Most everyone knows the stories of Sinbad, Ali Baba and Aladdin from the Arabian Nights stories. But there are also a number gay, lesbian and gender fluid stories as well. Summaries of queer tales in the Arabian Nights are included here.

The Thief of Cairo

This the story of the lesbian heroine of “The First Captain’s Tale” from A Thousand Nights and One Night. An Egyptian captain of police named Muin al-Din explained how he had been approached by a beautiful young woman for help in being reunited with her lover. The complication was that her lover was another woman and, to make matters worse, she was the well-guarded daughter of the kadi or judge of Cairo.

The captain agreed to help the young woman, who turned out to be a thief of some expertise. She advised the captain to accuse the kadi of murder. The captain then conducted a search, finding blood-stained clothes that the thief had left in a jar of oil in the kadi’s house during one of her nocturnal visits there. The judge, seeing disaster awaiting him, gave the captain his fortune for his silence on the matter. As the kadi had never been strong physically, the loss of his greatest love, his money, led to his death three days later. The judge’s daughter was now free to do as she pleased.

After the adventure that they’d shared, the captain asked the lesbian thief to marry him, but she gently refused. When asked by him how she could be so devoted to another woman, she simply replied, “This is a mystery of love.” The thief then ran off with the kadi’s daughter to a property she owned on the upper Nile. Mathers, 4: 341-51.

Abu Nuwas, Poet and Trickster

An actual Arab poet who extolled the joys of drinking wine and loving boys in the ninth century, he also appears in A Thousand and One Nights. His biographers suggest that he may actually have loved women as much as men during his lifetime, but folk legends of later centuries focus on his irrepressible spirit and his same-sex affairs. While best known for his appearances in two stories told here, the poet was also featured in the Ahmad al-Tifashi’s Delight of Hearts and other collections of Arab folk stories. Abu Nuwas or “father of curls” was actually a nickname of the poet, who was well known for two long locks of curly dark hair.

Abu Nuwas was said to have been very handsome in his youth.  Al-Tifashi wrote in the 13^th century:  “According to all accounts, he possessed an incredible degree of self-assurance. His physical perfection and gracefulness captivated all who looked on him.” The beautiful young poet was rather selective in terms of who would receive his favors, insisting the man be cultured, personable, generous, Arab and a poet just like him. One of Abu Nuwas’ friends told him that an older man named Waliba was all those things and more. Abu Nuwas demanded that his friend recite one of Waliba’s poems, and was very impressed with what he heard. Abu decided he had to meet this Waliba for himself.

As it turned out, Waliba partied and drank just as much as Abu Nuwas did. When Abu Nuwas arrived at his home, Waliba had already passed out from wine. The young poet decided to drink while he waited for Waliba to wake up. By the time his unknowing host woke up, it was Abu Nuwas’ turn to be unconscious. The two carried on like this for several days, until they both were sober and awake at the same time!

Abu Nuwas fell in love with his host at once, and Waliba was similarly charmed. Waliba helped develop the younger poet’s art and the two were lovers for twenty months. But one night, while the two were having sex, Abu Nuwas mischievously composed a sexually explicit poem using Waliba’s name. The older poet realized the damage Abu Nuwas could do to his reputation if the outspoken young man were to improvise similar verses in public. He asked Abu Nuwas to leave, and their affair was ended.

As an older man, Abu Nuwas gained the attention of the Sultan of Baghdad, Harun al-Rashid. He became the sultan’s court poet and a renowned humorist. Ever the irreverent profligate, Abu Nuwas often escaped the wrath of the long‑suffering sultan with a clever poem or turn of phrase. On one occasion, the sultan had to bail Abu Nuwas out of an awkward situation, as the poet had gone deeply into debt for the love of a handsome youth.

In another, Arabian nights story, Abu charmed a young man out of a white tunic with clever verse, and then the red one as well (I paraphrase just a tad for clarity and brevity):

”You who boasted white, what is the meaning of this sight. Your tunic and now your cheeks grown red, dyed in broken hearts instead, a color borrowed from anemones or, perhaps, the setting sun to please.”

The youth removed the red fabric to hear what the poet might say next, revealing the final layer of fabric, dark as night, which which clung to his skin and revealed the contours of his waist.

“Black is the garden of your hair,” Abu Nuwas continued, “and of your tunic fair. Black are your delightful eyes in which my destiny I spy.”

And with that the youth finally granted Abu Nuwas a smile. (Mathers 2: 170-73)

Abu Nuwas very much played a trickster role in these Arab stories. Abu Nuwas is still featured in contemporary tales on the Muslim east coast of Africa.  But his greatest legacy is in the way he influenced the course of Arabic poetry, which developed a rich tradition of homoerotic verse in the centuries that followed.

Al-Tifashi, 21-26, 60-74, 79, 90-91, 123-28, 134-37, 156-58, 219-20; Mathers 2: 170-76, 381-84.

Budur, Kamar and Hayyat

Budur is a heroine who dresses as a man in another tale from A Thousand and One Nights. Whether he/she is considered transgendered is tricky to assess, as that term may not fit the Arabian cultural constructs of the time. As such, I present the story in the gendered terms in which I found it.

In any case, as the story begins, Budur is a beautiful princess acutely opposed to marriage. Across the sea lived a handsome prince, Kamar al-Zaman, who was equally averse to union with women. Their beauty was so similar that they might have been identical twins except for the differences of their sex. Through a dispute between two jinn, supernatural creatures akin to western fairies, Burdur and Kamar set eyes on the other for the first time. In spite of their earlier inclinations, the two fell deeply in love and were married. Shortly thereafter, through a convoluted set of circumstances, they were separated again.

Budur decided it was in her best interests, while searching for her husband, to take on Kamar’s identity and dress as a man. In her travels, so attired, Budur encountered a king who was friendly with Kamar’s family. Thinking she was Kamar, the king insisted that the prince marry his daughter, Hayyat al-Nufus. Seeing no way to avoid the match, Budur agreed.

Budur and Hayyat initially limited their lovemaking to kisses, and Hayyat was too naive to know the difference. As Hayyat’s parents became suspicious about her marriage, however, Budur and Hayyat began more extensive caresses. Finally, knowing Hayyat was already deeply in love with “him,” Budur told the young bride her secret. Hayyat’s love was in no way lessened, and the two women “played a thousand games together.” By the end of that first night knowing the truth, Hayyat “had nothing to learn of the charming uses her most delicate organs were destined to fulfil.”

While their lovemaking was extensive, Budur refrained from breaking Hayyat’s maidenhead, instead devising a way to give the appearance that it had been broken. Budur explained to Hayyat that she was saving that honor for Kamar, who she promised to Hayyat as a new husband, when he finally was found.

Budur’s period of disguise lasted for months, even years (the story is unclear as to the specific passage of time), long enough in any case for “Kamar” to develop a reputation as a good and competent king. When Budur finally heard that the real Kamar was acting as a gardener in another land, she ordered some sailors to go and capture the gardener and bring him back to her. Not wanting to reveal her true motivations, the “king” told them that this man had ravaged a servant boy of his and “he” wanted him back to exact revenge.

The sailors captured Kamar as ordered. When they first saw his handsome looks, knowing his reputation as a boy-lover, the sailors suggested that perhaps he should be subject to their passions in a similar way. Kamar evaded their advances. But when his captor, the king, began to overwhelm him with gifts and fine clothing, Kamar began to fear that the king had erotic designs on him as well.

When the “king” and Kamar finally met, Kamar didn’t recognize his wife. Budur kept up the deception, demanding Kamar’s sexual services, and reciting several poems extolling the love of boys to justify “his” passion. Finally, Kamar decided it was pointless to resist any further. “Also,” the narrator tells us, “he was a little tempted to experience for himself this new fashion of which the poets spoke.”

Once they began making love, Budur’s joke was revealed and the two were happily reunited. As promised, Kamar took on Hayyat as his second wife. Kamar slept with Budur and Hayyat on alternating nights. But days were reserved for the two women to spend together.

It is possible that that the name Budur may have become associated with same-sex passion among married women. There is another tale in A Thousand and One Nights that also featured a Lady Budur who, in that story, accepted a kiss from one of her handmaidens. When her husband caught them in the act, he was extremely distraught and vowed eternal separation for the two lovers. Budur, Hayyat and Kamar’s story ended far more happily, each woman giving birth to a handsome son, the five of them living together happily for the rest of their days.

Mathers, 2:1-68.

Bahram, Hasan, and the Mother of Spears

A far less positive tale was that of Bahram and Hasan. Bahram, also known as the “fire worshiper,” was an evil Persian magician who made a habit of kidnapping and ravaging handsome Muslim youths, nine hundred and ninety-nine of them, to be exact. As told in A Thousand and One Nights, Bahram tried for a thousand when he tried to do the same with a handsome young goldsmith named Hasan.

Indeed, Hasan was said to be the most handsome young man of his time. But he had managed to squander his inheritance feasting and partying with young men of his own age and had to go to work as a goldsmith. 

At this point, an attractive older Persian appeared, offering to teach Hasan how to turn common metal into gold. The young man was literally swept off his feet and abducted in a trunk. The Persian turned out to be the evil Bahram, who brought him to his mansion on Cloud Mountain where he attempted to violate him. Hasan was able to overcome the magician and kill him by pushing him off a cliff. The residents of Cloud Mountain rejoiced at the demise of Bahram.

Soon after, Hasan married a supernatural princess named Splendour, who was drawn back to her homeland, an island of bird-like beauty named Wak-Wak inhabited entirely by women with the exception of the lone Jinn or genie who was their king. Searching for his wife after her disappearance, Hasan met a warrior woman named Shawali, whose name meant “Mother of Spears.” Shawali was the leader of the virginal Amazons who inhabited the seven islands of Wak-Wak. The Amazonian stronghold derived its name from the sound made by the huge white birds that flew overhead. Wak-Wak was to be found beyond the seven seas, seven bottomless valleys and seven topless mountains. There was nothing beyond the islands of Wak-Wak, nestled as they were at the ends of the earth. It was to these islands that Splendour had returned.

Though Shawali was moved by Hasan’s story of his love for his wife, she thought it would be prudent for him to dress as an amazon before he tried to land on the island to tell his story to the other warrior women. Complete with breastplate, saber and lance, Hasan “looked in his disguise, for all the world like some princess.”

Now it emerged that each of the islands was ruled by one of seven daughters of a Jinn or genie who ruled over the kingdom as a whole.  No magic existed on these islands except by way of the Jinn. Once on the islands, Hasan learned that his wife was one of the those princesses. Her eldest sister, Nur’al Huda, flew into a rage upon learning of Hasan’s disguise and that he had been allowed to dwell in their realm in search of Splendour.

Ultimately Hasan and Splendou r are reunited and escape from Wak-Wak where Hasan is now a marked man. Their escape is largely thanks to Splendor, who stole three feathered cloaks from the supernatural entities known as the Jinn, which allowed the married couple to fly away along with the Mother of Spears. The three lived happily ever after, though regularly revisited the wonders of Cloud Mountain.

Mathers, 3: 158-220.   

Zat al-Dawhi

Monstrous old woman of Arab legend, her name means “Mother of Calamity.” She is described as having red eyelids with no lashes, bleary eyes, dirty cheeks, filthy hair and a body covered with scabs. If that weren’t enough, she was said to be as hairy as a hedgehog. Zat al-Dawahi was an advisor to King Afridun, at times commanded her own cadre of soldiers, and—according to the Arab writer—was a noted Christian libertine. She was fond of ordering young male slaves to mount her, and liked to mount young female slaves herself.

It is in Mother-of-Calamity’s same-sex encounters that the storyteller goes into explicit detail. She was said to be expert in the “titillant art,” rubbing nipples, tickling and sucking the “most delicate parts of a girl.” To bring her female lovers to climax, Zat al-Dawahi would anoint their private parts with saffron, to rapturous effect. Her lovers were said to “throw themselves into her arms in a dying ecstasy.” 

Zat-al-Dawahi was often very generous to those who willingly submitted to her erotic overtures, but could be an implacable enemy to those who refused. In the adventure described in the Arabian Nights, Mother-of-Calamity disguised herself as an Islamic ascetic. She rubbed a magic ointment into her skin until it shone with virtue. So disguised, she attempted to bring about the destruction of the Islamic kingdoms, in service of the Christians, during the siege of Constantinople.

When Mother-of-Calamity’s other benefactor, the King of Caesarea, was secretly converted to Islam, the tide began to turn against her. When lured back into enemy territory, she was placed in chains and executed, her feet nailed to the gate of Baghdad. Her Christian perfidy had been so great, that her death was seen as a sign that Constantinople would soon fall and that “the arms of Islam should triumph in peace from end to end of the earth which Allah had made.”

The story of Zat al-Dawahi is an example of a Christian figure falling victim to the process of demonization that conquering faiths often impose on a preexisting religious system; usually the process has worked in the favor of Christianity.

Mathers 1: 441-471, 549-52, 571-72, 581-82.

Zurmurrud

     Independent slave girl, in a story from A Thousand and One Nights. Zurmurrud was in the unique position of being able to refuse sale to any prospective master she found unattractive. She also had sufficient money to give to an impoverished yet handsome fellow named Ali Shar to ensure that he could afford to purchase her.

 Zurmurrud was not to enjoy her time with Ali Shar for long, as she was subsequently abducted not once, but twice. Upon escaping from her second captor, Zurmurrud adopted the dress of a man. She entered a nearby city and was promptly declared king.

It turned out that the city’s old ruler had died without an heir. Their custom, under those circumstances, was to declare the first visitor to their city as their new king. Zurmurrud proved to be an able and well-loved ruler, opening the royal treasury to her soldiers and to the poor. Her people also were impressed by her chastity, as word soon got out that she never utilized her harem.

Zurmurrud ruled as king in her male disguise for over a year. She amazed her people by showing apparently mystical powers in identifying the ill nature of her past abductors when they later entered the city pretending to be respectable individuals.

When Ali Shar entered the city, the people assumed the worst, but Zurmurrud declared that he was a good man. Ali Shar didn’t recognize her. As king, Zurmurrud invited him back to her chambers, but didn’t reveal herself at once, for fear he might die of shock. She ordered her to rub oil on her limbs and thighs, but when she ordered him to go even higher, Ali Shar hesitated.

“I have never done such a thing before,” he cried. “If you force me, I’ll hold you accountable on the judgment day.”

Zurmurrud ordered him to proceed, and Ali Shar gave him. It was then the young man discovered the truth of her sex and Zurmurrud broke out laughing. The king’s eunuch servants were dismayed to see their king on his back, acting the woman to the handsome young man. It was then that Zurmurrud announced to her people she was stepping down as “king”. In gratitude, the people gave her many jewels and riches to carry with her on her journey. When Zurmurrud and Ali Shar returned to their home city, they gave great gifts to the poor and widowed. Allah rewarded their generosity with many sons and a long and happy life together.

This story, as do many in the genre, serves both as heterosexual romance as well as homosexual titillation, as when Ali Shar is in bed with who he thinks is another man.

Mathers 2:235-70.

Miriam, the Bearded Seafarer

Muslim daughter of a Christian king in this Arab story from A Thousand Nights and One Night. Miriam’s story began as she was being sold at a slave auction and the young hero Nur, the son of a wealthy Egyptian merchant. Incredibly enough, the woman would only allow herself to be sold to a man of her choosing. Now Nur had set off on his own and had no money to speak of to bid. But even though he only had a thousand dinars, Miriam sold herself to him for just that amount. Once alone, Miriam told young Nur what had brought her to this moment.

Miriam explained she was the only daughter of a king who ruled at Constantine. On a pilgrimage, her ship was attacked by Muslims and she was sold to an impotent Persian who subsequently fell ill. Miriam had nursed him back to health and so the merchant had agreed to sell her to whatever man she chose. Her story done, the two made wonderful love together. So wonderful, that Miriam decided to become a Muslim.

When Miriam’s father learned of what had transpired, he sent his men to Alexandria to have kidnapped back home. Nur was heartbroken when he found Miriam gone and followed her back to Constantine. He was captured by her father’s men and was to be put to death along with a hundred other Muslims. But after a hundred beheadings, an old woman pled for mercy on his behalf, suggesting Nur be given to the church instead.

That night, the princess was ordered to the church to resume her Christian life. There in the church Miriam and Nur were reunited and once again made love. The princess told him of a plan that might undo their current troubles. Nur was to wait until sunset the following day and go down to the seashore where he would find a small ship and a captain that would see to it that they were brought back together.

Young Nur did as Miriam directed. A captain with a large beard brought him aboard. But as he did, one of his crew said that the king had other orders for the ship. In a rage, the captain beheaded the sailor with his sword. The rest of the crew revolted and the captain beheaded them all. Nur feared for his life, but he had no choice but to go with the captain and help man the ship. It was only the next morning that the captain pulled off “his” beard to reveal Miriam herself.

 The two lovers were far from safe, however. Her father recaptured Miriam and gave her to his one-eyed vizier as a bride. The ever-resourceful Miriam drugged her new husband before the marriage could be consummated. She and Nur took off on horseback. Later, when she saw her father’s troops come after them, she resolved to face them alone, begging Nur to stay behind.

Whirling her bloodthirsty sword above her head, Miriam charged the Christian troops of her father head on. Seeing his daughter lay waste to the field, he called upon his best knight to bring her down, living or dead. Sir Bartaut threw javelin after javelin but Miriam deflected one after the other with the flat of her sword. He threw his mace at the princess, but she caught it in mid-air. She threw it back at the knight, killing him with a single blow.

The king sent two more knights after his daughter who were similarly dispatched. The Christian troops, fearing this was no ordinary mortal, turned and fled. Rejoining her distraught lover, the two made their way to Damascus and then back to Cairo. There, Nur’s father arranged for their marriage and two lived happy lives together.

It is unclear where Miriam learned her martial prowess as she spoke only of having been trained in the feminine arts. It appears that Allah inspired her to her fierce defense of her religious and romantic freedom. She is a prime example of the Muslim warrior woman.

Mathers, 3: 309-339.

Kasib’s Son

 A narrator in one of the stories told in The Thousand and One Nights. Kasib’s son was a kindly king who was very fond of seafaring. The king decided to explore all the islands in his kingdom, but due to supernatural circumstances was shipwrecked on a seemingly deserted island. There the king encountered a fifteen year-old youth of remarkable beauty, “cast from the very mold that Allah had made perfection.” But to the king’s horror, the boy revealed that he’d been sent to the island by his elderly father for his safety. A sage had read his stars and predicted that he would be killed by a king, the son of Kasib, within forty days.

The king felt certain that it was impossible that he could ever harm such a delightful young man. Without telling the youth his true identity, the king proposed to stay and protect the youth. Together the two of them enjoyed the delicious food that the youth’s father had laid in stock for him. Soon enough the two of them were making love. The weeks passed blissfully.

On the fortieth day, the king was reaching for reaching for a knife to cut some watermelon for his beloved. The youth reached over to tickle the king’s leg, causing him to drop the knife. The knife plunged into the youth’s heart, thus fulfilling the prophecy.

Kasib’s son, beset by grief, then happened upon a brass palace wherein resided ten handsome young men who were all blind in their left eye. The king was very curious about how they all met the same fate. They warned the king against pursuing the same path, which required the king to be taken by a giant bird to an even grander palace. There, the king was sexually entertained by forty sisters, each of whom had a different mother.

For an entire year, the king enjoyed the attentions of a different sister every night. When they announced they would have to leave to visit their parents for forty days, he was given the keys to all of the doors in the palace. He could explore all of them except the copper door that he was not to open.

The king was thrilled by the wonders of the palace, each door revealing a new splendor greater than the last. By the fortieth day, the king couldn’t resist opening the copper door. A winged horse awaited him. Kasib’s son mounted it, flew into the air and then was thrown. The horse then blinded his left eye with the point of its wing. The blinded king subsequently became a kalandar, one of a brotherhood of beggars.

The story of Kasib’s son is one of folly, in which a good-hearted man refuses to heed the portents of others, finding disaster once with a young man and once with forty women.

Mathers, 1: 57, 89-103.

Summing Up

The stories included in The Thousand and One Night reflect the mix of feelings with which same-sex passion and transgender identities were held. Sometimes a casual acceptance was indicated and at other times a harsh condemnation. The one thing that seemed to remain a constant was to tease at the possibility of same-sex relations with the varied formed that switching genders might enable. The reader is encouraged to draw their own conclusions.

Of likely additional interest is the early Arab legend of Zarqa and Hind that is sometimes characterized as telling the story of the culture’s first lesbians.

Mark Carlson-Ghost

References

Mathers, Powys, trans. (1972). The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night: In four volumes. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Al-Tifashi, Ahmad (1988). The Delight of Hearts, or What you will not find in any book, Edward A. Lacey, trans. San Francisco: Gay Sunshine Press.