Sexual Ethics and Islam

Kecia Ali is Professor of Religion at Boston University where her research focuses on Islamic law, women and gender, ethics, and biography.

• Introduction 1  Marriage, Money, and Sex“And according to what they spend from their wealth ... ”SexIntermarriageConclusionCoda 1 2  Lesser Evils: Divorce in Islamic EthicsUntying the knotExtreme circumstancesProspects for reformConclusionCoda 2 3  “What your right hands possess”: Slave Concubinage in Muslim Texts and DiscoursesIslam and slavery: overview of sources and historyWomen, war captives, and withdrawalConclusionCoda 3 4  Prohibited Acts and Forbidden Partners: Illicit Sex in Islamic JurisprudenceProtecting chastity: the classical textsPaternity, legal fictions, and non-marital sex in contemporary Muslim thoughtConclusionCoda 4 5  Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Same-Sex Intimacy in Muslim ThoughtHistoryDon’t ask, don’t tellSame-sex marriageConclusionCoda 5 6  “Reduce but do not destroy”: Female “Circumcision” in Islamic SourcesIslamic or un-Islamic?“Reduce but do not destroy”ConclusionCoda 6 7  “If you have touched women”: Female Bodies and Male Agency in the Qur’anTo whom am I speaking?A difficult verseGarments for one anotherConclusionCoda 7 8  The Prophet Muhammad, his Beloved Aishah, and Modern Muslim SensibilitiesApologetics and polemicsSearching for solaceConclusionCoda 8 9  Toward an Islamic Ethics of Sex Afterword to the 2016 editionNotesBibliographyIndex

‘Relevant to most readers’ daily experience of discussion about Islam. The book is well worth reading.'