BDSM From A Muslim Perspective
It is very much the case that conservative and fundamentalist perspectives in Islam are the only ones that get much attention in the United States, perhaps understandably because those are the perspectives that most strongly hate us and want to kill us. But educated people know that Muslim thought and culture is ever so much broader than that, even if we don’t know the details. This article is the first modern thing I’ve ever seen from a Muslim perspective on BDSM and submission (although as it happens I’ve had a conversation with a devout Christian woman who has very similar notions) and as such, I think it’s worth sharing here:
I met Zahid a year after I met Abdallah, almost to the day. We both serendipitously wore red-and-white striped tops to our first date. I loved this because we looked like a Muslim version of Where’s Waldo? Where’s Habibi? I had often thought. We talked about everything, including whether kink was in the Quʼran. “When the Quʼran says to beat or whip someone, it never says how hard,” he said, joking. “Maybe it’s soft play.” “Islam means submission,” I responded. “I mean, to say, ‘I am Muslim,’ is to say, ‘I submit.’” He smiled and said, “Or, ‘I’m a sub.’” We talked about how, in one’s devotion to God, one yields completely. To be truly Muslim is to understand that God is the only being anywhere who wields any power. For a believer, her Islam—or her submission—means that she places all her trust in God, and dedicates her life to God’s worship. To be Muslim is to be one who submits.
The article is a bit long, but really quite interesting. Worth dipping into!
