" And tell the believing women to subdue their eyes, and maintain their chastity. They shall not reveal any parts of their bodies, except that which is necessary. They shall cover their chests, and shall not relax this code in the presence of other than their husbands, their fathers, the fathers of their husbands, their sons, the sons of their husbands, their brothers, the sons of their brothers, the sons of their sisters, other women, the male servants or employees who lack the defining skills of men (or, alternatively: who lack male desires etc.) , or the children who have not reached puberty. [...........] " (Surah 24:31) [by the way: In other verses men are adviced to subdue their eyes and maintain their chastity, as well. Islam does not oppress women]
In this context, the phrase "servants who lack the defining skills of men" or "who lack male desires" is quite interesting. Which "male borns" who were not related to them were allowed to see the most private parts of women ? In modern Qur`an interpretation we will quite often find references to "old men who lost their drive" or even "servants who would not act according to their drive because of fear of their master". How strange, should one advice women to show their private parts in front of unrelated men, just because they are old or in fear? Would this be in any way reasonable? Early scholars were quite sure about the meaning of the above mentioned phrase. They clearly attributed it to the mukhannathun, the male to female transgenders.
Ibn `Abd al-Barr said, probably in reference to the two types of mukhannath also mentioned by An-Nawawi : "The mukhannath is not only the one who is known to be promiscuous. The mukhannath is (also?) the one who looks so much like a woman physically that he resembles women in his softness, speech, appearance, accent and thinking. If he is like this, he would have no desire for women and he would not notice anything about them. This is one of those who have no interest in women who were permitted to enter upon women." (Al-Mughni, 7/463; al Sharh al Kabeer `ala Matan al Muqni �, 7/347 - 348)
And Ibn Qudaamah mentioned : "[...] or a mukhannath who feels no desire (towards women) , the ruling that applies to such a "man" is the same as the ruling that applies to close relatives (mahram) regarding looking at women, because Allah says (the scholar cites Surah 24:31)."
And also Ibn `Abbaas said, regarding the phrase from Surah 24:31,: "This is the one of whom women do not feel shy. This is the mukhannath who is without male potence."
Early muslims agreed on the fact that the mukhannatheen were those who could transcend the sacred boundaries of the two gender realms, they could walk in between, entering the "queendom" of sacred womanhood like a close relative or a fellow woman could do. Sometimes there was a case of a "fake mukhannath" or a "mukhannath" who could still have a "drive for women", as it is mentioned by Ibn `Abd al-Barr (refering to a well known report by A`isha, the Prophet`s wife): "Do you not see that the Prophet (s.a.s.) did not prevent that mukhannath from entering upon his wives [whose realm was even more sacred than that of ordinary women] at first, but when he heard him describing the daughter of Ghaylaan and realized that he knew about women, he commanded that he should be kept away."
However, in the regular case of a male to female transgender not openly declaring any leanings towards women, the mukhannathun were allowed by Allah and his noble Prophet to enter freely the "harem".
That way they fulfilled an important social function; they served as servants or employees in the houses of noble muslims and were an important link between the sacred realm of women and the profane realm of men. Indeed, they were the guardians of the "harem"! The reports from earlier times show us that they were the onlyones who could move freely in every area. They could enter the "harem" as well as the "men only" parts of the mosque. Muhammad (s.a.s.) had given them a very special position in society, elevating them to a special freedom. However, because of the harmonious and just nature of the Islamic Law they had to give a price for this; no one is favoured before God, neither male man, nor female woman, nor male born woman (mukhannath): The mukhannathun were not supposed to have families, a major self-defining term in muslim culture, and there were certain restrictions regarding them in traditional law etc.
But still, their existence was crucial in early muslim society. E.g. they were the perfect servants to arrange marriages, being messengers between the worlds of men and women. They were always seen as ideal employees, overlooking all household affairs with the seriousness that their lack of a family gave them.
Unfortunately, male mistrust arose after the death of noble Prophet Muhammad (s.a.s.). The fear from "fake mukhannathun" who could "hurt the virtue of women" was so strong that a mukhannath had to be castrated to be a loyal household servant. In the 8th century A.C. the Khalifah Sulayman ordered the castration of all the mukhannathun of Makkah, although Muhammad (s.a.s.) did severely speak against "creating eunuchs"!
However, some of the mukhannathun obviously accepted castration as some kind of a "sex change operation", taking from them the male parts that they never wanted (that is how today`s Indian and Pakistani hijras understand "becoming an eunuch", too)
If accepted or not, even after the "importation" of castration the mukhannathun were still respected . Their fame of being "guardians of sacred boundaries" even gave them the privilege to guard not only the "harem" of women, but also the most sacred "harem" in Makkah and the one in Madinah. From the 12th century on it is reported that the "eunuchs" were the dignified guardians of the grave of the noble Prophet Muhammad, a custom that held on until the end of the Ottoman rule over the two sacred cities. Some sources indicate a highly organized society of "mukhannath eunuch guards" existing in Makkah and Madinah in the past, a society that had close "kinship ties" with the hijra - society in India and which probably included transgenders and intersexuals from all over the muslim world.
Sadly, the high place of the mukhannathun in muslim society did not survive the colonial times. Only in partly independent muslim principalities like the ones of Hyderabad or Oudh (Lucknow) in India their dignity could be kept to a certain degree.
In the name of the noble Prophet Muhammad who respected transgenders, I ask the muslim ummah to remember the high esteem in which they once held us, and I ask my transgendered brothers and sisters in Islam to reclaim and reenact the heritage that Allah has given but which was unjustly taken away from us!