On the Problem of Sexual Differentiation and Gender Hierarchy in Islam)

The aim of the present study is to delineate some of the major Islamic jurisprudental approaches to the regulation of the cases challenging the normative sexual differentiation and the legal foundations of the sharī‘a marriage that recognizes as legitimate solely the heterosexual relationships. The pursuit of this objective requires a consideration of the Islamic binary sex paradigm that sets strictly defined gender roles for men and women in the religious and ritual practice and the system of social relationships among Muslims. The essay foregrounds some prevailing judgments and opinions of Sunnī and Shī‘a religious scholars and jurisprudents about intersex people with ambiguous genitalia (khunthā) and the insufficiently clear gender category of the so-called mukhannath. In so doing, the analysis re-examines the issue of the Islamic permissibility of the sex-change surgery in the cases of individuals with transgender identities.