The Love of Boys in Arabic Poetry of the Early Ottoman Period, 1500 – 1800

Abstract

The Arabic poetry of the early Ottoman period (1500 – 1800) is still, to a large extent, unexplored territory. The few secondary monographs on the poetry of the period suggest that love-poetry as a rule portrayed a female beloved. In the first part of the article I argue that this is misleading. The portrayed beloved seems often, and perhaps most often, to have been a beardless or downy-cheeked male youth. In the second part of the article, I address the issue of how such poetry should be understood. According to some modern scholars, such pederastic poetry indicates a widespread tolerance of ‘homosexuality’ in the pre-19th century Arabic – Islamic world, despite Islamic legal prohibitions. Other scholars argue that such poetry was cultivated openly because they were conceived to be nothing more than time-honoured literary exercises. I argue that both positions overlook the fact that much of this poetry celebrated a passionate but chaste love in the ‘udhrī tradition, and that Islamic jurists did not consider such love to be prohibited, even if directed at a beardless youth.