[2] El-Rouayheb's thesis is that the male same sex desires expressed in the pre-modern Arab-Islamic world are not homosexuality in the modern, Western sense.

"[2] Yip concluded that "There is no doubt that El-Rouayheb has constructed a convincing case that the western-centric conception of homosexuality did not exist in the Arab-Islamic Middle East during the period under study.

"[2] Abraham Ibrahim of Monash University argued that the work experiences difficulty in defining what is meant by "homosexuality",[11] with a contributing factor being the requirement "to constantly handle contradictory evidence and analysis.

[3] Sabine Schmidtke of the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies wrote that each chapter is "dense" and "depicting a different strand relevant to perceptions of same-sex love among the culture of the male urban elite of the time.

"[13] The first chapter, "Pederasts and Pathics,"[7] stated that anal penetration has historically been viewed in terms of revenge, domination, hostility, and/or aggression from one party or another with the receptive partner losing masculinity by taking a "female" role, and therefore being dishonored or defeated, while the active partner did not receive these negative consequences.

"[2] Thomas Eich, author of a book review for Die Welt des Islams, argued that the work, "a major contribution to the history of homosexuality in the Middle East," "is a big step forward in the analysis of Middle Eastern literature and has to be highly recommended to anyone working in the field of gender studies and Islam.

"[18] Eich argued that the attitudes towards homosexuality in the Middle East changed due to both external and internal factors.

[18] Vern L. Bullough of the State University of New York wrote that "I highly recommend the book for helping us to understand better the complexity of homosexuality.

[16] Wozniak concluded that "The book is well written, rich in detail, elegantly produced, but ultimately only descriptive in nature.

"[16] Andrew K. T. Yip of Nottingham Trent University argued that the message, paraphrased by Yip as "No matter how tempting it is to universalize, we must exercise humility and caution; and take historical and cultural specificities seriously in our exploration of homosexuality, and indeed human sexuality", "is of great importance" "from a cross-cultural perspective particularly".

[10] Yip concluded that the book is "well-crafted and lucidly written",[19] and that the author "is to be congratulated for having done a commendable job" despite the fact that some readers may perceive his argument to be "old hat".