Shīʿa neo-traditionalist scholars and theology of homosexuality: review and reflections on Mohsen Kadivar’s shifting approach

Abstract

This article explores how Shīʿa neo-traditionalist scholars have formed views on the issue of homosexuality by applying Shīʿa Islamic version of ijtihād. This theme will be investigated with reference to Dr Shaykh Mohsen Kadivar’s shifting approaches on homosexuality. In response to questions he received from 2006 to 2014 from Shīʿa grassroots Muslims, Kadivar passed through three stages in his view of the issue of same-sex relationships moving from a harshly punitive to a merely tolerant and finally a more moderate position, albeit one that did not incorporate human rights. This article explores how Kadivar began by upholding an Islamic traditionalist homophobic view towards homosexuality in which same-sex relationships are perceived as a threat to Muslim societies so are, therefore, prohibited (ḥarām) and must be severely punished. Equally, it also explores how Kadivar developed a more tolerant perspective, by rejecting the traditional punishments of homosexuality, and then advocated a moderate view, by conceding that homosexual Muslims should have general civil rights. Although Kadivar is still reluctant to accept homosexual individuals as being permitted to fulfil their sexual desires and needs as their basic human rights, this article argues that a deeper reading of Kadivar’s scholarship demonstrates that his theological repertoire is extensive enough to have the capacity to permit practicing homosexuality in Islam. Kadivar seems to be sufficiently self-aware to recognize this capacity which initiated to develop and progress his Islamic approach on this issue since a decade ago, albeit slowly.