User:Flynnjed/Sandbox: Difference between revisions

'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)]].

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

This would imply that what Christians do (or don't do) determines what is 'Islamic' - something that Muslims would undoubtedly reject.  

However, it is true that some Christians practice FGM. But the Christians who practice FGM are nearly all living as isolated and persecuted minorities living within a dominant Islamic FGM-practicing culture. FGM is both an islamic purity practice, and within FGM-practicing societies girls who are not cut are considered impure, and any contact or proximity with them, or sharing of objects will be considered as contaminating. This means that individuals, families and communities that do not observe to the dominant culture's purity observances are perceived as gravely threatening the spiritual and religious lives of that community since, for example, a Moslem's prayers will be rendered invalid if he is inadvertantly contaminated, and will continue to be invalid until he correctly purifies himself.[[File:Infibmap correct20111.jpg|thumb|the prevalence of Female Genital Cutting|alt=|left]]This means that in such Islamic communities, non-Moslems who do not follow the communities purity observances are shunned, stigmatised, discriminated against and persecuted.

We saw this recently in Pakistan when a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, drank from a Moslem's cup- and brought upon herself, her family and her community much violence, hatred and persecution.

Hence, non-Moslems come under great pressure to adopt the dominant Islamic purity practices in order to minimise persecution. A clear example of this are the Copts who are Christian and who make up 10 to 15% of the population of Egypt. Copts practice FGM at about a 74% (compared to 92% Moslems). Copts themselves recognise that they practice FGM in order to minimise persecution. We can note also that it is Christian minorities such as the Copts who appear to be the most ready to abandon FGM when it becomes safe and possible to do so.<ref>[https://copticliterature.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/prevalence-of-and-support-for-female-genital-mutilation-within-the-copts-of-egypt-unicef-report-2013/ Prevalence of and support for Female Genital Mutilation within the Copts of Egypt: INICEF report (2013)]</ref>

 

There are however three countries where FGM appears to be practiced by Christian majorities – Ethiopia, Eritrea and Liberia. The FGM in Liberia is practiced as part of the initiation into secret women's societies. FGM in Ethiopia and Eritrea is due to a combination of historical factors, not least of which being that they were the hubs of the Islamic slave trade, where slave girls captured in West Africa were infibulated to guarantee their virginity and thus raise their price, in preparation for the slave markets of the Islamic Middle East. This Islamic practice, associated with slavery, was adopted by the locals, and has persisted.  

The following graphs (adapted from data found at https://www.28toomany.org/research-resources/) combine rates of decline in a variety of African countries with (in green and red) the proportion of the population that is Muslim. They suggest that national rates of decline of FGM-practice are steeper the lower the proportion of the nation that is Muslim. <gallery perrow="10" mode="packed" caption="rates of decline of FGM in African countries with (in green and red) the proportion of the population that is Muslim">