A Muslim RuPaul At The Dawn Of Islam: Tuwais and the Mukhannathun

Part III: Tuwais

While the hadith were being collected by various scholars, others were writing other histories about the Prophet (P) and his Companions (P). These were collected in much the same way. Travelling to different parts of the Muslim world and collecting different accounts. However, unlike Hadith, there was less rigor in what was included. These works are apt to include legends, hearsay, and myths.

As such, they’re not considered a reliable source for Islamic law.

However, they do provide accounts of the mukhannathun, living in Medina and working as street musicians. Unlike the hyper-focus of the hadith, these accounts have more details on the mukhannathun themselves. From them, a picture emerges of a vibrant community with a diverse range of orientations and gender identities.

And at the top of it all was Tuwais.

It’s really hard to describe Tuwais without getting a little wide eyed. He comes off as a mixture of David Bowie and RuPaul.** He was a freed slave of Arwa, mother of Uthman, the Third Caliph. (It’s said he was born the day the Prophet (P) upon him died. Which was the origin of the phrase “unluckier than Tuwais.” Legends.) Sometime in his career, he took a nickname, something only female singers did, changing his name to Tuwais, or ‘little peacock.’

As a singer, Tuwais became renown in Medina and throughout the Gulf. He created a genre of music called, I kid you not, “Perfect Singing,” distinguished by its unique combination of rhythm, melody, and verse.*** He tutored Ibn Surayj, who became famous as the first Muslim singer to successfully combine Persian and Hijaz music. (For what it’s worth, Tuwais was Persian).

And then there was the way he dealt with his detractors. Usually, it was through a mixture of comebacks and humor, entertaining his detractors’ peers while cutting them down. It’s similar to how comedians deal with hecklers today. This didn’t erase his discrimination. At one point, the local governor placed a bounty on his head. Tuwais simply expressed his disappointment at how low it was.

And no one bothered to carry it out. A year later, the governor was replaced by Aban bin Uthman bin Affan, the first biographer of the Prophet (P), and a hadith narrator. He was also tolerant of the mukhannathun, as long as they were practicing Muslims (which, by all accounts, they were). Within a short time, Tuwais had several followers, with their own colorful names: “Morning Nap,” “Shade,” “Candy,” and al-Dalal (translation not found), who had a reputation for mischief.

So who were they? Effeminate men? Trans women? Drag queens/crossdressers? They certainly didn’t have a shared sexuality. Al-Dalal was said to be completely attracted to men. Tuwais, on the other hand, married and had children.

That also might be why Tuwais identified as male. It’s hard to say exactly what caused him to identify one way or another. There’s no one way to be a “male” or “female” so there’s no one way to deviate from that path. Even broad terms like “gender identity” miss the ways in which our own identity is shaped by the culture around us. This is why we have umbrella terms like trans*, and why those terms cover people who don’t “identify” a certain way.

It does no good to try and analyze them with our cultural biases. Plus, I’d like to think they’d scoff at being put in a box.

Part IV: Downfall and Aftermath

The end came under the ruler Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik. **** Some say he was jealous of their attention. Others say the final straw came when al-Dalal seduced both a bride and groom on their wedding night (incidentally, he’d set the couple up).

Regardless, al-Malik called all the mukhannathun to his palace, and ordered their genitals removed.

Their response was a hail of jokes. They dubbed their fate “the Great Circumcision,” held a mock debate about whether it made them “real” women, and laughed about how they weren’t using it anyways. They even gained the sympathy of al-Malik. He eventually called back al-Dalal to personally apologize, and even made him a singer in the royal court.

But the mukhannathun never recovered. And, what’s more, they were seemingly stripped from music. There are no future accounts of mukhannathun as musicians. Their contributions are, for the most part, lost.

In the wake of their demise, Muslims tried to piece together just who they were. Some interpretations made mentions of “innate” gender variance, and even established that mukhannathun could have different orientations.

But many others simply relied on heterosexist notions of gender. Being a woman meant liking men. It meant passive sex. This is why gay men are associated with it.

However, despite these interpretations Muslims were unable to agree on whether or not it was a sin. And, when Muslim armies invaded a land, gender variant cultures were allowed to continue. Some of these cultures exist today, with waria in Indonesia and the hijra in India and Pakistan. Many of them work as street musicians.

And then there’s Iran. Since the 1980s Iranian clerics declared it permissible for ‘diagnosed transsexuals’ to receive gender reassignment. Today, Iran has more gender reassignment surgeries than any country but Thailand. The state will pay half the cost, and create a new birth certificate. There are even clerics to defend it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XErEWc9_okQ

But Iran is not progressive on trans* issues. There is a strong correlation between gender identity and sexuality, especially in regards to trans* people. In fact, trans* people still face a lot of discrimination in many of these societies. As they do here and pretty much everywhere else.

But this isn’t another rehash of the troubles our community faces. This is about how people rose above it. The people who, with only a sliver of tolerance, were able to thrive; and the lasting legacy they’ve had around the world.

It’s hard not to feel a sense of familiarity with them. From little birds and candy to rainbows and unicorns. There’s something elementally familiar about the non-normative experience. There’s a joy, a sheer spontaneous joy that comes from finding out who you are, and finding others just like you. I wonder if, as queerness becomes normalized, that joy will be lost.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a worthy trade off. But, until that time, we’re left with a lot unanswered. So we search, for who and what we are. We search for a shared community. We search history for small threads can connect us to our forbearers. Sometimes, those threads go back centuries, spanning across cultures and the globe. The mukhannathun make up one of those threads. I’ll never get over the fact that someone might’ve actually said ‘Haay!’ to the Prophet Muhammad {P}. And that the Prophet {P} would’ve said ‘Salaam’ in return.

The mukhannathun are an inspiration for queer Muslims, and queer non-Muslims alike. They’ve certainly inspired me. One of my first forays into transition involved getting henna to my elbows. Other Muslims offered compliments, oblivious. Somewhere, Tuwais is smiling.

*Muslims (like the author), hold a great amount of respect for the Prophet Muhammed (P). Because of this, whenever we say his proper name or proper title, many of us include the phrase “peace be upon him.” This is shortened to (PBUH) or (P) in written form. My exception to this rule is when I am quoting a source that doesn’t have it.
**Tuwais, despite being “renowned” for his takan, still seemed to identify as male.
*** The exact description is “the application of a rhythm to the melody of the song that was independent of the meter in the song’s verse.” I don’t know what that means. But I’d be really interested to hear what it would sound like.
**** Real talk: Tuwais was said to have been born in 632, and lived 82 years, placing his death in 714. al-Malik ruled from 715- to 716. As rich as these stories are, they need to be taken with a grain of salt.

About the author: Miriam lives and works in Texas, and currently blogs for I Am Not Haraam. She’s not very good with bios.