#marsh arabs

[noosphe-re]

From the gasab reed, which is bundled and flexed to form sturdy arches, the Midan build their ingenious dwellings. (via The Marsh Arabs Revisited / Stories of the Marsh Arabs / Written and photographed by Michael Spencer, AramcoWorld)

[acepumpkinpatrick]

Today, April 21st, marks the 32nd anniversary of the Ahwari Genocide

Ahwaris (more commonly known as Marsh Arabs) are the indigenous peoples of the marshlands. Their lineage goes back to the Sumerians (the world's earliest known civilization).

In 1992 the Ba'ath party in Iraq, led by Saddam Hussein, initiated a series of attacks and aggressions against the Ahwari people to quench the 1991 uprising that started in southern city against Saddam Hussein and his party.

Drainage, desiccation and destruction of the marshlands. Murdering & kidnapping 50 thousand people. Exclusion of Ahwari people from society and branding them as 'savages' that know nothing.

All that is not to say it started with Saddam, it began at least a century before that, wthen the marshes were divided into two parts by the Sykes-Picot Agreement.

The genocide of the Ahwari people is still ongoing till this day by the current government, with severe drainage and desiccation that Al-Hawizeh Marshes (Iraq's 2nd largest Marshelands) are facing since 2021.

Please also check these sources:

The Ahwari network

Mesopotamian Delta , Ahwari Voice , Ahwari Archive , Ahwar Collective on Instagram

Mustafa Hashim & Murtada Al-Janobi Ahwari citizens and activists

[acepumpkinpatrick]

Wanna take this opportunity to highlight some important Ahwari resources you can find on this post

This is one of the oldest surviving recordings of a trans person.

Masoud El Amaratly (1897-1944) was an Iraqi trans singer who became famous in 1920s Baghdad for his folk music. He worked as a farmer before transitioning in his teens. The mustarjil, a term similar to trans man, then moved to the city and sang in cafés. A music agent discovered him there and his fame spread across West Asia.

Enjoy this 1925 recording of him singing the traditional Iraqi song, "Khadri al Chai" ("Please Make Tea"). Check out Ajam's website for more.

[familythings]

Floating Houses of Iraq: The Mesopotamian Venice

The enchanting floating houses of Iraq, known as “mudhif,” tell a remarkable story of sustainability and resilience. Often referred to as the Garden of Eden or the Mesopotamian Venice, this unique community, known as the Ma’dan, thrives in the lush wetland areas of southern Iraq, where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet. The Craft of Floating Homes These floating homes date back thousands of…

[ultrachoppedpenguinbouquet]

Ma'dan people

[totallyhussein-blog]

Life after conflict, AMAR’s teams are rebuilding lives

Back in 1991, Saddam Hussain’s persecution of the Marsh Arabs in southern Iraq saw hundreds of thousands flee their homes. As Iraq’s historic marshes were drained and villages attacked, families had no choice but to move.

After a visit to the region, Baroness Emma Nicholson refused to ignore the situation and launched an appeal, ‘Assisting Marsh Arabs and Refugees’, to send much needed relief to those who had lost everything.

Today, the AMAR Foundation’s work has evolved and now reaches families across the region. AMAR’s teams are working right the way across Iraq and Lebanon, ensuring that vulnerable families have access to healthcare, educational services and emergency aid.

To arrange a media interview with a member of AMAR's team, please call 0207 799 2217, or to make a difference in the lives of other people, please make a donation to the AMAR Foundation.

[genderkoolaid]

Mustarjil is an Arabic term meaning “becoming [a] man.” Although it can be used derogatorily to refer to women who are perceived as having a masculine appearance and/or mannerisms, in Iraq’s marshes, it existed as a gender identity. Within the context of the Ahwari community, Mustarjil was a common gender identity, where people assigned female at birth decide to live as a man after puberty, and this decision was generally accepted in the community. The Mustarjils were one of many similar third gender categories around the world, such as the Hijras in South Asia. [...] “One afternoon, some days after leaving Dibin, we arrived at a village on the mainland. The sheikh was away looking at his cultivations, but we were shown to his mudhif by a boy wearing a head-rope and cloak, with a dagger at his waist. He looked about fifteen and his beautiful face was made even more striking by two long braids of hair on either side. ln the past all the Madan (Ahwari) wore their hair like that, as the Bedu still did. After the boy had made us coffee and withdrawn, Amara asked, ‘Did you realize that was a mustarjil?’ I had vaguely heard of them, but had not met one before. ‘A mustarjil is born a woman’. ‘She cannot help that; but she has the heart of a man, so she lives like a man.’ ‘Do men accept her?’ ‘Certainly. We eat with her and she may sit in the mudhif. When she dies, we fire off our rifles to honour her. We never do that for a woman. In Majid’s village there is one who fought bravely in the war against Haji Sulaiman.’ ‘Do they always wear their hair plaited?’ ‘Usually they shave it off like men.’ ‘Do mustarjils ever marry?’ ‘No, they sleep with women as we do.’” Thesiger continues to narrate several other accounts of mustarjils within the same community, as well that of a “stout middle-aged woman” who wanted to remove her male organ in order to “turn into a proper woman.” Thesiger later mentions: “Afterwards I often noticed the same [person] washing dishes on the river bank with the women. Accepted by them, [she] seemed quite at home. These people were kinder to [her] than we would have been in our society.” Around that time, Britain was still living under the shadow of Victorian norms, and gender non-normative people were still stigmatized and shunned. Communities such as the Ahwaris, presented an alternative model that created space for communities like the mustarjils, despite the dominant gender binary. 

— Recovering Arab Trans History: Masoud El Amaratly, the Folk Music Icon from Iraq’s Marshes by Marwan Kaabour

[hussyknee]

Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani’s Kitab al-Aghani records the lives of a number of individuals including one named Tuways who lived during the last years of Muhammad and the reigns of the early Muslim dynasties. Tuways was mukhannathun: those who were born as men, but who presented as female. They are described by al-Isfahani as wearing bangles, decorating their hands with henna, and wearing feminine clothing. One mukhannathun, Hit, was even in the household of the Prophet Muhammad. Tuways earned a reputation as a musician, performing for clients and even for Muslim rulers. When Yahya ibn al-Hakam was appointed as governor, Tuways joined in the celebration wearing ostentatious garb and cosmetics. When asked by the governor if he were Muslim Tuways affirmed his belief, proclaiming the declaration of faith and saying that he observes the fast of Ramadan and the five daily prayers. In other words, al-Isfahani, who recorded the life of a number of mukhannathun like Tuways, saw no contradiction between his gender expression and his Muslimness. From al-Isfahani we read of al-Dalal, ibn Surayj, and al-Gharid—all mukhannathun—who lived rich lives in early Muslim societies. Notably absent from al-Isfahani’s records is any state-sanctioned persecution. Instead, the mukhannathun are an accepted part of society.

...

Far from isolated cases, across Islamic history—from North Africa to South Asia—we see widespread acceptance of gender nonconforming and queer individuals. - Later in the Ottoman Empire, there were the köçek who were men who wore women’s clothing and performed at festivals. Formally trained in dance and percussion instruments, the köçek were an important part of social functions. A similar practice was found in Egypt. The khawal were male dancers who presented as female, wearing dresses, make up, and henna. Like their Ottoman counterparts, they performed at social events.

- In South Asia, the hijra were and are third-sex individuals. The term is used for intersex people as well as transgender women. Hijra are attested to among the earliest Muslim societies of South Asia where, according to Nalini Iyer, they were often guardians of the household and even held office as advisors.

- In Iraq, the mustarjil are born female, but present as men. In Wilfred Thesiger’s The Marsh Arabs the guide, Amara explains, “A mustarjil is born a woman. She cannot help that; but she has the heart of a man, so she lives like a man.” When asked if the mustarjil are accepted, Amara replies “Certainly. We eat with her and she may sit in the mudhif.” Amara goes on to describe how mustarjil have sex with women.

...

Historian Indira Gesink analyzed 41 medical and juristic sources between the 8th and 18th centuries and discovered that the discourse of a “binary sex” was an anachronistic projection backwards. Gesink points out in one of the earliest lexicography by the 8th century al-Khalil ibn Ahmad that he suggests addressing a male-presenting intersex person as ya khunathu and a female-presenting intersex person as ya khanathi while addressing an effeminate man as ya khunathatu. This suggests a clear recognition of a spectrum of sex and gender expression and a desire to address someone respectfully based on how they presented.

Tolerance of gender ambiguity and non-conformity in Islamic cultures went hand-in-hand with broader acceptance of homoeroticism. Texts like Ali ibn Nasir al-Katib’s Jawami al-Ladhdha, Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani’s Kitab al-Aghani, and the Tunisian, Ahmad al-Tifashi’s Nuz’ha al-‘Albab attest to the widespread acceptance of same-sex desire as natural. Homoeroticism is a common element in much of Persian and Arabic poetry where youthful males are often the object of desire. From Abu Nuwas to Rumi, from ibn Ammar to Amir Khusraw, some of the Islamic world’s greatest poets were composing verses for their male lovers. Queer love was openly vaunted by poets. One, Ibn Nasr, immortalizes the love between two Arab lesbians Hind al Nu’man and al-Zarqa by writing:

“Oh Hind, you are truer to your word than men. Oh, the differences between your loyalty and theirs.”

...

Acceptance of same-sex desire and gender non-conformity was the hallmark of Islamic societies to such a degree that European travelers consistently remarked derisively on it. In the 19th century, Edward Lane wrote of the khawal: “They are Muslims and natives of Egypt. As they personate women, their dances are exactly of the same description as those of the ghawazee; and are, in like manner, accompanied by the sound of castanets.”

A similarly scandalized CS Sonnini writes of Muslim homoerotic culture:

“The inconceivable appetite which dishonored the Greeks and the Persians of antiquity, constitute the delight, or to use a juster term, the infamy of the Egyptians. It is not for women that their ditties are composed: it is not on them that tender caresses are lavished; far different objects inflame them.”

In his travels in the 19th century, James Silk Buckingham encounters an Afghan dervish shedding tears for parting with his male lover. The dervish, Ismael, is astonished to find how rare same-sex love was in Europe. Buckingham reports the deep love between Ismael and his lover quoting, “though they were still two bodies, they became one soul.”

...

Today, vocal Muslim critics of LGBTQ+ rights often accuse gay and queer people of imposing a “Western” concept or forcing Islam to adjust to “Western values” failing to grasp the irony of the claim: the shift in the 19th and 20th century was precisely an alignment with colonial values over older Islamic ones, all of which led to legal criminalization. In fact, the common feature among nations with anti-LGBTQ+ legislation isn’t Islam, but rather colonial law.

Don't talk to me I'm weeping. I'm not Muslim, but the grief of colonization runs in the blood of every Global South person. Dicovering these is like finding our lost treasures among plundered ruins.

Queer folk have always, always been here; we have always been inextricable, shining golden threads in the tapestry of human history. To erase and condemn us is to continue using the scalpel of colonizers in the mutilation and betrayal of our own heritage.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Photo by Toni Schneiders

* * * *

“As the Arabs say, ‘The nature of rain is the same, but it makes thorns grow in the marshes and flowers in the gardens.”

–Anthony de Mello, Awareness (1990)

[Memphis Muse]

[lgbtqiamuslimpedia]

Queer Glossary of Muslim/Islamic World:

This is a list of gender & sexuality related terms, used in Muslim/Islamic World.

Mithli/Mithly - postmodern Arabic term for queer folks

Mithliya - feminine form word “Mithli”, refers to lesbians, sapphics, queer women

Kwiir/Kwiiriya - arabized version of word queer

Mukhannas/Mukhannath/Mokhannas/Mukhanathan/Mukhannathin - archaic Arabic term for trans woman, trans femme, individuals of non-normative gender and/or sexuality

Mukhannith - classical Arabic term for transsexual woman

Mutarajilla/Mutarajil/Mutarajilat - archaic Arabic term for masculinized female, trans male, trans-masculine. It is masculine equivalent of word “Mukhannath”

Boyah/Boyat - a term used in persian gulf states to describe masculine women,butch, & AFAB gender non-confirming

Mustargil/Mustarjil/Mustarajil/Mustarajjila- vernacular term for trans male/trans-masculine folks in Marsh Arab tribe

Mabun/Maabun - archaic term for an eunuch homosexual male who take passive role in Islamicate World.

Khanith/Khaneeth/Xanith/Makhanith - vernacular term for AMAB transgender, gender non-confirming, queer in Arabian Peninsula. The Khanith is also a third gender/sex community of Arabian peninsula.

Khuntha/Khunsha - archaic Arabic term used to describe intersex & ambiguous gender individuals in Muslim World.

Khuntha Mushkil - term for non-binary & gender non-confirming intersex individuals.

Khasi/Khasee - archaic term for eunuchs in Arabic/MENA Islamic empires

Khusra/Khusray/Khusaray/Khusara - Pejorative word for eunuch transgender, gender non-confirming individuals in Pakistan & Northernmost India. The word derived from Punjabi

Murat/Muraat/Morat/Moorat - vernacular term for transgender, eunuch, gender-diverse folks in Pakistan. It is also used in some parts of Afghanistan.The word Murat is itself a portmanteau of Mard (meaning man) and Aurat (meaning woman)

Hijra/Hijre/Hijjara/Hijarah/Hijada – all-encompassing term for gender & sexual diverse folks in the Indian subcontinent. The term includes trans femme, mtf transsexual, masculine woman, effeminate gay man, cisgendered drag queen, androgyne, transvestite, queer, eunuch, non-binary & intersex individual

Khawaal - term for MTF transsexual, transvestite & effeminate dancers in Pre-mordern Egypt.

Köçek - archaic term for effeminate male, gender fluid dancers in Ottoman society. The term also refers to feminine boys regardless of their sexual orientation. “Cengi” is female counterpart of Köçek.

Khawaja sara/Khwaja sara/Khwaja sira/Khawaja sira/Khwajasera/Khwaja saray - Persian archaic term used to describe a range of gender identities, including trans woman, gender fluid, effeminate (mukhannas), eunuch, trans-masculine, and trans-feminine individuals in South Asia. It goes beyond being just a gender or sexual identity; it is also associated with gender spirituality. This term was historically used to designate trans and non-binary individuals in Medieval Muslim empires. Nowadays, the term khawaja sara/khwajasara has become a subset of Hijra

Kothi - pejorative slang term for effeminate men, gay transvestites, drag queen, passive homosexuals in Indian subcontinent. In pakistan, kothis are referred as “Zenana”.

Panthi - slang term for dominant, hard, masculine gay & bisexual male in Bangladesh, Pakistan & India. This term derived from to Hijra Farsi or Ulti Bhasha

Parikh/Paarikh - slang term refers to boyfriend & husband in Bangladesh. This word is mostly used among LGBTQ+ population

Dohpartaa or Dohpartah - informal, slang term for bisexual in Bangladesh & West Bengal. The word derived from the Hijra Farsi or Ulti language.

Mamsuh - Arabic term for intersex person, who is agender or genderless.

Hum Jins, Hum jinsi, Ham-jense, Ham-jens – homosexual in Urdu, Persian, Tajik language

Ham-jins bâz/Ham-jens bâz – a derogatory term for gays in Farsi-speaking communities.

Ham-jens-garâ - slurr for homosexual in Farsi

Ham-jins garo - pejorative term for homosexuals in Tajikistan

Do jens garâ/Doh jense garâ - term for bisexual in Farsi

Mak Nyah - term for transgender woman, MTF transsexual in Malaysia. The term “Mak Nyah” is widely used among trans women, mukhannath/ trans-feminine folks. The term was first coined in late 1980s.

Pak Nyah - informal,vernacular term for trans men in Malaysia.

Waria - Indonesian term for AMAB trans folks in Indonesia. Warias are considered as third gender in Indonesia.

Priawan - vernacular term for trans-masculine in Indonesia.

Bissu - a term used to describe non-binary or two spirit identity in Bugie Tribe of Indonesia

Burnesha - vernacular term used to describe trans-masculine,butch in Ottoman empire of balkan & Albania.

Chokri/Chukri - term for drag queens, transvestites who are associated with “Alcap gaan”, a sufi folk music. This cross-gender phenomenon can be found in Bangladesh & West Bengal. Chukri individuals may identify as straight, gay, bisexual, or trans. Muslim Chukris are devotee of sufi saint Madar Pir/Madari Pir.

Zenana/Jenanah - vernacular term for effeminate male,MTF transvestite in Bangladesh,Pakistan,Northern India.The term Zenana derived from Urdu or Farsi, which means feminine.

Bachaa posh - vernacular term for FTM crossdresser, trans-masculine in Afghani dialect

Bacha Bareesh - pejorative vernacular term for effeminate boy, passive homosexual,transgender folks in Afghanistan. Bacha Bareesh are effeminate boys,MTF drag queens who take part in Bacha bazi.

Bacha Nagma - a term used for sufi transvestite or drag dancers in Kashmir.

Gej – non-derogatory term for gays in Balkan regions. It is used in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, Macedonia, Romania.

Dygjinishëm - Albanian term for bisexual

[ptseti]

ZANJ REBELLION

Have you ever heard about the Zanj rebellion? 📌The Zanj Rebellion is one of the major African “Captive” revolts in Decolonized history East African captives known as Zanj(meaning Black) revolted against their Arab & Iraqi slavers after hundreds of years of inhuman treatment, dehumanization, and forced eunuchization. The Rebellion lasted for 14 years from 869 to 883 A.D. The Zanj conquered cities, towns, and villages. They freed other captives and built their own towns, where they produced their own currency, collected taxes, and formed their own military What prompted the Revolt? Bantu-speaking people (Zanj) who had been captured from the coast of East Africa and transported to the Middle East were brought into southern Iraq to drain the salt marshes in the city of Basra. (Basra is an Iraqi city located in Southern Iraq) The Zanj were subjected to intense labour, under harsh and unbelievably inhumane conditions. (Read previous posts) They were also seen as inferior and their humanity was systemically denied. The Zanj rebellion was an uprising borne out of resistance and vengeance. It started with a few isolated farms and quickly picked up momentum, leading to larger plantations being attacked and large numbers of captives being freed. To quell the rebellion, the Caliphate sent troops who were unable to withstand the strength and battle skills of the Zanj warriors (with their bows, swords, and sharp-tipped spears) As news of the rebellion spread other captives escaped their captors to join the uprising. Some Zanj captured their former masters to work in the fields as slaves and took their women as concubines. Many provinces fell to the sword of the Zanj. They crushed every Muslim army the Iraq Abbasid empire sent to defeat them. 📌 They captured cities and formed their own towns and systems where they produced their own currency, collected taxes, and had full autonomy over their existence (see any parallels with Black Wall Street?) 📌They also formed their own formidable army. I’ll leave the rest of this bit of history for you to research 🙏🏽 Credit to @Odunifehistory #zanjrebellion #tanzania #africa #iraq #middleeast

[baebeylik]

13th century Arabic depiction of slaves

Between 869 and 883 CE an attempted insurrection of the Abbasid Caliphate was led by one Ali ibn Muhammad. He was a man of mysterious origin (possibly Persian?) who claimed to be descended from the Rashidun Caliphate. While his claims were not taken seriously by the Abbasids he did garner a following who journeyed with him to modern Iraq.

While in Iraq he made an unlikely alliance with the mistreated African slaves of the Iraqi marshes known collectively as the “Zanj”. These slaves were of mostly East African stock and were forced to work in harsh conditions in Abbasid plantations.

The slaves readily allied with Ali Ibn Muhammad. He also allied with many freed Zanj and Arab peasants who had their own quarrels with the Abbasid Dynasty. The rebellion lasted for years and caused the deaths of thousands of lives. While it ended with an Abbasid victory and the complete eradication of Ali and his allies it also escalated the already steady decline of the Caliphate.

[thethirdromana]

I feel like it's worth talking about the description of the ~mysterious person~ in chapter 3 of the Beetle.

Under a cut for discussion of 1890s racism. Also spoilers for the identity of the ~mysterious person~ but I assume we all know that bit already.

The description of the Beetle is racially ambiguous. They often get identified as Arab but that doesn't really hold up with the information we're given (that is, there certainly is anti-Arab racism in this book, but the Beetle is not written as definitively Arab). What they actually are is a hodge-podge of different racial stereotypes. It's like Richard Marsh looked at one of those horrendous 1890s drawings of different people around the world and took one exaggerated trait from each race.

The Beetle's yellow skin and hairlessness seem to be taken from anti-Chinese racism, particularly Yellow Peril imagery. Their small chin and big lips often appear in anti-Black racist caricatures. The mesmeric eyes and hooked nose are anti-Semitic stereotypes; the association between Jewishness and mesmerism was well-established from Trilby, which is a vastly worse book even than the Beetle. There are probably other elements taken from other racist caricatures that I don't recognise.

Because the Beetle doesn't map on to any individual race, it's possible to read this bit and interpret it as a kind of general xenophobic blob. But it's not. There's some quite targeted and specific racism here, and I suspect that the identification of these traits would have been much more obvious to contemporary eyes.

[strangestcase]

also Im not forgiving the gothic lit fandom for reacting to Marsh’s Beetle and it racist anti-Arab caricature villain by latching on the fact that he is a man with a vagina (which is btw part of the racism, but I’m too tired to explain obscure antisemitic tropes) by going “kyaaaa! What a girlboss! SHE is a man with a vagina!” can you please think of what you’re saying for more than a single millisecond or at least make the effort to remember trans men can see your posts

[hexjulia]

got lost in wikipedia again from, i think, looking up some marsh plant -> arrived at a page on iraqi arabs who live in marshes which includes some really good pictures. look

very green. but what mainly caught my attention was the architecture

a mudhif reception hall made out of this beautiful woven reed

inside of one.