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{{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' (Mar 27, 2017)]|”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' (Mar 27, 2017)]|”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 the above quote (dating Mar 27, 2017) confirms, the idea that FGM might be un-Islamic appears to be quite recent. The earliest fatwa clearly critical of FGM appears to be one from 1984<ref name=":1" /> | As the above quote (dating Mar 27, 2017) confirms, the idea that FGM might be un-Islamic appears to be quite recent. In recent decades there has been a flurry of fatwas concerning FGM in response to a world-wide increasing sensitivity to the rights of women and children, and a growing international awareness of the practice of FGM. The earliest fatwa clearly critical of FGM appears to be one from 1984<ref name=":1" /> [[File:Fgmwordsearches.jpg|alt=NGram for terms: 'FGM', 'Female Genital Mutilation' and 'Female Circumcision'|thumb|NGram for terms: 'FGM', 'Female Genital Mutilation' and 'Female Circumcision']]An Ngram for the terms ‘fgm’, ‘female genital mutilation’ and ‘female circumcision’ shows a sharp and steady rise in the more condemnatory terms (‘mutilation’ and 'FGM' rather than ‘circumcision’) in English-language literature starting around 1989. 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 ''<nowiki/>'traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children'''.<ref>[http://archive.today/2016.10.21-124829/http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx Convention on the Rights of the Child]</ref> Soon afterwards reports and condemnations were issued by organisations such as the World Health Organisation (1995),<ref>[https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/63602/WHO_FRH_WHD_96.10.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Female genital mutilation : report of a WHO technical working group, Geneva, 17-19 July 1995]</ref> the Council of Europe (1995), and UNICEF & UNFPA (1997).<ref>[https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/41903/9241561866.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Female Genital Mutilation - A Joint WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA Statement]</ref> Parts of the Islamic world, especially those parts which don't practice FGM, for the first time in Islamic history, began to endeveour to de-link FGM from Islam. | ||
An Ngram for the terms ‘fgm’, ‘female genital mutilation’ and ‘female circumcision’ shows a sharp and steady rise in the more condemnatory terms (‘mutilation’ and 'FGM' rather than ‘circumcision’) in English-language literature starting around 1989. 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 ''<nowiki/>'traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children'''.<ref>[http://archive.today/2016.10.21-124829/http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx Convention on the Rights of the Child]</ref> Soon afterwards reports and condemnations were issued by organisations such as the World Health Organisation (1995),<ref>[https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/63602/WHO_FRH_WHD_96.10.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Female genital mutilation : report of a WHO technical working group, Geneva, 17-19 July 1995]</ref> the Council of Europe (1995), and UNICEF & UNFPA (1997).<ref>[https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/41903/9241561866.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Female Genital Mutilation - A Joint WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA Statement]</ref> | ''<nowiki/>'' | ||
In recent decades many agencies and charities have engaged themselves in the fight against FGM<ref>[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-035738/https://www.humanrightscareers.com/issues/organizations-fighting-female-genital-mutilation/ 20 Organizations Fighting Female Genital Mutilation]</ref>. These agencies (and other individuals working to combat FGM) face a particular challenge: when interacting with populations who practice FGM, telling the truth is guaranteed to make matters worse. For example how should a worker for an anti-FGM charity, who is giving a lecture to a roomful of Somali mothers in the hope of persuading them to abandon the practice, respond the the question '''is FGM Islamic''?' | |||
If the charity worker tells those mothers about the FGM hadith, and about how FGM is part of the fitrah (which Qur'an 30:30 exhorts Muslims to adhere to - see [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#FGM in the Qur.27an|FGM in the Qur'an]]), and how the Shafi'i (the school of fiqh which Somalia follows) scholars are unanimous in making FGM mandatory - those mothers will leave the lecture ''more'' likely to have their daughters mutilated, rather than ''less'' likely, as intended. This dilemma faces not just on-the-ground charity workers, but the whole hierarchy of institutions devoted to combating FGM, and a variety of strategies have emerged to resolve the dilemma. Most involve some form of obfuscation or diversion which gives the ''impression'' of showing FGM to be un-Islamic whilst, on closer examination, doing no such thing. | |||
The 'FGM as un-Islamic' narrative is also reinforced by the fact that it is a minority of Muslims that practice FGM. Muslims who don't practice FGM have become more aware of FGM over the past decades, and generally share the objections of non-Muslims towards the practice. And, in addition, are troubled by its association with Islam.Immigration to the West has tended to come from these non-practicing schools and traditions - from the Maghreb, Pakistan and Turkey, where the presiding school of fiqh is Hanafi - the school of fiqh under which there is the least incidence of FGM. These immigrant populations have effectively imported the 'FGM is un-Islamic' narrative to the West. | |||
The following section addresses some of the principal arguments used to support the 'FGM is Un-Islamic' position. | |||
{{anchor|arguments}} | {{anchor|arguments}} | ||
===Arguments de-linking FGM from Islam | ===Arguments de-linking FGM from Islam === | ||
appear to be cataloguing polemics rather than addressing them. | <!-- appear to be cataloguing polemics rather than addressing them. | ||
'scholars say this/Critics say this'. | 'scholars say this/Critics say this'. | ||
overview of polemical position | overview of polemical position | ||
'modern revisionist perspectives say this, and critics respond' | 'modern revisionist perspectives say this, and critics respond' -->{{anchor|equivocation}} | ||
{{anchor|equivocation}} | |||
====FGM is not required by Islam==== | ====FGM is not required by Islam==== | ||
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.{{Quote|[https://www.academia.edu/6142789/Egypts_Villages_Fight_Female_Genital_Mutilation_WFS_NEWS Dr Ahmed Talib, Dean of the Faculty of Sharia at Al-Azhar University]|“All practices of female circumcision and mutilation are crimes and have no relationship with Islam. Whether it involves the removal of the skin or the cutting of the flesh of the female genital organs… it is not an obligation in Islam.”}}Dr Talib clearly condemns FGM in this fatwa, and the implication of his final phrase () could pass unnoticed. | |||
A critical reading of the fatwa reveals that, according to Dr Talib, FGM’s legitimacy may stop only just short of ‘obligatory’. The fatwa's conclusion is ‘[FGM] ''is not an obligation in Islam’.'' There is a very significant difference between something '<nowiki/>''not being obligatory'<nowiki/>'' and something being '<nowiki/>''forbidden': 'Not an obligation'<nowiki/>'' includes everything short of ''<nowiki/>'obligatory'<nowiki/>''. And the fact something is '<nowiki/>''not obligatory''’ in no way implies that it is forbidden or even undesirable. Examples of acts that are '''not obligatory''<nowiki/>' include owning a dog, giving to charity, child sexual abuse and murder. A fatwa may be adorned with much criticism and condemnation of FGM, but for Dr Talib to conclude that ''‘FGM is not obligatory under Islam’'' suggest that he was unable to state that ''‘FGM is forbidden under Islam’''. 'Not obligatory', 'allowed' or 'tolerated' are no more acceptable legal or ethical positions for a practice such as FGM than they would be for murder, child sexual abuse or rape. | |||
It should also be noted that the Shafi'i school of Islam and some Hanbali scholars have ruled FGM obligatory. | |||
{{anchor|noFGMQur}} | {{anchor|noFGMQur}} | ||
====There is no FGM in the Qur'an==== | ====There is no FGM in the Qur'an==== |