Chapter 5. Sex and the stability of a legal gender system
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Saqer A. Almarri
Abstract
Islamic law’s gender system is based on a conception of humans as sexually dimorphic. The presence of nonbinary bodies, specifically the khunthā, posed a challenge to the gender system. Law practitioners, like ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Isnawī (d. 722/1322), attempted to redefine sex and intersexuality to stabilise the legal gender system. In an exploration of al-Isnawī’s writings, I argue that he engages in a form of object translation, following Marais’s typology of translation. Al-Isnawī incorporated the khunthā into the gender system by unravelling the challenge posed by their ambiguity onto Islamic law. This redefinition effectively defines them into impossibility by legal technicalities.
Abstract
Islamic law’s gender system is based on a conception of humans as sexually dimorphic. The presence of nonbinary bodies, specifically the khunthā, posed a challenge to the gender system. Law practitioners, like ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Isnawī (d. 722/1322), attempted to redefine sex and intersexuality to stabilise the legal gender system. In an exploration of al-Isnawī’s writings, I argue that he engages in a form of object translation, following Marais’s typology of translation. Al-Isnawī incorporated the khunthā into the gender system by unravelling the challenge posed by their ambiguity onto Islamic law. This redefinition effectively defines them into impossibility by legal technicalities.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- Chapter 1. Towards a protyposis-based semiotic theory of translation 12
- Chapter 2. Infoautopoiesis and translation 32
- Chapter 3. Taking the measure of the Mississippi 59
- Chapter 4. Animal photojournalism as knowledge translation 84
- Chapter 5. Sex and the stability of a legal gender system 109
- Chapter 6. The bee and the flower 128
- Chapter 7. Translation and biosemiotics 157
- Chapter 8. The complex time of signs 173
- Index 193
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- Chapter 1. Towards a protyposis-based semiotic theory of translation 12
- Chapter 2. Infoautopoiesis and translation 32
- Chapter 3. Taking the measure of the Mississippi 59
- Chapter 4. Animal photojournalism as knowledge translation 84
- Chapter 5. Sex and the stability of a legal gender system 109
- Chapter 6. The bee and the flower 128
- Chapter 7. Translation and biosemiotics 157
- Chapter 8. The complex time of signs 173
- Index 193
