Abstract
Historically, most Muslims understood sexuality as an aspect of fluid gender performance, not fixed sexual orientations. Decolonizing same-sex discourse can promote queer Muslim acceptance and also build positive relationships in normative Muslim communities. Drawing on theories of boundary-making and Orientalism, we investigate how sexual relations have been socially interpreted pre- and post-colonially and the consequent implications for non-heteronormative Muslims. When Muslim same-sex relations are socially constructed as expressions of gender performance, not sexual orientation, queer Muslims are within the boundaries of normative “Muslimness” in historical and some contemporary Muslim societies. However, when queerness is reconstructed in terms of sexual orientation, a product of Western colonial intervention, rather than gender performance, queer Muslims are excluded from normative Muslimness. We argue that this social reconstruction of same-sex relations as sexual orientation results in exclusionary boundaries and the ongoing neglect of queer Muslims in public discourse. We conclude that varying acceptance of queer Muslims in normative Muslim spaces, including both diasporic Muslim communities and Muslim-majority countries, may rest in whether same-sex relations are constructed as gender performance or sexual orientation—the former yielding inclusion of queer Muslims while the latter yields exclusion.
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Notes
- 1.
By Western and the West, we are referring to nation-states that are located in the northern hemisphere of the globe such as Canada, US and the UK that recognize, in varying forms, same-sex legislation which address legal freedoms, marriage rights and the right to hold assembly. We recognize that there are differences in how these nation-states take up same-sex rights (Altman, 2001; Grewal, 2005).
- 2.
Notably, normative Muslim homophobia cannot be seen as an isolated event and placed outside of the internationalization of queer rights, pinktesting, colonialism, and Western enlightenment and modernity. See Rahman’s (2018) work on homocolonialism, which triangulates these processes in constructing Islam as inherently homophobic and the West as tolerant and progressive.
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- 4.
Hodgson (1974) coined the term “Islamicate” to describe the components of Muslim societies that extend beyond Islam as a religion and into the realm of living social and cultural beings, including the making of art, cuisine and social relationships. Islamicate societies include non-Muslim members and thus explore cultural products and practices that extend beyond the direct religious ordinances of Islam as a faith.
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Shah, S., Khan, M., Abdel-Latif, S. (2021). Decolonizing Muslim Same-Sex Relations: Reframing Queerness as Gender Flexibility to Build Positive Relationships in Muslim Communities. In: Pasha-Zaidi, N. (eds) Toward a Positive Psychology of Islam and Muslims. Cross-Cultural Advancements in Positive Psychology, vol 15. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72606-5_12
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