1. In the name of God, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful
Position Paper on Female Genital Mutilation/Female Circumcision Website Index...MWL Home PageAbout MWLMWL PublicationsNews and AnalysisMWL Speeches and PresentationsRecommended ReadingPast ActivitiesMWL ForumMessage BoardMWL ResourcesRelated SitesMWL StoreMWL Chat Room
Until recently, the majority of the world's over one billion Muslims had scarcely heard of female genital cutting (also known as female circumcision and female genital mutilation (FGM)). When the subject began to receive international media attention, many Muslims responded with disgust, easily dismissing any possible connection between this practice and the religion of Islam.
Enhanced awareness of the cultural significance of FGM in some Muslim countries requires a more detailed look at the relationship of FGM to Islam. In July, 1997 the Egyptian government overturned a ban on the practice of FGM. This event was celebrated by some Muslim figures, particularly Sheikh Youssef al-Badri, an outspoken proponent of the circumcision of Muslim women. Later the ban was reinstated, an act celebrated now by feminists and under assault by a few Muslim activists, again, led by Sheikh al-Badri. For the general public, with only limited exposure to Muslims and Islam, the natural conclusion would be that the practice of FGM must somehow be part of the faith, since those who seem to be the most religious are the most ardent supporters. Unfortunately , this simply represents how the sexuality of women is used, under whatever philosophy or world-view, to perpetuate their subjugation.
Female genital cutting is practiced by Muslims and non-Muslims alike residing mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa in countries that include but are not limited to Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Chad. A more minor form of the procedure is also performed in some parts of the Middle East and South Asia. Degrees of mutilation exist ranging from excision of the hood of the clitoris or clitoris itself to complete infibulation which involves removal of the clitoris, labia minora and labia majora, leaving a small opening for the passage of urine and menstrual blood. As expected, normal sexual intercourse is not possible without a corrective procedure and childbirth frequently involves severe trauma that can result in life-threatening hemorrhage. Other complications include chronic urinary tract and other infections, infertility, psychological trauma, sexual dysfunction, menstrual problems and several other negative medical and emotional outcomes. The procedure is performed on girls between the ages of infancy and pre-adolescence and is either carried out by a physician, midwife or designated woman from the community. Lack of sterile technique, use of the same instruments on more than one child, and lack of anesthesia all contribute to the complication rate which can even include infection with HIV. Medicalizing FGM by performing it in hospitals with appropriate surgical technique will not eliminate all of the complications associated with this practice and therefore cannot legitimately be considered as a solution that reduces the health risks. Current estimates by the World Health Organization state that over 100 million women and girls have been affected by some form of genital cutting.
This practice dates to the time of the pharoahs in Egypt and is perpetuated in a given community for a variety of reasons. When the majority of women have been circumcised, those who are not are considered abnormal by themselves or their families. This has tremendous significance in terms of the desirability of a young woman for marriage which provides a major means for achieving economic strength and independence; thus, being unsuitable for marriage further worsens a woman's ability to prosper. In addition, circumcision is believed to ensure cleanliness, chastity and to minimize the sexual appetite of women and thus reduce the likelihood that they will bring shame on themselves or their families through sexual indiscretions. The guarantee of a young woman's purity further enhances her attractiveness to potential suitors. Religious leaders in many of the communities that practice FGM also support the custom, linking the moral benefits listed above to religion; therefore, a devoted believer who wants to carry out religious duties to her or his utmost is convinced that FGM is associated with righteousness and purity, both valued by all religions, including Islam.
The circumcision of girls, in any form, predated Islam by many centuries. It was practiced in some parts of Arabia at the time of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and was evidently a custom of the time that may have been a practice of some but not all of the local tribes. As a pre-established tradition, therefore, female circumcision was not introduced by the Prophet to the early Muslim community. Several sayings (hadith) of the Prophet indicate that it may have been the norm for women to be circumcised (see al-Muwatta of Imam Malik) but the extent of circumcision, excision or mutilation is not specified. In addition, the existence of female circumcision in the community does not necessarily mean that it was to be recommended or made obligatory. Indeed, it is possible to argue that any form of female genital cutting actually violates very basic precepts in Islam.
The Qur'an, as a text providing mainly general guidelines (with some injunctions or laws spelled out specifically) does not address the issue of circumcision of either males or females. The Qur'an does however refer to the sexual relationship in marriage as one of mutual satisfaction that is considered a mercy from Allah (swt):
It is lawful for you to go in unto your wives during the night preceding the (day's) fast: they are as a garment for you and you are as a garment for them (2:187)...and He has put love and mercy between you (30:21)
Several sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) highlight the importance of giving and deriving pleasure from intimacy between a husband and wife. This is clear from sayings that informed the community regarding the types of sexual behavior that were considered lawful and from others that addressed the sexual needs of men and women. Clearly, any act that interferes with a fulfilling sexual relationship contradicts the essence of Islam based both on Qur'an and hadith.
In addition, the argument for ensuring chastity with a physically debilitating procedure blatantly violates the premise of individual accountability exemplified in the Qur'an (17:15, see below). Sadly, the notion that honor and shame fall so heavily on the shoulders of the women of any given family is pervasive throughout the Muslim world, including those countries where FGM is not known. As a result of patriarchal influences, a woman's sexuality is something that does not belong to her, but rather is ultimately controlled by the dominant male of her family (father, elder brother, husband, etc.) Yet, again, the Qur'an explicitly tells Muslims that no one can bear the burden of another with respect to sin, dishonor, or shame:
Whoever chooses to follow the right path, follows it but for his own good; and whoever goes astray, goes but astray to his own hurt; and no bearer of burdens shall be made to bear another's burden (17:15)...and if one weighed down by his load calls upon (another) to help him carry it, nothing thereof may be carried (by that other), even if it be one's near of kin (35:18)
Those who advocate for FGM from an Islamic perspective commonly quote the following hadith to argue that it is required as part of the Sunnah or Tradition of the Prophet:
Um Atiyyat al-Ansariyyah said: A woman used to perform circumcision in Medina. The Prophet (pbuh) said to her: Do not cut too severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband.
This is known to be a "weak" hadith in that it does not meet the strict criteria to be considered unquestionable (classified as mursal, i.e. missing a link in the chain of transmitters in that none was among the original Companions of the Prophet.) In addtion, it is found in only one of the six undisputed, authentic hadith collections, that is in the Sunan of Abu Dawud (Chapter 1888). According to Sayyid Sabiq, renowned scholar and author of Fiqh-us-Sunnah, all hadiths concerning female circumcision are non-authentic.
Even if the words attributed to the Prophet were actually spoken by him, an analysis of the text itself reveals that he is making a statement that does not translate into an injunction for circumcision. Interestingly, many leading scholars of the four major Sunni schools of thought considered female circumcision to be at least recommended if not required. Yet we cannot ascertain from the hadith what type of circumcision was being performed or even which body part was being discussed. The scholars later specified in general terms that only a small piece of skin (the clitoris or its hood, presumably, or perhaps part of the labia minora) the size of a "cock's comb" (the small appendage that sits atop the head of a rooster) was to be removed. At the very least then, one can say that infibulation goes far beyond the description given here and so this hadith cannot be used to justify the more severe forms of mutilation. If a Muslim truly believes that female circumcision is part of the Sunnah, she or he wouldn't have enough detailed specifications to know how to carry out the procedure since the terms as mentioned above are so vague.
Despite the opinion of the scholars, female circumcision never became widespread among Muslims around the world and is essentially non-existent among the native inhabitants of Saudi Arabia and many other Muslim countries today. In contrast, male circumcision is universally practiced among Muslims; this is considered the continuation of a practice enjoined upon Abraham and his followers and is explicitly mentioned in several well-known sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
Some proponents of female circumcision argue that removing the clitoral hood (the anatomical equivalent of the foreskin of the penis) can enhance a woman's sexual experience which would not violate her rights to sexual fulfillment. Yet, it is practically impossible when examining the genitals of a young girl (and especially an infant), to distinguish between the hood and the clitoris itself. Also an exposed clitoris that is stimulated due to friction from clothing would result in discomfort and pain and would not necessarily enhance a woman's ability to achieve sexual fulfillment through orgasm.
Islam is a religion that guarantees the integrity of the human being- both in body and in spirit. Female genital cutting violates that integrity, insulting Allah the Creator Whose creation needs no improvement:
Such is He who knows all that is beyond the reach of a created being's perception as well as all that can be witnessed by a creature's senses or mind: the Almighty Dispenser of Grace, Who makes excellent everything He creates (32:6-7)
It is Allah Who has made for you the earth as a resting place and the sky as a canopy, and has given you shape- and made your shapes beautiful - (40:64)
Our Sustainer! Thou hast not created (any of) this in vain (3:191)
And spend in Allah's cause and let not your own hands contribute to your own destruction and persevere in doing good: behold, Allah loves the doers of good (2:195)
Muslims are called upon by Allah (swt) to enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong. Clearly, mutilating a woman's genitalia in the name of Islam violates the most sacred tenets of our faith. Therefore, we must oppose this practice and join efforts with others who are working to educate women and men about its harmful effects. We applaud the work of Muslim leaders who challenge the view that female circumcision is required in Islam. These views have been expressed by Dr. Hassan Hathout, renowned Muslim gynecologist and scholar, and by Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi of Al-Azhar and Sheikh Abdel Ghaffer Mansour. Like many others, they urge the discontinuation of this harmful cultural tradition due to the numerous devastating consequences that result.
The Muslim Women's League strongly supports the work done by organizations and individuals who are from the countries and communities most affected by FGM. To find out more about ongoing efforts, we encourage those interested to begin by visiting the following website on the Internet: FGM Network and Message Board:
http://www.fgm.org
2. Subject discussed previously on this site:
'FGM; Femlale Genital Mutilation'
http://www.dawoodi bohras.com/cgibin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi
About marrying a Non muslim 01-08-2004 Bohras and Reform
Bohri - Sunni Marriage issues... 12-09-2003 Bohras and Reform
Example of Bohra Muslim women, Modi said--- 09-26-2003 Bohras and Reform
mutilation 08-30-2003 Bohras and Reform
http://www.yahweh.com 08-23-2003 Bohras and Reform
Kaaba - Once a Hindu Temple 07-27-2003 Bohras and Reform
GAY Acceptance in Progressive Dawoodi Bohras 05-06-2003 Bohras and Reform
Bush's war of terror on innocent Iraqis 04-11-2003 Bohras and Reform
separation of men and women in the masjid 04-01-2003 Bohras and Reform
Progressive Muslim Youth .. an Oxymoron? 11-22-2002 Bohras and Reform
"The lion shall lay down with the lamb." 10-27-2002 Bohras and Reform
Where do they get these Amil Sahebs 09-19-2002 Bohras and Reform
Another Intersting article on FGM (Is female circumcision allowed in Islam? ) 08-31-2002 Bohras and Reform
News from Udaipur-- 08-30-2002 Bohras and Reform
Only we are true muslims 08-17-2002 Bohras and Reform
Issue of cross-marriage 08-02-2002 Bohras and Reform
The marriage system--the killer of love--the cage 05-23-2002 Bohras and Reform
Touching a na-mehram 05-14-2002 Bohras and Reform
What is true ibaadat? 05-13-2002 Bohras and Reform
Why are the pictures of women blurred out ? 05-09-2002 Bohras and Reform
RAGE OF BOHRI WOMEN 04-10-2002 Bohras and Reform
SLAVERY & ISLAM 01-30-2002 Bohras and Reform
Ismaili, Bohra, and Twelver conception of Imamat 01-28-2002 Bohras and Reform
sila fitra 12-20-2001 Bohras and Reform
Female Genital Mutilation now a crime in Kenya - what will the Kotharis do now? 12-11-2001 Bohras and Reform
nikkah without misaq 11-11-2001 Bohras and Reform
Misaq - who's twisting facts 09-10-2001 Bohras and Reform
SAIFUDDIN AND BURHANUDDIN'S ATROCITIES (Excerpts from the previous thread) 08-15-2001 Bohras and Reform
Women circumcision 07-12-2001 Bohras and Reform
Artists in our community 07-11-2001 Bohras and Reform
Bohra and Ithna Asharis Shiahs 07-03-2001 Bohras and Reform
New book 05-29-2001 Bohras and Reform
Bohras belief regarding Abu Bakr, 'Umar and 'Uthman 05-22-2001 Bohras and Reform
Worth reading! 05-09-2001 Bohras and Reform
FEMALE CIRCUMCISION 04-18-2001 Bohras and Reform
marrying a non muslim 03-27-2001 Bohras and Reform
Wedding rules in the Bohra Community 02-27-2001 Bohras and Reform
FGM in the bohra community 02-19-2001 Bohras and Reform
Position Paper on FGM/Female Circumcision 01-19-2001 Bohras and Reform
Five Requests 01-19-2001 Bohras and Reform
Islam the Great 01-12-2001 Bohras and Reform
3. Another interesting Article and a eye opner on FGM.
The link is :
http://www.thefridaytimes.com/news10.htm
Most Pakistanis would be shocked to know that that their brethren-in-faith circumcise their daughters as duty under Islam. Some Muslim countries like Egypt, Kenya, Senegal, where this practice is rife, have reportedly banned the circumcision of women, but it is still carried out in areas not monitored by the state agencies. As a result, the total number of girls circumcised and those at risk has not gone down. The difficulty faced in some Muslim states is that the official fiqh makes it either ‘obligatory’ or ‘permitted’. Ten million women in Africa and the Middle East are at risk. The countries where the practice is observed are: Kenya, Nigeria, Mali, Upper Volta, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Mozambique, Sudan and Southern Algeria in Africa; and the two Yemens, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Jordan in the Middle East. The followers are not exclusively Muslim. Coptic Christians, Catholics and Protestants in these countries also circumcise their women.
Types of female circumcision: There is three types of female circumcision: sunna circumcision (Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Mauritania, Nigeria, Oman Yemen, Saudi Arabia, UAE); infibulation or removal of clitoris and scraping of labia (Sudan); Pharaonic circumcision (Somalia and wherever the Somalians are located, in Southern Egypt, Red Sea coast, Djibouti). The last named is the most cruel of the three, involving removal of clitoris and labia and the sewing of the aperture as a kind of lock. Respected President of International Islamic University, Islamabad, Dr Hasan al-Shafie, in a rejoinder sent to the author of this article (TFT 9 August 2002), observed: ‘At times – for instance when Ahmed quotes from Dr. Azzah Karam on the issue of female circumcision – he seems to ridicule, which is unbecoming of any serious scholarly undertaking. He concurs to her view, that infibulation has not been mentioned in the Qur’an as if Qur’an were the only source of Shariah. Moreover, that the issue of infibulation has been left to the discretion of the Egyptian society and does not enjoy any religious obligation. How can she (Karam) be ignorant of the many articles published in Egyptian newspapers by Dr. Muhammad Saleem al-Awwa who has very categorical stated that infibulation is merely a habit and does not carry a religious mandate.’
I have to plead guilty to the charge of not knowing the subject. I had simply opined in my earlier article that female circumcision should have been discouraged and eliminated by the ulema of Egypt because there is no injunction in the Quran requiring Muslims to circumcise their daughters. It was a naïve assumption on my part. I discovered upon deeper investigation that the evil of female circumcision has persisted because of religious sanction. I am now aware that many scholars of Egypt have written to condemn the evil practice, including Dr Muhammad Saleem al-Awwa. A Norwegian Muslim, Anne Sofie Roald, has brought out the details of the practice in her book Women in Islam: the Western Experience. She notes that during the 1994 Habitat Conference in Cairo the subject of female circumcision had become explosive among the participants as the CNN reported the death of two Egyptian girls during the operation of genital-cutting performed on them. The Grand Mufti of Egypt, Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi in 1994 made an official statement in which he challenged the belief that there were any authentic (sahih) hadiths or even good (hasan) hadiths which permitted female circumcision or make it compulsory. But Roald concludes; ‘This statement is interesting as many Sheikhs l-Azhar, the Highest Islamic authority in Egypt, have made fatwas in favour of compulsory female circumcision’.
An African ritual: Female circumcision is practised by the Muslims of Indonesia and Malaysia too. At least one community in India and Pakistan, the Bohras, also practise it, although it may have dwindled with the passage of time. It is likely that communities originating in Africa have retained an ancient ritual based on the fear of female sexuality. The pharaohs were all circumcised, as has been discovered upon examination of their mummies. It develops that while female circumcision (khitan) is acceptable to African Muslims the more cruel and mutilating form called infibulation is not, even though Sudan and Somalia still have strong evidence of it. The wife of the spiritual ruler of Sudan Hasan al-Turabie, Wisal, herself from the family of the Mahdi, spearheads the campaign against infibulation (not female circumcision) but fears that the custom may a long time to disappear. Most knowledgeable persons are agreed that foreign pressure would not remove this evil practice; only a movement of reform from within the Muslim society might end it. For instance, the Somali citizens of Sweden have decided to give up infibulation, while retaining what is known as sunna circumcision, after discussing the problem within the Islamic tradition and discourse. Western criticism of the practice, far from being helpful, will harm the trend towards reform.
The West is aware of the Muslim efforts to eradicate the curse of female genital mutilation. Egyptian scholar Muhammad al-Ghazzali (d. 1996) is reported to have held the view that female circumcision is an evil practice for which there is no evidence of the Prophet PBUH practising on his own daughters, thus indicating that this is not an Islamic custom. It is obvious that the matter cannot be classified as an Islamic issue since not all Muslims regard it as sanctioned. According to Muslim scholarly sources the schools of Islamic fiqh are divided over the issue. The Hanafi and Maliki schools think that while male circumcision was sunna, female circumcision was makrama (noble). The Hanbali school also thinks on the same lines, but the hadith on which these points of view are based is weak. The Shafei school of fiqh however regards both male and female circumcision as obligatory. Here the methodology is that reliance is made on authentic hadiths decreeing circumcision in general. There are certain variations of practice which must be kept in mind. The Maliki law encourages female circumcision. Sudan, under Maliki law practises female circumcision, but Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, under the same law, do not. More surprisingly, Egypt and Yemen are the only Shafei-law states that practise female circumcision; in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, under the same law, the practice is unknown. That the Shafei fiqh is responsible for the spread of the practice is proved by the fact that Malaysia and Indonesia, placed in a region where female circumcision is unknown, do practise because of the domination of the fiqh.
For and against opinion: When the Grand Mufti of Egypt issued his fatwa against female circumcision in 1994, there was a conservative reaction to it. Abu al-Ashbal al-Zuhairi, a salafi scholar of Egypt responded in 1996 by examining the hadiths on which female circumcision was deemed to be obligatory. Unlike other scholars, including those of the Hanbali school, who thought it acceptable (mubah), Zuhairi decided that the said hadiths actually made female circumcision obligatory. He added his own theories to the issue by saying that the intent of the circumcision was to lessen the sexual desire of the woman. He then also proposed, without much empirical proof, that women living in hot climates need circumcision because heat leads to the growth of the part needing to be circumcised, while the women living in cold climates do not need it. He presumed that women living in cold climates were possessed of low sexual desire. Zuhairi also ‘explained away’ a statement attributed to the famous Islamic scholar Hasan al-Basri (d. 782), that a contemporary of the Prophet PBUH, when invited to a feast celebrating the circumcision of a girl, declined to attend because he had not seen the practice in the time of the Prophet PBUH. Zuhairi thinks that the incident only proved that while male circumcision was to be celebrated female one was not. He also quotes hadiths from Bukhari and Tirmizi and the Musnad to prove that the practice was obligatory under the Prophet, but not all scholars accept his reasoning.
It is interesting to note that Egyptian women belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood are divided on the issue on the basis of their background. Those who come from the urban areas reject female circumcision while those who come from the countryside even think that circumcision is an act of beautification. The salafi thinking is divided between Europe and Egypt. While the salafi in Egypt thinks that circumcision lessens desire the one in Europe thinks that it actually enhances it. Outside of Egypt and Sudan, the Arabs rarely think that female circumcision is an Islamic ritual. In Egypt the Islamists support female circumcision in their opposition to the Egyptian government on the basis of the claim that the government was kowtowing to the West by banning the ritual. Many reform-minded Arabs believe that the right way to encourage morality was Islamic upbringing and not sexually inhibiting female circumcision.
An observable trend in the Arab world is to avoid discussing the subject of female circumcision because of the potential in to become explosive. Perhaps this is not the right attitude. It is better if the issue is not treated as a human rights problem by the West. Yet it is difficult to understand how one can avoid this happening if the Muslims themselves do not address it and instead declare that it is a peripheral or ‘internal’ issue which should not be raised at all. In Pakistan there are many practices generally condemned by our leading scholars and the ulema, but they go on being observed as Islamic edicts. There are many clerics who practise what is called halala, the obligatory marriage (often to the cleric himself) to a third party if the divorced couple wants to remarry. There are cases when a cleric after having promised to divorce the woman after halala has actually kept her because she preferred him over her divorced husband. Thus some clerics have acquired more than one wife. Muslims must think of reform in the light of Islamic principles and gradually come out of bad custom where it has latched on to faith.
4.
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/opinio ... ation.html
5.
http://www.path.org/programs/p-chi/fema ... lation.htm
THE BASICS: WHAT IS FGM?
http://www.fgm.org/TheBasics.html
http://www.fgmnetwork.org/
Amnesty Int'l
http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/femgen/fgm1.htm
http://www.cirp.org/library/cultural/aldeeb1/
Geographical distribution of female genital mutilation
An estimated 135 million of the world's girls and women have undergone genital mutilation, and two million girls a year are at risk of mutilation - approximately 6,000 per day. It is practised extensively in Africa and is common in some countries in the Middle East. It also occurs, mainly among immigrant communities, in parts of Asia and the Pacific, North and Latin America and Europe.
FGM is reportedly practised in more than 28 African countries (see FGM in Africa: Information by Country (ACT 77/07/97)). There are no figures to indicate how common FGM is in Asia. It has been reported among Muslim populations in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Malaysia, although very little is known about the practice in these countries. In India, a small Muslim sect, the Daudi Bohra, practise clitoridectomy.