Ar-Razi's treatise on the cause and treatment of passive

[Dani]

Ar-Razi's (864 - 930 CE) treatise on the cause and
treatment of passive homosexual desire Risalah fi
l-Ubnah, was translated by Franz Rosenthal and
published in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine
52 (1978): 45-60.]



Muhammad b. Zakariya' ar-Razi says:

As we have stated in the beginning of more than one of
our books, (scholars) later in time must investigate
what early (scholars) have neglected and postponed or
scattered (in different places) or expressed
obscurely. They will thus mention what they had
neglected, bring together what they had kept separate,
comment upon what they had expressed summarily, and
explain what they had kept obscure.

Something the early (scholars) have neglected is the
discussion of ubnah and its cause and treatment. Till
now, I have not found this discussed exhaustively by
anyone. Indeed, I have not found it mentioned by
nearly anyone of them except for one man who wrote a
book on this subject which he entitled "The Hidden
Illness," but he indicated in it neither specific
cause or satisfactory reason nor medication or useful
treatment.

Now, I am going to speak about it succinctly and to
the extent I consider sufficient, if God wills. Thus,
we say: We must seize and exploit here a premise that
has been previously established in another book (of
ours). That is, femininity or masculinity occurs only
in accordance with the prevalence of one of the two
sperms over the other in quantity and quality, until
one of them becomes the one that transforms (mahil)
and the other the one that is transformed (mustahil).

...

If the sperm of the man is the one that transforms,
the newborn child will be male, and if the sperm of
the woman is the one that is prevalent, the newborn
child will be female. We have explained the
correctness of this proposition in another book (of
ours). The Ancients have also much discussed it.

If the matter is as we have described it, it may
happen in some cases that the sperm of the man is very
forceful and strong in transforming the sperm of the
female. Accordingly, it is necessary that the child
born from such a sperm will be very strongly masculine
-- I mean, the properties of masculinity in him will
be strongly and obviously masculine, such as limbs
hard, dry, and large, much hair, a strong pulse and
breath, prominent (zuhur) joints, thick bones and
similar properties peculiar to persons of a hot and
dry temper, such as courage, quickness of speech and
anger, and the like. If it happens in some cases also
that it is the sperm of the female that possesses very
great force and prevalence, then the newborn child
will have the properties that are peculiar to females,
which are the extreme opposites of what we have
mentioned. Mostly it happens that one of the two
sperms undergoes transformations between these
(extremes). Then, the newborn child, whether male or
female, is not masculine in the extreme and not
feminine in the extreme.

If the matter with regard to this subject as is we
have described it, it is possible that in some cases
it happens that a male child's masculinity or a female
child's femininity is extremely weak. We therefore
find masculine women, as we find feminine men. Among
masculine women, it may go so far that they have
little menses or none at all, and occasionally, they
will grow beards. I have seen beards and faint
moustaches on certain females. Once I saw a Kurdish
woman with a luxurious beard who had been brought to
al-Mu'tadid as a curiosity. This is not the only thing
that may occur. Rather, when the two sperms are
equivalent and the one has little superiority over the
other, hermaphrodites (khinath) will occur, and a
child may even be born with both penis and vulva. We
have learned stories in this connection containing
things that are marvelous, hideous, and noteworthy in
connection with this chapter. We have omitted to
mention them because we consider them absurd. For
instance, a certain surgeon is reported to have found
a uterus in some male animals, and many people tell of
a woman who gave birth to children and then
afterwards, a male organ appeared on her (body). This
story and others like it have come to us from many
directions. For the purpose we have before us, we do
not need (to ascertain) the correctness of this
(particular) story. Rather, we can be satisfed with
what has been mentioned before, namely, that not every
male is masculine in the extreme and not every female
is feminine in the extreme and that there exist
masculine women and feminine men.

[Dani]

For, after the ideas which we have just mentioned have
been perceived, the cause of ubnah is easy to
understand. That is, when it happens by chance that
the male newborn child is feminine because of the weak
degree of prevalence of the sperm of the male over the
sperm of the female, even if it is prevalent in
general, the consequence is that the male organ, the
testicles, and the sperm ducts and vessels do not
fully tend outward and do not hang down low and are
not big and strong, but the contrary is the case. I
mean, they tend upward, are mostly also small,
withdraw inward into the cavity of the belly, and are
drawn toward the hypogastric and pubic regions because
of their weak masculinity, since the organs of
reproduction in the female are placed inside the belly
and conditioned to tend in that direction, while in
males, they are outside the belly and are by nature
disposed to tend in that direction. Such disposition
has the effect that the tickling and the motion that
results from the sperm stirring it up by its quantity
and quality are in the region of the rectum behind and
not in the direction of the hypogastric and pubic
regions, because the sperm vessels and testicles tend
by nature in that direction. Therefore, someone
affected by ubnah is rarely found to have large
testicles that hang down, but the contrary is the
case. Mostly he will have small and wrinkled
testicles, drawn toward above and entering the groin
(urbiyatan). The hanging down of the testicles and the
thickness and width the skin of the testicles are an
unfailing indication of the absence of ubnah. It is
also mostly accompanied by bigness of the penis, as is
ubnah by its smallness.

If it happens by chance that the male newborn child is
feminine and those parts of the body are placed in
that manner, he is affected by something like the
motion of tickling in the region of the rectum when
the sperm is plentiful and sharp just as masculine
persons have that in the pubic region when the sperm
is plentiful and sharp. If someone whose natural
disposition is such is aided by his passion because of
delicateness or some chance happenings that happen to
him, so that something that touches and moves that
place of his gets near it, he finds, on account of it,
a pleasure similar to that found by someone who
scratches his ear or nose by putting a finger into it
and moving it around and scratching it, because that
removes the prickling humor (khilt) and scatters it
and also resolves these(?), which quiets the stirring
and tickling. And if he aids the pleasure and is
inclined to it, this sensation ('arid) gains in
strength, and the limit of it is reached,
corresponding to the strength of the tickling and
stirring of the sperm in that man and corresponding to
his degree of effeminacy (khanath) and his love of
femininity and his inclination to pleasure. This is
the active cause of this disease.

We have described this disease as briefly and
succinctly as we are able to do. Now, we shall mention
what we consider useful and satisfactory with respect
to its treatment. Thus, we say:
If the ubnah is prolonged, the person affected by it
cannot be cured, in particular, if he is obviously
feminine and effeminate (ta'nith-takhnith) and loves
very much to be like a woman. If it is in its
beginning stages and the person affected by it is not
obviously effeminate and not strongly inclined to
pleasure but rather ashamed (of it) and would like to
be free from it, it is possible for him to be treated.

[Dani]

The best treatment consists of frequently massaging
penis and testicles and drawing them downward. Maids
and slaves with nice faces and much practice
(mufritat) in this matter should be put in charge of
the patient, in order to rub and massage that place
and apply themselves to it and kiss it and fondle it.
This should be done as much as possible. At other
times, his treatment should consist of the application
to the pubic region, penis, and testicles of ben oil
to which borax, euphorbia, and musk are added. At
times, some asafetida may be added to the oil. The
penis is massaged with it, and drops of it are put
into the urethra. When this treatment is applied, he
should sit in hot water, and the penis and testicles
are massaged while he is in the bath tub. Once each
week, fluid pitch is employed. For it is the strongest
treatment, which draws the blood and the hot vapor
into this direction. If erection approaches (?), while
the testicles hang down, the penis extends and grows
big, and desire increases, it is a sign of the
effectiveness of the treatment. He must apply the
entire treatment faithfully. Nothing whatever should
be omitted. When he feels well (fi awqat al-ittisa'
lahu), the patient must not give up any part of it,
the first being, as we have described, the maids, then
the application of (various) oils, and then the fluid
pitch. In addition, we should undertake treatment
(tadbir) of the lower back. For as there is need for
the blood and the spirit to be drawn to this region
(the genitals), thus the region of the lower spine and
the rectum must be cooled. This is to be done by his
lying on his back on the ground that is sprinkled
(with water) or by his placing on his lower back rags
likewise wetted with ice water. He should guard
against lying down on the back upon something hot. He
should wear a wide belt for long period. He should
receive an enema of rose oil into which vinegar as
been boiled till the vinegar (with the rose oil) can
be poured, and also with rose water with a little
vinegar. In general, if he is able to have his lower
back always cold and the pubic and hypogastric regions
always hot, he should do it, for it is the most
appropriate thing to do.

It is clear that there is nothing more harmful for
someone affected by this disease than having passive
intercourse, as there is nothing more useful for him
than practicing active intercourse or attempting to
practice such intercourse as much as possible.

This then is the sum and substance of the treatment of
ubnah according to the straightforward norm and
method.

I am going to mention also (other) ways of treating
it. One of them consists of giving the patient many
times an enema of strong intoxicating liquor
(ash-sharab al-muskir). More than one person has been
cured by one or two enemas. Other things that lighten
(?) and weaken this are lying on the back upon the
ground and wearing as a belt a large sheet of black
lead, also, receiving an enema of the boiled seed of
the chaste-tree and lying on the back upon its leaves.


This is advice (isharah) for someone who confided his
secret to me. I decided that he would benefit from it,
and he did so greatly. When that man ate and repaired
to his bed, this disease bothered him. So one day I
advised him to cut off a piece of ice to serve as a
suppository and carry it (in his anus). He slept in
this manner satisfied and was able to dispense with
what he had been forced to do most days. He was almost
close to being cured, and he would have been if he had
exercised strong control over himself.

[Dani]

The treatments mentioned by me are right for young men
and affluent people (mutraf). In connection with
others, your aim in treating them should be to make
them lose weight and diminish the blood. Thus they
should be ordered to fast, to give up drinking wine,
to use vinegar for seasoning, to keep the lower back
as cold as possible, and (to take) drugs known as
effective for diminishing the sperm, especially those
that are cold, such as the drug derived from the roots
of waterlilies, roses, camphor, and tabasheer, as this
is a drug that diminishes and jells the sperm. We have
mentioned its composition in more than one place in
our books. They should also stick to foods such as
qaris ("meat or fish eaten with bread"), masus ("a
dish made of boiled meats, especially young pigeons,
fowls, or other birds, dressed in vinegar and stuffed
with condiments"), hulam (?) ("veal served with the
skin; kind of animal jelly"), hisrimiyah ("soup made
or flavored with unripe grapes or dates, or with the
juice thereof"), with gourds and lentils, drink
constantly oxymel, do much sweating in the bath, place
the feet in cold water, keep away from parties where
there are amusement, winedrinking, and singing, and
occupy themselves with pious devotions and the true
kinds of knowledge that take hold of the hearts and
engage the souls strongly, such as geometry and logic,
and more than that, with that divine knowledge
(metaphysics). For the concern with it and the
immersion in it weaken all desires.

Having reached this place, I would like to mention the
prescription for the compound that diminishes the
sperm, so that the person who studies this essay
(maqalah) has no need to search for it in my other
books and in the books of the Ancients. This is one of
the prescriptions:

Take ten dirhams of the dried roots of waterlilies,
five dirhams of ground red roses, two and a half
dirhams of white sandalwood, and five danaqs of
camphor. These are ten drafts.

Another prescription which is useful when the roots of
waterlilies cannot be found: Ten dirhams of ground
roses, five dirhams of white tabasheer, two and half
dirhams of white sandalwood, and five danaqs of
camphor. These are ten drafts.

Another prescription for those who dislike camphor:
Take five dirhams of ground roses, ten dirhams of
fleawort seed that is not crushed, three dirham each
of lettuce seed, endive seed, and origanum (?) seed,
and two and a half dirhams of dry coriander, (each)
draft three dirhams of the whole, with half an ounce
of vinegar.

Another prescription, good for those of a cold and wet
nature and for those who are advanced in age: Take ten
dirhams of chaste-tree seed, five dirhams of river
mint dried, and two and a half dirhams of dried rue
leaves, (each) draft three dirhams of it, with an
ounce of vinegar. Those who are sensitive to vinegar
should drink it with cold water or rose water.

I have discussed this matter sufficiently. We
apologize for having discussed it. We have been forced
to do so because our predecessors did in no way
discuss it sufficiently.

To the Giver of the intellect be praise without end as
He deserves and merits. His prayers and blessings be
upon His Prophet, Muhammad, and his family.