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=Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Law=   

'''Female Genital Mutilation''' (Arabic: ختان المرأة)  is the practice of cutting away and altering the external female genitalia for ritual or religious purposes. Those who practice FGM refer to it as 'Female Circumcision'. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) generally consists one or both of the following procedures: the amputation of part or all of the clitoris, or the removal of the clitoral prepuce ('''Clitoridectomy''') and the cutting away of either or both the inner or outer labia ('''Excision'''). A third procedure, '''Infibulation''', involves the paring away of the outer labia, whose cut edges are stitched together to form, once healed, a seal that covers both the openings of the vagina and the urethra. Infibulation usually also involves clitoridectomy. Those who engage in FGM consider its primary purpose to be the safeguarding of the purity, virtue and reputation of girls and women.   

The Hanafi school is probably the least enthusiastic about FGM. Pakistani Moslems are generally Hanafi, and have, till recently, been the largest Moslem diaspora to the West. Pakistanis are also frequently English-speaking. Both of which facts increase the prevalence in the West of the narrative that ''‘FGM is nothing to do with Islam’''. With increasing immigration to the West from Shafi’i countries (Somalia in particular) this narrative is harder to maintain since (as we shall see below) FGM is obligatory under Shafi’i Islam.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is obligatory in the Shafi'i madhab.<ref name=":0">[https://www.answering-islam.org/Sharia/fem_circumcision.html Section on FGM in the standard manual of Shafi'i law]</ref> The Shafi’i school was founded by the Arab scholar Al-Shafi‘i in the early 9th century. Where passages of Koran and Hadiths are ambiguous, the school first seeks religious law guidance from Ijma (the consensus of Sahabah). If there was no consensus, Shafi’i scholars rely on Ijtihad (individual opinion of the companions of Mohammed), followed by Qiyas (analogy). Note that the Shafi’i school rejects two methods of law that are accepted by other major schools of Islam: Istihsan (juristic preference) and Istislah (public interest), heuristics by which compassion and welfare can be integrated into Islamic law-making.{{Quote|''Reliance of the Traveler'' [''Umdat al-Salik''], Section e4.3 on Circumcision|'''Obligatory (on every male and female) is circumcision.''' (And it is the cutting-off of the skin [''qat' al-jaldah''] on the glans of the male member and, '''as for the circumcision of the female, that is the cutting-off of the ''badhar'' [''qat' al-badhar'', ''badhar'' or بَظْرٌ either means the clitoris or the prepuce of the clitoris; Lane says that the precise usage was confused at some point in history<ref>[http://lexicon.quranic-research.net/data/02_b/137_bZr.html Lane's Lexicon بَظْرٌ]</ref>]''' (and this is called ''khufad''))}}The Shafi’i school was founded by the Arab scholar Al-Shafi‘i in the early 9th century.

''“the Hanbalis according to the well-known view of their madhhab, and others are of the view that circumcising women is obligatory.”'' Is there any saheeh hadeeth about the circumcision of females?

“Shiite religious texts, such as the hadith transmitted by Al-Sadiq, state that “circumcision is makrama (“noble”) for women” Wikipedia: Religious views on FGM

It is not as easy to make out a clear picture of attitudes towards FGM for Shia Islam as it is for Sunni Islam. It is known that FGM is practised by Zaydis in Yemen, Ibadis in Oman and at least by parts of the Ismailis (the Dawoodi Bohras) in India, all three being branches of the Shia (the Ibadis are less directly connected). A survey by WADI found that in the region of Kirkuk in Iraq 23% of Shia girls and women had undergone FGM.

“According to the Jafari’ee jurisprudence, circumcision is necessary for men as it is the Sunnah of Prophet Ibrahim (A.S), but not for women.” Manzoor Hussain &c

“Ayatullah ali al hussaini ali Sistani form Iraq said in his fatwa in 2010 that FGM is not haram (prohibited). Later in 2014 he revised his fatwa and said that FGM is harmful for the female victims and it isn’t permissible or part of any Islamic injunction.” Manzoor Hussain &c

FGM appears to be endemic to the Dawoodi Bohras – an Ismaili sect found in India, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Yemen and East Africa. Their current spiritual leader has recommended FGM as being necessary for purity and to avoid sin.

In 2012, the Muslim Brotherhood worked to decriminalize FGM. According to Mariz Tadros (a reporter),"the Muslim Brotherhood have offered to circumcise women for a nominal fee as part of their community services, a move that threatens to reverse decades of local struggle against the harmful practice [...] Many of the Brothers (and Salafis) argue that while it is not mandatory, it is nevertheless ''mukarama''  (preferable, pleasing in the eyes of God)."<ref>Tadros, Mariz (24 May 2012). "[https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/mutilating-bodies-muslim-brotherhoods-gift-to-egyptian-women/ Mutilating bodies: the Muslim Brotherhood's gift to Egyptian women]". ''openDemocracy''</ref>

{{Quote|Egyptian cleric, Abd Al-Wahhab Al-Maligi, on Al-Seha Wal-Jamal TV, March 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 Abd Al-Wahhab Al-Maligi says in the above quote, the idea that FGM might be in any way un-Islamic first arose in past three or four decades. Islam is 1400 years old; the various schools of Islam made their pronouncements on FGM in the centuries immediately following Mohammed’s death; this having been done, Islam appears to have given the practice no more thought till very recently: the earliest fatwa clearly critical of FGM appears to be one from 1984.