Sex and Sexual Fantasy among the Arabs in the Middle Ages

Abstract

Dealing with the theme of sex among the Arabs in the Middle Ages requires distinction between two stages: the pre-revelation of the Koran and the life of Prophet Muhammad stage, and the post- Prophet stage, including the Umayyad and Abbasid ages. The Arabs were interested in the subject of 'sex' in an incomparable way, and this appears in their over-talking about everything that is related to the female sex organs and her reproductive system such as female circumcision, puberty, engagement, marriage, sexual intercourse, haymen, virginity and non-virginity. In addition, the Arabs dealt with the shortcomings of the wife, her childbearing and child birth, breastfeeding, nikaḥ al-mutʿah, literally "pleasure marriage", adultery, fornication, sexual deviation, male homosexuality (liwatt) and female homosexuality (lesbianism), which is called  "sihaq" in Arabic. Islam gave interest to 'sexuality' because the sexual passion is a human instinct and a phenomenon that affects the behavior of human beings Therefore, it should be cultivated and refined without going away from its reality and the human tendencies that God created in the human being. According to Islam, the human being does not have to nullify his instincts or control them just for control's sake, but he has to employ them according to the Islamic Law (Shariʿa).