Navigating Body Politics in Shiʿi Legal Tradition: Examining Sayyid Kāẓim al-Yazdī’s Account of Non-Binary Intersex

What is it about?

In this study, I offer a novel examination and critical engagement with the idea of intersex individuals as a third ontological category of human beings in Shiʿi legal discourse, a perspective that has yet to be explored within Western scholarship. As will be discussed, although studies have confirmed that, within certain Muslim legal and cultural contexts, intersex individuals are perceived as a third legal or social category, there are hardly any studies demonstrating that scholars within Muslim tradition recognise intersex individuals as an ontological third category of human beings. Drawing on al-Yazdī’s account, I argue that Shiʿi jurists were not merely concerned with assigning a legal sex to intersex individuals, their primary focus was on uncovering the actual nature or sex of these individuals. Their inquiry revolved around an ontological question: Are intersex individuals male, female, or a distinct third human category? I demonstrate that these jurists sought to establish intersex individuals as a separate ontological category beyond male and female, presenting an original perspective in this field.

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