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Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Law | 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 | '''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: '''Clitoridectomy:''' the amputation of part or all of the clitoris, or the removal of the clitoral prepuce; '''Excision:''' and the cutting away of either or both the inner or outer labia. 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. | ||
FGM is a practice associated with Islam: about 80% of FGM is attributable to Muslims.<ref>https://fgmtruth.wordpress.com/what-percentage-of-global-fgm-are-moslems-responsible-for/</ref> Most of the remaining 20% is attributable to non-Muslims living in FGM-practicing Islamic societies (e.g. the Egyptian Copts<ref>https://copticliterature.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/prevalence-of-and-support-for-female-genital-mutilation-within-the-copts-of-egypt-unicef-report-2013/</ref>), or to non-Isamic societies that have been hubs of the Islamic slave trade (e.g. Ethiopia and Eritrea). | FGM is a practice associated with Islam: about 80% of FGM is attributable to Muslims.<ref>https://fgmtruth.wordpress.com/what-percentage-of-global-fgm-are-moslems-responsible-for/</ref> Most of the remaining 20% is attributable to non-Muslims living in FGM-practicing Islamic societies (e.g. the Egyptian Copts<ref>https://copticliterature.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/prevalence-of-and-support-for-female-genital-mutilation-within-the-copts-of-egypt-unicef-report-2013/</ref>), or to non-Isamic societies that have been hubs of the Islamic slave trade (e.g. Ethiopia and Eritrea). | ||
The disposition of '''Islamic law''' towards FGM is determined by its status in the Qur'an and the Sunnah (Sharia), and on how that status is interpreted by Islamic jurists and scholars ([[Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence)|fiqh]]). Shariah derives directly from the [[Qur'an]] and the [[Sunnah]] (which consists of the [[Hadith]] and [[Sira|Sira)]]. Shariah has the status of divine revelation, and is unchanging and unchangeable. Fiqh is the process whereby Islamic jurists and scholars make the divine principles of Shariah applicable to human beings in the form of laws, beliefs and observances. | The disposition of '''Islamic law''' towards FGM is determined by its status in the Qur'an and the Sunnah (Sharia), and on how that status is interpreted by Islamic jurists and scholars ([[Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence)|fiqh]]). Shariah derives directly from the [[Qur'an]] and the [[Sunnah]] (which consists of the [[Hadith]] and [[Sira|Sira)]]. Shariah has the status of divine revelation, and is unchanging and unchangeable. Fiqh is the process whereby Islamic jurists and scholars make the divine principles of Shariah applicable to human beings in the form of laws, beliefs and observances. | ||
There exist numerous fatwas supporting and commanding the practice. However, over the past half century there has been a growing unease in the Islamic world concerning the practice. The earliest fatwa that is clearly critical of FGM appears to have been issued in 1984.<ref>p54 [https://books.google.fr/books?id=qof6J4n1860C&pg=PA54&lpg=PA54&dq=Sheikh+Abu-Sabib+1984&source=bl&ots=-apLOOha6B&sig=dpINFFLI-N9KO8_FmEET-MDFKbI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiXh5Gi5OfcAhVOyoUKHeSgDWUQ6AEwC3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=Sheikh%20Abu-Sabib%201984&f=false "Sexual Mutilations: A Human Tragedy" By International Symposium On Sexual Mutiliations 199, International Symposium on Sexual Mutiliations 1996]</ref> | There exist numerous fatwas supporting and commanding the practice. However, over the past half century there has been a growing unease in the Islamic world concerning the practice. The earliest fatwa that is clearly critical of FGM appears to have been issued in 1984.<ref>p54 [https://books.google.fr/books?id=qof6J4n1860C&pg=PA54&lpg=PA54&dq=Sheikh+Abu-Sabib+1984&source=bl&ots=-apLOOha6B&sig=dpINFFLI-N9KO8_FmEET-MDFKbI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiXh5Gi5OfcAhVOyoUKHeSgDWUQ6AEwC3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=Sheikh%20Abu-Sabib%201984&f=false "Sexual Mutilations: A Human Tragedy" By International Symposium On Sexual Mutiliations 199, International Symposium on Sexual Mutiliations 1996]</ref> | ||
As such, the understand the stance of Islamic schools on FGM one needs to first know the place of FGM in the Qur'an, hadith and | As such, the understand the stance of Islamic schools on FGM one needs to first know the place of FGM in the Qur'an, hadith and | ||
In addition to Islamic law that ''explicitly'' addresses FGM, Islamic law can also create social conditions favourable to FGM, that make the practice useful or even necessary. [[Polygamy in Islamic Law|Polygyny]] (the marriage of a man to several women) is permitted in Islam and creates sexually violent societies in which girls and women are at a heightened risk. In response to this risk polygynous societies develop practices which safeguard the 'purity', chastity and reputation of its girls and women. FGM is such a practice, as are child marriage, gender segregation, arranged marriages, chaperoning, veiling, 'honour' culture, brideprice ([[Mahr (Marital Price)|mahr]]) and footbinding. Islam's attitudes towards slavery, especially sex slavery, appears to also have a significant role in the nature, incidence and distribution of FGM. | |||
==FGM in the Hadith== | ==FGM in the Hadith== | ||