Intersex and the (Non)Binary Body in Classical Muslim Legal, Medical, Literary Discourses

Bringing together leading scholars in the field, this book examines how classical Muslim thinkers conceptualised, categorised, and regulated bodies that defied binary understandings of sex and gender. This book offers the first sustained scholarly exploration of intersex embodiment and identity in premodern Islam. Bringing together leading scholars in the field, it examines how classical Muslim thinkers conceptualised, categorised, and regulated bodies that defied binary understandings of sex and gender. Spanning legal reasoning, medical treatises, and literary representations, the chapters uncover the complex ways in which intersex figures—variously described in premodern sources—shaped debates over personhood, spirituality, care, legal practice, ritual, and bodily integrity. By situating these discussions within the broader intellectual and institutional history of Islam, the book demonstrates that intersex was not a marginal curiosity but a category that tested and refined classical understandings of human difference, divine creation, and social order. The volume will appeal to readers of Islamic studies, gender and sexuality studies, the history of medicine, and religious studies more broadly, inviting reflection on how traditions of interpretation continue to shape contemporary understandings of sexed and gendered embodiment within and beyond the Islamic world.