How did the Mughals view homosexuality?
score:9
Homosexuality or at least h*m*eroticism was actually quite common in Mughal court life.
None other than Barbur, the first Mughal Emperor himself, was known to have had a crush on a boy he saw in Kabul. He even recorded it in his own memoirs, the Barburnama. By all appearances, h*m*sexuality was not particularly frowned upon among the Muslim ruling elite. For h*m*sexual men, at least.
In Islamic sufi literature h*m*sexual eroticism was used as a metaoporical expression of the sppiritual relationship between god and man, and much Persian poetry and fiction used omosexual relationships as examples of moral love. Although the Qur'an and early religious writings display mildly negative attitudes towards h*m*sexuality, Muslim cultures seem to treat h*m*sexuality with indifference, if not admiration.
De Sondy, Amanullah. The Crisis of Islamic Masculinities. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015.
Other examples of prominent Mughal man engaging in h*m*sexuality includes Ali Quli Khan, a Mughal commander of the Second Battle of Panipat. The poet Sharmad Kashani had such a crush on a Hindu boy, Abhai Chand, that he went to his home naked. Jean-Baptiste Tavernier reports that a governor of Surat once provoked an uprising of dervishes and fakirs, by attempting to force himself onto a beautiful son of a fakir.
Which is not to say h*m*sxuality was legal per se. Islamic law generally forbade sodomy, with various punishments proscribed by different jurists. On the harshest end of the spectrum execution was prescribed, including by stoning, burning, or being thrown from a minaret. The dominant school of thought in the Mughal Empire, Hanafi, was much more lenient and did not demand a death penalty. Punishments could be a fine or left up to the judge's discretion.
In practice, however, even this milder stipulation was largely ignored.
[T]hese legal provisions were rarely implemented since guilty was very difficult to establish. The Shariah demands incontrovertible evidence, such as confessions or four faithful eyewitnesses confirming that they saw penetration occur . . . The difficulty of finding eyewitnesses to confirm instances of penetration in effect removes private acts between consenting individuals from the realm of punishment.
Kidwai, Saleem. "Introduction: Medieval materials in the Perso-Urdu tradition." Vanita, Ruth, and Saleem Kidwai, eds. Same-Sex Love in India: Readings in Indian Literature. Springer, 2000.
In general, among the elites at least, as long as men fulfilled their other duties at home, they were free to engage in whatever other dalliances they may desire.
Curiously, in contrast, h*m*sexuality was reportedly regarded as a major taboo among the common, mostly native Indian, people of the Mughal Empire.
Homosexuality, though prevalent among the Mughal amirs, seems to have been rare among the common people in India. Hindus . . . according to Albiruni, considered [h*m*sexuality] as revolting as eating beef.
Eraly, Abraham. Last Spring: The Lives and Times of Great Mughals. Penguin UK, 2000.
More post
- 📝 What does the phrase "Vietnam, the mixture of up and down" mean?
- 📝 Can anyone identify this European ?naval uniform from photograph and likely date (belle époque)?)
- 📝 Has the US Congress ever repealed a law?
- 📝 Downloadable/Printable 3D Model of Cylinder Seal
- 📝 Why isn't Somaliland recognized as a separate country?
- 📝 Spanish-American war from Spain's perspective?
- 📝 What is "Spain’s dilemma"?
- 📝 What was the first major historical event to be photographed?
- 📝 Why did Peter the Great crown Catherine I as empress?
- 📝 What was the Japanese or Axis motivation to drag US into the War?
- 📝 Why does Texas have the right to split?
- 📝 When did English become a major subject in Japanese schools?
- 📝 Did Egyptians circumnavigate Africa in three years during Nekau's reign?
- 📝 How would Chess have been played in England in 1450-1600?
- 📝 What was Singapore's population in 1290-1396, 1511-1699?
- 📝 What happened in Rome, when the western empire "fell"?
- 📝 What was the purpose of tunnel fighting in a 17th century siege?
- 📝 What was the condition of women in "primitive societies" around the world?
- 📝 Why hasn't the Centralia fire been starved to death?
- 📝 Was Hitler released from jail in 1924 on condition that he ran democratically?
- 📝 Why did the baths of Bath need a hypocaust?
- 📝 What is the origin of the name Fallopian tubes?
- 📝 Why did Catholic church wait for 350 years to accept "Galileo's idea"?
- 📝 Why did Europeans and Asian countries develop much faster than African countries
- 📝 Was Rachel Carson the first person to discover the environmental impact of fertilizers? If not, why was she the first one to talk about it publicly?
- 📝 What was the role/duties of a "Constable of the Castle" in 1600?
- 📝 When has the Tory party split over trade issues?
- 📝 Interpretation of a WWII badge of rank(?) / medal
- 📝 Are any civil wars -- other than the American Civil War -- commonly reenacted?
- 📝 How long would it take to sail from New Orleans to Belize in late Summer 1867?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How did the Mughals view h*m*sexuality?
- 📝 Did the Nazis identify as being Fascists? How exactly did they view themselves?
- 📝 How did the Nazis view Dickens' Oliver Twist?
- 📝 How did the Church of England view the local legend and festivities surrounding Gog and Magog?
- 📝 How did the Japanese populace view the emperor during the Edo Period?
- 📝 How did contemporaries view the Byzantine Empire during the 11th century?
- 📝 How and when did the word "nuclear" replace the word "atomic"?
- 📝 How did Israel win the Six-Day War?
- 📝 How did the general population of England convert so smoothly to Protestantism?
- 📝 How did the USSR manage to innovate in an environment characterized by government censorship and high bureaucracy?
- 📝 How did the Romans do division?
- 📝 How did 300,000 people survive the 3 1/2 year siege of Sarajevo?
- 📝 When and how did the USA and the UK become allies?
- 📝 How did the authorities not find the speakeasy clubs during the prohibition?
- 📝 How did such a relatively minor event as the assassination of an archduke start World War I?
- 📝 How did the Roman state verify citizenship?
- 📝 How did the Nazis plan to defeat America during World War II?
- 📝 How did the ancient Romans count with their fingers?
- 📝 How did Medieval armies survive the use of mail armor in the deserts of the Middle East?
- 📝 How did the American Civil War help the U.S economy recover from the Panic of 1857 given that civil wars are extremely destructive?
- 📝 How did the ancient Greeks synchronize time?
- 📝 How did early adopters of the automobile fill up their cars?
- 📝 How did gold come to symbolize lower ranks than silver in the United States Air Force?
- 📝 How did Moscow become the capital/most important city in Russia?
- 📝 How did people deal with ice on the roads during the horse-and-buggy era?
- 📝 When did the term "Nationality" first come into use? How did ancient civilizations refer to themselves? By ethnicity?
- 📝 How did the ruling class in the Muslim world react to the discovery and colonization of the Americas?
- 📝 How did off-grid UK homes in the 1800s generate gas?
- 📝 How did people react to Cavendish bananas when they first replaced the Gros Michel strain?
- 📝 How much did it cost to attend events at the ancient Roman colosseum?