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→FGM as Un-Islamic – A Brief History
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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'}} | {{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'}} | ||
'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. {{Quote|''Reliance of the Traveler'' [''Umdat al-Salik''], Section e4.3 on Circumcision|'''Obligatory (on every male and female) is circumcision.''' (And it is the cutting-off of the skin [''qat' al-jaldah''] on the glans of the male member and, '''as for the circumcision of the female, that is the cutting-off of the clitoris')}} | '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. {{Quote|''Reliance of the Traveler'' [''Umdat al-Salik''], Section e4.3 on Circumcision|'''Obligatory (on every male and female) is circumcision.''' (And it is the cutting-off of the skin [''qat' al-jaldah''] on the glans of the male member and, '''as for the circumcision of the female, that is the cutting-off of the clitoris')}}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|Defining Bazr)]]. | ||
===Hanbali Madhab=== | ===Hanbali Madhab=== | ||
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Polygynous households tend to be characterised by | Polygynous households tend to be characterised by | ||
* competition and rivalry among co-wives | *competition and rivalry among co-wives | ||
* increased spousal age gaps | *increased spousal age gaps | ||
* decreased genetic inter-relatedness within the household | *decreased genetic inter-relatedness within the household | ||
* reduced confidence as to the husband's paternity of the children (which increases his sexual jealousy and anxiety) | *reduced confidence as to the husband's paternity of the children (which increases his sexual jealousy and anxiety) | ||
* 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. | *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. | ||
Fathers have less involvement with their many wives, and even less involvement with their even more numerous children (Osama bin laden’s father had 54 children by 22 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. | Fathers have less involvement with their many wives, and even less involvement with their even more numerous children (Osama bin laden’s father had 54 children by 22 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. | ||
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All this and the physical violence and wife-beating that is common in polygynous/Islamic families normalises the cruelty of FGM, making it an easier act to contemplate. | All this and the physical violence and wife-beating that is common in polygynous/Islamic families normalises the cruelty of FGM, making it an easier act to contemplate. | ||
==FGM as Un-Islamic | ==FGM as Un-Islamic== | ||
{{Quote|[https://www.memri.org/tv/egyptian-cleric-supports-fgm-cites-protocols-elders-zion 'Egyptian Cleric: Female Circumcision Has Economic Benefits; Jews Fight It in Keeping with Protocols of the Elders of Zion']|”The discussion about female circumcision goes back to the past century. The first time that this subject was debated extensively was in the past century. Who were the first to talk about it? The Jews. They do not want Islam or the Muslims to be pure, developed, and civilized, so they started talking about it.”}} | {{Quote|[https://www.memri.org/tv/egyptian-cleric-supports-fgm-cites-protocols-elders-zion 'Egyptian Cleric: Female Circumcision Has Economic Benefits; Jews Fight It in Keeping with Protocols of the Elders of Zion']|”The discussion about female circumcision goes back to the past century. The first time that this subject was debated extensively was in the past century. Who were the first to talk about it? The Jews. They do not want Islam or the Muslims to be pure, developed, and civilized, so they started talking about it.”}} | ||
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. | 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. | ||
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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. | 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== | ===Arguments de-linking FGM from Islam=== | ||
{{anchor|arguments}}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. | {{anchor|arguments}}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. | 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. | ||
===there is no FGM in the Qur'an=== | ====there is no FGM in the Qur'an==== | ||
see '''[[#quran|FGM in the Qur'an]]''' | see '''[[#quran|FGM in the Qur'an]]''' | ||
most of islam is not in the Qur'an | most of islam is not in the Qur'an | ||
===FGM existed before 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. | 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. | ||
===FGM is an African practice=== | ====FGM is an African practice==== | ||
===Christians practice FGM too=== | ====Christians practice FGM too==== | ||
The underlying assumption of this argument is that ''if Christians engage in a practice then it can not be Islamic.'' | 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) | fgm in europe (show map) | ||
===not all muslims practice FGM=== | ====not all muslims practice FGM==== | ||
The underlying assumption of this argument is that ''only those practices which all Muslims engage in can be Islamic.'' | The underlying assumption of this argument is that ''only those practices which all Muslims engage in can be Islamic.'' | ||
===the FGM Hadith are weak=== | ====the FGM Hadith are weak==== | ||
bukhjari and muslim | |||
===Hadith don't matter=== | weak hadith can be used if supported by stronger hadith | ||
====Hadith don't matter==== | |||
none of the 5 pillars of Islam explained in Qur'an, but need hadith | 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. | 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=== | ====mutilation is forbidden by Qur'an==== | ||
===lack of consensus of scholars=== | ====lack of consensus of scholars==== | ||
==='sunnah circumcision'=== | ===='sunnah circumcision'==== | ||
mention reliance of the traveller mistranslation | mention reliance of the traveller mistranslation | ||
=== | ====equivocation==== | ||
{{anchor|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. | {{anchor|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. | ||