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As the above quote suggests, the idea that FGM might be un-Islamic appears to be relatively new. The earliest fatwa clearly critical of FGM appears to be from 1984<ref name=":1">p54 [https://books.google.fr/books?id=qof6J4n1860C&pg=PA54&lpg=PA54&dq=Sheikh+Abu-Sabib+1984&source=bl&ots=-apLOOha6B&sig=dpINFFLI-N9KO8_FmEET-MDFKbI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiXh5Gi5OfcAhVOyoUKHeSgDWUQ6AEwC3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=Sheikh%20Abu-Sabib%201984&f=false "Sexual Mutilations: A Human Tragedy" By International Symposium On Sexual Mutiliations 1996]</ref> and since then there have been fatwas critical of FGM. However, most are favourable towards the practice. (see [[Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Female Genital Mutilation#Modern Fatwas|Modern Fatwas]])  [[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 an increased use of ‘mutilation’ and 'FGM' as against the more anodyne 'circumcision' starting around 1990. 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 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> also issued reports critical of FGM.   
As the above quote suggests, the idea that FGM might be un-Islamic appears to be relatively new. The earliest fatwa clearly critical of FGM appears to be from 1984<ref name=":1">p54 [https://books.google.fr/books?id=qof6J4n1860C&pg=PA54&lpg=PA54&dq=Sheikh+Abu-Sabib+1984&source=bl&ots=-apLOOha6B&sig=dpINFFLI-N9KO8_FmEET-MDFKbI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiXh5Gi5OfcAhVOyoUKHeSgDWUQ6AEwC3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=Sheikh%20Abu-Sabib%201984&f=false "Sexual Mutilations: A Human Tragedy" By International Symposium On Sexual Mutiliations 1996]</ref> and since then there have been fatwas critical of FGM. However, most are favourable towards the practice. (see [[Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Female Genital Mutilation#Modern Fatwas|Modern Fatwas]])  [[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 an increased use of ‘mutilation’ and 'FGM' as against the more anodyne 'circumcision' starting around 1990. 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 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> also issued reports critical of FGM.   


For the first time in Islamic history, narratives critical of FGM were penetrating the Islamic world, parts of which began to feel uncomfortable about Islam's association with FGM, and have consequently sought to de-link the two by showing that FGM is un-Islamic.  
For the first time narratives critical of FGM started penetrating the Islamic world, parts of which began to feel uneasy about Islam's association with FGM, and have consequently sought to de-link the two by showing that FGM is un-Islamic.  


The 'FGM as un-Islamic' narrative is reinforced by the fact that it is a minority of Muslims that practice FGM. Muslims who don't practice FGM generally share the objections of non-Muslims towards the practice and are, in addition, troubled by its association with Islam. Immigration to the West has till recently come from Hanafi countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey, or the Maghreb. The Hanafi is the school of fiqh which least favours FGM, merely ruling it as 'optional', and the Maghreb practices a Maliki Islam that appears to eschew FGM. These immigrant populations have effectively imported the 'FGM is un-Islamic' narrative to the West. This narrative is challenged by the rise in immigration from countries such as Indonesia and Somalia, and the Kurdish Middle East<ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305745749_Effect_of_female_genital_mutilationcutting_on_sexual_functions Effect of female genital mutilation/cutting on sexual functions] - Mohammad-Hossein Biglu et al</ref>, where FGM-rates are high and the practice is accepted as Islamic.   
The 'FGM as un-Islamic' narrative is reinforced by the fact that it is a minority of Muslims that practice FGM. Immigration to the West has till recently come from the Maghreb and Hanafi countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey, or the Maghreb. The Hanafi is the school of fiqh which least favours FGM, merely ruling it as 'optional', and the Maghreb practices a Maliki Islam that appears to eschew FGM. These immigrant populations have effectively imported the 'FGM is un-Islamic' narrative to the West. This narrative is challenged by the rise in immigration from countries such as Indonesia and Somalia, and the Kurdish Middle East<ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305745749_Effect_of_female_genital_mutilationcutting_on_sexual_functions Effect of female genital mutilation/cutting on sexual functions] - Mohammad-Hossein Biglu et al</ref>, where FGM-rates are high and the practice is accepted as compatible with Islam.   


FGM (alongside other Islamic phenomena - such as jihadi terrorism) give rise to a dilemma arises with FGM (as with other Islamic practices - such as jihad terrorism) whereby telling the truth, or even making known facts and evidence, is likely to aggravate the problem.  
The 'FGM is un-Islamic' narrative is reinforced because the practice gives rise to a dilemma whereby telling the truth (or even just making known facts and evidence) is likely to aggravate the problem.  


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 face a particular challenge when interacting with individuals and populations who practice FGM: how, for example, should a campaigner for an anti-FGM charity respond to a Somali mother who asks whether FGM is Islamic?   
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 face a particular challenge when interacting with individuals and populations who practice FGM: how, for example, does an anti-FGM charity respond to a Somali mother who asks whether FGM is Islamic? If the charity worker tells her about the FGM in the hadith, and 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 school of fiqh which the Somali woman follows, the Shafi'i, makes FGM mandatory - then that mother will come away from that interaction ''more'' likely to have her daughter mutilated, not ''less''.  


If the charity worker tells her about the FGM hadith, and 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 school of fiqh which the Somali woman follows, the Shafi'i, makes FGM mandatory - then that mother will come away from that interaction ''more'' likely to have her daughter mutilated, not ''less''.
This dilemma is faced not just by on-the-ground charity workers, but the whole hierarchy of institutions devoted to combating FGM, including politicians, the media and academia. To resolve the dilemma a number of propositions have evolved to defend the proposition that FGM is un-Islamic.   
 
This dilemma faces not just on-the-ground charity workers, but the whole hierarchy of institutions devoted to combating FGM. To resolve the dilemma a number of propositions have evolved to support the proposition that FGM is un-Islamic.   
===FGM Is Not Required by Islam===
===FGM Is Not Required by Islam===
{{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'''.”}}It is correct that only the Shafi'i madhab,  the second or third largest school of Sunni Islam, unarguably rule FGM to be obligatory in Islam. Some Hanbali scholars also rule FGM to be obligatory.
{{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'''.”}}It is correct that most Islamic schools and scholars do not make FGM mandatory. Only the Shafi'i madhab (the second or third largest school of Sunni Islam) and some Hanbali scholars decree FGM to be obligatory in Islam.


But critics of Dr Talib's position might point out that if FGM is a crime, '<nowiki/>''not an obligation'<nowiki/>'' is a no more appropriate response to it than it would be to murder, child sexual abuse or rape. 'Not an obligation' is far from the same thing as 'forbidden'. 'Not obligatory' acts can be 'tolerated', 'allowed', 'recommended' or 'highly recommended' as well as 'forbidden'. And acts that are '''not an obligation''<nowiki/>' can be virtuous, vicious or ethically neutral, such as (respectively) charitable giving, murder, and owning a dog. Dr Talib's first sentence (''"All practices of female circumcision and mutilation are crimes and have no relationship with Islam"'') sets up an expectation that his conclusion fails to deliver.
But critics of Dr Talib's position might point out that if FGM is a 'crime', then '<nowiki/>''not an obligation''' is no more appropriate a response to it than it would be to murder, child sexual abuse or rape. 'Not an obligation' is not the same thing as 'forbidden'. An act that is 'not obligatory' may be 'tolerated', 'allowed', 'recommended', or 'highly recommended' as well as 'forbidden'. And acts that are 'not an obligation' can be virtuous, vicious or ethically neutral, such as (respectively) charitable giving, murder, and owning a dog. Dr Talib's conclusion in no way forecloses the possibility that FGM is virtuous and highly recommended in Islam.  
===There Is No FGM in the Qur'an===
===There Is No FGM in the Qur'an===
{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-062048/https://www.hrw.org/news/2010/09/18/fatwa-fgm-could-be-part-solution%23 A Fatwa on FGM Could be Part of the Solution – Kurdistan (2010)]|[...] its clear and unequivocal statement that the practice is not required by Islam was significant for women in Kurdistan, where the practice is widespread. '''The practice is not mentioned in the Quran''', and many other Muslim scholars have disassociated the practice from Islam.}}
{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-062048/https://www.hrw.org/news/2010/09/18/fatwa-fgm-could-be-part-solution%23 A Fatwa on FGM Could be Part of the Solution – Kurdistan (2010)]|[...] its clear and unequivocal statement that the practice is not required by Islam was significant for women in Kurdistan, where the practice is widespread. '''The practice is not mentioned in the Quran''', and many other Muslim scholars have disassociated the practice from Islam.}}
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