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It is all too natural to consider FGM as nothing more than an arbitrarily misogynistic practice. However, it is actually a solution to certain social problems - albeit problems that not all societies suffer from, and that no society ''need'' suffer from. The section [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox2#The origins of FGM|the origins of FGM]] will consider what these 'problems' are, and why they arise in some societies. The next section ([[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox2#Islamic Doctrine that creates social conditions favourable to FGM|Islamic Doctrine that creates social conditions favourable to FGM]]) shows how Islam doctrine reproduces the very factors that ''made'' FGM useful or necessary in some pre-Islamic societies. A third section ([[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox2#The functions of FGM|Functions of FGM]]) considers how the social purposes of FGM is realised through the experience of the individual child undergoing FGM. | It is all too natural to consider FGM as nothing more than an arbitrarily misogynistic practice. However, it is actually a solution to certain social problems - albeit problems that not all societies suffer from, and that no society ''need'' suffer from. The section [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox2#The origins of FGM|the origins of FGM]] will consider what these 'problems' are, and why they arise in some societies. The next section ([[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox2#Islamic Doctrine that creates social conditions favourable to FGM|Islamic Doctrine that creates social conditions favourable to FGM]]) shows how Islam doctrine reproduces the very factors that ''made'' FGM useful or necessary in some pre-Islamic societies. A third section ([[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox2#The functions of FGM|Functions of FGM]]) considers how the social purposes of FGM is realised through the experience of the individual child undergoing FGM. | ||
==FGM in the Qur'an and Hadith== | ==FGM in the Qur'an and Hadith== | ||
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A sixth Hadith reports Uthman, one of Muhammad's closest companions, having newly converted women under go FGM as part of their initiation into Islam. The word he uses is not الْخِتَانُ (khitan), but فَاخْفِضُو (khaffad), which translates as 'reduce them' or 'trim them'. | A sixth Hadith reports Uthman, one of Muhammad's closest companions, having newly converted women under go FGM as part of their initiation into Islam. The word he uses is not الْخِتَانُ (khitan), but فَاخْفِضُو (khaffad), which translates as 'reduce them' or 'trim them'. | ||
The remaining hadith includes an exchange of insults between Meccan warriors and Muhammad's companions prior to the [[Battle of Uhud|battle of Uhud]]. It has little import doctrinally, but is of linguistic, historical and sociological interest because it appears to indicate that Muhammad's native tribe, the Banu Qaraysh, traditionally practiced FGM.{{Quote|1={{Bukhari|5|59|399}}|2=“[…] I went out with the people for the battle. When the army aligned for the fight, Siba’ came out and said, ‘Is there any (Muslim) to accept my challenge to a duel?’ Hamza bin `Abdul Muttalib came out and said, ‘O Siba’. O Ibn Um Anmar, '''the one who circumcises''' [أَنْمَارٍ مُقَطِّعَةِ الْبُظُورِ - muqaṭwiʿaẗi al-ْbuẓūri] other ladies! Do you challenge Allah and His Apostle?’ […]”}}<nowiki/>''< | The remaining hadith includes an exchange of insults between Meccan warriors and Muhammad's companions prior to the [[Battle of Uhud|battle of Uhud]]. It has little import doctrinally, but is of linguistic, historical and sociological interest because it appears to indicate that Muhammad's native tribe, the Banu Qaraysh, traditionally practiced FGM.{{Quote|1={{Bukhari|5|59|399}}|2=“[…] I went out with the people for the battle. When the army aligned for the fight, Siba’ came out and said, ‘Is there any (Muslim) to accept my challenge to a duel?’ Hamza bin `Abdul Muttalib came out and said, ‘O Siba’. O Ibn Um Anmar, '''the one who circumcises''' [أَنْمَارٍ مُقَطِّعَةِ الْبُظُورِ - muqaṭwiʿaẗi al-ْbuẓūri] other ladies! Do you challenge Allah and His Apostle?’ […]”}} | ||
==FGM and the | ==FGM in Islamic Law== | ||
{{Main}} | |||
[[File:Madhhabplusfgm.jpeg|thumb|Maps showing distribution of madhabs and prevalence of FGM]] | |||
Only one school of Islam - the Shafi'i - makes FGM universally obligatory. The other schools of Islam recommend it with differing levels of obligation. Since nothing that Muhammad allowed can be prohibited, no school of Islam can forbid FGM. | |||
=== Sunni Islam === | |||
* The Maliki school decrees FGM as recommended, but not obligatory. | |||
* The Hanafi school decrees that FGM is optional. | |||
* The Shafi'i school decree FGM to be obligatory. Infibulation, the most severe form of FGM practiced under Islam, is almost entirely attributable to followers of the Shafi'i school. | |||
* The Hanbali schools has have two opinions concerning FGM: some scholars decree it obligatory, other as 'honourable' and therefore recommended. | |||
=== Shia Islam === | |||
The attitudes of Shia Islam towards FGM are as not clear-cut as with the schools of Sunni Islam. The Jafari school appears to recommend FGM, while the Ismaili school ( notably the Dawoodhi Bohras) treat it as obligatory. | |||
===Modern Fatwas=== | |||
see [[Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Female Genital Mutilation#Modern Fatwas]] | |||
===Arguments de-linking FGM and Islam=== | |||
{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-075922/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 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|thumb|NGram for terms: 'FGM', 'Female Genital Mutilation' and 'Female Circumcision'|link=https://wikiislam.net/wiki/File:Fgmwordsearches.jpg]]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 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. 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. | |||
The 'FGM is un-Islamic' narrative is further 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, 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 [https://wikiislam.net/index.php?title=Female_Genital_Mutilation_in_Islamic_Law&stable=0#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. | |||
FGM Is Not Required by Islam | |||
There Is No FGM in the Qur'an | |||
FGM Existed Before Islam | |||
FGM Is an African Practice | |||
Christians Practice FGM Too | |||
Not All Muslims Practice FGM | |||
The FGM Hadith Are Weak | |||
The Qur'an Forbids Mutilation | |||
'Circumcision' is not Mutilation | |||
There Is No Record of Muhammad Having His Wives or Daughters Circumcised | |||
Muhammad Wanted to Forbid FGM but Couldn't | |||
==The History of FGM== | ==The History of FGM== | ||