Transgender Identity, The Sex-Reassignment Surgery Fatwās and Islāmic Theology of A Third Gender
Although in the late 1980s, transgender sex-reassignment surgery was legalized (made halāl) in sharīʿa and/or in state law by the Fatwās of Āyatullāh Khomeini in Iran and Shaykh al-Ṭanṭāwī in Egypt, the issue of whether Islamic theology accepts transgender people as third gender remains underdevelop...
| Published in: | Religion & gender |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
[2017]
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| In: |
Religion & gender
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Humainī, Ruḥallāh M. 1902-1989
/ Ṭanṭāwī, Muḥammad Saiyid aṭ- 1928-2010
/ Fatwa
/ Transgender
/ Drittes Geschlecht
/ History 700-2017
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| RelBib Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism AE Psychology of religion AG Religious life; material religion BJ Islam NBE Anthropology TA History XA Law |
| Further subjects: | B
Khomeini
B sex-reassignment surgery’ fatwās B Transgender B al-Ṭanṭāwī B third gender B Islāmic theology |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Although in the late 1980s, transgender sex-reassignment surgery was legalized (made halāl) in sharīʿa and/or in state law by the Fatwās of Āyatullāh Khomeini in Iran and Shaykh al-Ṭanṭāwī in Egypt, the issue of whether Islamic theology accepts transgender people as third gender remains underdeveloped. The traditional Islamic line on gender divisions has been criticised for being established on the basis of the binary logic of male and female gender which leaves no capacity to accept a third gender in traditional Islāmic theology. Therefore, the fatwās of both Khomeini and al-Ṭanṭāwī were issued on the basis of the binary logic of male and female gender. However, this article argues that although al-Ṭanṭāwī’s fatwā was vague and clearly built on a gender binary logic, Khomeini’s fatwā was issued on other grounds that may allow for a discussion on transgender Muslims as third gender. Moreover, the article argues that there is a discursive space within Muslim juridical texts which one may justifiably use to underpin an interpretation of a third gender in Islāmic legal and theological debates. |
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| ISSN: | 1878-5417 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion & gender
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.18352/rg.10170 |