“Female Genital Cutting (FGC), Islam and the West” [Seminar Paper] (original) (raw)

THE ISLAMIC RULING REGARDING FEMALE GENITAL MODIFICATION

We are all aware of the poor image of Islam held by the predominant culture in the West. Despite the treatment of women in the West until very recently, the Western media has focused on other cultures, including the cultures of countries where Islam is the dominant religion, and singled out practices that subjugate and demean women as being the norm in those countries, thereby proving the “superiority” of Western culture. Painting the “other” as backward, filthy, sexually licentious, and morally depraved is an old tactic. The Romans did it to Carthage, painting them as baby killers. Islamophobes paint our beloved Prophet SAW as a pedophile in their effort to criminalize Islam. Islamophobes have an agenda, a mission, to paint Islam as evil. One way is to focus on the treatment of women. Not all of the accusations are unfounded. The fact that actual men have seldom followed the teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah in regard to the treatment of women does not imply that Islam is misogynistic. Far from it. Islam gave women the right to contract and conduct business 1400 years before women gained that right in the West – in 1973. On the other hand, the errors and failures revealed by history are no excuse for our present behavior. As Muslims, living in the world we live in today, we cannot afford to be lackadaisical about our fiqh. You are an ambassador for Islam, as well as for your country and your family. Many unseen eyes are watching you!! They are judging every Muslim in the world by your behavior. If a fellow Muslim is killed because someone got a poor impression of Islam and Muslims from your behavior, you are partially to blame. Remember our fiqh is not just ibadaat (worship), it is also mu’amalaat (transactions). And if you are “non-practicing”, “secular” then fine, but make sure people know you are not a Muslim. Islam is not an ethnicity; it is a religion, a way of life. If you are not living it, then you are not a Muslim, you have a different identity. We have no right to judge Christianity by the behavior of “non-practicing” Christians or secular atheists, (although many of us do). Please be clear about your identity so people will not judge Muslims on the basis of your cultural or personal behavior. And, if your identity is as a Muslim, learn your deen and try your best to live it. Don’t just assume you know it because you grew up in a certain place or speak a certain language. It is amazing that people are so obsessed with family or tribal honor, but care little for the honor of those who share their nation or their deen. With this in mind, we must examine an issue made large by the Islamophobic movement: female genital mutilation. This practice, confined mostly to eight African states, has become a cause for condemning Islam as misogynistic and barbaric, even though many practitioners of female genital mutilation are not Muslim and many who perform it are women. Many Muslim leaders including leading shuyuk have condemned it and have declared many of the forms of this practice to be haram. However, in regard to one form of this practice, cutting and removal of the prepuce of the clitoris - so-called female circumcision, scholars, both ancient and modern, disagree. Just the fatawa issued by the scholars of Egypt and Al-Azhar University alone reveal the extent of this iktilaaf. In this paper, we will examine the various forms of female genital modification in light of the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the Maqaasid ash-Shariah.

FEMALE CIRCUMCISION: BETWEEN MYTH AND LEGITIMATE DOCTRINAL ISLAM

Circumcision on female has sociologically been practiced since long time ago. It is believed to be done for certain purposes. One of the intentions is that it is as an evidence of sacrifice of the circumcised person to get close to God. In the last decades, the demand for ignoring this practice on female by various circles often springs. Reason being is that the practice is accused of inflicting female herself. Moreover, it is regarded as a practice that destroys the rights of female reproduction and that of female sexual enjoyment and satisfaction. Commonly, female circumcision is done by cutting clitoris and throwing the minor and major labia. This practice of circumcision continues based on the myths that spread so commonly among people. This article aims to conduct a research on female circumcision in the perspective of Islamic law. According to Islamic doctrine, female circumcision is legal by Islamic law. By adopting the methodology of syar'a man qablana (the law before us) and theory of maqasid al-syari'ah (the purposes of Islamic law) and some other legitimate Quranic verses, circumcision becomes an important practice. Again, the famous female circumcision practice is evidently not parallel with the way recommended by Islam.

The Problem of Female Genital Cutting: Bridging Secular and Islamic Bioethical Perspectives

Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 2019

Recent events, including the arrest of physicians in Michigan, have renewed bioethical debates surrounding the practice of female genital cutting (FGC). The secular discourse remains divided between zero-tolerance activists and harm-reduction strategists, while Islamic bioethical debates on FGC similarly comprise two camps. "Traditionalists" find normative grounds for a minor genital procedure in statements from the Prophet Muhammad and in classical law manuals. "Reformers" seek to decouple FGC from Islam by reexamining its ethico-legal status in light of the deficiencies within narrations ascribed to the Prophet, the health risks posed by FGC, and contemporary perspectives on human rights, and thereby delegitimize the practice. This paper argues that alignment between secular and Islamic views can be found in a harm-reduction strategy by demonstrating that the impetus to reduce harms is found within Prophetic statements on FGC. From an Islamic ethico-legal standpoint, it is justified to acknowledge the permitted status of FGC procedures that do not harm-in

Female Genital Mutilation in Northern Upper Egypt: Prospects of Reasons for Performing and Refusing

Nursing and Care Open Access Journal, 2023

Background: Female Genital Mutilation was reported during a papyrus from 163BC. Within the third century, Soranos who are taken into account as the father of obstetrics and gynecology described the procedure of FGM. Herodotus also pronounced the excision of female external genitalia in Egypt dated back to the primary century, Rome, Pre-Islamic Arabia, and therefore the Tsarist Russian Federation. Aim: The study was conducted to assess prospects reasons for performing and refusing female genital mutilation in Northern Upper Egypt. Subject & methods: A Descriptive Cross-sectional study was used to achieve the aim of the current study. The study was conducted in family health centers (FHCs) in different sitting at Beni-Suef Governorate. Convenient sample was used. A pre-designed structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire is divided into two sections: (1) socio-demographic and personal characteristics; (2) Reasons for practicing FGM/C and reasons for refusing FGM. Results: The main reasons for performing FGM/C as mentioned; were traditions and culture, religious requirements, and to decrease the sexual desire of females (77.4%, 21.7 %, and 14.4%), respectively. The main reasons for refusing FGM/C were complications, not necessary, and problems between wife and husband (47.3%, 10.3%, and 9.4%), respectively. The main sources information about FGM/C were personal experience & friends or neighbors (71.3% & 36.2%), respectively. Conclusion: Traditions and culture was the main reason for performing FGM/C, followed by religious requirements, and to decrease the sexual desire of females. Health consequences of FGM/C were the main reason for refusing the procedure, followed by females who stated that FGM/C is not necessary, and problems caused between wife and husband related to FGM.

The practice of female genital mutilation in Upper Egypt

International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, 1996

To study the prevalence of and reasons for female genital mutilation in an Egyptian village population. Methods: A survey of all 819 households in an Upper Egyptian village near Assiut was conducted in 1992. The mothers of 1732 girls under 20 years of age were interviewed to obtain information about their daughters. When possible, fathers and grandparents were also interviewed. Results: Respectively, 62%, 36.6% and 1.1% were girls who had undergone female genital mutilation (FGM), were to undergo the procedure and were not to have the operation. A total of 67% of the fathers of girls who had undergone FGM and 92% of their mothers were illiterate. FGM was performed most often when girls were 5-9 years old. Almost all procedures (97.5%) were performed by dayas; 1.3% were performed by barbers. A razor was used in 80.7% of the cases, and a knife in 18.5%; in less than 1% (0.7%) of the procedures were medical instruments used. The most prevalent reason for FGM was that it followed customs and traditions (77%). Serious bleeding (5.7%) and pain (3%) were the most commonly reported complications of the procedure. Conclusions: The study raises a number of questions about the experience of FGM by young girls, the reasons for maintaining this practice and the kinds of interventions which might be effective in eliminating it.

Female Genital Mutilation in Iran

"Afterwords." In the Name of Tradition. Female Genital Mutilation in Iran, 2016

Is female genital mutilation an African issue? A women's problem? A religious requirement? A feminist concern? Playing devil's advocate, the answer in every case is that FGM shatters these limiting frames. Ablation of girls' genitalia isn't the unique concern of Africans, women, theologians or feminists. Ending FGM requires all people of good will. And thanks to Kameel Ahmady and his team's research, the facts are out. Sharp metal objects bite vulvas in Iran, thus providing certainty that FGM exceeds the confines of a continent known to have birthed our earliest recorded ancestors. These facts imply excision's spread from a Blue Nilotic epicenter to be taken up, for complex reasons, elsewhere around the globe. Moreover, Kameel Ahmady is a man whose questioning of male peers reveals degrees of men's involvement, broadening ownership and thus accountability beyond the female sphere. Regarding religion, Ahmady opens the door to Farsi discussions inaccessible to most readers of this book, and what he shows is a fascinating potpourri of clerical back and forth. Writ large in most analyses of genital excision is the custom's absence from the Koran and indeed from the scriptures of most faiths. Yet we find the local mullahs differing as to the duties of their flocks. Some tell the devout that releasing clitoral blood is not forbidden; others recommend it; still others leave the decision to the grown-up children; many also counsel against it. Ahmady himself is sure: Islam doesn't condone ablation of a child's genitalia given Koranic commands to 'do no harm'. And as a feminist issue? Here, too, Kameel Ahmady stands out among students of these 'rites'. Though in youth he had suspected it, only later in life did he learn of his own female relatives' victimization; empathy with his mother and sisters spurred him to take up the abolition cause. He supports women's empowerment.

Female Circumcision Is it prescribed by Islam

Female circumcision, describe by the WHO as FGM, is a common practice in Africa. Followers of most religions in Africa practice FGM but it is generally described as an Islamic practice. In this paper, I show that FGM is not an Islamic practice. I go further and show that it is against Islamic teachings.