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Arguments de-linking FGM and Islam

As the above quote suggests, the idea that FGM might be un-Islamic appears to be relatively new. The earliest fatwa clearly critical of FGM appears to be from 1984^[1] and since then there have been fatwas critical of FGM. However, most are favourable towards the practice.

An Ngram for the terms ‘fgm’, ‘female genital mutilation’ and ‘female circumcision’ shows an increasing preference for terms using ‘mutilation’ over the more anodyne 'circumcision' in English-language texts starting around 1990. This coincides with the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, which first identified female genital mutilation as a harmful traditional practice, and mandated that governments abolish it as one of several 'traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children'.^[2] Soon afterwards organisations such as the World Health Organisation (1995),^[3] the Council of Europe (1995), and UNICEF & UNFPA (1997)^[4] also issued reports - all critical of FGM.

For the first time in Islamic history, narratives critical of FGM were penetrating the Islamic world, parts of which began to feel uncomfortable about Islam's association with FGM, and have consequently sought to de-link the two by showing that FGM is un-Islamic.

The 'FGM as un-Islamic' narrative is reinforced by the fact that it is a minority of Muslims that practice FGM. Muslims who don't practice FGM generally share the objections of non-Muslims towards the practice and are, in addition, troubled by its association with Islam. Immigration to the West has till recently come from Hanafi countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey, or the Maghreb. The Hanafi is the school of fiqh which least favours FGM, merely ruling it as 'optional', and the Maghreb practices a Maliki Islam that appears to eschew FGM. These immigrant populations have effectively imported the 'FGM is un-Islamic' narrative to the West. This narrative is challenged by the rise in immigration from countries such as Indonesia and Somalia, and the Kurdish Middle East^[5], where FGM-rates are high and the practice is accepted as Islamic.

FGM (alongside other Islamic phenomena - such as jihadi terrorism) give rise to a dilemma by which telling the truth (or facts or evidence) about the practice

A dilemma arises with FGM (as with other Islamic practices - such as jihad terrorism) whereby telling the truth, or even making known facts and evidence, is likely to aggravate the problem.

In recent decades many agencies and charities have engaged themselves in the fight against FGM^[6]. These agencies face a particular challenge when interacting with individuals and populations who practice FGM: how, for example, should a campaigner for an anti-FGM charity respond to a Somali mother who asks whether FGM is Islamic?

If the charity worker tells her about the FGM hadith, and how FGM is part of the fitrah (which Qur'an 30:30 exhorts Muslims to adhere to - see FGM in the Qur'an), and how the school of fiqh which the Somali woman follows, the Shafi'i, makes FGM mandatory - then that mother will come away from that interaction more likely to have her daughter mutilated, not less.

This dilemma faces not just on-the-ground charity workers, but the whole hierarchy of institutions devoted to combating FGM. To resolve the dilemma a number of propositions have evolved to support the proposition that FGM is un-Islamic.

FGM is not required by Islam

It is correct that only the Shafi'i madhab, the second or third largest school of Sunni Islam, unarguably rule FGM to be obligatory in Islam. Some Hanbali scholars also rule FGM to be obligatory.

But critics of Dr Talib's position might point out that if FGM is a crime, 'not an obligation' is a no more appropriate response to it than it would be to murder, child sexual abuse or rape. 'Not an obligation' is far from the same thing as 'forbidden'. 'Not obligatory' acts can be 'tolerated', 'allowed', 'recommended' or 'highly recommended' as well as 'forbidden'. And acts that are 'not an obligation' can be virtuous, vicious or ethically neutral, such as (respectively) charitable giving, murder, and owning a dog. Dr Talib's first sentence ("All practices of female circumcision and mutilation are crimes and have no relationship with Islam") sets up an expectation that his conclusion fails to deliver.

There is no FGM in the Qur'an

see main article

It is correct that there is no mention of FGM in the Qur'an.

But according to traditional interpretive methodology Qur'an 30:30, by requiring one to 'adhere to the fitrah', indirectly, but ineluctably, advocates FGM (see FGM in the Qur'an). Nor is there any mention of the unquestionably Islamic practice of male circumcision in the Qur'an. Most of the practical details of how to be a Muslim come from the Sunnah (the hadith plus the sirat). The Qur'an has 91 verses commanding to follow Muhammad's example to the last detail. However the Qur'an contains virtually no detail of Muhammad's life. Muslims can only know of Muhammad's life by turning to the hadith and sirat. For example, none of the Five Pillars of Islam are explained in the Qur'an.

FGM existed before Islam

The archaeological and historical record do indeed amply demonstrate that FGM existed before Islam (see FGM before Islam).

But the premise of this argument is that if a practice existed before Islam then it can not be Islamic. Critics point out that monotheism, praying, heaven and hell, male circumcision, pilgrimage to Mecca, the veneration of the Kaaba, abstention from pork, giving to charity, interdictions on lying and murder, and much more all existed before Islam. These pre-Islamic practices became Islamic when, and because, Muhammad integrated them into the religion he was inventing.

FGM is an African practice

FGM did exist in parts of Africa before parts of it were Islamised – notably Egypt and the West coast of the Red Sea (see FGM before Islam: non-Islamic Sources).

However, the historical record shows that FGM was not just practiced in Africa before Islam in parts of the Middle East. More significantly the hadith themselves suggest that Mohammed's native tribe, the Banu Quraysh traditionally practiced FGM.

It should also be noted that:

1. Most of Africa does not practice FGM
2. It appears to have been the expansions of Islam into Africa and the Islamic slave trade that spread FGM to its current extent (which closely coincides with that of Islam)
3. about 40% of FGM takes place outside of Africa, in South Asia in particular.^[7]

It is documented that FGM was brought to Indonesia by Muslim traders and conquerors in the 13^th Century. Indonesia follows the Shaafi school (which makes FGM obligatory) and has +90% rates of FGM amongst its Muslims. FGM is much rarer amongst Indonesian non-Muslim. This suggests that FGM is more of an Islamic practice than an African one.

Christians practice FGM too

It is correct that some Christians practice FGM. Indeed about 20% of global FGM is attributable to non-Muslims, or the most part Christians.^[7]

However, Islamic scholarship rejects this argument because it implies that a practice can not be Islamic if (some or all) Christians also engage in it. This would mean that Islam's scope is restricted to that which Christians don't do.

However, these Christians nearly all live as isolated and persecuted minorities within dominant Islamic FGM-practicing cultures. Islamic FGM is a purity practice, and within FGM-practicing societies girls who are not cut are considered impure. Any contact or proximity with them, or sharing of objects will be considered as contaminating. Individuals, families and communities that do not follow the dominant culture's purity observances are perceived as gravely threatening the spiritual and religious lives of that community since, for example, a Muslim's prayers will be rendered invalid if he is inadvertently contaminated, and will continue to be invalid until he correctly purifies himself.

This means that in such Islamic communities, non-Muslims who do not follow the communities purity observances are shunned, stigmatised, discriminated against and persecuted. An example of this recently occurred in Pakistan when a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, drank from a Muslim's cup - and brought upon herself, her family and her community much violence, hatred and persecution.^[8]

Hence, non-Muslims living in such societies come under great pressure to adopt the dominant Islamic purity practices in order to minimise persecution. The Copts are Christian and make up 10 to 15% of the population of Egypt. Copts practice FGM at about a 74% (compared to 92% Muslims). Copts acknowledge that they practice FGM in order to minimise persecution. And it is Christian minorities such as the Copts who appear to be the most ready to abandon FGM when it becomes safe for them to do so.^[9]

There are however three countries where FGM appears to be practiced by Christian majorities – Ethiopia, Eritrea and Liberia.

FGM in Liberia is practiced as part of the initiation into secret women's societies. It should be noted that whilst only 12% of Liberia's population is Muslim, its marriage and kinship practices appear to be Islamic: men can have up to 4 wives; a third of all Liberian marriages are polygamous; a third of married women aged between 15-49 are in polygamous marriages, and married woman's rights to inherit property from her spouse are restricted. ^[10] These are text-book conditions for the emergence of chastity assurance practices.

Polygyny - though illegal- is also common amongst Muslils in Ethiopia and Eritrea. However, FGM in Ethiopia and Eritrea may be to a combination of historical factors: much of their history the surrounding Islamic states for centuries kept them isolated from mainstream Christianity, and they were the hubs of the Islamic slave trade, where slave girls captured in West Africa were infibulated (complete excision of the clitoris, labia minora, and most of the labia majora followed by stitching to close up most of the vagina) to guarantee their virginity and thus raise their price, in preparation for the slave markets of the Islamic Middle East. This Islamic practice was adopted by the locals, and has persisted.

The following graphs (adapted from graphs found at https://www.28toomany.org/research-resources/) combine rates of decline of FGM practice in a variety of African countries with the proportion of the population that is Muslim (in green and mauve). Note that the lower the proportion of the nation that is Muslim, the steeper rate of decline of FGM-practice.

• rates of decline of FGM in African countries with (in green and red) the proportion of the population that is Muslim
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  Somaliland

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  Sudan

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  Senegal

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  Djibouti

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  Guinea

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  Eritrea

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  Tanzania

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  Ethiopia

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  Benin

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  Liberia

Not all Muslims practice FGM

About 20% of Muslim women have undergone FGM^[7], which suggests that about 80% of Muslims don't practice FGM. However, if this fact is taken to prove that FGM is un-Islamic, it must be on the assumption that Islam is defined only by that which it universally forbids or makes universally obligatory - that only those practices which all Muslims engage in are Islamic, and that minority practices are by definition un-Islamic.

But religions are also defined by, and responsible for, what they recommend, encourage, allow and discourage. For example, the Eucharist (Holy Communion) is recommended, not obligatory, but it is nevertheless Christian, despite not all Christians taking the Eucharist. And polygyny is Islamic, despite not every Muslim having several wives.

Not all Islamic practices are obligatory: polygyny and child marriage are not obligatory, and whilst a Muslim must complete 5 prayers a day, there are optional (nawafil) prayers which confer additional rewards. Fasting outside of the month of Ramadhan, or giving sadaqah (voluntary charity) are also optional.

Where a practice is not obligatory it is generally the case that 'not all Muslims' - or even a minority of Muslims - practice it.

Variations in the stances of the schools of fiqh to a large extent account for why not all Muslims practice FGM. The schools' different levels of obligation are reflected in the incidence of FGM. And where it is merely 'allowed' or 'tolerated' are we surprised that parents abstain from an act that goes against parents deepest instincts? The Shafi'i school makes FGM obligatory and we find FGM rates of +90% in Shafi'i communities. The Maliki and Hanbali schools recommend it - and the FGM rates in those communities are generally lower than with Shafi'i communities. The Hanafi school merely allows FGM - and Hanafi communities largely eschew FGM.

Thus the fact that not all Muslims practice FGM is a consequence of some schools allowing FGM, others recommending it, and others mandating it. That some communities, where they have the freedom to choose, have historically chosen not to engage in FGM does not alter the fact that Islam's basic position of allowing FGM, makes FGM Islamic. But FGM is not an ethically neutral act, such as the Eucharist - swallowing a wafer - or Baptism - sprinkling water on a baby's head. FGM is an act of mutilation carried out on a child. 'Allowing' is no more the appropriate base-line for such an act than it would be for child sexual abuse, rape or murder. Likewise a legal system does not need to make child sexual abuse compulsory for it to be defined as being favourable to child sexual abuse - it is sufficient that it allows child sexual abuse to earn itself that label.

(NB - since Dr Ashenafi Moges published the above-cited essay, FGM has been reported in Jordan, Syria, Iran and Iraq and many other Middle East countries. Studies have found FGM-rates of 20% in Saudi Arabia^[11])

The FGM Hadith are weak

Some of the FGM hadith are considere weak by some scholars and schools of Islam.

But weak hadiths do not cancel, or weaken, more reliable ones, and several sahih hadith favour FGM.

Four of the seven 'FGM hadith' report Muhammad favouring FGM. Two of these ('The fitrah is five things' and 'When the circumcised parts touch') are included in both sahih Bukhari and sahih Muslim. Both hadith compilations are considered wholly authoritative. Moreover these two hadith are also some of the best-supported hadith in these compilations. 'When the circumcised parts touch' is a 'tacit approval' in that it reports Muhammad referring in passing to FGM without him expressing disapproval of it.

The two other hadith that report Muhammad's attitude towards FGM ('A preservation of honour for women' and 'Do not cut severely') are not generally considered as sahih, but hasan (good) or daif (weak).

Al-Bukhari also compiled the two adab ('Someone to Amuse Them' and 'Go and Circumcise Them and Purify Them') which touch on FGM. Al-Bukhari's evaluation of the hadiths within al-Adab al-Mufrad was not as rigorous as for his best-known collection - Sahih Bukhari. However, scholars have ruled most of the hadith in the collection as being sahih or hasan.

Furthermore, whilst doctrine cannot be generated from a weak hadith alone, they can be used if:

1. the hadith not be very weak;
2. the hadith be within the scope of an authentic legal principle that is applied and accepted in either the Qur’an or Sunnah;
3. its weakness, not authenticity, be realized when applying it.^[12]

For example the information that Muhammad considered a form of FGM excessively severe can be taken from 'Do not cut severely', even assuming it a daif hadith, since it is not in contradiction with the stronger FGM hadith and does not contradict the Qur'an.

The hadith - whether daif, hasan, or sahih - provide robust evidence that some form of FGM was practiced by Muhammad's followers. The Hanbali, Maliki and Shafi'i schools of Islam all have as their principle daleels the consideration what the Sahabah (the Companions of Muhammad) did or thought (Ijma, Ijtihad and Amal). Thus the deeds and words of the Muhammad's companions are second only to the Quran and Sunnah in determining what is Islamic or not - and come into play when the Qur'an and Hadith don't resolve an issue. The exception is the Hanafi school, which ascribes a lesser importance to the deeds and words of the Sahabah - which may explain why the Hanafi madhab rules FGM as merely 'optional' and why Hanafi Muslims generally don't practice FGM.^{[13] [14]}

The Qur'an forbids mutilation

Islam forbids mutilations to the human body. However, Islam exempts from this interdiction those mutilation that it permits.

Male circumcision, for example, is a mutilation that Islamic law permits, and is therefore not forbidden by Islamic law. As are amputation of hand and feet. Beheading, stoning, and crucifixion - which all involve mutilation prior to the victim's death - are all also permitted in Islamic law. This argument is an example 'circular reasoning' of the fallacy of Petitio Principi (assuming in the premise of an argument that which one wishes to prove in the conclusion).

(NB Qur'an 2:195 - referenced in the quote at the start of this section - forbids suicide and self-mutilation, and is therefore does not apply to FGM)

Circumcision is not Mutilation

The term 'Female Circumcision' is sometimes used by those who consider certain practices as insufficiently harmful or intrusive to merit the epithet 'mutilation' (as in Female Genital Mutilation).

One such practice involves the "removal of the clitoral hood or a ritual nick on the external female genitalia"^[15]. This is sometimes referred to as 'Sunnah Circumcision' (though this term is also used to denote all forms of FGM other than infibulation^[16]). The removal of the clitoral prepuce is justified by Qiyas as being analogous to male circumcision. The practice is also justified by a disputed definition of the word بظر (bazr) as found in traditional Arabic texts. 'Bazr' is generally translated as 'clitoris', but the Arabic Lexicographer Edward William Lane (1801 – 1876) in his Arabic-English Lexicon discusses the possibility that it may mean ‘prepuce of the clitoris’ rather than just ‘clitoris’ (although this would leave Arabic without a word for 'clitoris').^[17]

Removal of the clitoral hood is mostly practiced by South Asian Muslims, who belong to the Shafi'i school, which makes FGM obligatory and is also associated with infibulation, the most severe form of FGM. Sunnah circumcision may have been a way of fulfilling this obligation whilst sparing girls the extremities of infibulation. Moreover, infibulation was probably a practice alien to South Asian Muslims, since it is associated with the Islamic slave trade, whose main trade routes centered around Africa and Europe.^[18][19]

The proponents of this argument dispute the World Health Organisation's inclusion of removal of the clitoral hood in its classification of Female Genital Mutilation.

No FGM-practicing Muslim will refer to what they do as 'mutilation', not even those who infibulate. This is because the Qur'an contains verses that appear to forbid mutilation (Quran 30:30, Quran 2:195). The line which separates 'necessary intervention' and 'mutilation' is therefore always set somewhere beyond the practice being defended.

Granted that 'Sunnah Circumcision' is a lesser mutilation than full clitoridectomy (or excision or infibulation) it nevertheless remains a mutilation because it:

• it is practiced on children who can not give informed consent to such a procedure
• whilst a child can not consent to this procedure, she can refuse consent or withdraw it (a child struggling to escape the procedure or begging for it to stop is effectively signalling the withdrawal of her consent)
• it serves no medical or prophylactic purpose
• it damages the functioning of a vital organ (amongst other harms, it reduces the sensitivity of the exposed clitoris)
• it unnecessarily exposes the child to secondary complications (such as infection or psychological disturbances)
• it is generally done in a manner that is deliberately traumatic - anaesthetics are generally eschewed.

Proponents of this position point out that bodies such as the World Health Organisation do not condemn the analagous practice of Male Circumcision. However, the failure of such bodies to classify male circumcision as a mutilation is a political and pragmatic decision, not one based on ethics or an objective evaluation of the practice. Ritual Male Circumcision is a form of mutilation and answers to the same criteria as those listed above. The argument that 'Sunnah Circumcision' should be allowed because Male Circumcision is allowed is in essence 'evil X is tolerated therefore evil Y should also be tolerated'.

Given that all Muslim men and boys It might be too late to shut the door on MGM - that does mean that we should also let FGM slip through, even in its relatively milder forms.?

be careful talking to moslems about 'mutiklation' - you will often read moslems condemning Female Gential mutilation, who on further discussion, reveal themselves to support Female circumcision.

There is no record of Muhammad having his wives or daughters circumcised

The Qur'an, hadith and sirat conatin no reference to Muhammad having his wives or daughters mutilated.

However, there are many aspects of Islamic law for which there is no record of Mohammed having practiced: there is no record of Muhammad having undergone circumcision himself, or of him having his sons circumcised. Nor, for example, is there any record of Muhammad limiting himself to just four wives.

Current practice and the hadith suggest that females in Muhammad's circle would have been circumcised in childhood. In the hadith narrated by Umm ‘Alqama the persons being cut are clearly children, and the function of Islamic FGM (see The Origins of FGM, Islamic Doctrine that creates social conditions favourable to FGM and the Functions of FGM) requires that it be prepubescents who are submitted to FGM, not adolescents or adults.Therefore it is unlikely that Muhammad would have needed to command or require the circumcision of his wives, since they would have already been circumcised before he married them.

FGM in Islamic cultures is matriarchal, taboo-ridden and secretive affair, usually arranged by female relatives. The hadith 'do not cut severely' and 'One who circumcises other ladies' depict women performing the mutilation, not men. Male family members are excluded and may not even realise that their community engages in the practice. ^[20]

Muhammad wanted to forbid FGM but couldn't

The evidence that Muhammad wished FGM to be abolished appears to be the following hadith (or a variant of it):

Here, a hadith that is usually assigned the status of daif (weak) when proposed as evidence that Muhammad approved of FGM, is being treated as sahih (authentic) when proposed as evidence that he wanted to moderate the practice. And regardless of its level of authority this hadith is a textbook example of a tacit approval.

Undermining this argument is also the fact that Muhammad affirmed the practices that cause FGM: polygyny and sex-slavery. He also affirmed sister-practices (practices that emerge from the same causes, and that create a normative, legal and institutional structure that supports, justifies and normalizes FGM) such as male circumcision, child marriage, bride-price and gender segregation.

Muhammad forbade .

One of the major ‘selling points’ of Mohammed’s new religion was that it overturned and rejected the established practices of pre-Islamic Arabian polytheism. Mohammed suddenly forbade many harmless (or 'harmless' if enjoyed in moderation) things that would have been dear to the people he ruled over - pork products, alcohol, gambling, instrumental music and singing, art depicting the human form, the easy fraternisation of men and women, interest in debt, and the public display of women’s faces. He also imposed on his followers such new practices as male circumcision, ritual ablutions and praying 5 times a day.

And his followers obeyed these new rules. How much more willingly would his followers have abandoned a practice that is harmful, and that must be distressing for loving parents to perform and witness?

One can speculate how things would be different if, in the Qur'an, Muhammad had forbidden FGM with the same force he did alcohol, and not approved of it in his words and deeds in the Hadith.

Would Islam have allowed its followers to practice FGM for 1400 years? And would the Islamic world be as rife with FGM as it is today?

See Also

'Delinking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam'

A Critique of ‘Delinking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam’

References