Homosexuality, Transidentity, and Islam: A Study of Scripture Confronting the Politics of Gender and Sexuality

With a foreword from Jan Jaap de Ruiter. Translation and Afterword by Adi S. Bharat. -- In Homosexuality, Transidentity, and Islam: A Study of Scripture Confronting the Politics of Gender and Sexuality, Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed systematically analyses the entirety of Islamic scriptural sources that relate to the question of gender and sexuality in relation to their historical contexts. Through an approach that is certainly more politically engaged than that of most Islamic thinkers of our time, he clarifies key theological concepts that may seem esoteric to the uninitiated. In doing so, he makes a compelling case for the compatibility of sexual and gender diversity within Islam. Zahed also examines the historical and contemporary socio-political impacts of inclusive and exclusive (or, quite simply, homophobic, transphobic, and misogynistic) interpretations of scripture. This important study dynamically examines the connections between scripture, interpretation, and the politics of gender and sexuality.*This book builds on existing scholarship in a variety of disciplines on the topic of gender and sexuality in Islam.

Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed is currently the director of the CALEM Institute (Marseille). He did a master’s degree from the >École normale supérieure de Paris> (ENS), a doctorate in social psychology, and a doctorate from the >École des hautes études en sciences sociales> (EHESS). He was the founder of the association of queer Muslims in France, >Homosexuel-es musulman-es de France> (HM2F), as well as the association for young people living with HIV/AIDS in France, >Tour du monde des enfants du sida> (TMDES). In addition, he was the founding imam of the first European inclusive mosque (Paris).