Coming Out Twice: Sexuality and Gender in Islam
Susan Henking is Professor of Religious Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY—coordinate colleges for women (William Smith) and men (Hobart College). Her work focuses on theories of religion as well as religion in relation to gender and sexuality. She is co-editor, with Gary David Comstock, of
Que(e)rying Religion (1997) and, with William Parsons and Diane Jonte Pace, of
Mourning Religion . She also writes on higher education. The views shared here are, of course, not those of her employer, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, but of Susan Henking.
As scholar Scott Kugle knows well, to be both Muslim and gay means the possibility of having to “come out twice”—with the likely chance of encountering either homophobia or Islamophobia (or both), depending on the context.
But in recent years, a new discussion of Islam and sexuality has emerged, led in large part by professor Kugle, who teaches South Asian and Islamic Studies at Emory University. Having written many books on Islam, including Homosexuality in Islam: Islamic Reflection on Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Muslims in 1997 it was not easy to find material on Islam and homosexuality, so I was thrilled to learn of your work. What do you think explains the shift?
Scott Kugle: The field of Islamic Studies has changed drastically over the past two decades, and new conditions within this field of study have made it easier to do research and write about homosexuality and transgender behavior in Islam. I’m speaking of the United States academy here, but similar things were happening in the global network of university inquiry.
Islamic Studies used to happen under the rubric of “Orientalist Studies” which was mainly philological and text-based, and was carefully sealed off from wider currents of cultural criticism.
Positive Law In Islam - News
Coming Out Twice: Sexuality and Gender in Islam
I was determined to produce a full book that would include a study of hadith and also Islamic law and ethics. Homosexuality in Islam was published only in 2010, but it was written during that two-year period, from 2004-6. That grant allowed me to also
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Information Today Directory
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Fiqh Islamic jurisprudence. Literally, fiqh means understanding; it refers to the study of the law in Islam and is usually defined in jurisprudence
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