Australian Islamist Monitor

In Reliance of the Traveller, a classical manual of Islamic sacred law in Arabic with facing English text, commentary and appendices edited and translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller (1994) re 'circumcision' we find the Arabic actually says -

"Circumcision is obligatory (for every male and female) by cutting off the piece of skin on the glans of the penis of the male,
but circumcision of the female is by cutting out the clitoris (this is called HufaaD). "  (p59)(Shafi'i Law)
(Note the English version is falsely translated as 'prepuce ' of the clitoris!!)

The Arabic word bazr does not mean "prepuce of the clitoris", it means the clitoris itself (cf. the entry in the Arabic-English Dictionary). The deceptive translation by Nuh Hah Mim Keller, made for Western consumption, obscures the Shafi’i law, given by ‘Umdat al-Salik, that circumcision of girls by excision of the clitoris is mandatory. This particular form of female circumcision is widely practiced in Egypt, where the Shafi’i school of Sunni law is followed.  Note a comment by Sheikh 'Abd al-Wakil Durubi in the English 'version' notes "Hanbalis hold that circumcision of women is not obligatory but sunna, while Hanafis consider it a mere courtesy to the husband." (answering-Islam.org)

This is supported by several hadiths:

1)  Abu-Dawud   Book 41, No.  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.
(Note:  The powerful Mohammad did NOT stop the procedure yet he did stop the Arab practise of adoption when he wished to marry his adopted son's wife Zainab, regarded as incest by the Arabs because adopted sons were held as sons!)

2)  The are many hadiths across several sets that refer to the need for ghusl when the 'two circumcised organs come in contact'
a)  Muslim  book 3 No. 684: 
Abu Musa reported: There cropped up a difference of opinion between a group of Muhajirs ….He (Abu Musa, the narrator) said: I got up (and went) to 'A'isha and sought her permission and it was granted…… I said: What makes a bath obligatory for a person? She replied: You have come across one well informed! The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: When anyone sits amidst four parts (of the woman) and the circumcised parts touch each other a bath becomes obligatory.

b) Maliks Muwatta Book 2:  Section: Obligation to Do Ghusl when the Two Circumcised Parts Meet

Book 2, Number 2.19.73…. A'isha, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to say, "When the circumcised part touches the circumcised part, ghusl is obligatory."    (Repeated  variously Book 2, Number 2.19.74,  75, 77 ):

c) Maliks Muwatta Book 20   No.  20.46.161 ---very long, all about penalties for contact between a male and female during hajj – and those circumcised parts again!

Above hadiths from http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah suggest that 'circumcision' of females was normal for Muslims.

3) a)  Hadith in the Musnad by Ahmed Ibn Hanbal, where Shaddad Ibn Aws reports that the prophet said:
      "Cicumcision is a sunnah for Men, MAKRUMAH for women"      (MAKRUMAH can be translated as "noble deed" or "honorable") cited in answering-Islam.org

b) another quotation from the Prophet "Circumcision is a sunna for men and a sign of respect for women". (Hadith of Abu al-Malih,  Abu Dawud)   cited in Muhammad Salim al-Awwa (article Female Circumcision Neither a Sunna, nor a sign of respect.  www.who.sci.eg/Publications/HealthEdReligion/CircumcisionEn/Chapter3.htm -nolonger available!)

4)  another hadith attributed to Abdullah ibn Umar where the women of al-Ansar were addressed endorsing female circumcision ..( hadith attributed to Abdullah ibn Umar quoted by Abu Nain and others) also cited by Muhammad Salim al-Awwa.

*Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi*, one of Sunni Islam's most influential clerics and a spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood-  favors partial circumcision for women as a moderate, just, and reasonable solution best suited to reality. ..In a Fatwa on this issue, he wrote,

How many men would like part of the glans of the penis cut off!!!   This is an effort to have an each way bet—ie placate the west , revolted by this practice, and keep it going according to Islam's religious dictates!   Without the west, it would have continued without question as it has for 1400 years eg.
On 12/2/2007 Al-Arabiya TV aired  'Al-Azhar University Scholars Argue over the Legitimacy of Female Circumcision Practiced in Egypt.'  The debate was between Egyptian Al-Azhar University scholars Sheikh Muhammad Al-Mussayar and Sheikh Mahmoud Ashur   The exerts are interesting because they acknowledge the hadiths related to FGM -Muhammad Al-Mussayar: notes "All the jurisprudents, since the advent of Islam and for 14 centuries or more, are in consensus that female circumcision is permitted by Islam. But they were divided with regard to its status in shari'a. Some said that female circumcision is required by shari'a, just like male circumcision. Some said this is the mainstream practice, while others said it is a noble act. But throughout the history of Islam, nobody has ever said that performing female circumcision is a crime. There has been a religious ruling on this for 14 centuries."   "First of all, there are reliable hadiths in Al-Bukhari and Al-Muslim which support female circumcision. The Prophet Muhammad said: 'If a circumcised woman and man have intercourse, they must undergo ablution.' Unreliable hadiths do not cancel out the reliable ones. We have unreliable hadiths regarding prayer, fasting, charity, and pilgrimage. Should we abolish prayer and charity just because some hadiths are unreliable?.."Female circumcision is no less valid just because it was practiced in Pharaonic times and in the Jahiliya.  Islam accepted some customs, which were harmonious with human nature, and rejected others, which contradicted human nature." (reported by MEMRI.org  27/2/2007 and http://fgmnetwork.org)

Clitoridectomy is Islamic whether practiced pre-Islam, or by others in Africa or not by all Muslims-  AND it is practiced here- Pamela Bone (who also thought clitoridectomy wasn't part of Islamic law!) referred to an interview with Sheik Fehmi al-Imam of the Preston Mosque where she asked him about clitoridectomy and he replied "You probably don't need it but women in hot countries do"!!! (Melbourne   Age 21/7/01 p7) 
Abc.net.au (11/5/06) and News.com.au note that over 50 females have been treated/year in Sydney hospitals following FGM.  Some girls are sent overseas for the procedure but others are mutilated here.  Note:  the 50 brought in must have been desperate as Muslims would first go to a Muslim doctor- the RMIT handbook for Muslim students gives a nice list –so imagine how many suffer this horror every year!

It's time Muslims faced their text, laws and practices instead of lying-  any Imam simply has to read the law in Arabic and knows that clitoridectomy is either obligatory or at the least, meriticious for women so it goes on amongst the orthodox until the underlying text/laws are exposed and denounced!!

I also ask where is our right to tell the truth about Islam as we see it?  Why are we subjected to saturation Islamic propaganda without any hope of a reply or challenge either from journalists with a moral conscience and guts to publish the laws and supporting hadiths or papers that publish letters/articles exposing them!!  Evil cannot be defeated when no-one will speak/write about it!

1. Femal Genital Mutilation Part 1 

2. Female Genital Mutilation Part 2

 

 

Is Female Genital Mutilation an Islamic Problem? ( by Thomas von der Osten-Sacken and Thomas Uwer)