Read Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800 Online
Authors: Khaled El-Rouayheb
Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800 (10 page)
(min ḥāshiyat al-wulāt)
who were rumored to be “debauching” their male slaves, telling them:
who were rumored to be “debauching” their male slaves, telling them:
No one should act in accordance with those scholars who have been led astray from the Holy Law and permitted the carnal penetration of a woman in her anus or carnal penetration of a male slave on the basis of ownership, for that is contrary to clear, sacred precepts and to the agreement of the great majority of scholars, ancient and recent.
128
The biographical literature offers several examples of rumored pederastic relations between notables and their slaves or servants.
129
As suggested by Shaʿrānīʾs remarks, the political elite-which typically would have the largest number of slaves or servants-seems to have had an especially notorious reputation in this regard. Thus, the Aleppine scholar and biographer Abū al-Wafaʿ al-ʿUrḍī (d. 1660) praised a prominent Turkish scholar—later to become Grand Mufti of the Ottoman Empire—in the following terms: “He likes neither pomp nor ostentatious clothes, nor does he employ beardless boys [as servants], contrary to the practice of most
Mawālī
[i.e., members of the Ottoman ruling establishment].”
130
Similarly, the Damascene chronicler Ibn Ayyūb al-Anṣārī, speaking of a local leader of the Janissary corps, said: “He does not have an inclination to boys as is usual among his kind.”
131
The Syrian mystic ʿAlwān al-H
amawī (d. 1530), in a work on the religious-juridical provisions of looking or gazing (
aḥkām al-naz
ar
), warned his readers of the dangers of watching the processions of the political rulers, partly because they are accompanied by beardless slaves whom they “dress in the finest clothes and adorn with the most beautiful adornments, so that looking at them becomes a temptation for women and men alike.”
132
One may compare this testimony with that of the English traveler Henry Blount, who was in the Balkans in the 1630s and accompanied the Ottoman army on part of its journey toward the Polish border: “Besides these [ten to fifteen] wives
[sic-
perhaps concubines], each Basha hath as many, or likely more Catamites ... usually clad in Velvet, or Scarlet, with guilt Scymitars, and bravely mounted, with Sumptuous furniture.”
133
The above-mentioned Palestinian scholar Muhammad al-Saffārīnī noted that
liwāt
in his time was especially widespread among “the Turks”
(al-atrāk),
and since there is no evidence that Saf fārīnī traveled to the Turkish-speaking parts of the Ottoman Empire, it is likely that “the Turks” he encountered and passed judgment on were mostly members of the political, military, and judicial elite.
134
129
As suggested by Shaʿrānīʾs remarks, the political elite-which typically would have the largest number of slaves or servants-seems to have had an especially notorious reputation in this regard. Thus, the Aleppine scholar and biographer Abū al-Wafaʿ al-ʿUrḍī (d. 1660) praised a prominent Turkish scholar—later to become Grand Mufti of the Ottoman Empire—in the following terms: “He likes neither pomp nor ostentatious clothes, nor does he employ beardless boys [as servants], contrary to the practice of most
Mawālī
[i.e., members of the Ottoman ruling establishment].”
130
Similarly, the Damascene chronicler Ibn Ayyūb al-Anṣārī, speaking of a local leader of the Janissary corps, said: “He does not have an inclination to boys as is usual among his kind.”
131
The Syrian mystic ʿAlwān al-H
amawī (d. 1530), in a work on the religious-juridical provisions of looking or gazing (aḥkām al-naz
ar), warned his readers of the dangers of watching the processions of the political rulers, partly because they are accompanied by beardless slaves whom they “dress in the finest clothes and adorn with the most beautiful adornments, so that looking at them becomes a temptation for women and men alike.”
132
One may compare this testimony with that of the English traveler Henry Blount, who was in the Balkans in the 1630s and accompanied the Ottoman army on part of its journey toward the Polish border: “Besides these [ten to fifteen] wives
[sic-
perhaps concubines], each Basha hath as many, or likely more Catamites ... usually clad in Velvet, or Scarlet, with guilt Scymitars, and bravely mounted, with Sumptuous furniture.”
133
The above-mentioned Palestinian scholar Muhammad al-Saffārīnī noted that
liwāt
in his time was especially widespread among “the Turks”
(al-atrāk),
and since there is no evidence that Saf fārīnī traveled to the Turkish-speaking parts of the Ottoman Empire, it is likely that “the Turks” he encountered and passed judgment on were mostly members of the political, military, and judicial elite.
134
A person who was rumored to have sex with his slaves could find that he was suspected of assuming the passive-receptive role, especially if his slaves looked suspiciously masculine. For instance, the Aleppine poet Husayn al-Jazarī composed several poems accusing a contemporary named Ni‘matallah of being a
ma’būn.
Ni‘matallah apparently owned male black African slaves, and since black African men were stereotypically associated with virility and large sexual organs, Jazarī could easily use the fact to support his accusation:
ma’būn.
Ni‘matallah apparently owned male black African slaves, and since black African men were stereotypically associated with virility and large sexual organs, Jazarī could easily use the fact to support his accusation:
Strange that fortune is generous, but to those who do not deserve generosity. It withholds what the free man wants, and gives God’s blessings
(ni’matAllah)
to black slaves.
135
In his biographical dictionary of the notables of the tenth Muslim century (1494-1591), the Damascene scholar Muhammad Najm al-Dīn al-Ghazzī (d. 1651) touched more than once upon the great controversy concerning the religious status of coffee which marked that age but had subsided by the time he was writing. At one point he commented:
Consensus has now been reached that it [coffee] is permissible in itself. As for passing it around like an alcoholic beverage, and playing musical instruments in association with it, and taking it from handsome beardless boys while looking at them and pinching their behinds, there is no doubt as to its prohibition.
136
The context necessary for a full understanding of Ghazzī’s remark is probably supplied by two European travelers who were in the Near East at approximately the time in which Ghazzī was writing. Both the Portuguese Pedro Teixeira and the British George Sandys, speaking of Baghdad and Constantinople respectively, noted that coffeehouses employed handsome boys to serve their clientele.
137
The rationale behind such a practice is not difficult to discern. Of course, the boundary between “looking” and “pinching,” on the one hand, and making serious advances, on the other, is fluid at best. Likewise, the employment of boys to attract customers could degenerate into outright solicitation. In some instances, legal action was taken against more disreputable establishments on the basis of their association with immorality and prostitution.
138
Incidentally, the image of the cup-bearer
(sāqī)
was a conventional one in the love and wine poetry of the time. The fact that cof feehouses often employed handsome boys to serve the drink suggests that the image, often thought to be a mere literary stereotype (which it undoubtedly often was), may nevertheless have had some connection to social reality. For example, the Damascene poet Aḥmad al-‘Ināyātī was said to have had the habit of going every morning to a coffeehouse “with running water and handsome cup-bearer
(al-malīḥ al-sāqī)
... and drink numerous cups of cof fee.”
139
The
Dīwān
of ‘Ināyātī’s poetry, still in manuscript form, contains a couple of poems praising the beauty of a particular coffeehouse waiter called Ibrāhīm al-Suyūrī. One of these poems opens with the following lines:
137
The rationale behind such a practice is not difficult to discern. Of course, the boundary between “looking” and “pinching,” on the one hand, and making serious advances, on the other, is fluid at best. Likewise, the employment of boys to attract customers could degenerate into outright solicitation. In some instances, legal action was taken against more disreputable establishments on the basis of their association with immorality and prostitution.
138
Incidentally, the image of the cup-bearer
(sāqī)
was a conventional one in the love and wine poetry of the time. The fact that cof feehouses often employed handsome boys to serve the drink suggests that the image, often thought to be a mere literary stereotype (which it undoubtedly often was), may nevertheless have had some connection to social reality. For example, the Damascene poet Aḥmad al-‘Ināyātī was said to have had the habit of going every morning to a coffeehouse “with running water and handsome cup-bearer
(al-malīḥ al-sāqī)
... and drink numerous cups of cof fee.”
139
The
Dīwān
of ‘Ināyātī’s poetry, still in manuscript form, contains a couple of poems praising the beauty of a particular coffeehouse waiter called Ibrāhīm al-Suyūrī. One of these poems opens with the following lines:
Come, let us polish our rusty souls with the Ibrāhīmic visage.
Come, let us gaze at the luminous moon which puts the bright sun to shame.
Come, let us look at the tender branch, swaying in radiant garments.
Come, let us take the cup from that lavish hand ...
140
Most of the remarks made in connection with coffeehouses apply equally to bathhouses. We have the testimony of the previously mentioned E. W Lane to the effect that “it is generally a boy, or beardless young man, who attends the bather while he undresses [in the antechamber of the hot room], and while he puts on his towel.”
141
The Egyptian Yūsuf al-Shirbīnī indicated in addition that it was often beardless boys who stood for the scrubbing and massaging (
takyīs
and
taḥsīs
) which would occur in relatively secluded chambers .
142
Again, it is likely that such conditions were conducive to prostitution. The Egyptian scholar ʿAbd al-Raʾūf al-Munāwī (d. 1622) inveighed against men making use of beardless boys as masseurs when they visited the baths. He also urged the owner of a bath not to employ beardless boys, and not to allow them to strip in the bathhouse, since such practices lead to improprieties that are “as clear as the sun.” Otherwise, warned al-Munāwī, the bath owner may very well be classed with pimps and procurers on Judgment Day.
143
In a more carefree vein, the Yemeni belletrist Ahmad al-H
aymī al-Kawkabānī (d. 1738/9) opined that those who served the clientele in bathhouses should be of amiable character and handsome looks.
144
“How quaint,” he added, “are the verses of our friend S
arīm al-Dīn Ibrāhīm ibn S
ālih
al-Hindī-may he rest in peace—said of a handsome servant at the baths”:
141
The Egyptian Yūsuf al-Shirbīnī indicated in addition that it was often beardless boys who stood for the scrubbing and massaging (
takyīs
and
taḥsīs
) which would occur in relatively secluded chambers .
142
Again, it is likely that such conditions were conducive to prostitution. The Egyptian scholar ʿAbd al-Raʾūf al-Munāwī (d. 1622) inveighed against men making use of beardless boys as masseurs when they visited the baths. He also urged the owner of a bath not to employ beardless boys, and not to allow them to strip in the bathhouse, since such practices lead to improprieties that are “as clear as the sun.” Otherwise, warned al-Munāwī, the bath owner may very well be classed with pimps and procurers on Judgment Day.
143
In a more carefree vein, the Yemeni belletrist Ahmad al-H
aymī al-Kawkabānī (d. 1738/9) opined that those who served the clientele in bathhouses should be of amiable character and handsome looks.144
“How quaint,” he added, “are the verses of our friend S
arīm al-Dīn Ibrāhīm ibn Sālihal-Hindī-may he rest in peace—said of a handsome servant at the baths”:With water the addax of our bathhouse was generous,
And he poured it pouringly on the adorer.
And he said to me, “Do you care for cool [water] ?”
“Yes,” I replied, “from your fresh mouth.”
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