Abstract

To advance the discourse on Islam and sexual diversity, this study delves into the potential discursive spaces concerning homosexuality in modern Imāmi legal debates. I propose that the modern Imāmi legal tradition on homosexuality is more adaptable and nuanced than commonly perceived. Central to this investigation is the question: What discursive spaces exist in contemporary Shiʿi legal scholarship on homosexuality? This study builds on the premise that Imāmi legal sources encompass sacred texts, intellectual reasoning, diverse interpretations, and a robust methodological approach known as ijtihād. Employing this methodology, I describe, analyse, and critique the textual and intellectual discourses on homosexuality within this tradition. This work consciously steers away from the ongoing epistemological debates on homosexuality—whether essentialist or constructionist—and instead focuses on assessing whether homosexuality aligns with the general principles of the Islamic legal system, particularly concerning the rights of Allāh and human rights as established in Islamic sources. By employing the modern Shiʿi paradigm of ijtihād, the study investigates the compatibility between Islamic law and homosexuality, providing novel insights and suggesting an alternative methodological perspective within Islamic studies. The experimental nature of this approach renders it a distinctive contribution to scholarship, inviting further scrutiny and discussion among scholars in the field.

Bio

Mehrdad Alipour is VENI Research Fellow in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Utrecht University. His study primarily examines the transformation of Islamic body politics concerning gender, sex, and sexuality across premodern and modern eras. After graduating from the Seminary of Qom in Iran, Mehrdad earned his PhD in Arab and Islamic Studies from the University of Exeter in the UK. His forthcoming monograph, Islamic Body Politics: Non-Binary Intersex in Shiʿi Legal Tradition, 1400–1919, stems from his project titled “Beyond Binaries: Intersex in Islamic Legal Tradition.” His book, Negotiating Homosexuality in Islam: A Legal-Hermeneutical Examination of Modern Shiʿi Discourse (Brill, 2024), represents the first academic exploration of the discursive spaces for debating homosexuality within the Shiʿi legal context. His recent publications include “Homosexuality in the Prospect of Before Revelation,” in Wege zu einer Ethik, edited by Alsoufi, Kurnaz, & Sievers (Nomos Publishing House, 2023), and “The Nexus between Gender-Confirming Surgery and Illness: Legal-Hermeneutical Examinations of Four Islamic Fatwas,” published in the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies (18(3), 2022).