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November 23, 2006

Egypt: FGM Is NOT Islamic, Say Scholars

News from the Daily Times, International Herald Tribune, Independent Online and BBC details a conference which has been held at the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the largest and most prestigious center of Sunni learning.

The focus of the conference is female genital mutilation (FGM) sometimes euphemistically called "female circumcision". This involves either splitting the clitoral hood, excising the clitoris, excising the labia, or combinations of these procedures. Removing the clitoris entirely is the most common practice, but in no way compares to male circumcision. Its equivalent in the male would be the excision of the glans penis. Such a procedure essentially damages a girl's future enjoyment of sexual contact.

The practice has been traditional in several Islamic countries, such as Somalia and Sudan, as well as parts of the Middle East, and in regions where Muslims have migrated. There is nothing in the Koran to state that female circumcision is essentially "Islamic". In the Hadith of Sunan Abu Dawud there is the following statement in Book 41 (Kitab Al-Adab or "General Behavior"):

Book 41, Number 5251:

Narrated Umm Atiyyah al-Ansariyyah:

A woman used to perform circumcision in Medina. The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said to her: Do not cut severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband.

This Hadith, unique among the six collections which are classed as "sahih" or authentic, is taken as a justification for Islamic FGM. However, it does not have the traditional "chain of transmitters" from the time of the prophet, so is called by some a "weak" Hadith.

In Egypt, rulings which banned female circumcision were overturned in July 1997, and were supported by individuals such as the anti-American Islamist Sheikh Youssef al-Badri, a proponent of female genital mutilation. In the 1950s, Egypt outlawed midwives from performing the procedure, and in 1996 they banned even doctors from carrying it out. Despite this, a recent study confirmed that 50% of Egyptian females aged 10 to 18 had been mutilated.

In 2000, a study found 80% of women aged 15 to 49 had undergone FGM. Unicef claims that 3 million females, varying in age from childhood to maturity, undergo FGM each year. An estimated 130 million women around the globe have been subjected to the procedure. Most of these are Africans.

A CNN broadcast from 1994, in which a 10-year old girl in Egypt was shown being "operated upon" by an unskilled practitioner, caused hostile reaction. Egypt sued CNN for $500 million for damaging its reputation, but the case was thrown out by courts.

In Indonesia, the Lashkar Jihad Islamists forced 3,928 non-Muslims on six islands in the Moluccas to become Muslims. This involved forcibly circumcising the men and women without anesthetics, according to the Sydney Morning Herald of January 27, 2001:

Christina Sagat, 32, said her mother, who is in her 70s, teenagers and children and her eight months pregnant niece were among people from her village on Kesui (Ambon) who were circumcised.

Sagat said that Muslim Ambonese women were not usually circumcised. "I don't understand these people ... they insisted on us being circumcised," she said.

Britain, Canada, France, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States have outlawed the practice. Countries such as Canada and Sweden also have laws which prevent children being taken abroad to undergo such an operation.

In Sweden, FGM on its own soil was outlawed in 1982, and in 1999 this was amended to include outlawing transportation of children abroad for FGM. In June this year, 41-year old Ali Elmi Hayow became the first person to be convicted for taking his daughter to Somalia in 2002 to undergo FGM. He was given a four-year jail sentence. He was also ordered to pay his daughter $41,000 in compensation.

The conference at Al-Azhar was attended by clerics from around the Islamic world. Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, was neither for nor against FGM. He acknowledged that there is no religious obligation for girls to be mutilated, but said some clerics support it. He said: "Also doctors confuse us, as some are with and some are against, the final say should be for them. I hope this conference will bring an end to arguments over this controversial issue."

Ali Gomaa, Egypt's senior cleric, said at the conference that Mohammed had not "circumcised" his four daughters. Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, the grand sheikh of Al-Azhar said: "In Islam, circumcision is for men only. From a religious point of view, I don't find anything that says that circumcision is a must (for women)." The edicts of these two clerics are considered binding.

The final statement of the conference was: "The conference appeals to all Muslims to stop practicing this habit, according to Islam's teachings which prohibit inflicting harm on any human being."

This is good news, to a point. It will take more than one edict to outlaw the practice in Islam, which appears to be more prevalent amongst Sunni Muslims. But Al-Azhar is the highest Sunni body, and in Egypt and neighbouring countries, the decision will be taken seriously by some Muslims.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 23, 2006 8:12 PM

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