Thus, whoever makes any form of effeminacy part of religion, or seeks it from boys—for example, having a boy beautify his appearance or clothing so that men may gaze at him and take pleasure in him, during listening gatherings or otherwise—is he not altering Allah’s religion, like those described in His words:
“When they commit an indecency, they say, ‘We found our forefathers doing this, and Allah has commanded us to do it.’ Say, ‘Allah does not command indecency. Do you say about Allah what you do not know?’”
If the indecency of the Arab polytheists consisted in exposing their private parts while circumambulating the Kaʿbah, so as not to circumambulate in clothes in which they had disobeyed Allah, then what of something graver than that?
An effeminate man may aim to associate with women and be physically intimate with them. Alternatively, his effeminacy may involve physical intimacy with men, their gazing at him, and their affection for him. He may also combine both. Among those who profess religious devotion, many belong to each of these three categories.
These people are worse than those who do such things without treating them as religious practices. Among peoples living in ignorance, such as the Turks and others, there are vast numbers of women who imitate men and men who imitate women. Indeed, their women exercise command, sovereignty, and authority, appear publicly before people, and enjoy other prerogatives peculiar to men to an extent not found among the women of other peoples. A woman may even choose for herself whomever she wishes from among her male slaves and others, because she dominates her husband and exercises authority. Likewise, effeminacy is widespread among many of their boys, whom men draw close and honour on that account. Some of their boys even become jealous of women, and men keep them like concubines. Yet they do not do this as a religious practice. Those who do so as a religious practice are therefore worse than them, for they have made it part of religion and deemed indecency good, rather than merely acting upon natural inclinations. The same applies to whoever considers