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{{Quote|[https://unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/De-linking%20FGM%20from%20Islam%20final%20report.pdf 'Delinking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam'] by Ibrahim Lethome Asmani & Maryam Sheikh Abdi (2008)|'Shafi’i view it as wajib (obligatory) for both females and males'}}

===Hanbali Madhab===

===The 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 its causes may in part be social.  

Much of what follows is based on the work of Gerry Mackie, a political scientist who has investigated the social origins of FGM, using comparative-historical sociology and game theory.  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).

In a monogamous marriage a husband and wife can spend much time together (and thus better monitor each others fidelity), can grow close to one another, and their sexual and emotional needsare more-or-less proportional. In polygynous societies the rich and high-status men who can afford to keep multiple wives face a problem guaranteeing the fidelity of their many wives. And the more they have the greater that problem becomes. A polygynous man may have anything from two to a thousand 'concubines' whom he must satisfy emotionally and sexually, provide with offspring and keep faithful. If the needs of his wives are not satisfied, they will be tempted to look elsewhere, and this may result in the high-status man rearing children that are not his own.

*'''harems''' keep 'concubines' locked away, guarded by eunuchs;

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

Sex-slavery is a consequence of polygyny and Islam allows both slavery and sex slavery. The scarcity of females creates a sexual, affective and marital famine at the bottom of society which has been traditionally solved either by poor young men forming militias and capturing females from neighbouring tribes, or by them 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.

All marriages in polygynous kinship systems require that a bride-price be paid by the groom to the bride. The scarcity of marriageable women which polygyny causes turns them into a valuable asset, to be cashed in when she is 'sold' in marriage. The scarcer marriageable women are the greater the dowries. This makes marriage unaffordable to low-ranking young men, even if they do manage to find a bride. It is a notable feature of folk tales from polygynous societies (such as ''<nowiki/>'One Thousand and One Nights''') that their heroes are often poor young men (such as Aladdin) who loves a girl, but who can not afford the bride-price. The story is resolved when he becomes rich and powerful enough to pay the bride-price and marry her.

Islamic law makes mandatory the payment of bride-price by the groom (or his family) to the bride (or her family).

Child Marriage is universal to polygynous societies. Bringing little girls into the marriage market is a reaction to the 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. The bride-price for a child is generally less than for an adolescent or adult woman. This makes children a more affordable option for poor and low status men. In addition in monogamous societies, the incest taboo extends not only to daughters but also to women young enough to be a man's daughter. This separation of generations does not naturally occur in polygynous cultures. Polygyny also increases mens' paternity anxieties and doubts, and also creates anxieties connected to the management of multiple wives – therefore submissiveness, obedience, manipulability are valued characteristics in a wife - characteristics that are more pronounced in younger brides. It has been observed that Polygamous men select younger girls as wives (even as first wives) than monogamous men.

Thus the perception of little girls is sexualised, making them vulnerable to the sexual violence endemic to polygynous societies. They must also meet the marriage requirements of the polygynous elite. This drives down the age at which chastity assurance practices (including FGM) are initiated .

“''In a 2004 New York Times article, a graduate student in his twenties described what it was like growing up in Saudi Arabia. He said that he had never been alone in the company of a young woman. He and his friends refer to women as “BMOs – black moving objects” gliding past in full burkas. Brideprices are steep and men cannot think of getting married until they are well established in a profession. All marriages are arranged and it is not uncommon for the bride and groom to meet at their wedding. “''

“''A man can have sex with animals such as sheep, cows, camels and so on. However he should kill the animal after he has his orgasm. He should not sell the meat to the people in his own village, however selling the meat to the next door village should be fine.”'' (Ayatollah Khomeini, from Tahrir al-Vasyleh, fourth volume, Darol Elm, Gom, Iran, 1990)

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. Islam protect girls and women from this sexual violence with chastity assurance measures.

Islamic law permits the beating of wives

Polygnynous family structures are loveless compared to monogamous ones. polygynous households tend to be characterised by (i) competition and rivalry among co-wives (ii) increased spousal age gaps (iii) decreased genetic inter-relatedness within the household (iv) reduced confidence as to the husband's paternity of the children (which increases his sexual jealousy and anxiety) (v) more step-parents. All these factors correlate with increased neglect of, and violence towards, children, either from the father or from step-mothers. Data from 22 sub-Saharan African countries finding that children of (rich) polygynous families were 24.4% more likely to die compared with children of (poor) monogamous families.