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A Taste of Honey: Sexuality and Erotology in Islam
Taste of Honey provides a scholarly exposition on the prominent place that sexuality and erotology enjoyed in traditional Islam. The book is divided into two parts; part one presents a critical examination of sexual ethics and part two consists of a concise treatise on the art of seduction and lovemaking. The central aim of the book argues that Islam is a sexually enlightened religion which teaches that sensuality should not be devoid of spirituality. The book also argues that the loss of sacred sensuality afflicting modern society can be reclaimed by a revival of the classic erotological tradition. Drawing upon the Qur'an, Hadith and traditional erotological literature, the book follows the style and composition of classic Eastern and Afro-Arab love texts like the Kama Sutra and Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuti's erotic treatises. A Taste of Honey is a thought-provoking work on a highly sensitive, yet extremely important subject.
337 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2015
71 people are currently reading
1227 people want to read
About the author
Habeeb Akande
9 books163 followersHabeeb Akande is a British-Nigerian sex expert, historian and erotologist. He is a bestselling author of seven published books on sexual pleasure and African history.
His main research interest include erotology. and female pleasure in Islam and African cultures. As a public speaker, sexologist, and cross-cultural sex educator, Habeeb carries out workshops on the clitoris, kunyaza, and female ejaculation at international conferences and leading universities. He featured in the BBC documentary, The Orgasm Gap (2020), which explored teaching female pleasure in Rwanda and the UK.
BBC described him as the "man who is finding ways to close the gender pleasure gap outside of the classroom."
He is also a chartered accountant by profession and former student of Islamic law at al-Azhar University in Egypt.
His main research interest include erotology. and female pleasure in Islam and African cultures. As a public speaker, sexologist, and cross-cultural sex educator, Habeeb carries out workshops on the clitoris, kunyaza, and female ejaculation at international conferences and leading universities. He featured in the BBC documentary, The Orgasm Gap (2020), which explored teaching female pleasure in Rwanda and the UK.
BBC described him as the "man who is finding ways to close the gender pleasure gap outside of the classroom."
He is also a chartered accountant by profession and former student of Islamic law at al-Azhar University in Egypt.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 15, 2016
A Taste of Honey is a well-researched manual for the benefit of the novice and the somewhat knowledgeable on delicate matters. Its Author, Habeeb Akande, is an Historian and an Erotologist.
So what is Erotology? Erotology is the study and description of sexual love and lovemaking. I have to define it because I have been asked before what it meant. Therefore, it’s not a well-known word. Early Muslim Erotologists date back to the 9th century according to the book. From Akande’s researches, we see that fictitious sex stories aren’t new for the people that keep insisting that fiction is bidat in Islam. Early Erotologists had stories about sex and included all gender orientations but to not encourage readers in matters strictly forbidden by Sacred Law. It was rather for moral and educational purposes.
In the introduction of the book, Akande quoted Tunisian sociologist Abdelwahab Bouhdiba who said in his book Sexuality in Islam, “It is a pious duty for a good Muslim to help all other members of the Ummah (Muslim community) to become aware of the art of pleasure, to use it consciously, to benefit from it, in a word, to assume their bodies. The techniques of sexual pleasure must be widely spread among the faithful so that the community of Allah does not suffer depression or sorrow. Being a Muslim means knowing how to be happy and cheerful and to know that Allah’s purpose is achieved through the beautiful, not through the ugly, through pleasure, not through contrition.”
That right there is everything because it helps be me even more confident about the path of work I have chosen myself; raise awareness on sexual education in the ummah. Had I read Akande’s book four years ago, I might have not been an anonymous writer after all. So no offense to non-Muslims but the Victorian era is what brought prudery and taboo concepts to Islam. And Habeeb Akande touches on that too. And for the record, haya (modesty) is one thing and prudery is another.
Now, where do I start to tell you about this intriguing book? For a start, it’s a tease because impatience gets the best of you because you want to get to the juicy part; ‘action’ tips. Well, at least for me it was nail-biting. The book is divided in two parts; part one deals with definitions and sexual ethics whilst part two is where it really picks up. While I was tempted to skim and skip some parts, I didn’t. When it comes to matters that I’m very interested in, I make sure to read every line of the book for fear to miss an important detail. As a matter of fact, I read this book from cover to cover and wrote notes all over it! It’s a thing I picked with my step mother the thorough physician who instilled in me sexual education alhamdullilah.
Habeeb Akande’s book was very intriguing from the first page to the last page masha’Allah. I have always known that intimacy was divine based on just the tidbits of Quranic and the Sunnah sources I came across. The Sahabas were not afraid to ask about ‘honey’. Honey is perhaps the solution to all problems.
Oh yea, “Indeed, honey (usaylah) is sexual intercourse.” (Ibn Kathir narrated from prophetic tradition). This is just a tip of the iceberg about this well-wrought researched educational and scholarly book Akande has put together. Akande touches on many issues I bring up in my fiction stories; skin color, faith, love, carnal love, etc.
To continue, A Taste of Honey has a lot scriptures, hadiths, African proverbs, verses of poems and anecdotes. While many of scriptures weren’t new to me, the rest of the groups were refreshing and jaw dropping. Indeed, we could say that some were crude, a little raunchy, and very funny. In other words, the classical Arabs didn’t mince their words and it’s very exhilarating to read their truthful words. I mean, sometimes you just can’t sanitize certain things. You just have to say them how it is and they did!
Drawing from both secular and religious sources, at times A Taste of Honey feels like a compilation but where Islamic sources are lacking to prove his point, Habeeb Akande fills in with an expert knowledge in the matter of lovemaking. In my opinion, A Taste of Honey is mainly geared towards men and their need to be better men to women even if it also addresses both men and women in some parts. The book also re-hatched the much discussed subject of who between men and women have the strongest sexual drive. Furthermore, it brings up differences and nuances on certain concepts. For instance, why female pleasure insatiability is different from the actual female sex drive. To get your answer or draw your own conclusions, you will have to read to find out because I personally found some subjects open to discussions.
By now, if anybody thinks that Islam is a prude religion is making a big mistake. The Prophet (sallallahu aleihi wassalam), his Sahabas (may Allah be pleased with them), early Arabs, and the Ummah across the board were and is a loving and sexually enlightened people. In this light, A Taste of Honey is a must read. A revival is already in motion and we need to keep it up.
To end, sex is not dirty. Au contraire, it elevates the soul. Keeping it lovely, simple and enjoyable within halal boundaries is the key and what you should take away from A Taste of Honey.
So what is Erotology? Erotology is the study and description of sexual love and lovemaking. I have to define it because I have been asked before what it meant. Therefore, it’s not a well-known word. Early Muslim Erotologists date back to the 9th century according to the book. From Akande’s researches, we see that fictitious sex stories aren’t new for the people that keep insisting that fiction is bidat in Islam. Early Erotologists had stories about sex and included all gender orientations but to not encourage readers in matters strictly forbidden by Sacred Law. It was rather for moral and educational purposes.
In the introduction of the book, Akande quoted Tunisian sociologist Abdelwahab Bouhdiba who said in his book Sexuality in Islam, “It is a pious duty for a good Muslim to help all other members of the Ummah (Muslim community) to become aware of the art of pleasure, to use it consciously, to benefit from it, in a word, to assume their bodies. The techniques of sexual pleasure must be widely spread among the faithful so that the community of Allah does not suffer depression or sorrow. Being a Muslim means knowing how to be happy and cheerful and to know that Allah’s purpose is achieved through the beautiful, not through the ugly, through pleasure, not through contrition.”
That right there is everything because it helps be me even more confident about the path of work I have chosen myself; raise awareness on sexual education in the ummah. Had I read Akande’s book four years ago, I might have not been an anonymous writer after all. So no offense to non-Muslims but the Victorian era is what brought prudery and taboo concepts to Islam. And Habeeb Akande touches on that too. And for the record, haya (modesty) is one thing and prudery is another.
Now, where do I start to tell you about this intriguing book? For a start, it’s a tease because impatience gets the best of you because you want to get to the juicy part; ‘action’ tips. Well, at least for me it was nail-biting. The book is divided in two parts; part one deals with definitions and sexual ethics whilst part two is where it really picks up. While I was tempted to skim and skip some parts, I didn’t. When it comes to matters that I’m very interested in, I make sure to read every line of the book for fear to miss an important detail. As a matter of fact, I read this book from cover to cover and wrote notes all over it! It’s a thing I picked with my step mother the thorough physician who instilled in me sexual education alhamdullilah.
Habeeb Akande’s book was very intriguing from the first page to the last page masha’Allah. I have always known that intimacy was divine based on just the tidbits of Quranic and the Sunnah sources I came across. The Sahabas were not afraid to ask about ‘honey’. Honey is perhaps the solution to all problems.
Oh yea, “Indeed, honey (usaylah) is sexual intercourse.” (Ibn Kathir narrated from prophetic tradition). This is just a tip of the iceberg about this well-wrought researched educational and scholarly book Akande has put together. Akande touches on many issues I bring up in my fiction stories; skin color, faith, love, carnal love, etc.
To continue, A Taste of Honey has a lot scriptures, hadiths, African proverbs, verses of poems and anecdotes. While many of scriptures weren’t new to me, the rest of the groups were refreshing and jaw dropping. Indeed, we could say that some were crude, a little raunchy, and very funny. In other words, the classical Arabs didn’t mince their words and it’s very exhilarating to read their truthful words. I mean, sometimes you just can’t sanitize certain things. You just have to say them how it is and they did!
Drawing from both secular and religious sources, at times A Taste of Honey feels like a compilation but where Islamic sources are lacking to prove his point, Habeeb Akande fills in with an expert knowledge in the matter of lovemaking. In my opinion, A Taste of Honey is mainly geared towards men and their need to be better men to women even if it also addresses both men and women in some parts. The book also re-hatched the much discussed subject of who between men and women have the strongest sexual drive. Furthermore, it brings up differences and nuances on certain concepts. For instance, why female pleasure insatiability is different from the actual female sex drive. To get your answer or draw your own conclusions, you will have to read to find out because I personally found some subjects open to discussions.
By now, if anybody thinks that Islam is a prude religion is making a big mistake. The Prophet (sallallahu aleihi wassalam), his Sahabas (may Allah be pleased with them), early Arabs, and the Ummah across the board were and is a loving and sexually enlightened people. In this light, A Taste of Honey is a must read. A revival is already in motion and we need to keep it up.
To end, sex is not dirty. Au contraire, it elevates the soul. Keeping it lovely, simple and enjoyable within halal boundaries is the key and what you should take away from A Taste of Honey.
October 22, 2022
This book is about Muslim identified scholars' ideas of sexuality, not sexuality in Islam. You can find many resources by Muslim scholars good and bad. There are many ideas that contradict the Islamic perspective in this book. Some cited hadith are weak or even fabricated. The author included all resources without eliminating inappropriate ones and he did not include any clarification, comment, support, or criticism of them.
If you are looking for a book to learn about the fiqh and Islamic perspective on sexuality and apply to your life, this book is not for you. It would be very hard to differentiate between beneficial and harmful ideas. However, if you want to know everything said about sexuality including rumors and gossips or read some references in English and do your own research, you will find many references in this book.
If you are looking for a book to learn about the fiqh and Islamic perspective on sexuality and apply to your life, this book is not for you. It would be very hard to differentiate between beneficial and harmful ideas. However, if you want to know everything said about sexuality including rumors and gossips or read some references in English and do your own research, you will find many references in this book.
September 25, 2021
This is a very poorly researched book. After looking at a few of the research articles the author mentions, It seems like he only uses portions of research that support his statements and excludes findings that go against it.
It is also just a poorly written book. Some of the text has nothing to do with the headers they belong to. There is rambling about points that are straightforward and no explanation for complicated text. 0/10.
It is also just a poorly written book. Some of the text has nothing to do with the headers they belong to. There is rambling about points that are straightforward and no explanation for complicated text. 0/10.
May 14, 2017
Muslims should be 5 star lovers who educate themselves about Islamic injunctions concerning sex and they should also drop their Victorian-style inhibitions about the bedroom while they are at it; in a nutshell that is the message of A Taste of Honey. It is a well-researched (I wouldn't say brilliantly) book that presents various traditions from the Islamic literature that may shock the more Puritanical Muslims. The general thesis is that of showing that religious Muslims should celebrate the pleasures of the bedroom in an unashamed and enlightened manner. Akande's book flies in the face of all the stereotypes and cultural conventions which surround Islam and sexual behaviour. The study manages to tread the fine line between Puritanical Islamic conservatism and overly liberal Islamic modernism. While it is an engaging work, the study does fall short in several aspects. It is structured in a way which seems like an extended literature review and while the start of the book excites interest, it is a bit of a drag as the book goes on. There are a lot of sub-sections which tend to interrupt the flow of the work. At times, Akande leaves his main thesis completely. For example, there is a whole chapter on massage which - while no doubt interesting - does not contain much in the way of Islamic traditions to support this as an element of Muslim love-making. The writing is a little bit dry and generally the thesis is not developed enough. Nonetheless, given the wealth of material amassed and the professional, if a little dry, approach, not to mind the sheer originality, a further edition of this book could really improve on what is a generally fascinating read.
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November 25, 2021I would like to know more about sexuality and Erotology in islam
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March 21, 2022Good book
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews