Muslim Sexuality

In order to have a critical point of view, it is important to understand the origins of the Muslim conception of female sexuality. According to Fatima Mernissi, the Christian concept of the “sexual instincts” is completely different form the Muslim perspective. From the Muslim view, raw instincts are pure energy without connotations with the good or bad. Nevertheless, sexual instincts have the power to cause fitna, which is an Islamic term meaning disorder and chaos, and which also refers to the beautiful femme fatale (beautiful women) who makes men loose their self-control. The regulation of these instincts is necessary for the sake of social order (Mernissi, 27-31). There are two kinds of societies that regulate sexual instincts: the Western,