''Nawāḍir ʾal-ʾAyk fī Maʿrifat al-Nayk'' (, "The Thicket's Blooms of Gracefulness on the Art of the Fleshly Embrace") is an Arabic manuscript allegedly attributed to Islamic scholar

Al-Suyuti Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (; 1445–1505), or al-Suyuti, was an Egyptians, Egyptian Sunni Muslims, Muslim polymath of Persians, Persian descent. Considered the mujtahid and mujaddid of the Islamic 10th century, he was a leading Hadith studies, muh ...

in the late fourteen century, a summary of an earlier one written by the author, ''

Al-Wishāḥ fī Fawāʾid al-Nikāḥ ''Al-Wishāḥ fī Fawāʾid al-Nikāḥ'' (, ''The Sash on the Merits of Wedlock'') is an Arabic literary work of sexology and sex education written by the Egyptian Muslim scholar Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti in the late 15th century. It has been cal ...

''. The book is one of many books on the same subject attributed to the author, such as ''

Shaqāʾiq al-Utrunj fī Raqāʾiq al-Ghunj ''Shaqāʾiq al-Utrunj fī Raqāʾiq al-Ghunj'' () is a manuscript allegedly written by Islamic writer Al-Suyuti in the late fourteen century. The book is one of many books dealing with sex written by the author, such as ''Nawāḍir al-Ayk fī Ma ...

''.

Subject

Most of the chapters of the book deal with sex education as showing various sex positions and giving advice that told by whom were considered as experts on these subjects. The other chapters contain poetry (usually happens to be short) and urban tales, mostly using explicit and vulgar words and some are attributed to well-known figures such as

Abu Nuwas Abu Nuwas () (756-8) was a classical Arabic poet, and the foremost representative of the modern (''muhdath'') poetry that developed during the first years of the Abbasid Caliphate. He also entered the folkloric tradition, appearing several ...

Ibn al-Rumi Abū al-Ḥasan Alī ibn al-Abbās ibn Jūrayj (), also known as Ibn al-Rūmī (born Baghdad in 836; died 896), was the grandson of George the Greek (Jūraij or Jūrjis i.e. Georgius) and a popular Arab poet of Baghdād in the Abbāsid-era. By ...

Al-Asmaʿi Al-Asmaʿi (, ''ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Qurayb al-Aṣmaʿī ''; –828/833), or Asmai was an Arab philologist and one of three leading Arabic grammarians of the Basra school. At the court of the Abbasid caliph, Hārūn al-Rashīd, as polymath a ...

and

Al-Ṣafadī Khalīl ibn Aybak al-Ṣafadī, or Ṣalaḥ al-Dīn al-Ṣafadī (; full name - Ṣalaḥ al-Dīn Abū al-Ṣafa Khalīl ibn Aybak ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Albakī al-Ṣafari al-Damascī Shafi'i. (1296 – 1363) was a Turkic Mamluk author and histo ...

. Some old Arab scholars classified this kind of books as '' 'Ilm al-Bah'' ("The Art of Coition"). The book also has some chapters relating tales about

homosexuals Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...

and

eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...

s, but in most occasions the author tries to depict the mainstream preferences of adult men at the time.

Author controversy

Regarding the sensitive and explicit subjects mentioned in the book, some modern Islamic scholars condemn and believe it is impossible to accredit the manuscript to Al-Suyuti, who is considered one of the most important figures in the literature of

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr ...

. Some claim the attribution of the book is forged, and it was a scheme made by an anonymous writer to give the book authenticity to sell more copies. Other opinions say he may had this book written but at least he must have renounced it before he died. Though, there are some scholars who agreed to credit the book to Al-Suyuti. The title is not mentioned in the author's own bibliography list. However, it is indexed in some old major resources like

Kâtip Çelebi Kâtip Çelebi () or Ḥājjī Khalīfa () (1017 AH/1609 AD – 1068 AH/1657 AD) was a Turkish polymath and author of the 17th-century Ottoman Empire. He compiled a vast universal bibliographic encyclopaedia of books and sciences, the '' Kaşf ...

's ''Kashf al-Ẓunūn ‘an Asāmī al-Kutub wa-al-Funūn'' and

Ismail Pasha al-Baghdadi In the biblical Book of Genesis, Ishmael (; ; ; ) is the first son of Abraham. His mother was Hagar, the handmaiden of Abraham's wife Sarah. He died at the age of 137. Traditionally, he is seen as the ancestor of the Arabs. Within Islam, Ishm ...

's ''Hadiyat al-ʻArifīn.''

Resources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nawadir Al-Ayk Fi Maʻrifat Al-Nayk 14th-century Arabic-language books Medieval Arabic literature Books by al-Suyuti Islamic sexual education literature Arabic sex manuals