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Mustarjil

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Mustarjil
ClassificationGender identity
Demographics
CultureAhwari
Regions with significant populations
Iraq

Mustarjil (Arabic: مسترجل), also in its feminised form mistarjila,[1] is an Arabic-language term, as well as a gender identity used among the Ahwari culture, or Marsh Arabs, in Southern Iraq. The term equates with 'becoming a man' and is used for women who have adopted a masculine gender expression through choice or economic necessity.[2][3] Lives of mustarjil people are recorded by British explorer Wilfred Thesiger who lived with the Ahwari in the 1950s; his observations were supplemented by the work of anthropologists Sigrid Westphal-Hellbush and Heinz Westphal. In 21st-century usage the term has misogynistic overtones. In Islamic tradition, the "mustarjila" (masculinized woman) is condemned; according to prophetic hadiths, she is cursed and thereby excluded from God's mercy.

Etymology

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The word "mustarjila" (مُستَرجِلة) is derived from the root R-J-L (ر-جُ-ل) in the Arabic language, which means man. The active participle from the verb istarjala is mustarjil (مُستَرجِل) for masculine, and mustarjila (مُستَرجِلة) for feminine.[4] The term equates with 'becoming a man'.[a]

Ahwari gender identity

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British explorer Wilfred Thesiger[5] recorded some aspects of the lives of mustarjil, as well as recording one person who was assigned male at birth, but lived and worked openly as a woman, during his time with the Ahwari people in the 1950s.[6] In The Marsh Arabs, his account of life in Ahwari communities, Thesiger describes meeting a cisgender man who fought with a mustarjil, and was defeated.[7] He also reflects that the nearest comparison he can make to them are "the Amazons of antiquity".[7] Some mustarjil married, but did not undertake typically female work in the home.[6] Again Thesiger recorded a conversation where his male companion stated that mustarjil married and had sex with women, in his words, "as we do".[7] This was explained that although they were born into women's bodies they have "the heart of a man, so [live] as a man".[7][8] Those who assumed the gender identity had the same rights as men, both socially and militarily.[6] Those who fought were rewarded for their service in the same manner as cisgender men.[6]

Anthropologists Sigrid Westphal-Hellbush and Heinz Westphal made similar observations to Thesiger about the lives of mustarjil.[9] They observed that young women made the decision to live as mustarjil soon after puberty; however, in terms of inheritance, mustarjil were still viewed as women. If they wanted to have children, they had to dismiss their transmasculine appearance and could not return to it in future.[9] The association of mustarjil with Ahwari culture is also described by writer Marwan Kaabour, who also compared mustarjil to the hijra and mukhannath third genders.[10] Author Eli Erlick has described how mustarjil lived lives parallel to that of trans men in the twenty-first century.[11]

Recording of Massoud El Amaratly

Folk singer Masoud El Amaratly was a famous singer in Iraq and neighbouring countries from c.1925 to his death in 1944, and was also mustarjil.[12][10]

21st-century usage

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The term has been used in many contexts within popular culture, religious texts, and other descriptions applied to women who resemble men.[13] Regardless of the reasons for this difference in women's appearance, the label has been applied to anyone society perceived as possessing masculine traits.[13] This description was often used for purposes such as mockery, criticism, or as a way for society to deter women from such differences.[13]

In Islamic tradition, the "mustarjila" (masculinized woman) is condemned; according to prophetic hadiths, she is cursed and thereby excluded from God's mercy,[13][14] as she is seen to have attempted to alter God's creation.[13] Moreover, it is said that God will not look upon her on the Day of Judgment, as a form of rebuke and deterrence.[14] Cutting one's hair in a way that resembles men's hairstyles is also considered forbidden under Islamic law.[14][13] According to an article in the Jordanian newspaper Ad-Dustour, Arab society in general, and Muslim society in particular, views the term "mustarjila" as an insult directed at women.[15] The article goes on to say that any masculinisation of Arab women is due to Western influence.[15]

Mistarjila is used as a term for queer women in the Levant, but has misogynistic overtones according to The Queer Arab Glossary.[1] The glossary describes the term as: "'mannish'; tomboy; suggesting she may be lesbian; in the past the term zanmardeh was also used (woman-man in Persian)".[16]

Notable people

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Explanatory notes

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  1. ^ From the verb ‏استرجل‎ (with harakat: اِسْتَرْجَلَ, istarjala), with the meanings 'to become a man, to reach manhood, to grow up', or 'to act like a man, to man up' or 'to display masculine mannerisms, to resemble a man', for which مُسْتَرْجِل is the active participle.

References

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  1. ^ a b Dehghan, Saeed Kamali (2024-06-25). "'Hey pigeon-keeper, flip me on the grill rack!' The spicy guide to queer Arab slang". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-09-25.
  2. ^ Ryan, J. Michael; Rizzo, Helen (2024). Sexuality in the Middle East and North Africa: Contemporary Issues and Challenges. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. p. 164. ISBN 978-0-8156-5724-8.
  3. ^ Reference Library of Arab America: Countries & Ethnic Groups, Algeria to Jordan. Gale Group. 1999. p. 219. ISBN 978-0-7876-4174-0. OCLC 42413709.
  4. ^ ترجمة و معنى مسترجلة بالإنجليزي في قاموس المعاني. قاموس عربي انجليزي المعاني مصطلحات صفحة 1. Almaany (in Arabic). Retrieved 2025-09-24.
  5. ^ Asher, Michael (2003-08-27). "Sir Wilfred Thesiger". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  6. ^ a b c d Lane, Ruth (2017). The Complexity of Self Government. Cambridge University Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-107-16374-4.
  7. ^ a b c d Thesiger, Wilfred (2007). The Marsh Arabs. Penguin UK. ISBN 978-0-14-190443-6.
  8. ^ Kubba, Shamil A. A. (2011). The Iraqi Marshlands and the Marsh Arabs: The Ma'dan, Their Culture and the Environment. Reading, UK: Ithaca Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-86372-333-9 – via the Internet Archive.
  9. ^ a b Fortier, Corinne (2019). "Sexualities: Transsexualities: Middle East, West Africa, North Africa". Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures. al-02448267. Retrieved 2025-09-24.
  10. ^ a b Kaabour, Marwan (2023-06-26). "Recovering Arab Trans History: Masoud El Amaratly, the Folk Music Icon from Iraq's Marshes". Ajam Media Collective. Retrieved 2025-09-16.
  11. ^ Erlick, Eli (2025). Before Gender: Lost Stories from Trans History, 1850–1950. Boston: Beacon Press. pp. 60–65. ISBN 978-0-8070-1735-7.
  12. ^ "Tales from the India Office". BBC News. 2014-10-21. Retrieved 2025-09-15.
  13. ^ a b c d e f Ibn Taymiyya. "22". The Great Compilation of Fatwa [The Great Compilation of Fatwa] (in Arabic). pp. 145–157.
  14. ^ a b c Zaidan, Abdul Karim (1994). "Chapter 4". Al-Mufassal fi 'Ahkam al-Mar'ah wa Bayt al-Muslim fi al-Shari'at al-Islamiyyah (in Arabic). Mu'assasah al-Risalah. pp. 123–145.
  15. ^ a b الدستور, محرر. المرأة المسترجلة.. ظاهرة سببها المجتمع وتناقضاته. Ad-Dustour (in Arabic). Amman, Jordan. Archived from the original on 2025-09-24. Retrieved 2025-09-24.
  16. ^ Kaabour, Marwan; Alameddine, Rabih; Haddad, Haitham; Mubayi, Suneela, eds. (2024). The queer Arab glossary: = Almuejam alearabiu alkubaraa. London: SAQI. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-86356-092-7.
  17. ^ "المرأة المسترجلة". Asharq Al-Awsat (in Arabic). Retrieved 2025-09-28.
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  • The dictionary definition of استرجل at Wiktionary