Includes bibliographical references and index.

List of Figures -- Acknowledgments -- Notes on Transliteration, Translation, and Dates -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Part I. Preliminaries -- Chapter One: Sexuality, Gender, and Marriage in Islam -- Chapter Two: Modern Shiʿi Ijtihād : a methodological discussion -- Chapter Three: Modern Homosexuality and the Pre-Homosexual Categories -- Part II. Homosexuality through the Lenses of Modern Shiʿi Ijtihād (Four Sources of Argumentation) -- Chapter Four: Examining the Qurʾānic Discourse on Homosexuality -- Chapter Five: Gauging the Sunna on Homosexuality -- Chapter Six: Consensus and Reason on Homosexuality -- Part III. Homosexuality through the Lenses of Modern Shiʿi Ijtihād (Investigating Practical Solutions) -- Chapter Seven: Homosexuality, Procedural Principles, and Legal Maxims -- Chapter Eight: Same-sex Unions and Islamic Legal Ethics -- Conclusion -- Appendix 1. Typology of Shiʿi ḥadīth on Same-Sex Sexual Behaviours -- Bibliography -- Index.

To enrich the existing debates on Islam and sexual diversity, in the present book, I seek the potential discursive spaces on homosexuality in modern Imāmī legal debates. I have undertaken this research on the thesis that modern Imāmī legal tradition on homosexuality is more flexible and dynamic than one might expect. To address this essential issue, I build the study around the following constructive question: what are the discursive spaces on homosexuality in contemporary reflections within modern Shiʿi legal scholarship? Responding to this central query, the study is premised on the notion that Imāmī legal sources consist of a tradition of sacred (textual) sources, intellectual reasoning, a vast stockpile of (often contrasting) interpretations of these sources, and a distinguished methodological repertoire called ijtihad . Following the same methodology, in this work, I describe, analyse, and critique such textual-exegetical and intellectual-rational discursive aspects concerning homosexuality.

English