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Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions
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Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Law (view source)
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The limited, prescribed religious ritual of female circumcision has been regrettably deemed by the WHO to be a form of female genital mutilation [...] The classification of female circumcision as FGM “reinforces the image of female circumcision as a barbaric one, practiced by an uncivilised people.” Conflating the practice of female circumcision with mutilation prohibits any possibility of impartiality in considering the practice as a legitimate, protected religious rite.}} | The limited, prescribed religious ritual of female circumcision has been regrettably deemed by the WHO to be a form of female genital mutilation [...] The classification of female circumcision as FGM “reinforces the image of female circumcision as a barbaric one, practiced by an uncivilised people.” Conflating the practice of female circumcision with mutilation prohibits any possibility of impartiality in considering the practice as a legitimate, protected religious rite.}} | ||
The term ''<nowiki/>'''Female Circumcision' is used by those who consider certain practices insufficiently harmful or intrusive to merit the epithet 'mutilation' (as in 'Female Genital ''Mutilation')'' and can be applied to any procedure short of infibulation''.''<ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233100651_Somali_Women_in_Western_Exile_Reassessing_Female_Circumcision_in_the_Light_of_Islamic_Teachings Somali Women in Western Exile: Reassessing Female Circumcision in the Light of Islamic Teachings] Sara Johnsdotter</ref> The relatively moderate procedure of the ''"removal of the clitoral hood or a ritual nick on the external female genitalia"'' is called 'Sunnah Circumcision'.<ref>[https:// | The term ''<nowiki/>'''Female Circumcision' is used by those who consider certain practices insufficiently harmful or intrusive to merit the epithet 'mutilation' (as in 'Female Genital ''Mutilation')'' and can be applied to any procedure short of infibulation''.''<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220224143711/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233100651_Somali_Women_in_Western_Exile_Reassessing_Female_Circumcision_in_the_Light_of_Islamic_Teachings Somali Women in Western Exile: Reassessing Female Circumcision in the Light of Islamic Teachings] Sara Johnsdotter</ref> The relatively moderate procedure of the ''"removal of the clitoral hood or a ritual nick on the external female genitalia"'' is called 'Sunnah Circumcision'.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220224144331/https://female-circumcision.com/a-problem-of-definition-female-circumcision-vs-fgm/ A Problem of Definition: Female Circumcision vs FGM]</ref> | ||
Sunnah Circumcision is mostly practiced by South Asian Muslims, who belong to the Shafi'i school, which makes FGM obligatory and is associated with the most severe form of FGM, infibulation. Infibulation would have been a practice alien to South Asian Muslims, arising as it did from the Islamic slave trade, which largely spared South Asia.<ref>[https://www.librairie-de-flore.fr/produit/esclavage-lhistoire-a-lendroit/ l'Esclavage: l'Histoire à l'Endroit' by Bernard Lugan (2020)]</ref><ref>[https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-Forgotten-Slave-Trade-Hardback/p/18473 The Forgotten Slave Trade - the White European Slaves of Islam] by Simon Webb</ref> Sunnah circumcision may have been a way of sparing girls the extremities of infibulation whilst still fulfilling the obligation to engage in FGM. | Sunnah Circumcision is mostly practiced by South Asian Muslims, who belong to the Shafi'i school, which makes FGM obligatory and is associated with the most severe form of FGM, infibulation. Infibulation would have been a practice alien to South Asian Muslims, arising as it did from the Islamic slave trade, which largely spared South Asia.<ref>[https://www.librairie-de-flore.fr/produit/esclavage-lhistoire-a-lendroit/ l'Esclavage: l'Histoire à l'Endroit' by Bernard Lugan (2020)]</ref><ref>[https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-Forgotten-Slave-Trade-Hardback/p/18473 The Forgotten Slave Trade - the White European Slaves of Islam] by Simon Webb</ref> Sunnah circumcision may have been a way of sparing girls the extremities of infibulation whilst still fulfilling the obligation to engage in FGM. | ||
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#it serves no medical or prophylactic purpose | #it serves no medical or prophylactic purpose | ||
#it damages the functioning of an important body part (e.g. permanent exposure reduces the sensitivity of the clitoris) | #it damages the functioning of an important body part (e.g. permanent exposure reduces the sensitivity of the clitoris) | ||
#it unnecessarily exposes the child to health risks, both short-term and long-term<ref>[https://www.who.int/ | #it unnecessarily exposes the child to health risks, both short-term and long-term<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220224145321/https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation Health risks of female genital mutilation (FGM)] WHO</ref> | ||
#it is generally done in a needlessly traumatic manner: anaesthetics are generally eschewed<!-- link to FGM as initiation rite --> | #it is generally done in a needlessly traumatic manner: anaesthetics are generally eschewed<!-- link to FGM as initiation rite --> | ||
#it is practiced on children, who can not give informed consent to such a procedure | #it is practiced on children, who can not give informed consent to such a procedure | ||
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However, there is also no record of Muhammad having undergone circumcision himself, or of him having his sons circumcised. Indeed, there are many aspects of Islamic law for which there is no record of Mohammed having practiced: there is no record of Muhammad limiting himself to just four wives, for example. | However, there is also no record of Muhammad having undergone circumcision himself, or of him having his sons circumcised. Indeed, there are many aspects of Islamic law for which there is no record of Mohammed having practiced: there is no record of Muhammad limiting himself to just four wives, for example. | ||
The hadith suggest that females in Muhammad's circle would have undergone FGM before puberty, and current practice confirms this (a 2013 UNICEF pamphlet reveals that in about half of countries with available data, the majority of girls undergo FGM before five years of age<ref>[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1016/S0968-8080 | The hadith suggest that females in Muhammad's circle would have undergone FGM before puberty, and current practice confirms this (a 2013 UNICEF pamphlet reveals that in about half of countries with available data, the majority of girls undergo FGM before five years of age<ref>[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1016/S0968-8080%2813%2942747-7?cookieSet=1 Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: a statistical overview and exploration of the dynamics of change United Nations Children’s Fund, New York, July 2013]</ref>). In the [https://wikiislam.net/index.php?title=Female_Genital_Mutilation_in_Islamic_Law&stable=0#Someone_to_Amuse_Them hadith narrated by Umm ‘Alqama] the persons being cut are clearly children, and the function of Islamic FGM<!-- insert links - (see The Origins of FGM, Islamic Doctrine that creates social conditions favourable to FGM and the Functions of FGM) --> requires that it be prepubescents who are submitted to FGM, not adolescents or adults. Therefore it is unlikely that Muhammad would have needed to command or require the circumcision of his wives, since they would have already been circumcised before he married them. | ||
FGM in Islamic cultures is matriarchal, taboo-ridden and secretive affair, usually arranged by female relatives. The hadith '[https://wikiislam.net/index.php?title=Female_Genital_Mutilation_in_Islamic_Law&stable=0#Do_Not_Cut_Severely do not cut severely]' and '[https://wikiislam.net/index.php?title=Female_Genital_Mutilation_in_Islamic_Law&stable=0#One_Who_Circumcises_Other_Ladies One who circumcises other ladies]' depict women performing the mutilation, not men. Male family members are excluded and may not even realise that their community engages in the practice.<ref>[ | FGM in Islamic cultures is matriarchal, taboo-ridden and secretive affair, usually arranged by female relatives. The hadith '[https://wikiislam.net/index.php?title=Female_Genital_Mutilation_in_Islamic_Law&stable=0#Do_Not_Cut_Severely do not cut severely]' and '[https://wikiislam.net/index.php?title=Female_Genital_Mutilation_in_Islamic_Law&stable=0#One_Who_Circumcises_Other_Ladies One who circumcises other ladies]' depict women performing the mutilation, not men. Male family members are excluded and may not even realise that their community engages in the practice.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220224150815/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/08/victim-fgm-speaking-out-cut-genitals-culture-of-silence I’m a survivor of female genital cutting and I’m speaking out – as others must too - Maryum Saifee]</ref> | ||
{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-082018/https://fgmtruth.wordpress.com/2019/06/14/a-response-to-delinking-female-genital-mutilation-cutting-from-islam-part-2/ A Response to ‘Delinking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam’ – part 2]|[...]brothers are often unaware that their sisters have been 'cut'. The author records a striking instance of this: an Omani undergraduate who was assisting his research into FGM, was stunned to read surveys reporting FGM-rates of between 75 to 95% in Oman, having assumed that his country was free of the practice. <ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326191394_Female_Genital_Mutilation_in_the_Middle_East_Placing_Oman_on_the_Map Female Genital Mutilation in the Middle East: Placing Oman on the Map, June 2018, Hoda Thabet & Azza Al-Kharousi]</ref> | {{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-082018/https://fgmtruth.wordpress.com/2019/06/14/a-response-to-delinking-female-genital-mutilation-cutting-from-islam-part-2/ A Response to ‘Delinking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam’ – part 2]|[...]brothers are often unaware that their sisters have been 'cut'. The author records a striking instance of this: an Omani undergraduate who was assisting his research into FGM, was stunned to read surveys reporting FGM-rates of between 75 to 95% in Oman, having assumed that his country was free of the practice. <ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326191394_Female_Genital_Mutilation_in_the_Middle_East_Placing_Oman_on_the_Map Female Genital Mutilation in the Middle East: Placing Oman on the Map, June 2018, Hoda Thabet & Azza Al-Kharousi]</ref> | ||