Abstract
Islamic law’s gender system is based on a conception of humans as sexually dimorphic. The presence of nonbinary bodies, specifically the khunthā, posed a challenge to the gender system. Law practitioners, like ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Isnawī (d. 722/1322), attempted to redefine sex and intersexuality to stabilise the legal gender system. In an exploration of al-Isnawī’s writings, I argue that he engages in a form of object translation, following Marais’s typology of translation. Al-Isnawī incorporated the khunthā into the gender system by unravelling the challenge posed by their ambiguity onto Islamic law. This redefinition effectively defines them into impossibility by legal technicalities.
Publisher
John Benjamins Publishing Company