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Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Law

Female Genital Mutilation (Arabic: ختان المرأة) is the practice of cutting away and altering the external female genitalia for ritual or religious purposes. Those who practice FGM refer to it as 'Female Circumcision'. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) generally consists one or both of the following procedures: Clitoridectomy: the amputation of part or all of the clitoris (or the removal of the clitoral prepuce); Excision: the cutting away of either or both the inner or outer labia. A third procedure, Infibulation, involves the paring back of the outer labia, whose cut edges are then stitched together to form, once healed, a seal that covers both the openings of the vagina and the urethra. Infibulation usually also involves clitoridectomy. Those who engage in FGM consider its primary purpose to be the safeguarding of the purity, virtue and reputation of girls and women.

FGM is a practice associated with Islam: about 80% of FGM is attributable to Muslims.^[1] Most of the remaining 20% is attributable to non-Muslims living in FGM-practicing Islamic societies (e.g. the Egyptian Copts^[2]), or to non-Islamic societies that have been hubs of the Islamic slave trade (e.g. Ethiopia and Eritrea).

Unlike Islamic male circumcision, the nature of which is uniform around the world, the practice of FGM varies greatly from community to community and country to country. This is because the procedure of male circumcision is precisely described (in Genesis). Several hadith report Muhammad approving of FGM, but they give very few clues as to the nature of that which he was approving. Consequently the practice of FGM varies greatly from community to community and country to country, possibly according to the intensity of anxieties around female sexuality in the community, its proximity to Islamic slave-trade routes (Infibulation is associated with the transportation of slaves), the presiding school of Islam (fiqh), and the nature and degree of historical Christian influence and colonisation.

In addition to Islamic law that explicitly addresses FGM, Islamic law favours FGM by creating social conditions that make the practice useful or even necessary. Polygyny (the marriage of a man to several women) is permitted in Islam and creates sexually violent societies in which girls and women are at a heightened risk. In response to this risk polygynous societies develop practices which safeguard the 'purity', chastity and reputation of its girls and women. FGM is such a practice, as are child marriage, gender segregation, arranged marriages, chaperoning, veiling, 'honour' culture, brideprice (mahr) and footbinding. Islam's attitudes towards slavery, especially sex slavery, appears to also have a significant role in the nature, incidence and distribution of FGM.

There exist numerous fatwas supporting and commanding the practice. However, over the past half century there has been a growing unease in the Islamic world concerning the practice (largely attributable to a growing awareness of the practice by organisations such as the UN and UNICEF). The earliest fatwa that is clearly critical of FGM appears to have been issued in 1984.^[3]

The euphemism Female Circumcision is often used instead of Female Genital Mutilation by those who practice it, or who wish to defend or excuse it. Those who practice FGM will, of course, not refer to what they do as 'mutilation' - the word having negative connotations. Quran 30:30 forbids mutilation - however Islamic law makes exceptions for mutilations it allows e.g. amputation of limbs of thieves (Quran 5:38) and male circumcision.

FGM in the Hadith

FGM is mentioned (at least) seven times in the Hadith. Four report Muhammad approving of FGM and two report Sahabah (Muhammad's companions) participating in FGM. These have less doctrinal authority than the hadith featuring Muhammad. The remaining, seventh, hadith has little import doctrinally, but is of linguistic, historical and sociological interest.

Hadith: Muhammad and FGM

The fitrah is five things, including circumcision

Hadith methodology dictates that if it is not mentioned specifically or if the pronouns do not point to a certain gender, then the hadith is valid for both sexes. Hence, the following hadith is applicable for both men and women.

A preservation of honor for women

Do not cut "severely"

Note that the judgement concerning what is severe is relative.

When the circumcised parts touch each other

To 'sit amidst four parts of a woman' is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

Other Evidence in the Hadith

The following three hadith touch on FGM. Because they do not involve Muhammad they have less doctrinal authority than the hadith in the previous section.

One Who Circumcises Other Ladies

This hadith includes an exchange of insults between Meccan warriors and Muhammad's companions prior to the battle of Uhud.

In Bukhari's al-Adab al-Mufrad

The following two hadiths come from Al-Adab Al-Mufrad. This is a collection of hadith about the manners of Muhammad and his companions, compiled by the Islamic scholar al-Bukhari. It contains 1,322 hadiths, most of which focus on Muhammad's companions rather than Muhammad himself. 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 (authentic) or hasan (sound).

Someone to Amuse Them

Go and Circumcise Them and Purify Them

FGM in the Qur'an

There is no explicit reference to Female Genital Mutilation in the Qur'an.

However, the Qur'an 30:30 requires Muslims to 'adhere to the fitrah'. The word 'fitrah' appears only this once in the Qur'an, and is left undefined and unexplained.

To know what fitrah means, traditional scholars turn to the hadith which make use of the word.

The hadith which offers the clearest explanation is the one mentioned in the previous section.

This hadith uses the Arabic word khitan for 'circumcision'.

Two other hadith ('Someone to Amuse Them' and 'Do not cut severely') use the word khitan in contexts where the procedure is unquestionably being performed on females, and only on females. Three other hadith ('The fitrah is five things, including circumcision', 'A preservation of honor for women' and 'When the circumcised parts touch each other') use the word 'khitan to refer to both FGM and Male Circumcision.

Therefore, in the hadith the word 'khitan' can refer to FGM, or to Male Circumcision, or to both.

Thus, according to traditional interpretive methodology, Qur'an 30:30 by requiring one to 'adhere to the fitrah' indirectly, but ineluctably, advocates FGM.

FGM in Islamic law

A Madh'hab (مذهب) is a school of Islamic law or fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). Within Sunni Islam there are four mainstream schools of thought, which are accepted by one another, there is also the Shi'ite school of fiqh. The various schools of Islamic law all developed as theologians and jurists debated among themselves more than a hundred years after Muhammad's death on how to identify and interpret what Muhammad had left behind by way of oral traditions. The five major schools of Islamic law agree on many things. Adherence to a school of Islamic law appears to be more a matter of geography than conscience.

All schools of Islam favour FGM, but with varying levels of compulsion. No school of Islam can forbid FGM since nothing that Muhammad allowed can be prohibited. Contemporary scholars, however, are adept at phrasing fatwas in such a way as to appear to criticise or condemn FGM whilst at the same time not forbidding it (see section on Equivocation below).

Differences in hermeneutics (methodologies of interpretation of texts, especially religious and philosophical texts) result in certain Hadith having more weight and influence with some schools than in others. The hadith Sunan Abu Dawud 41:5251 is an example of this:

Shafi’i and Hanbali scholars have evaluated this hadith as being sahih. Consequently, these schools consider FGM as being either obligatory or highly recommended, and FGM is very common or nearly universal amongst their followers. Maliki and Hanafi scholars have evaluated this Hadith as being mursal (good but missing an early link in its isnad) – possibly explaining the lower rates of FGM amongst followers of these schools.Some prominent modern Islamic scholars have dissented from the otherwise favorable consensus of the Islamic tradition, and ruled it to be unlawful.

Only one school of Islam - the Shafi'i - make FGM unequivocally obligatory. The other schools of Islam recommend it with differing levels of enthusiasm (though the Hanbali school's position is more ambiguous). We can speculate that followers of the Hanafi and Maliki schools who are devout (or who wish to appear devout) will tend to treat as ‘obligatory’ practices that are merely ‘recommend’ – since for the devout anything that is ‘recommended’ should be definitely done.

Maliki Madhab

The Maliki school was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century, who ruled that FGM is recommended, but not obligatory.

“Maliki hold the view that it is wajib (obligatory) for males and sunnah (optional) for females“

Hanafi Madhab

This school is named after the scholar Abū Ḥanīfa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit (d. 767) and is school with the largest number of followers among Sunni muslims. Abū Ḥanīfa maintained that FGM is not obligatory but highly recommended.

The Hanafi school is the school of Islam under which there is the least incidence of FGM. Pakistani Muslims are generally Hanafi, and have, till recently, been the largest muslim diaspora to the West. Pakistanis are also frequently English-speaking. Both of which facts increase the prevalence in the West of the narrative that FGM is nothing to do with Islam. With increasing immigration to the West from Shafi’i countries (Somalia in particular) this narrative is harder to maintain since (see below) FGM is obligatory under Shafi’i Islam.

'Circumcision is sunnah and fitrah. For women, circumcision is makrumah. If the inhabitants of a country reach a unanimous decision to abandon circumcision, the Imam has to wage war against them as it is one of the rituals and a specificity of Islam.'

Shafi'i Madhab

The Shafi’i school was founded by the Arab scholar Al-Shafi‘i in the early 9th century. The Shafi’i school rejects two interpretative heuristics that are accepted by other major schools of Islam: Istihsan (juristic preference) and Istislah (public interest), heuristics by which compassion and welfare can be integrated into Islamic law-making. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is obligatory in the Shafi'i madhab.^[4] Infibulation, the most extreme form of FGM practiced under Islam, is almost entirely attributable to Shafi'i Muslims.

“Shafi’i view it as wajib (obligatory) for both females and males” Delinking Female Genital Mutilati

'Reliance of the Traveller' by by Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri (1302–1367) is the Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law according to Shafi'i School.

Nuh Ha Mim Keller's 1991 translation of Reliance of the Traveller is bowdlerised to make its content more acceptable to Western eyes and translates the word 'bazr' ( بَظْرٌ ) as 'clitorial prepuce' instead of simply 'clitoris' (see section Defining Bazr).

Hanbali Madhab

The Hanbali school is named after the Iraqi scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 855). Ahmad ibn Hanbal studied under Al-Shafi‘i (founder of the Shafi’i school) and inherited his deep concerns about the jurists of his time, who were ready to reinterpret the doctrines of the Koran and Hadiths to pander to public opinion and the demands of the rich and powerful. Ibn Hanbal advocated a return to the literal interpretation of Koran and Hadiths. This has made the Hanbali school intensely traditionalist. Today’s ultra-conservative Wahhabi–Salafist movement is an offshoot of this school. The Hanbali school, unlike the Hanafi and Maliki schools, reject Istihsan (jurist discretion) and Urf (the customs of muslims) as a sound basis by which to derive Islamic law.

Shia Islam

The attitudes of Shia Islam towards FGM are as not clear-cut as with the schools of Sunni Islam. It is known that FGM is practised by Zaydis in Yemen, Ibadis in Oman and at least by parts of the Ismailis (the Dawoodi Bohras in particular) in India. A survey by WADI conducted in the region of Kirkuk in Iraq found that 23% of Shia girls and women had undergone FGM^[5].

Jafari

Ismaili

FGM appears to be endemic to the Dawoodi Bohras^[6] – an Ismaili sect found in India, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Yemen and East Africa. Their current spiritual leader has recommended FGM as being necessary for purity and to avoid sin.

In 2017 two doctors and a third woman connected to the Dawoodi Bohra in Detroit, Michigan, were arrested on charges of conducting FGM on two seven-year-old girls in the United States. Their Attorney confirmed that FGM was, for her clients, a religious practice^[7]:

Muʿtazila

Muʿtazila is a rationalist school of Islamic theology that flourished in the cities of Basra and Baghdad during the 8th to the 10th centuries. The Mu'tazila developed an Islamic type of rationalism, partly influenced by Ancient Greek philosophy.

Modern Fatwas

See (link to Fatwas concerning FGM page)

The following is a selection of Fatwas, and extracts from fatwas, from the 20th and 21st Century. Note that many are secondary or even tertiary sources

Favourable

(1939) “Female circumcision is only desirable, i.e., not compulsory, and it consists of cutting off part of the clitoris. More than that is forbidden in view of the Um Atiyah report: “Circumcise but do not go too far, for thus it is better for appearance and gives more pleasure to the husband”. This is the female circumcision which is desirable in Islam. Other forms such as that known among us as the Pharaonic are mutilations and mutilations are categorically forbidden.” The Mufti of Sudan – cited in ‘Male and female circumcision: Religious, medical, social and legal debate‘ by Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh

(1951) “Female circumcision is a part of the emblem of Islam and it is mentioned in the prophetic sunnah. [FGM’s bad effects] are neither certain nor proven, and therefore one cannot base himself on them to reject the circumcision in which the wise Legislator saw a wisdom” Sheikh Nassar – cited in ‘Male and female circumcision: Religious, medical, social and legal debate‘ by Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh

(1951)“ When it is proven by the precise research, and not by a temporary opinion given out to satisfy a particular tendency or to conform itself to traditions of given people, that a thing includes a damage for health or a depravity of the morals, it must be forbidden according to the religious law in order tho avoid the damage or the depravity. And until this is proven concerning female circumcision , this practice will continue according to what people are accustomed in the light of the Islamic law and the knowledge of the religious scholars since the time of the prophecy [of Muhammad] until this day, i.e. that the circumcision is a makrumah, and not an obligation or sunnah.” Sheikh Shaltut, of Al-Azhar University (1951) – cited in ‘Male and female circumcision: Religious, medical, social and legal debate‘ by Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh

(1981) “If a region stops, of common agreement, to practice male and female circumcision, the chief of the sate declares war against that region because circumcision is a part of the rituals of Islam and its specificities. This means that male and female circumcisions are obligatory.”  sheikh Jad-al-Haq – cited in ‘Male and female circumcision: Religious, medical, social and legal debate‘ by Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh

(1985) “This attack against the female circumcision […] is undertaken by its adepts and its propagators, either because of ignorance or distraction like parrots, or because of bad intentions and hidden motives like foxes and wolves, or because of hostility and hate like collaborators and agents paid by traitors and enemies[…]. Their only worry is to satisfy their instincts and their passions. Their goal is to free themselves of all limits, morals, traditions and customs. They try to reverse our society according to their limping opinions , their black hearts and their sly mind, to make a society base on corruption, wantonness, atheism, anarchy and immorality” a professor of the  faculty of Muslim theology in Mansurah, Egypt – cited in ‘Male and female circumcision: Religious, medical, social and legal debate‘ by Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh

(1986) "Thus it is clear that female circumcision is prescribed in Islam, and that it is one of the Sunnahs of the fitrah and it has a good effect of moderating the individual’s behaviour. As for the opinions of doctors who say that female circumcision is harmful, these are individual opinions which are not derived from any agreed scientific basis, and they do not form an established scientific opinion. ..." Fatwa of Dar al-Ifta’ al-Misriyyah

(2000) “Those who hate Islam and its rituals launched a ferocious campaign against female circumcision. This campaign is fed by Christian spite, sustained by the crusaders’ mass media and financed mainly by the American dollar […]. Even worse is when some Muslim countries promulgate laws forbidding physicians and circumcisers to perform the female circumcision and applying sanctions against those who violate these laws […]. By so doing, these States forbid what God permits. And that is where the danger resides […]. However, one knows that, according to the Muslim religion, the interdiction or the permission belongs to God […] and to no one else be he governed or governor, man or angel.”  a Saudi sheikh – reported in in ‘Male and female circumcision: Religious, medical, social and legal debate‘ by Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh

(2002) “Ibn Quddamah said in al-Mughni: As for circumcision, it is obligatory for men and it is good in the case of woman, but it is not obligatory for them.” Circumcision: how it is done and the rulings on it, Islamqa

(2005) “Medical research […] does not show that the Sunnah circumcision – cutting only the outer part of the clitoris – has caused any medical complications […] Islam condones the Sunnah circumcision; it is acceptable. What’s forbidden in Islam is the pharaonic circumcision [...] Islamic scholars believe that female circumcision is different from male circumcision. They have a strong view that female circumcision is allowed, and that there is no evidence from Islamic sources prohibiting female circumcision, unless it is pharaonic.” IRIN interview with Sheikh Omer, a muslim religious leader, Ethiopia

(2007) “[A]s far as Islam is concerned “we do observe circumcision not mutilation” Gambian imam: Prophet Muhammad spoke well of FGM

(2008) “The [Moslem] Brotherhood […] opposes banning [FGM] because it is a tradition that should remain an option for medical reasons and “beautification” purposes.” Egypt’s child protection law sparks controversy the Christian Science Monitor

(2009) “[The Hadiths] require […] every woman be circumcised, failing which she will be impure and not even able to handle food. Why, moreover, wish to forbid female circumcision in a country made up of 90% Moslems?” Abou Ly (l’Association des imams et oulémas du Sénégal), quoted and translated from “Quand les «savants musulmans» justifient les mutilations génitales féminines”

(2012) “The second strategy of the [Moslem Brotherhood] to contest the undesirability of FGM is to present it as a medical operation or procedure. By doing so, they encourage people to go to doctors – rather than midwives – who will perform the “operation” under anaesthesia and in accordance with proper surgical procedures […] Some people talk about taking their daughters to the doctor to check whether “they need it or not”, as if there is a physiological condition that would justify mutilating a woman’s reproductive organs […] Some doctors believe that not circumcising females leads to sexual arousal and that this could lead to the committing unlawful acts. So circumcision is a duty for the protection of the honour of the believing woman and for the preservation of her chastity and purity […] The third strategy deployed by the Brothers to promote FGM is to push for its decriminalization, under the premise that it is a matter that should be left to the personal choice of the girls’ guardians […] “the decision is up to the guardian and the doctor who decides on the extent to which the girl needs this operation”" Mutilating bodies: the Muslim Brotherhood’s gift to Egyptian women

(2013) “The Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) is in favour of female circumcision (and men) that, although it can not be considered mandatory, it is still “morally recommended.” Kiai Hajj Amin Ma’ruf [the head of the council], pointed out that it is an “advisable practise on moral grounds”, at the same time, he rejects any attempt to declare this practice illegal or contrary to the principles. It comes under the sphere of “human rights,” said the Islamist leader, and is “guaranteed by the Constitution.”” Indonesian Ulema in favour of female circumcision: a “human right”

(2014) “In the Maldives […circumcision] is the ‘symbol that differentiates Muslims from non-Muslims [...] All four schools of Sunni jurisprudence however regard it as either ‘obligatory’ or ‘preferable [...FGM] is one of the five things that are part of fitrah, or nature, says the fatwa by Dr. Mohamed Iyaz Abdul Latheef, Vice President of the Fiqh Academy of the Maldives [...] the fatwa points to the increasing influence of Saudi Arabia. The cleric uses the Saudi Arabian Fatwa Committee’s concern over the decline of female circumcision in Muslim countries as a stamp of approval for the practice for all Muslims” cited in Cleric calls for FGM on Islamic grounds – MALDIVES

(2014)“For protecting our Islamic nation in Iraq and Syria, our land, and our people, we need to look after our women and their behavior while preventing them from the dreadful modern life they are surrounded with.“ ISIS fatwa – reported: FGM in Iraq: The hoax of a hoax?

(2016) “An Islamic cleric from Russia’s North Caucasus has called for all Russian women to undergo female genital mutilation […] Ismail Berdiev, a member of the Presidential Council for Cooperation with Religious Communities, said that FGM was needed to combat “sexual immorality […] All women must be cut, so that there will be no depravity on Earth.” Russian Muslim Cleric Calls for Genital Mutilation of All Women,

(2018) “On Feb. 6, Somaliland announced a new fatwa, or religious edict, banning two of the three types of female cutting […] According to the organizations, the ruling made a certain type of FGM/C “mandatory” for every girl in Somaliland and at the same time banning the most extreme forms.” Aid agencies decry decision to encourage FGM in Somaliland

(2018) “[The Islamic Central Council of Switzerland’s] Secretary-General Ferah Uluca said that while the paper justifies the practice, it does not call on Muslims to perform it as a duty. Uluca said it is up to each parent to decide” Islamic Central Council of Switzerland justifies female genital mutilation

(2018) “Circumcision is prescribed for both males and females. The correct view is that […] circumcision of women is mustahabb [‘virtuous‘] but not obligatory […] Female circumcision has not been prescribed for no reason, rather there is wisdom behind it and it brings many benefits. Mentioning some of these benefits, Dr. Haamid al-Ghawaabi says […]” Medical benefits of female circumcision – islamqa

(2018) “Circumcision is not an inherited custom as some people claim, rather it is prescribed in Islam and the scholars are unanimously agreed that it is prescribed. Not a single Muslim scholar – as far as we know – has said that circumcision is not prescribed. Their evidence is to be found in the saheeh ahaadeeth of the Prophet, which prove that it is prescribed [...] With regard to the criticism of circumcision by some doctors, and their claim that it is harmful both physically and psychologically, This criticism of theirs is not valid. It is sufficient for us Muslims that something be proven to be from the Prophet [...], then we will follow it, and we are certain that it is beneficial and not harmful. If it were harmful, Allaah and His Messenger [...] would not have prescribed it for us [...] As for the opinions of doctors who say that female circumcision is harmful, these are individual opinions which are not derived from any agreed scientific basis, and they do not form an established scientific opinion […] medical theories about disease and the way to treat it are not fixed, rather they change with time and with ongoing research. So it is not correct to rely on them when criticizing circumcision which the Wise and All-Knowing Lawgiver has decreed in His wisdom for mankind. Experience has taught us that the wisdom behind some rulings and Sunnahs may be hidden from us. May Allaah help us all to follow the right path.”." Circumcision of girls and some doctors’ criticism thereof – islamqa

(2018) “[Dr Ali Selim, a spokesman for the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland in Clonskeagh], who is also a lecturer at Trinity College in Dublin […] argued that female circumcision was unfairly framed as a “dark-skin practice” and “barbaric,” insinuating that criticism is racist or prejudiced.” Irish Muslim Leader Backs Female Genital Mutilation

(date not known) “I personally support [FGM] under the current circumstances in the modern world. Anyone who thinks that circumcision is the best way to protect his daughters should do it [...] The moderate opinion is in favor of practicing circumcision to reduce temptation.” Yusuf al-Qaradawi (born 1926) cited in ‘Modern Fatwas’ (1987)

(date not specified, but the citation from modern film footage) “I don’t know why a German, British or American entity (thinks it can) come to us to decide for us the circumcision of our daughters! Why should they decide on matters of our girls and women? We base our religion on Allah’s book and the sayings of our beloved prophet and our scholars [...] Look at any of the books of fiqh from our imams, respected leaders, and scholars–ask them. You will find that our scholars have said that circumcision of women–there are some who say that it is obligatory while others say that it is commendable [...] this does not mean that I am subjecting the religion to inspection from a doctor. No, my brothers, this does not mean that I subject evidence from the shari'a to review from a doctor!”” Muhammad Hassan Female Circumcision - https://youtu.be/4gloOIDTrkA

(date not specified) "The calls which urge the banning of female circumcision are call [sic] that go against Islam, because there is no clear text in the Qur’aan or Sunnah and there is no opinion of the fuqaha’ that says that female circumcision is haraam. Female circumcision is either obligatory or recommended [...] The words of the doctors and others are not definitive. Scientific discoveries are still opening doors every day which change our old perceptions." Fatwa of Shaykh ‘Atiyah Saqar – the former head of the Fatwa Committee in al-Azhar

(date not specified) “Some (e.g. the late Rector of Al-Azhar University, Sheikh Gad Al-Haque) argued that since [Mohammed] did not ban female circumcision, it falls within the category of the permissble. As such, there is no ground for a total ban on it.” IS FEMALE CIRCUMCISION REQUIRED

Critical

The following are all fatwas that are critical, or appear critical, of FGM. Each engages in some form or other of error, obfuscation or deception in order to de-link FGM from Islam. Some of the most common errors, obfuscations and deception are detailed in the section Arguments de-linking FGM from Islam.

FGM before Islam

Islamic sources

The hadith 'One Who Circumcises Other Ladies' suggests that FGM was practiced by the Banu Quraysh, Mohammed's native tribe, and that the FGM reported in the Hadith (which therefore took place after Mohammed's migration to Medina) was a practice carried over from pre-Islamic Mecca.

The Hadith tells how, prior to the actual fighting, Hamza, one of Mohammed’s companions, taunts the Meccan warrior, Siba. Hamza implies that Siba is like ‘Ibn Um Anmar’ – a woman who was a known circumciser of women. The more descriptive phrase ‘muqteh al-basr‘ – ‘one who cuts clitorises‘ – is used rather than the usual KHITAN.

This taunt suggests that clitoridectomy was practiced by the Quraysh, and that it was a role reserved for women, probably of low-status, hence its insulting nature when directed against a warrior. The taunt could only be effective if it humiliated Siba in the eyes of both his fellow Meccan warriors and also the muslim warriors. Thus its use implies that members of both camps had knowledge of the practice and a shared culture of clitoridectomy. The fact that a circumciser of women could be famous (or notorious) also suggests that it was an established practice with the Meccan Quraysh.

Non-Islamic sources

There is evidence that FGM was practiced before the birth of Muhammad in the Middle East and along the African coast of the Red Sea. The following are listed in roughly chronological order.

There are reports that some Egyptian mummies show signs of FGC. However this appears to be disputed.

A spell or prayer found on an Egyptian coffin dating from sometime between 1991–1786 BC appears to refer to an uncircumcised girl.

An analysis of this hieroglyph by the Egyptologist Saphinaz-Amal Naguib suggests that the procedure referred to was not the infibulation that has become commonly associated with Ancient Egypt (hence ‘pharaonic’ circumcision), but rather clitoridectomy. This seems to be confirmed by other later Greek descriptions of the Egyptian practice.

A fragment referring to a fifth-century B.C. history by Xanthos of Lydia (Western Asiatic Turkey) uses the word 'castrated' in relation to women. I may refer to FGM, or some method of permanently sterilizing women.

'There are several classical references from the geographer Agatharchides of Cnidus (fl. 2nd century BC., who identified a tribe living on the west coast of the Red Sea which excised their women in the manner of the Egyptians, and that another group cut of in infancy with razors the whole portion that others circumcise'. ^[8]

A papyrus dated from 163 BC refers to the operation being performed on girls in Memphis, Egypt, to coincide with the time when they received their dowries.

Strabo (64 or 63 BC – c. AD 24), a Turkish-born Greek geographer, observed the practice whilst travelling up the Nile.

Another passage from Strabo suggests that Jews practiced FGM some time after Moses’ death.

The Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BC – 50 AD) reports in his ‘Questions on Genesis’^[9]:

The Greek physician Galen (129-c. 200 AD) notes that the Romans developed a procedure which involved slipping fibulae (the latin word for ‘brooches’) through the labia majora of female slaves as a form of contraception. He also notes in his ‘Introductio sive Medicus’:

Greek physician, Soranus of Ephesus (1st/2nd century AD. Ephesus was a Greek colony found on the west coast of Turkey) also noted the same procedure. One of the titles in his manual of gynecology is ‘On an excessively large clitoris’. The actual text of this chapter has not survived. However there exists a translation, probably from the the sixth century AD:

Caelius Aurelianus, a fifth-century AD physician from Sicca Veneria (modern el-Kef in Tunisia), synthesised much of Soranus’s work. In a chapter entitled ‘On an excessively large clitoris’, he wrote:

Closer to the time of Mohammed, the Byzantine Greek physician Aëtius of Amida (fl. mid-fifth century to mid-sixth century. Amida was located where modern Diyarbakır now stands in east Turkey) describes a clitoridectomy, citing the physician Philomenes:

Paulus of Aegina (Aegina is one of the Saronic islands of Greece), a 7th Century AD urologic surgeon, was something of an expert and gives his version of how to perform the procedure (the word ‘nympha’ usually refers the labia minora, but here seems to be being also used of the clitoris):

The social origins of FGM

The previous section shows that FGM existed before Islam. The fact that FGM can exist without it being justified by religious doctrine suggests that it may also have social causes. In the modern world, the most notable examples of FGM being practiced without religious justification is the FGM practiced by the Emberá people of South America^[10] and the initiation rituals of the Liberian Sandé^[11] (though both arguably have their roots in the Islamic slave trade). There is also the analogous practice of Chinese footbinding, which was essentially secular.

Much of what follows in this section is based on the work of Gerry Mackie, who has conducted insightful work into the social origins of FGM, using comparative-historical sociology and game theory. ^[12] Mackie identifies the roots of FGM as lying in polygyny, particularly the kind of extreme polygyny that existed at the heart of empires, where some men could become powerful and wealthy enough to be able to afford harems of hundreds of concubines (the word 'concubine' is a euphemism for sex-slave). Polygyny is the norm with humanity - approximately 85% of societies in the anthropological record permit men to marry multiple wives^[13]. Although our first human ancestors were probably monogamous, once the accumulation and displacement of wealth became possible, powerful men started also accumulating wives.

In polygynous societies it is only rich and high-status men who are able to afford to keep multiple wives. However, these high-status polygynous men face a problem guaranteeing the fidelity of their many wives - and the more wives they have the greater that problem becomes. In a monogamous marriage, by comparison, a husband and wife can spend much time together (and thus better monitor each others fidelity), become close to one another, and their sexual and emotional needs and capacity are more-or-less proportional. A polygynous man may have anything from two to a thousand 'concubines' (note that Islamic law, whilst limiting the number of wives a man can have, places no limit on the number of sex-slaves a man can own), whom he must satisfy emotionally and sexually, keep faithful, and whose desire for motherhood he must also satisfy. If the needs of his wive's are not satisfied, they will be tempted be unfaithful, and this may result in the high-status man rearing children that are not his own.

so, in order to assure themselves of the chastity and fidelity of their many wives, polygynous men have employed a variety of Chastity Assurance practices:

• harems - which keep 'concubines' locked away, guarded by eunuchs;
• footbinding (as once practiced by the Chinese) - which reduces the mobility and independence of girls and women;
• chaperoning and gender segregation - which eliminate interactions between the sexes;
• arranged and child marriages - which obviate the dangers that romance and courtship pose to a girl's chastity and reputation;
• veiling - which makes girls less interesting and identifiable to males;
• FGM - which reduces a girl's capacity for sexual pleasure both physically (through the removal of the clitoris and labia) and mentally (through the effects of trauma). Infibulation also seals the girl's vaginal opening with a covering of skin, the penetration of which is extremely painful and which leads to severe hemorrhaging that is difficult to conceal.

Polygynous societies are extremely hypergynous (hypergyny is the urge for women to marry into higher strata of society). It is considered preferable to be the n^th wife of a powerful polygynous man than the only wife of a poor man (indeed, in polygynous societies, having only one wife is considered somewhat shameful). This is because 1/ in polygynous societies marriages invariably involve the payment of a brideprice by the groom (or his family) to the bride (or her family), the brideprice from a rich man will be higher than from a poor man 2/ in monogamous societies, high-status man become unavailable (as husbands) once married, whereas in polygynous societies a married high-status man remains available 3/ polygynous societies are traditional and the only acceptable role for a girl to aspire to is to make a 'good' marriage. A woman can only aspire to a better life by marrying into wealth 4/ marriage to high status men is highly advantageous to the bride's family, who will benefit from the bride-price and from having a high-status male as a relative.

To marry high status polygynous men the society's girls must meet their expectations and requirements. She, and her family must persuade the polygynous man that their daughter is 'pure', chaste and will be faithful to him. They demonstrate this by adopting (or having their daughter adopt) the Chastity Assurance practices required by that man, whether it be FGM or other practices in the above list.

The intensely hypergynous nature of polygynous societies means that the marriage practices of high-status polygynous men cascade down through the ranks of society, and are rapidly adopted by all families.

In polygynous societies, there are very few polygynous high-status men and many lower-ranking potential brides. This creates a marriage market which heavily favours high-ranking men. Low-ranking families therefore need to compete with each other and persuade higher-ranking men to marry their daughters. Because all low-ranking families want to marry-off their daughters to high-ranking males it is not sufficient to simply adopt the elite’s marriage-practices, the daughter has to be made to stand out from the crowd of other candidates hoping to make a hypergynous match.

A low-ranking family hoping to marry-off their daughters to a high-ranking husband knows that the girl’s fidelity, purity and chastity is her most important selling-point and the more spectacularly this can be advertised the better. Families therefore need to advertise and make conspicuous the ‘honour’ of their lines, the purity of their females, and their commitment to the values of chastity, fidelity and modesty by adopting the elite’s ‘modesty’ practices, if possible, exaggerating them.

In a process analagous to sexual selection in Nature, female modesty takes on a competitive value rather than an intrinsic one and this provokes a form of ‘inflation’ of modesty practices and attitudes: “one wrong word about my sister and I will kill you”…”the smaller the foot, the better the family”….”the more extreme the cutting the better the girl’s reputation”…”the more savagely a family punishes its daughters’ immodesty, the better the family”…

Marrying-off a low-ranking daughter to a high-ranking polygynous male is the ‘carrot’ which leads parents, families and communities to adopt the ‘modesty’ practices of the elite. But there are also ‘sticks’ that serve to enforce conformity to these practices.

These girls and their families are stigmatised as 'impure', contaminating and guaranteed to be unchaste if anyone should be unfortunate enough to marry them. They are 'untouchables' and suffer from intense discrimination and persecution.

FGM becomes a symbol, a proxy, for chastity and fidelity. And to defy the practice is to declare one’s infidelity, even if a girl’s actual intentions, character and actions are chaste and faithful. Uncut girls are considered as ‘immodest’, little better than prostitutes, girls that no self-respecting man would have anything to do with, let alone marry her. Only the daughters of the poorest families, who can not afford to engage in such practices, remain unmutilated. Uncut girls are teased and persecuted at school, and their families are ostracised by the community. Their example serves as public demonstrations of the ignominy that results from not following modesty practices. The avoidance of stigma becomes an added incentive for families to have their daughters mutilated.

The universality of FGM within a local intramarrying community generates folk beliefs): that women must be excessively lustful by nature for such scrupulous guarding and restraint to be necessary; that the clitoris will grow to the length of a goose’s neck if not removed during childhood; that if the clitoris touches the baby’s head during birth the baby will die; or if it touches a man he will die; that an uncut vulva is ugly; that FGM enhances a woman’s facial beauty; that FGM is more hygienic and healthy for the woman; that a ‘cut’ vulva is more pleasurable to the husband; that FGM enhances fertility. These folk beliefs are self-enforcing in that the believed cost of violating them is so high that the truth of the beliefs are never tested – they are ‘belief traps’. This is the case not only with those folk beliefs which link the uncut vulva with death, but also those which postulate the un-marriageability of the uncut girl.

FGM will persist even if the originating conditions of extreme polygyny are removed and even if the majority of the community wish to abandon the practice. This is because in a community where it is a pre-condition of marriage that a girl should be mutilated, no parent can run the risk of their daughters not getting married and thus has to 'play safe'. A parent who does not have his daughters mutilated will end up having to support those daughters for the rest of his life, and also experience the stigma and persecution that comes with having uncut daughters. Thus, his following his conscience and not having his daughters mutilated merely confirms, in the eyes of the intra-marrying community, the necessity of having one's daughters mutilated. The only way a community can cease practicing FGM is if the whole community, or a significant part of it, in a coordinated manner, pledges to not mutilate their daughters and also, most importantly, pledge that their sons will only marry unmutilated girls. This approach - the Pledge Association method - worked spectacularly well with footbinding in China. However, it has been much less succesful, probably because whilst footbinding was a secular practice, FGM is a religious one.

Islamic Doctrine that creates social conditions favourable to FGM

Polygyny and its consequences

islam not only provides the foundations, it (to extend the metaphor) also buttresses it and shelters it with a roof.

As we have seen FGM has its origins in the centers of empires, where rich powerful men could engage in extreme polygyny.

Islam is an empire-building ideology that favours polygyny and, to this extent, reproduces the originating conditions for FGM. Indeed, Islam could be characterised as the codification and sacralisation of polygyny, and of the consequences of polygyny.

Polygyny make for societies 1/ which are tribal, violent and particularly sexual violence - where the safety of girls and women is put at risk 2/ where women are commodified 3/ where a disproportionate value is placed on the 'purity' of girls and women. Indeed antropologists and historians have identified the dichotomy between monogamy and polygyny to be that which seperates two streams of humanity: monogamy leading to democrcay, human rights, scientific social and cultural progress; polygyny maintaining humanity in tribalism, barbarism and the dark ages.

This is because monogamous kinship systems can approach a state of equilibrium where every man and woman can expect to find a spouse. Such a state of equilibrium is impossible in a polygynous system. Females are a commodity with both an inherent value (their beauty, the pleasure they give, their reproductive capacity) and are also a status symbol (the more wives you have the higher your status). This fuels a dynamic where the demand for marriageable females always exceed the supply, and no man can ever have enough wives. This has far-reaching consequences: marriageable females become a scarce and valued asset that needs to be protected and exploited, 'bride-famines' develop amongst poor low-status men, that are alleviated by importing females into the system (baby girls, children or women) through raids on neighbouring tribes, communities and countries, or from further afield by means of the Islamic slave trade.

But polygyny does not consist solely of ‘wives’, but also includes sex slaves. And Islam places no limit on the number of sex slaves a man can own. Ottoman sultans had huge harems: the Sultan Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif of Morocco (1645 - 1727 ) had four wives and at least 500 'concubines', and Fat′h Ali Shah Qajar, the second Shah of Iran, also had 4 wives, but also a harem of 800-1000 'concubines'. Mohammed himself had 15 wives, 11 at the same time, in addition to at least four sex slaves.

Generally polygyny is practiced by men of the social elite. These men monopolise an inequitable share of the community’s women (imagine a desert island with ten men and ten women and what happens if one or two men take three or four wives...). This results in a scarcity of females at the bottom of society, which creates a sexual, affective and marital famine which low-status men have traditionally solved by capturing females from neighbouring tribes, or by engaging in sexual violence towards girls and women of their own community. This explains the observation made by social scientists such as Joseph Heinrich et al and William H Tucker (“Marriage and Civilization: how monogamy made us human”) that polygynous societies are by their very nature belligerent and sexually violent.

At the same time, the elite requires that brides (and potential brides) meet their extreme standards of chastity, purity and fidelity. So, on one hand polygyny puts girls and women at an actual heightened risk of rape, abuse, kidnap, and on the other hand places an excessive value on the 'purity' of girls and women. This places women in a double xxxxx

Islam protect girls and women from this sexual violence with chastity assurance measures. These include gender segregation, veiling, chaperoning, honour culture, arranged marriages, and FGM. All these measures segregate women from young men.

This establishes a positive feedback loop: Islamic polygyny deprives poor young men of sexual or affective hope; this generates desperation and sexual violence; from which Islam protects girls and women by further isolating them.

Dowries (or more precisely ‘Bride-prices’) exacerbate this by mandating that the groom pay his bride in order to marry her. All Islamic marriages must include a Bride-price (mahr) paid by the groom. Islam attributes a very high value to ‘purity’ and virginity in girls and women. One of the consequences of this is that the Islamic bride-price system places a substantial financial value on a girl’s or woman’s chastity. This is exacerbated by the scarcity of women caused by polygyny, which inflates the value of dowries, making marriage un-affordable to low-ranking young men, even if they manage to find a bride.

But if a girl is perceived to be unchaste or impure, or if she’s been a victim of sexual violence, she becomes un-marriageable and loses all her economic value. Leaving her family stuck with a valueless commodity that they must support for the rest of their lives.

Thus this economic aspect introduced by mahr (bride-price) creates a further incentive for parents to engage in chastity assurance practices (such as FGM).

Polygnynous family structures are loveless compared to monogamous ones. Fathers have less involvement with their many wives and even more numerous children (Osama bin laden’s father had 54 children by 22 wives). Tensions and rivalries arise between wives, and between the children of different wives. Islam encourages parents, relatives and teachers to treat and discipline children in ways that are considered barbaric and perverted in the non-muslim world. And cruelty required of FGM is normalised by other practices such as male circumcision, cruel and mutilating public punishments, halal slaughter, and the violent and hateful speech contained in the Koran.

Child Marriage is endemic to polygynous societies – bringing little girls into the marriage market to make up for the scarcity of women. Dowry further incentives child-marriage, as it becomes advantageous for parents to ‘sell-off’ their daughters before adolescence, when her reputation is at greater risk of being spoiled and her losing her economic value. Moreover, if the bride is still a child, the dowry goes not to her but to her father. All this sexualises the perception of little girls, making them vulnerable to the sexual violence endemic to polygynous societies. This drives down the age at which chastity assurance practices such as FGM are initiated.

Because of the supposed ‘perfection’ of Islam, muslims are unable to identify the real causes of the sexual violence endemic to their societies. It is instead attributed to notions that female sexuality is excessive, indiscriminate and dangerous if left unchecked by chastity assurance measures such as FGM. Islam thus creates a perfect storm of dysfunctional marital, sexual and kinship practices. It massively overvalues the chastity and purity of females whilst, at the same time, creating sexually violent societies which put that very chastity and purity at increased risk. The solutions Islam offers to this conundrum exacerbate the problems, and thus creating a social and normative context in which chastity assurance measures such as FGM, become useful or even necessary.

FGM in the modern Islamic world

In 2012, the Muslim Brotherhood worked to decriminalize FGM. According to Mariz Tadros (a reporter),"the Muslim Brotherhood have offered to circumcise women for a nominal fee as part of their community services, a move that threatens to reverse decades of local struggle against the harmful practice [...] Many of the Brothers (and Salafis) argue that while it is not mandatory, it is nevertheless mukarama  (preferable, pleasing in the eyes of God)."^[14]

FGM as Un-Islamic – A Brief History

As Abd Al-Wahhab Al-Maligi says in the above quote, the idea that FGM might be in any way un-Islamic first arose in past three or four decades. Islam is 1400 years old; the various schools of Islam made their pronouncements on FGM in the centuries immediately following Mohammed’s death; this having been done, Islam appears to have given the practice no more thought till very recently: the earliest fatwa clearly critical of FGM appears to be one from 1984.

There has been a flurry of fatwas concerning FGM in recent decades. This flurry has, I believe, been a response to heightened expectations of the rights of women and children in the non-Islamic world, and a growing awareness and revulsion at the practice of FGM.

An Ngram for the terms ‘fgm’, ‘female genital mutilation’ and ‘female circumcision’ gives the following result:

A sharp and steady rise in the more condemnatory term (‘mutilation’ rather than ‘circumcision’) in English-language literature starts in 1989-90. This coincides with the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, which 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.” Islam saw itself reflected in the non-Islamic world’s eyes and felt ashamed at what it saw – leading to, for the first time in Islamic history, to some questioning and criticism of this practice.

However, keeping in mind the historical context of its 1400-year complicity in the practice, Islam’s response to FGM is reminiscent of that of a burglar who, after having practiced his trade with impunity for decades, has a sudden access of guilt and repentance on his first appearance before a judge. One suspects his distress is more at being found out than guilt or repentance.

As it is, most fatwas that appear to condemn FGM are, at best, worryingly ignorant of the place of FGM in Islamic doctrine, or engage in uncritical thinking, or are, at worst, insincere – designed to be no more than pacifiers of the concerns of the non-Islamic world.

Arguments de-linking FGM from Islam

Over the past 40 or so years, as a consequence of the scrutiny of the international community, and a heightened sensitivity to the rights of women and children, parts of the Islamic world have started to feel embarrassed about Islam's complicity with FGM. The parts of the Islamic word that feel this embarrassment are (of course) those parts that do not practice FGM.

The Hanafi school is the school of Islam under which there is the least incidence of FGM. Pakistani Muslims are generally Hanafi, and have, till recently, been the largest muslim diaspora to the West. Pakistanis are also frequently English-speaking. Both of which facts increase the prevalence in the West of the narrative that ‘FGM is nothing to do with Islam’. With increasing immigration to the West from Shafi’i countries (Somalia in particular) this narrative is harder to maintain since (as we shall see below) FGM is obligatory under Shafi’i Islam.

FGM existed before Islam

The underlying assumption of this argument is that if a practice existed before Islam then it can not be Islamic. Most of what constitutes Islam is not original to Islam. Muhammad took what was a secular practice and sacralised it.

there is no FGM in the Qur'an

see FGM in the Qur'an

Hadith don't matter

none of the 5 pillars of Islam explained in Qur'an, but need hadith

when Qur'an 9:5 mentioned apologists are keen to turn to hadith to justify it or excuse it.

mutilation is forbidden by Qur'an

the FGM Hadith are weak

FGM is an African practice

Christians practice FGM too

The underlying assumption of this argument is that if Christians engage in a practice then it can not be Islamic.

fgm in europe (show map)

not all muslims practice FGM

The underlying assumption of this argument is that only those practices which all Muslims engage in can be Islamic.

lack of consensus of scholars

'sunnah circumcision'

mention reliance of the traveller mistranslation

Defining 'Bazr' (بَظْرٌ )

Nuh Ha Mim Keller, an American convert to Islam, in 1991 published the (then) only English translation of ‘The Reliance of the Traveller’ (the most authoritative handbook of Sharia law). Instead of translating the word ‘bazr’ as ‘clitoris‘, he translates it as ‘prepuce of the clitoris‘ – thus appearing to mitigating the severity of the practice.

(the abbreviations in the text mean: A: comment by Sheikh ‘Abd al-Wakil Durubi, Ar: Arabic, n: remark by the translator)

Nuh Ha Mim Keller gives no justification for translating Bazr (بظر) as ‘prepuce of the clitoris’ rather than just ‘clitoris’. And all Arabic dictionaries give the word 'Clitoris' for Bazr ( بظر). None lists ‘prepuce of the clitoris’ even as a secondary definition. A systematic consultation of online Arabic dictionaries gives the same result (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H), as does Google Translate.

If one accepts Keller’s definition of Bazr (بظر) then one has to accept that:

1. Arabic speakers, writers and translators have, over the past 1400 years, been getting the definition of Bazr wrong,
2. that Arabic has no word for ‘clitoris’.

To translate 'bazr' as 'prepuce of the clitoris' is to treat what is an extreme improbability as if it were a certainty merely because it fits with the translators axiomatic belief in Islam's perfection.

equivocation

Since the 1990s Islamic scholars, clerics and other sources have issued fatwas and statements that appear to criticise, condemn and even forbid FGM. However, an alert reading of these reveals that they virtually all engage in some form of equivocation ('deliberate evasiveness in wording : the use of ambiguous or equivocal language') in order to appear to be more critical of FGM than they are.

Probably the most cited instance of this is a fatwa issued by Dr Ahmed Talib, the former Dean of the Faculty of Sharia at Al-Azhar University, the most prestigious university for Sunni Islamic learning.

After gaining our trust by forthrightly condemning FGM it could almost pass unnoticed that the implication of his final phrase (‘it is not an obligation in Islam’) is that, under Islam, FGM’s legitimacy may stop only just short of ‘obligatory’ - which, of course, could include ‘highly recommended’. There is a world of difference between something not being obligatory and something being forbidden: the fact something is not ‘obligatory’ in no way implies that it is undesirable, unacceptable or forbidden: owning a dog is not ‘obligatory’ – but that in no way implies that owning a dog is frowned on, discouraged or forbidden; giving to charity is valued, respected and encouraged but, like FGM in Islam, it is not ‘obligatory’. A fatwa may be adorned with much criticism and condemnation of FGM, but if all that criticism amounts to nothing more than a statement that ‘FGM is not obligatory under Islam’ – it merely reveals that the author of the fatwa was unable to state that ‘FGM is forbidden under Islam’.

See Also

• Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Female Genital Mutilation

References