Mustarjil

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]

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]

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]

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]

• Masoud El Amaratly, folk singer
• Khawla bint al-Azwar, Islamic fighter^[17]