A Deeper Misogyny in Transgender Ruling

8/10/2019 A Deeper Misogyny in Transgender Ruling

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SIDE VIEWS A deeper misogyny intransgender ruling? Farouk A. Peru

Published: 18 November 2014

I remember a show on

Malaysian TV around

twenty to twenty-five

years ago called 2 +

1. This show was

taken off the airbecause its lead

character was a lelaki

lembut (effeminate

male) called Sam

(played by the comic

legend Imuda).

This show was on the air long

enough for it to become

famous due to Sams character

but was suddenly pulled off

the air because it was deemed

counter-cultural or as the

government put it at the time,

merosakkan budaya dan

akhlak. Strangely enough, the

A deeper misogyny in transgender ruling? Farouk A. Peru -... http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/a-deep...

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hoo-haa died down after a

while and both male and

female characters who did not

exhibit gender typical

behaviour whatever thatmeans were allowed on

screen. Rusdi Ramlis

character in Waris Jari Hantu

comes to mind.

The tide is now rising again

with the Negri Sembilans

Court of Appeal ruling last

week that transgender women

can express their true gender

freely.

This has raised great wrath

from the Islamofascist

authorities who dislike having

their authority challenged.

However, the courts ruling is

clear: medical evidence has

been given and cannot be

disputed. Art Harun has

provided a brilliant yet

succinct take on the entire

episode (which you may view

here) (http://www.incitemy.tv/art-of-the-matter-ep18/).

This essay is twofold the first

part concerns the hadith used

by the Islamofascist

authorities to oppress the

transgender community and

the second is the implicationof this law which is the result

of the deep misogyny of


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Islamic law.

We begin with the hadith

which tend to be quoted to

vilify transgender folks. It is

pertinent to note here that the

Quran itself mentions nothing

of feminine males or any

kind of stereotypically

gendered behaviour.

1. It was narrated from Ibn

Abbaas (may Allah be pleased

with him) that the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allah

be upon him) cursed men who

imitate women and women

who imitate men, and he said:

Throw them out of your

houses. Narrated by

al-Bukhaari (5885).

2. It was narrated that Abu

Hurayrah (may Allah be

pleased with him) said: The

Messenger of Allaah (peace

and blessings of Allah be upon

him) cursed the man who

wears womens clothing and

the woman who wears mens

clothing. Narrated by Abu

Dawood (4098) and classed as

saheeh by al-Nawawi in

al-Majmoo (4/469) and by

al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi

Dawood.

The first thing we should take

note here that Prophet


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Muhammad, universally

touted by Muslims to be

mercy upon the worlds

(rahmatan lil alameen

Quran 21/107) has cursed(laana or in Malay ,

laknat) people who did not

even harm anyone but are

simply expressing themselves

according to their nature.

The Prophet who was inspired

by Allah should have been

aware that there are number of

factors which influence gender

expression both nature and

nurture. People who do not fit

the gender binary do not do it

out of choice but rather are

naturally inclined to do.

Surely, the Prophet wouldhave known this if he was

inspired to say such things. Or

perhaps these sayings were

falsely attributed to him in

order to express hatred

towards gender minorities.

The second thing to note is theambiguity of the wordings.

men imitating women

(ar-rijaal yatashabahu bin

nisaa) is a fairly ambiguous

phrase. Imitate how exactly?

Men and women breathe, eat

and generally have the same

human activity.

A proponent may say that its


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"obvious" that this refers to

gender-typical behaviour but

one must ask, isnt this their

own projection? It is projected

unto the text that imitationhere is behavioural? Where do

the boundaries begin and end?

If a woman wanted to cross

her legs at the knee (sila

panggung style), would she be

cursed? If a man sat crossing

his legs at the ankles, would he

be similarly cursed? Thepossibilities are endless and

the ambiguity of this hadith

allows for great exploitation.

The second hadith narrated by

Abu Hurayrah seems to be

more specific as it mentions

clothing.

Men who dress like women

(al-rijaal yalbisu libaasah

al-marah). However, the

hadith does not in itself give

context of this curse. This is

why in the Islamic Tradition,

scholars have pointed out thedifference between the

mukhannatheen (feminine

males) in general and those

who engage in promiscuous

activity. The latter is shunned

for obvious reasons.

What I think is more crucial tonote here is that the "men"

and "women" in these hadith


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do not actually see themselves

as such.

They see themselves as

opposite to their biological

gender and hence when they

crossdress, they are actually

wearing clothing which is

appropriate to their gender.

This is proven medically (as

the Negri Sembilan case has

conclusively shown) and to

deny them the right to express

their true gender is akin to

denying the blind the right to

read Braille (since all human

beings naturally read by

sight).

If we accept that these hadith

were fabricated (given my

reasons above), then why did

they come about in the first

place? I believe they are deeply

rooted in the misogyny

displayed in Traditional

Islamic literature. The hadiths

involved show a glaring

contradiction with the Quranand are quite logically

precarious. Let us look at some

of them below. They are

paraphrased for purposes of

brevity:

1. Abu Hurairah narrates that

the Messenger said: womenare to be treated nicely as they

were created from a bent rib


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and therefore crooked. If

attempted to be straightened,

they would break.


the Messenger said that the

most righteous of women are

those who look after their

children and care for the

property of their husbands.


the Messenger said that

Prophet Solomon had sixty

wives and had intercourse

with them in one night,

producing boys who would

fight in Gods cause


the Messenger said that the

hour will not be established

until the buttocks of women of

Daws tribe moves while going

around Dhi al-Khalasa (an

ancient idol).

5. Abu Said Al-Khudri

narrates that the Messenger

said that the majority of thedwellers of hell will be women.

Reason being they curse much

and are ungrateful to their

husbands. They are also

deficient in intelligence and

religion.

6. Abu Bakrah (not to beconfused with the caliph Abu


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Bakr) narrates that the

Messenger said never will a

nation prosper if it has a

woman leader.

We should also note in

Traditional Islamic law:

A. Women are not allowed to

leave the home without their

husbands permission;

B. Women cannot marry

without the permission oftheir fathers;

C. Women cannot go for haj

without an accompanying

male;

D. Women cannot drive (in

Saudi Arabia);

E. Women must suckle adult

males in order to make them

legitimate company (as noted

by the founder of the Maliki

school and recently gazetted

by Al-Azhar);

F. Women should not lead theprayers.

The facts above are a mere

drop in the ocean of

information which shows the

womans inferior position in

Traditional Islam.

We are told that women are

inferior creatures in terms of


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intelligence and religion,

disallowed from

independently marrying or

even travelling.

They are generally seen as

sexual temptations and roles

defined according to their

husbands and children. They

are also precluded from any

leadership position.

This is the reason Islamic

Reform movements (such as

Sisters in Islam) focus deeply

on reforming Islamic law the

situation is very dire and

needs urgent reform.

Connecting back to our

original point, we can now see

that the misogyny of Islamic

law connects directly to the

hadith about men imitating

women.

Considering the higher

position of men in Islamic law,

it would be a great humiliation

to find that some males areabandoning their privilege in

order to assume a lower

position assigned to all

women.

This is what the transgender

ruling is really about. It is an

old cultural hatredmanifesting yet again.


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A Deeper Misogyny in Transgender Ruling