New Books in Islamic Studies Gijs Kruijtzer, "Justifying Transgression: Muslims, Christians, and the Law - 1200 to 1700" (de Gruyter, 2023)
Mar 25, 2026
Gijs Kruijtzer, historian of the early modern Persianate and Latin Christian worlds, explores how people justified practices viewed as transgressions between 1200 and 1700. He compares defenses of sodomy, idolatry, and usury. He outlines four modes of justification and shows surprising similarities and evolving legal creativity across traditions.
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Personal Run-In Sparked The Research
- Gijs Kruijtzer's interest in transgression began from a personal run-in with the law over late luggage retrieval.
- That incident, plus his love of the poet Hafiz, sparked his study of how people interpret and justify rules.
Four Modes Explain How People Justified Transgression
- Kruijtzer frames justifications as four modes: stridency, compensation, circumvention, and exception.
- Each mode captures different intentions and social responses, and real cases often blend modes (e.g., homoerotic poetry mixing circumvention and stridency).
Ambiguity Versus Ambivalence In Religious Practice
- Kruijtzer distinguishes ambiguity (expressions open to multiple readings) from ambivalence (community or individual mixed attitudes).
- He uses artists' lives and poetry to show communities held competing pulls toward strict and flexible interpretations of divine law.
