real changes

As'ad AbuKhalil, a Lebanese political scientist who lives and teaches in the United States, affirms that "homo­sexual" iden­tities and what he calls "pure homo­sexuals" have existed in Arab/Islamic civi­li­za­tion. AbuKhalil confidently asserts that the "idea that there were no self-declared lesbians (suha­qiy­yat) or gay men is false" ... AbuKhalil refers to "homo­sexuals," "gays," "hetero­sexuals," and "homo­phobia" as trans­historical identities and phenomena and ana­chronis­tically identifies people and practices with them. For example, he cites medieval Arabic books that "contain collections of poetry and anecdotes by and about gay men and women" ... "When homo­sexuals were hunted down as criminals in much of medieval Europe, homosexuals were rulers and ministers in Islamic countries". This identitarian essentialism characterizes AbuKhalil's entire approach.

Muslim rule did not bring big economic changes, the currencies stayed the same. It just stimulated trade by doing away with the Byzantium-Persia border. Neither in the cities nor on the countryside the mode of production changed; slave plantations and state-run manufactories were marginal. Agriculture followed natural conditions. Craftsmen and traders were the backbones of the urban economy. The legal form of the land rent changed, but its level stayed more or less the same.

Society used to be patriarchal, was patriarchal, stayed patriarchal. In the public sphere, men stayed among themselves. Marriages were contracted between men to make alliances between families and to guarantee procreation. Normally wives were younger, less educated and from the same (or a lower) social stratum. Men were not excepted to love their wives; for that, they had horses, falcons, young slaves (of both sexes), friends, sons.