Islamic scholars and the attraction to young boys
There is a documented and observable connection between the extreme forms of gender segregation practiced in a number of islamic societies and the sexual exploitation of boys by men. I had no idea how many classical islamic scholars addressed this issue that plagued past Muslim civilizations. To the point that even the scholars themselves struggled with this. Here are some troubling statements from Islam's great scholars:
- Sufyan al-Thawri saw a beardless young man and he said: "Take him out from here, because with every woman walks one demon (tempting people towards her) and with every boy walk ten demons." ["Tilbis Iblis", 1/338].
- Al-Najib ibn al-Suddi said: "A man should not spend the night in a house with beardless youths." ["Al Durr Al Manthur fi al Tafsir al Mathur"]
- Abu Saaib said: "On a worshipper, we fear the temptation of one boy more than we fear the temptation of seventy virgins." ["Dham al-Hawaa", 92].
- Al-Hassan ibn Zakwan said: "Don't sit with the children of the affluent, because their boys look like women and they are a bigger temptation than virgins." ["Shu'b al-Iman", 4/358].
- Bishr bin al-Haarith said: "Stay away from the youthful boys." ["Dham al-Hawaa", 94].
- About Imam Malik it is reported: "Imam Malik used to prevent beardless youth to enter his gatherings." ["Majmu al-Fatawa", 4/26].
- Imam al-Bayhaqi even made a chapter titled "What is narrated about [the prohibition of] looking at a beardless boy with lust."
- Ibn Muflih Hanbali quotes Ibn al-Jawzi as saying: "The pious predecesors used to say about the beardless boys: They are a greater temptation than virgins, so looking at them is a bigger temptation." ["Al-Furu", 5/113].
- Ibn Taymiyah said: "A beardless young man has the same ruling as a strange woman in many situations ... so it is not permissible to look at them with lust, and this is agreed upon." ["Al-Fatawa al-Kubra", 3/202].
- Al-Malibari said: "It is forbidden to shake hands with handsome beardless boys, as it is forbidden to look at them with lust." ["Fath", 3/263].
- About Imam Ahmad it is reported: "A man came to Imam Ahmad and with him was a handsome boy. Imam Ahmad asked: "who is this?" The man said: "This is my son." Imam Ahmad said: "Don't come with him again." ["Tabaqaat al-Hanabilah", 1/127]. According to other narrations, he said it because he feared that other people might not know its his son and would accuse him of carrying with him a boy for intimacy.
- Imam Nawawi ash-Shafi'ii said: "Similarly the scholars forbade a man to look at the face of a beardless youth if he is handsome, whether with or without desire, and whether it is free of fitnah (temptation) or there is the fear thereof. This is the correct view which was favoured by the scholars. This was stated by al-Shaafa’i and the prominent scholars of his madhhab (may Allaah have mercy on them). The evidence for this is that a beardless youth is, in some ways, like a woman; he may be desired as a woman is desired, and his form may be beautiful like that of a woman, and many of them may be more beautiful than many women. The prohibition applies more to them for another reason, which is that in their case there may result from attachment to them types of evil that do not occur in the case of women." ["Sharh Muslim", 4/31].
To top this all off, there are incidents throughout islamic history where scholarly figures have been embroiled in scandals with young boys. One of them had to do with Imam Al-Kisa'i, who was a master of Arabic grammar and one of the seven canonical authorities of Quranic recitation. Again, one of the flipping 7 Quranic recitations go through him, like Hafs and Asim. Apparently, a scribe came by Kisa'i's classroom and caught him in a compromised position with a young student. The student remained standing startled to which Kisa'i said to the visitor "The action fell upon him so he became erect/standing". And this was known among scholarly circles, even his greatest student, Al Duri, was questioned about Kisa'i's dirty habit but he deflected by emphasizing his precision in Quranic recitation, great knowledge of the arabic language and truthfulness in ahadith.
Another case is Yahya Ibn Aktham, an influential jurist, mujtahid (authoritative interpreter of Islamic religious law) and Chief Justice (High Judge) during the Abbasid Caliphate. He was notoriously dogged by accusation of attraction to young boys, to the extent that it became the subject of satire in Baghdad. There is the incident with Ibn Zaydan, a young scribe who used to write in Yahya ibn Aktham’s presence. The judge pinched his cheek, and the boy became embarrassed and ashamed and dropped the pen from his hand. Yahya then said to him, “Take the pen and write,” then dictated:
"O moon, I scratched you and you grew angry,
And in your pride you have turned away from me.
If you dislike scratching and biting,
Then, my master, remain forever veiled.
Do not display your temple-locks as a temptation to people,
Making of them scorpions above your cheeks;
For you kill a poor man, seduce a devotee,
And leave the judge of the Muslims tormented."
When these troubling reports concerning Yahya reached the Caliph al-Ma'mun, he wanted to test him. He set upon him a slave of extreme beauty, then went to eavesdrop on them. He heard Yahya say to him, “Were it not for you, we would have been believers.” a self-incriminating line where Yahya is essentially admitting that his desire for the slave is so overwhelming it undermines his own faith/piety. Al-Ma'mun then entered while reciting the two verses of Ibn Hakimah, Rashid ibn Ishaq the scribe:
"We had hoped to see justice manifest, But after hope, despair succeeded us." (Al Falaka Wa Al Maflukun)
And finally we have Ahmad Al Ghazali, the younger brother of Abu Hamid Al Ghazali (the famed islamic scholar and mujaddid). Ahmad was a scholar in his own right, as well as a preacher and a master of Sufi mysticism. He also had his own scandal which Ibn Al Jawzi documents in Talbis Iblis. Apparently, some visiting sufis once found Ahmad alone with a boy and roses laying between them, and he would look at the roses at one moment and at the boy at another moment. When they sat down, one of them said, “Perhaps we have disturbed you.” He replied, “Yes, by God.” Then the group cried out in a display of ecstasy
In another incident, someone wrote to Ahmad on a note: “You love your Turkish boy.” Ahmad read the note, then summoned the boy. He raised his gaze toward him, kissed him between the eyes, and said, “This is the answer to the note.”
Conclusion
The causal pathway is real in these high-control environments. When women are systematically removed from the social lives of men, some men redirect their sexual energy and frustration on the next most accessible subordinate males - prepubescent and adolescent boys. Beauty ideals shift towards youthful male features when female ones are veiled (niqab/hijab). As a result, boys can be dressed and treated as temporary “women", or even worse, they become a permanent viable option over women.
This was an open secret throughout much of Saudi society until MBS recently relaxed islamic rulings, and in Afghanistan, the Bacha bazi phenomenon is still alive and kicking, going back many generations. I think it's safe to say that Islam created terrible conditions via strict gender segregation rules that fueled the exploitation of young boys throughout the past 1400 years.