MEHMED HANDŽIĆ’S TREATISE Risāla bayān al-umanāʼ fī ḥukm al-istimnāʼ “Explanation of the regulations of onanism provided by the trusted” (topic, description and content, terminology, significance and sources, text, context)

Abstract

This paper deals with Mehmed Handžić’s treatise Risāla bayān al-umanāʼ fī ḥukm al-istimnāʼ (Treatise: Explanation of the regulations of onanism provided by the trusted), a manuscript kept in Gazi Husrev-beg’s Library under the classification number R. 2650/7. This paper gives a brief introduction to the status of human sexuality in Islam and the Qur’an and also a description of the manuscript itself, its terminology and the style in which it was written. Most of this paper deals with the review or reinterpretation of topics and attitudes that Mehmed Handžić took towards onanism, masturbation and sexual self-gratification from famous and recognized classical authorities on tafsir, especially in the tafsīr āyāt al-aḥkām discipline, fiqh, and literary works. A special section in this paper is devoted to Handžić’s interpretation of Ibn Ḥazm’s views on onanism. This paper was written with the aim of presenting this manuscript of Handžić in an accessible and interpretative manner. The paper has no pretensions to offering anything normative, nor should the paper be treated as a fiqh-legal work on onanism. Accordingly, this paper should not be read as a Shariah discussion of onanism. We recommend that you consult the official stances of the Islamic Community on onanism, masturbation and sexual self-gratification, which Prof. Dr. Enes Ljevaković, the deputy raisu-l-ulama and fatwa-i emin, took on several occasions in the Islamic Newspaper Preporod, at: https://www.islamskazajednica.ba/index.php/pitanja-i-odgovori-home.