On Sex & Islam

The complications of being sexual and a person of faith

“Here is the compassion in the face, that flowed toward the sinner and never the sinned-against, that forgave before justice had even been meted out.”

—Patricia Lockwood

The Execution of Mansur Al Hallaj, circa 1600

As a young girl, I wasn’t aware of what sex was, but I understood the viscerality, the way touch could provoke unwarranted pleasure, of stran…