Gender Non‐Conformity in Islamic Studies and Muslim Communities Across Times and Theoretical Frameworks

ABSTRACT This article examines gender diversity in Islamicate societies across historical and contemporary contexts, emphasizing the interplay between social norms, religious frameworks, and structural power. It addresses the methodological challenge of avoiding anachronistic applications of modern categories such as “gender” and “sexuality” to Muslim societies, highlighting instead the rich Islamic vocabularies and practices that documented non‐binary and gender non‐conforming dispositions. Drawing on sociological theories of deviance, the study frames such formations of selfhood as relational and context‐dependent, produced through, and at times resisting, systems of legal, moral, and cultural regulation. Numerous, variegated historical examples demonstrate how gender and sexual non‐conformity could coexist with social recognition and ritual participation. Contemporary ethnographies reveal how queer and trans Muslims navigate colonial legacies, Islamophobia, and cis ‐heteronormative pressures, forming adaptive, resilient communities that integrate spiritual, cultural, and activist practices. Ultimately, this study is an attempt to contribute to the sociology of deviance by challenging Eurocentric frameworks and highlighting the contingent, generative, and politically charged nature of normative boundaries. It foregrounds Muslim lifeworlds as sites of negotiation and resistance, where gender diversity is neither anomalous nor marginal, but central to understanding the relational production of social norms.