The Love of Boys in Arabic Poetry of the Early Ottoman Period, 1500 – 1800

Datos Bibliográficos

ID23182103
AutoresKhaled El-Rouayheb (0000-0001-7229-0009, Schlumberger (Ireland), autor de correspondencia)
Año2005
Volumen8
Número1
Páginas3-22
Fecha de publicación2005-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaMiddle Eastern Literatures (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1475-262X • E-ISSN: 1475-2638
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1366616042000309157
OpenAlexW2078917961
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas10

The Arabic poetry of the early Ottoman period (1500 – 1800) is still, to a large extent, unexplored territory. The few secondary monographs on the poetry of the period suggest that love-poetry as a rule portrayed a female beloved. In the first part of the article I argue that this is misleading. The portrayed beloved seems often, and perhaps most often, to have been a beardless or downy-cheeked male youth. In the second part of the article, I address the issue of how such poetry should be understood. According to some modern scholars, such pederastic poetry indicates a widespread tolerance of ‘homosexuality’ in the pre-19th century Arabic – Islamic world, despite Islamic legal prohibitions. Other scholars argue that such poetry was cultivated openly because they were conceived to be nothing more than time-honoured literary exercises. I argue that both positions overlook the fact that much of this poetry celebrated a passionate but chaste love in the ‘udhrī tradition, and that Islamic jurists did not consider such love to be prohibited, even if directed at a beardless youth.

Aesthetics · Arabic · Arabic literature · Art · Homosexuality · Islam · Linguistics · Literature · Nothing · Period (music) · Poetry · Political science · Theology · Families in Therapy and Culture · History · Islamic Studies and History · Islamic Thought and Society Studies · Law · Philosophy