"Off the Straight Path": Illicit Sex, Law, and Community in Ottoman Aleppo

2008 book by Elyse Semerdjian August 2026 August 2026 "Off the Straight Path": Illicit Sex, Law, and Community in Ottoman Aleppo "Off the Straight Path" - Illicit Sex, Law, and Community in Ottoman Aleppo (Elyse Semerdjian book) cover.jpg Elyse Semerdjian English Ottoman historyIslamic lawGender and sexuality Syracuse University Press 8 December 2008 247 978-0-8156-5155-0 KBP559.958.S46 "Off the Straight Path": Illicit Sex, Law, and Community in Ottoman Aleppo is a 2008 book by historian Elyse Semerdjian about the regulation and prosecution of sexual behaviour in Aleppo under the Ottoman Empire. It examines the relationship between Islamic law, customary practices, community standards and judicial proceedings concerning sexual offences. Content The book focuses on Islamic legal concept of zina (a broad category concerning illicit sexual relations under Islamic law) and its treatment in Islamic jurisprudence (including the Quran, hadith and fatwa pronouncements), Ottoman legal sources, and the courts of Ottoman Aleppo. Semerdjian uses sharia court records to examine cases involving sexual offenses, sex work, domestic violence, and rape. She argues that judicial practice did not necessarily correspond to the punishments prescribed in Islamic jurisprudential texts, and that community standards, customary law, and local circumstances influenced the handling of cases.Semerdjian 2008 1–60Ali Kecia Kecia Ali Off the Straight Path: Illicit Sex, Law, and Community in Ottoman Aleppo Journal of Islamic Studies 22 1 2011 84–87 10.1093/jis/etq077 Semerdjian argues that the Ottoman legal system was flexible in its treatment of sexual offenses. In particular, she identifies a disparity between the severe hudud punishments associated with zina in classical Islamic jurisprudence and the fines, expulsion, and other less severe measures recorded in the Aleppo court registers.Fay Mary Ann Off the Straight Path: Illicit Sex, Law and Community in Ottoman Aleppo Al-Raida 125 2009 61–62 Reception Kecia Ali highlighted its use of court records and its examination of sexual offenses and community standards, while Dror Zeevi in the Journal of the American Oriental Society discussed its analysis of proceedings in the Aleppo Sharia courts.Zeevi Dror Off the Straight Path: Illicit Sex, Law, and Community in Ottoman Aleppo Journal of the American Oriental Society 131 2 2011 349–351 Peter Sluglett, Karen M. Kern and Mona L. Russell also reviewed the book in the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, the International Journal of Middle East Studies and The Historian, respectively.Sluglett Peter Elyse Semerdjian: "Off the Straight Path": Illicit Sex, Law and Community in Ottoman Aleppo Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 72 3 2009 567–569 10.1017/S0041977X09990127Kern Karen M. Elyse Semerdjian, "Off the Straight Path": Illicit Sex, Law, and Community in Ottoman Aleppo International Journal of Middle East Studies 43 1 2011 158–160 10.1017/S0020743810001364Russell Mona L. "Off the Straight Path": Illicit Sex, Law, and Community in Ottoman Aleppo . By Elyse Semerdjian. (Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2008. Pp. xxxvii, 247. $29.95.) The Historian 1 December 2010 72 4 914–915 10.1111/j.1540-6563.2010.00281_4.x 143100931 Najwa al-Qattan, writing in the Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, praised the breadth of the book's sources but criticised its organisation, editing and treatment of historical categories.al-Qattan Najwa Off the Straight Path: Illicit Sex, Law, and Community in Ottoman Aleppo Journal of Middle East Women's Studies 2011 See also Sexual and gender minorities in the Ottoman Empire References Semerdjian Elyse Elyse Semerdjian "Off the Straight Path": Illicit Sex, Law, and Community in Ottoman Aleppo 2008 Syracuse University Press 978-0-8156-3173-6 Category:2008 non-fiction books Category:Books about the Ottoman Empire Category:Books about Syria Category:Books about sexuality Category:Books about women's history Category:English-language non-fiction books Category:Islamic law Category:Syracuse University Press books Category:Articles with quotation marks in the title