"Be content with the decree of Allah": the cis-heterosexual nafs in Shi?i and Sunni fatwas on transsexuality and intersexuality

This article examines the fatwas of Salafi-Sunni and conservative Shi'i scholars on transsexuality, and how their legal reasoning is limited by the cis-heteropatriarchal nature they ascribe to the nafs (self). Most Shi'i jurists in Iran permit sex-reassignment surgeries, while Salafi schol...

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Bibliographic Details
Subtitles:"Special Issue: 'Physiology is Theology': Gendered Bodies in Sufi and Islamic Constructions of the Self"
Main Author: Kiriakos-Fugate, Garrett (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Equinox Publishing 2022
In: Body and religion
Year: 2022, Volume: 6, Issue: 1, Pages: 74-93
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Transsexualism / Islamic law / Fatwa / Shi'ah / Salafīyah / Patriarchy / Sexual minorities / Self
RelBib Classification:AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
BJ Islam
NCF Sexual ethics
NCH Medical ethics
XA Law
Further subjects:B Patriarchy
B Islamic Law
B Fatwa
B trans and intersex
B sex-reassignment surgery
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Summary:This article examines the fatwas of Salafi-Sunni and conservative Shi'i scholars on transsexuality, and how their legal reasoning is limited by the cis-heteropatriarchal nature they ascribe to the nafs (self). Most Shi'i jurists in Iran permit sex-reassignment surgeries, while Salafi scholars forbid them as adulterations to the body except in the case of intersex persons. Both inherit normative legal reasoning that privileges the able-bodied, adult, free man as normative. They reference premodern rulings on the khuntha (those with ambiguous genitalia) and build upon the criteria developed by their predecessors to determine an individual’s so-called "true" sex/gender. These scholars also take part in a contemporary world in which the body is medically and psychologically overburdened with gendered meanings. After analyzing these fatwas, I discuss how these cis-heteropatriarchal conceptions of the nafs greatly limit juristic creativity in addressing the spiritual wellbeing of trans, intersex, and non-binary Muslims.
ISSN:2057-5831
Contains:Enthalten in: Body and religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1558/bar.22482