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''Al-Wishāḥ fī Fawāʾid al-Nikāḥ'' (, ''The Sash on the Merits of Wedlock'') is an
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
literary work
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
of
sexology
Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors, and functions. The term ''sexology'' does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as social criticism.
Sexologists app ...
and
sex education
Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual acti ...
written by the
Egyptian
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
scholar
A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...
Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti
Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti ( ar, جلال الدين السيوطي, Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī) ( 1445–1505 CE),; (Brill 2nd) or Al-Suyuti, was an Arab Egyptian polymath, Islamic scholar, historian, Sufi, and jurist. From a family of Persian o ...
in the late 15th century. It has been called the apex of its genre of Islamically based
sex
Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones (ova, oft ...
and
marriage
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...
manuals in Arabic, a form of literature that originated in 10th-century
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
. The work is one of a number of such works written by Al-Suyuti dealing with sex, the others including ''
Nawāḍir al-Ayk fī Maʻrifat al-Nayk
''Nawāḍir ʾal-ʾAyk fī Maʿrifat al-Nayk'' ( ar, نواضر الأيك في معرفة النيك, "The Thicket's Blooms of Gracefulness on the Art of the Fleshly Embrace") is an Arabic manuscript allegedly attributed to Islamic scholar Al-S ...
'', ''Nuzhat al-Mutaʾammil'', and ''
Shaqāʾiq al-Utrunj fī Raqāʾiq al-Ghunj
''Shaqāʾiq al-Utrunj fī Raqāʾiq al-Ghunj'' ( ar, شقائق الأترنج في رقائق الغنج, lit=Halves of the Lemon Regarding the Intricacies of Coquetry) is a manuscript allegedly written by Islamic writer Al-Suyuti in the late fo ...
''.
Name
The
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
title ''Al-Wishāḥ fī Fawāʾid al-Nikāḥ'' () is usually translated as "The Sash on the Merits of Wedlock". The pairing of ''wishāḥ'' and ''nikāḥ'' is an example of rhyming prose in
Arabic literature
Arabic literature ( ar, الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is '' Adab'', which is derived from ...
, a tradition known as ''
saj'
Saj‘ ( ar, سجع) is a form of rhymed prose in Arabic literature. It is named so because of its evenness or monotony, or from a fancied resemblance between its rhythm and the cooing of a dove. It is a highly artificial style of prose, character ...
''. The key Arabic term in the name is ''
nikāḥ'', which particularly covers
Islamic marriage bound with a
formal contract A formal contract is a contract where the parties have signed under Seal (emblem), seal, while an informal contract is one not under seal. A seal can be any impression made upon the document by the parties to the contract. This was traditionally do ...
although also covering
matrimony and wedlock more generally; its poetic pair ''wishāḥ'' is used for sashes, bands, and ornamented belts but also for
headscarves and can be used figuratively for any tie or bond. The Swedish medievalist Pernilla Myrne holds that the title was meant by Al-Suyuti to clearly indicate that ''Al-Wishāḥ'' restricts itself to
Islamic law
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...
and
tradition
A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...
rather than sexual pleasure and relationships more generally. In Arabic, the title is sometimes prefaced with ''kitāb'' (the Arabic word for "book"), as ''Kitāb al-Wishāḥ fī Fawāʾid al-Nikāḥ''. In the 19th century, the name was very loosely translated into English as "The Book of the Zone on Coition-boon" by the explorer
Richard Burton
Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...
.
Composition
''Al-Wishāḥ'' was written at some point in the late 15th century by
Al-Suyuti
Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti ( ar, جلال الدين السيوطي, Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī) ( 1445–1505 CE),; (Brill 2nd) or Al-Suyuti, was an Arab Egyptian polymath, Islamic scholar, historian, Sufi, and jurist. From a family of Persian or ...
(). It was a continuation of a pre-existing genre of Arabic sex and marriage manuals tempered for Islamic audiences, a literary form that originated in 10th-century Baghdad under the influence of translations of
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
,
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
, and
Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
works on the subjects of medicine and erotology. Al-Suyuti's other works on similar subjects were the ''
Nawāḍir al-Ayk fī Maʻrifat al-Nayk
''Nawāḍir ʾal-ʾAyk fī Maʿrifat al-Nayk'' ( ar, نواضر الأيك في معرفة النيك, "The Thicket's Blooms of Gracefulness on the Art of the Fleshly Embrace") is an Arabic manuscript allegedly attributed to Islamic scholar Al-S ...
'', ''Nuzhat al-Mutaʾammil'', and ''
Shaqāʾiq al-Utrunj fī Raqāʾiq al-Ghunj
''Shaqāʾiq al-Utrunj fī Raqāʾiq al-Ghunj'' ( ar, شقائق الأترنج في رقائق الغنج, lit=Halves of the Lemon Regarding the Intricacies of Coquetry) is a manuscript allegedly written by Islamic writer Al-Suyuti in the late fo ...
''.
In ''Al-Wishāḥ'', Al-Suyuti "attempts to reconcile the earliest erotological tradition with the
Islamic sciences
The Islamic sciences ( ar, علوم الدين, ʿulūm al-dīn, lit=the sciences of religion) are a set of traditionally defined religious sciences practiced by Islamic scholars ( ), aimed at the construction and interpretation of Islamic relig ...
", resulting in "an extensive investigation of the sexual pleasures permitted for Muslims—particularly men, but also, to a certain degree, women", according to Pernilla Myrne, who notes that Al-Suyuti was more successful in consistently reconciling earlier works than his predecessors. The female aspects of sexual behavior and obligations in Islam are also covered in greater detail by Al-Suyuti in ''Shaqāʾiq al-Utrunj'' and ''Nuzhat al-Mutaʾammil'', both of which overlap with ''Al-Wishāḥ'' in terms of their sourcing.
Al-Suyuti acted largely as a compiler in the production of ''Al-Wishāḥ'', arranging hadiths and historical anecdotes from earlier works while adding little commentary. However, in the arrangement of the material on the major themes, such as marital sex (''faḍl al-nikāḥ''), ideal masculinity, and ideal femininity, Myrne notes that Al-Suyuti's "focus on and combination of specific parts of the erotic heritage is quite unique".
At its core, ''Al-Wishāḥ'' combines the input of two important but quite opposite works in the sex manual tradition: the 10th-century ''
Encyclopedia of Pleasure
The ''Encyclopedia of Pleasure'' or ''Jawāmiʿ al-Ladhdhah'' () is the earliest existent Arabic erotic work, written in the 10th century by the medieval Arab writer Ali ibn Nasr al-Katib.
The work served as the inspiration for the sculpture ma ...
'' and the 14th-century ''Tuḥfat al-ʿArūs wa-Nuzhat'' (or ''Mutʿat'') ''al-Nufūs''. The ''Encyclopedia of Pleasure'' was a "quite libertine" work strongly influenced by Indian erotology and produced by Ali ibn Nasr al-Katib, an author with
Shiite
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...
inclinations while the latter, the ''Tuḥfat al-ʿArūs'', was a more traditional
Islamic marriage manual based on
hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
s by the
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
Hafsid Caliphate official
Abdallah al-Tijani
Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Tijānī ( 1275–1311) was a chancery official and author in the Hafsid Caliphate. He is best known for his ''Riḥla'', an account of his travels in 1306–1309 and a detailed descriptio ...
.
''Al-Wishāḥ'' was developed as a union of these two contradictory but overlapping source texts. Another frequently quoted source in the work is the ''Rushd al-Labīb ilá Muʿāsharat al-Ḥabīb'', a 14th-century work by the
Yemeni
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
author Aḥmad ibn Falītah.
Contents
Despite the salacious nature of some of the source material, particularly the ''Jawāmiʿ al-Ladhdhah'', ''Al-Wishāḥ'' addresses sex in the context of
Islamic law
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...
and tradition and not sex for pleasure in general. It omits any mention of
homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
or any other relationships or activities considered illicit in its day.
The work is divided into seven parts, covering
hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
s and legal reports, sexual vocabulary, anecdotes and historical reports, anatomy, medicine, and coitus itself. The anatomy chapter includes concepts developed by
Galen
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus ( el, Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. AD 216), often Anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Considered to be one of ...
, such as that the
uterus
The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', plural ''uteri'') or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more embryos until birth. The uter ...
is an inverted
scrotum
The scrotum or scrotal sac is an anatomical male reproductive structure located at the base of the penis that consists of a suspended dual-chambered sac of skin and smooth muscle. It is present in most terrestrial male mammals. The scrotum cont ...
, while much of the chapter on medicine is quoted verbatim from the
sexual medicine
Sexual medicine or Psychosexual medicine as defined by Masters and Johnsons in their classic Textbook of Sexual Medicine, is “that branch of medicine that focuses on the evaluation and treatment of sexual disorders, which have a high prevalence ...
work ''Kitāb al-Bāh'' by
Abu Bakr al-Razi
Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (full name: ar, أبو بکر محمد بن زکریاء الرازي, translit=Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakariyyāʾ al-Rāzī, label=none), () rather than ar, زکریاء, label=none (), as for example in , or in . In m ...
.
The overarching theme of ''Al-Wishāḥ'' is that sex is a gift from
God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
, a sentiment common to "practically all premodern Arab-Islamic sex manuals". In the work's exploration of 'ideal masculinity', Al-Suyuti suggests that the best man is "the one with the most potency" while, in its exploration of 'ideal femininity', he focuses on marital obedience and suggests that the best woman is "both chaste and lustful".
Myrne writes that Al-Suyuti presents a "complex and ambiguous" vision of women that attempts to unite the sexually voracious portrayal of women in
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
erotica with the ideal woman in Islamic manuals based on the hadith tradition, with both
Al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111; ), full name (), and known in Persian-speaking countries as Imam Muhammad-i Ghazali (Persian: امام محمد غزالی) or in Medieval Europe by the Latinized as Algazelus or Algazel, was a Persian polymat ...
and Al-Tijani being presented as major authorities within the work.
Editions
One of the earliest known extant copies of ''Al-Wishāḥ'' is the Lala Ismail 577 manuscript dated to AD15651566 (973
AH). Two copies are held by the
French National Library
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...
in Paris as Arabe 3066 and Arabe 3067, and another by
King Saud University
King Saud University (KSU, ar, جامعة الملك سعود) is a public university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Established in 1957 by King Saud bin Abdulaziz to address the country's skilled worker shortage, it is the first university in the K ...
in
Riyadh
Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the R ...
as KSU 797.
A modern Arabic edition of ''Al-Wishāḥ'' was published in 2001 by the ''Dar al-Kitab al-ʻArabi'' publishing house in
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
,
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
,
as part of a series of nine prominent works on Arabic erotology entitled ''Adab al-jins ʻinda al-ʻArab'' ("Sexual literature of the Arabs). It is unclear which manuscript or manuscripts the text was based on.
Legacy
Al-Suyuti is considered to have provided a "new and modernized version" of the earlier sexual science (''ʿilm al-bāh'') and reconciled it with an Islamic vision of sexuality, "opening up a wider range of sexual pleasures for believers, within legal bounds". Myrne has called it the "apex" of its genre of Islamically rooted sex and marriage manuals in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
. While similar guides had been composed beginning in 10th-century
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
, and continued to be written after Al-Suyuti's death, none drew from the same breadth of Arab erotic heritage and the Islamic heritage as ''Al-Wishāḥ''.
References
Citations
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Al-Wishaḥ fī Fawaʾid al-Nikaḥ
Arabic erotic literature
Medieval Arabic literature
Books by al-Suyuti
Islamic sexual education literature
Arabic sex manuals