Abu-Isma'il, Egyptian parliamentarian, overtly defends the return to
slavery for the women of the enemy who fall in the hands of Muslims as prisoners. He
explains that Muslims can decide in this case to free them without or with counterpart,
to kill them, or to enslave them. If it is decided to enslave a woman, she becomes the
property of a man according to Islamic norms, and her owner has the right to wait until
her menstruation to be sure that she is not pregnant by another man. If he notices that
she is not pregnant, he has the right to cohabit with her like a husband with his wife. If
this slave get a child and that the father dies, this child inherits her mother as a good. As
a mother cannot be her child's possession, she becomes free . 149

Al-Mawdudi, the famous Pakistani religious scholar, considers slavery as legitimate.

Retorting to an author who denies the slavery in Islam, he says: "Is the honourable
author in measure to indicate only one Koranic verse which abolishes categorically
slavery in for the future? The answer is probably no" . 150

The Egyptian professor, Hamad Ahmad Ahmad, who received his doctorate from the
Sorbonne, wrote a book titled Proposition of unified law governing the Islamic armies . 151

We read in it that if a country is conquered without war, its inhabitants who have a
revealed Book (Ahl al-kitab) have the choice between paying the gizyah (tribute) or the
double of the zakat (religious tax). As for those who don't have revealed book, the chief
of the state is free to treat them as Ahl al-kitab or to give them the choice between Islam
or death (art. 169 and p. 134-135). Inhabitants of the conquered country are free to
remain in the country or to abandon it (art. 174). With regard to war prisoners, this
professor proposes following measures:
Art. 191 - The chief of the country has the right to bestow the liberty to war prisoners, to ask for
ransoms against their liberation or to enslave them.
Art. 192 - Ransoms for the liberation of the prisoners or slavery is part of the loot. Ransoms or
enslaved prisoners are distributed to those who entitled to the loot.
Art. 52 - 1. It is prohibited to kill women, children, old men and monks.
2. If it appears that they constitute a help for the enemy, they are taken as captives.
3. If it is impossible to take them as captives, they will be treated as fighters.
This last paragraph means that they will be treated as slaves and distributed according
to Islamic norms (art. 179 ss.). Concerning the captive women (sabiyyah), it is said:
Art. 194 - 1) Those who receive a captive woman as loot cannot have immediate sexual
intercourse with her.
2) If she is not pregnant, it is prohibited to have sexual intercourse with her, before her
menstruation. If she is pregnant, sexual intercourse can take place only after the childbirth and the
period of purification (nafas).
Art. 195 – Those who receive a captive woman as loot can immediately enjoy her, but he cannot
have sexual intercourse with her.
Two years before, the same professor published another proposition of law concerning
the relation between Muslim countries and foreign countries, in which we read:
Art. 87 - Every Muslim country has the right to impose the payment of the tribute (gizyah) and/or
the payment of the land tax (kharag) on every foreign country which may endanger its security. It
can also enslave their captured nationals (a'yan), permit their liberation against ransom or kill
them152.

148 Ibid., p. 46-48.

149 Abu-Isma'il: Al-shahadah, p. 78-79.
150 Al-Mawdudi: Al-islam fi muwagahat al-tahaddiyat al-mu'assirah, p. 64.
Mawdudi speaks about slavery and sexual relations in p. 63-109 of this book.
151 Ahmad: Nahwa qanun muwahhad lil-giyush al-islamiyyah.
152 Ahmad: Fiqh al-ginsiyyat, p. 350.
 29
Bibliography
Abd-Allah Muhammad Hussayn: Al-hurriyyah al-shakhsiyyah fi Masr, dawabit al-
isti'mal wa-damanat al-tatbiq, s.l, without publisher, 1996.
Abd-al-Salam, Seham: Female sexuality and the discourse of power, the case of Egypt,
Thesis for the degree of Master of Arts, American University in Cairo, School of
Humanities, Cairo, 1998.
Abdel-Hamid, Jamal Mustafa: Al-sa'iqah al-azhariyyah li-ibadat al-khawatir al-
shaytaniyyah rad ala kitab khawatir muslim fil-mas'alah al-ginsiyyah, Maktabat
al-imam Al-Bukhari, Al-Isma'iliyyah, 1992.
Abu-Isma'il, Salah: Al-shahadah, Dar al-i'tissam, 2nd ed., Cairo, 1984.
Abu-Zahrah, Muhammad: Al-ahwal al-shakhsiyyah, qism al-zawag, (without publisher), 2nd ed.,
Cairo, 1950.
Ahmad, Hamad Ahmad: Fiqh al-ginsiyyat, Dar al-kutub al-gami'iyyah, Tantah, 1406-
1407 h. [1986-87].
Ahmad, Hamad Ahmad: Nahwa qanun muwahhad lil-giyush al-islamiyyah, Maktabat
al-Malik Faysal al-islamiyyah, [Doha?], 1988.
Ahmad, Hilali Abdallah: Al-himayah al-gina'iyyah lil-akhlaq min dhahirat al-inhiraf al-
ginsi, Dar al-nahdah al-arabiyyah, Cairo, 1996.
Al-‘Adawi, ‘Abd-al-Rahman: Khitan al-banat, dans ‘Abd-al-Raziq, Abu-Bakr: Al-khitan, ra’y
al-din wal-‘ilm fi khitan al-awlad wal-banat, Dar al-i‘tissam, Cairo, 1989, p. 97-98.
Al-Abshihi, Shihab-al-Dine Ibn-Ahmad: Al-mustatraf fi kul fannin mustazrah,
Manshourat dar maktabat al-hayat, Beirut, 1994.
Al-Ajurri, Muhammad Ibn-al-Husayn: Tahrim al-loat, édité par Khalid Ali Muhammad,
Maktabat al-safahat al-dhahabiyyah, Riyadh, 1409h.
Al-Ansari, Shams-al-Din Al-Ramli (d. 1596): Nihayat al-muhtaj fi sharh al-minhaj,
Maktabat Al-Halabi, le Caire, s.d.
Al-Ashqar, Umar Sulayman: Al-yom al-akhir al-jannah wal-nar, Dar al-nafa'is, Amman,
1991.
Al-Bar, Muhammad ‘Ali: Khalq al-insan bayn al-tib wal-Qur’an, Al-dar al-su’udiyyah,
Jeddah, 10th ed., 1995.
Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh, Sami A.: Khitan al-dhukur wal-inath ind al-yahud wal-masihiyyin
wal-muslimin, al-jadal al-dini, Riad El-Rayyes, Beirut, 2000.
Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh, Sami A.: Les Musulmans en Occident entre droits et devoirs,
L'Harmattan, Paris, 2002.
Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh, Sami A.: Les musulmans face aux droits de l'homme, Winkler,
Bochum, 1994.
Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh, Sami A.: Unification des droits arabes et ses contraintes, in
Conflits et harmonisation: mélanges en l'honneur d'Alfred E. von Overbeck,
Éditions universitaires, Fribourg, 1990, p. 177-204.
Al-Dhahabi, Muhammad Sham-al-Din: Kitab al-kaba'ir, Dar al-manar, Le Caire, 1991.
Al-Dhahabi, Shams-al-Din: Al-kaba'ir, Dar al-kutub al-sha'biyyah, Beirut, s.d.
Al-Duri, Al-Haytham Ibn-Khalaf: Dham al-loat, édité par Khalid Ali Muhammad,
Maktabat al-safahat al-dhahabiyyah, Riyadh, 1409h.
Al-fatawi al-islamiyyah min dar al-ifta’ al-masriyyah, Wazarat al-awqaf, Cairo, vol. 9,
1983.
Al-Ghawwabi, Hamid: Khitan al-banat bayn al-tib wal-islam, dans: Majallat liwa al-
islam, nos 7, 8 et 11, year 11,1951. In ‘Abd-al-Raziq, Abu-Bakr: Al-khitan, ra’y al-din
wal-‘ilm fi khitan al-awlad wal-banat, Dar al-i‘tissam, Cairo, 1989, p. 49-63.
Al-Ghazali: Ihya 'ulum al-din, Dar al-ma'rifah, Beirut, s.d., vol. 4.
 30
Al-Jamal, Abu-al-Ala Kamal Ali: Nihayat al-bayan fi ahkam al-khitan, Maktabat al-
iman, Al-Mansurah, 1995.
Al-Juzayri, Abd-al-Rahman: Kitab al-fiqh 'ala al-madhahib al-arba'ah, Dar al-fikr,
Beirut, (s.d.).
Al-Kasani, Ala'al-Dine: Bada' al-sana'i, Dar al-kitab al-'arabi, Beirut, 1982.
Al-Mannawi, Muhammad (d. 1622): Fayd al-qadir sharh al-jami al-saghir, Dar al-
ma'rifah, Beyrouth, 1995.
Al-Mawdudi, Abu-al-'Ala': Al-islam fi muwagahat al-tahaddiyat al-mu'assirah, Dar al-
qalam, 2nd ed., Koweït, 1978.
Al-Mawsu'ah al-fiqhiyyah, Kuwait, 1989, vol. 16.
Al-muntakhab min al-sunnah, Al-majlis al-a'la lil-shu'un al-islamiyyah, Cairo, 1992.
Al-Nisa'i, Ahmad Ibn-Shu'ayb (d. 303h): Kitab 'ishrat al-nisa', Maktabat al-turath al-
islami, Cairo, 1989.
Al-Qabbani, Sabri: Hayatuna al-jinsiyyah, Dar al-ilm lil-malayin, Beirut, 32nd ed.,
1995.
Al-Qaradawi, Yusuf: Huda al-islam, fatawi mu'asirah, Dar al-qalam, Kuwait, 3rd ed.
1987.
Al-Qurtubi, Abd-Allah (d. 1273): Al-jami li-ahkam al-Qur'an, Al-hay'ah al-masriyyah
al-ammah lil-kitab, Cairo, 1987.
Al-Qurtubi, Abu-Abdallah Muhammad Al-Ansari: Al-tadhkirah fi ahwal al-mawta wa-
umur al-akhirah, Dar al-manar, Cairo, (s.d.).
Al-Riyami: Hasan Halaf: Al-adah al-sirriyyah, al-istimna min al-nahiyatayn al-diniyyah
wal-sihhiyyah, Maktabat Al-Damiri, Al-Sayb, 1994.
Al-Salmi, Abdel-Malik Ibn-Habibi: Kitab wasf al-firdaws, Dar al-kutub al-'ilmiyyah,
Beirut, 1987.
Al-Samari, Adli: Al-intihak al-ginsi lil-zawjah, dirasah fi sociologia al-'unf al-usari, Dar
al-ma'rifah al-jami'iyyahm Alexandria, 1999.
Al-Sayim, Muhammad: Hiwar ma' al-shayatin, Dar al-fadilah, Cairo, vol. 1, 1992 and
vol. 2, 1995.
Al-Sayyuti, Jalal-al-Din (d. 911 h): Al-wishah fi fawa'id al-nikah, Al-Quds lil-nashr
wal-i'lan, Cairo, 2001.
Al-Sha'rawi, Muhammad Mitwalli: Qadaya islamiyyah, Dar al-shuruq, Beirut & Cairo,
1977.
Al-Sukkari, Abd-al-Salam Abd-al-Rahim: Khitan al-dhakar wa-khifad al-untha min
mandhur islami, Dar al-manar, Heliopolis, 1988.
Al-Tawil, 'Uthman: al-tarbiyah al-ginsiyyah fil-islam, Dar al-Furqan, Cairo, 1992.
Al-Tibi, Akashah Abdel-Mannan: Al-Jannah ru'yah min al-dakhil, Dar al-fadilah, Cairo,
1993.
Al-Tifashi, Shihab-al-Din Ahmad: Nuzhat al-albab fima la yujad fi kitab, Riad El-
Rayyes, London, 1992.
Alwan, Abd-Allah Nasih: Tarbiyat al-awlad fi al-islam, Dar al-salam, Riyadh, 8th ed.,
1985.
Al-Zughbi, Muhammad Abd-al-Malik: Al-nissa' akthar ahl al-nar, Dar al-manar, Cairo,
1997.
Ammar, Rushdi: Al-adrar al-sihhiyyah al-natijah an khitan al-banat, dans: Al-halaqah
al-dirasiyyah an al-intihak al-badani li-sighar al-inath, 14-15 octobre 1979,
Jam'iyyat tandhim al-usrah, Cairo, 1979, p. 44-53.
Aqlah, Muhammad: Ahkam al-hag wal-‘umrah, Maktabat al-rissalah al-hadithah, Amman, 1981.
'Awdah, Abd-al-Qadir: Al-tashri' al-gina'i al-islami, Dar al-kitab al-'arabi, Beirut, s.d.
 31
Bol, Nhal: Sudan-Human Rights: Khartoum accused of selling slaves for arms, Inter
Press Service, 12 July 1996.
Egypt Demographic and Health Survey 1995, National Population Council, Cairo, Sept.
1996; Le Monde, 26 June 1997.
El-Rouayheb, Khaled: Attitudes to homosexuality in early Ottoman Syria, Thesis MA
Depart. of History and Archeology, American University of Beirut, June 1996.
Fayid, Mahmud 'Abd-al-Wahhab: Al-riq fil-islam, Dar al-i'tissam, Cairo, 1989.
Haeri, Shahla: Law of desire, temporary marriage in Iran, Tauris, London, 1989.
Ibn-Abi-al-Dunya, Abu-Bahr 'Abdallah Ibn-'Ubayd: Sifat al-gannah wa-ma a'ad Allah
li-ahliha min al-na'im, Dar al-Bashir, Amman & Muassassat al-rissalah, Beirut,
1997.
Ibn-al-Jawzi, Abu-al-Faraj (d. 1021): Kitab Ahkam al-nisa, Dar al-fikr, Beirut, 1996.
Ibn-al-Siddiq, 'Abd-al-'Aziz: Ma yajuz wa-ma la yajuz fil-hayat al-zawjiyyah, Boukili,
Qunaytara, 1998.
Ibn-Asakir, Ali (d. 1176): Tabyin al-imtinan bil-amr bil-khitan, Dar al-sahabah lil-
turath, Tanta, 1989.
Ibn-Hazm, Ali (d. 1064): Al-muhalla, Dar al-afaq al-jadidah, Beirut, s.d.
Ibn-Hisham: Al-sirah al-nabawiyyah, Al-maktabah al-tawfiqiyyah, Cairo, (s.d.).
Ibn-Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah: Hadi al-arwah ila bilad al-afrah, Dar ihya' al-kutub al-
arabiyyah, Cairo, (s.d.).
Ibn-Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah: Rawdat al-muhibbin wa-nuzhat al-mushtaqin, Dar al-Gil,
Beirut, 1956.
Iqtirah bi-mashru‘ qanun bi-isdar qanun al-‘uqubat, Lagnat taqnin ahkam al-shari‘ah al-islamiyyah,
70th session of Maglis al-sha‘b, 1st July 1982.
Itfish, Muhammad Yusuf (d. 1914): Sharh kitab al-nil wa-shifa al-alil, Maktabat al-
irshad, Jeddah, 3rd ed., 1985.
Jabr, Dandal: Al-zina, Maktabat al-manar, Al-Zarqa, 1987.
Jad-al-Haq, Jad-al-Haq Ali (d. 1996): Fatwa, dans: Al-fatawi al-islamiyyah, vol. 9,
Cairo, 1983, p. 3119-3125.
Kishk, Muhammad Jalal: Khawatir muslim fil-mas'alah al-ginsiyyah, Maktabat al-turath
al-islami, Cairo, 1992.
Madkur, Muhammad Salam: Al-ganin wal-ahkam al-muta’alliqah bih fil-fiqh al-islami,
Dar al-nahdah al-arabiyyah, Cairo, 1969.
Maghawri, Muhammad 'Abduh: Zawag al-djan min bani al-insan, Maktabat al-iman,
Cairo, 1995.
Mahmud, Ibrahim: Al-gins fil-Qur'an, Riad El-Rayyes, Beirut, 1994.
Mahmud, Ibrahim: al-mut'ah al-mahdhurah: al-shudhudh al-jinsi fi tarikh al-'arab, Riad
El-Rayyes, Beirut, 2000.
Mahmud, Ibrahim: Gughrafyat al-maladhdhat, al-gins fil-gannah, Riad El-Rayyes,
Beirut, 1998.
Mudhhir, Muntasir: Al-mut'ah al-muharramah: al-luwat wal-sihaq fil-tarikh al-'arabi,
Al-dar al-'alamiyyah lil-kutub wal-nashr, Cairo, 2001.
Mudlij, Jawdat: Al-hub fil-Andalus, Dar lisan al-arab, Beirut, 1985.
Muhammad, Khalid Ali: taqdimat kitaban fil-loat, Maktabat al-safahat al-dhahabiyyah,
Riyadh, 1409h.
Muhsin, Abdel-Aziz Muhammad: Al-himayah al-gina'iyyah lil-'ard, Dar al-nahdah
al-'arabiyyah, Cairo, 1989.
Mustafa, Fathi Hassan: Da‘awi al-talaq wal-ta‘ah lil-muslimin wa-ghayr al-muslimin, Mansha’at al-
ma‘arif, Alexandria, 1991.
Nassif, Imad: Fatayat lil-tasdir: khataya al-mashahir, Cairo, 1994.
 32
Parsi, Banou: Des Iraniennes contre le voile, dans Alternatives non-violentes, number 83, Summer
1992.
Ramadan, Muhammad: Khitan al-inath, dirasah ilmiyyah wa-shar'iyyah, Dar al-wafa,
Al-Mansurah, 1997.
Ramadan, Muhammad: Khitan al-inath, dirasah ilmiyyah wa-shar'iyyah, Dar al-wafa,
Al-Mansurah, 1997.
Rashid, Nur Al-Sayyid: Wida'an lil-khilaf fi amr al-khitan, Dar al-wafa, Al-Mansurah,
1995.
Sabbagh, Muhammad Mitwalli: Al-‘iddah fi ahkam al-nikah, Madbouli, Cairo, 1990.
Serhane, Abdelhak: L'amour circoncis, Éditions Eddif, Casablanca, 3rd ed., 1998.
Shahine, Hussayn: Rihlah ila mamlakat al-gin, Cairo, 1997.
Sharbini, Shams-al-Din: Mughni al-muhtag, Dar al-kutub al-'ilmiyyah, Beirut, 1994.
Shawkat, Sabir: Al-Djan wal-gamilat, Dar al-Jantal, Cairo, 1997.
Shawkat, Sabir: Al-ghisha' wa-ahlam al-'adharah, Dar al-jantal, Cairo 1998.
Shawkat, Sabir: Asrar ahl-al-fan wal-siyassah ma' al-sihr wal-gin, Dar al-Jantal, Cairo,
1996.
The Economist, 21 September 1996: "The flourishing business of slavery".
Ubaydat, Abd-al-Karim Nawfan Fawwaz: 'Alam al-gin fi daw' al-kitab wal-sunnah, Dar
Ibn-Taymiyyah, Riyadh, 1985.
Wallerstein, Edward: Circumcision: an american health fallacy, Springer Publishing,
New York, 1980.