User:Flynnjed/Sandbox: Difference between revisions

The idea that FGM might be un-Islamic appears to be relatively new, as the above quote suggests. The earliest fatwa clearly critical of FGM appears to be from 1984<ref name=":1">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 1996]</ref> and even though since then there have been some fatwas critical of FGM, most are nevertheless favourable to the practice. <!-- link to... -->  [[File:Fgmwordsearches.jpg|alt=NGram for terms: 'FGM', 'Female Genital Mutilation' and 'Female Circumcision'|thumb|NGram for terms: 'FGM', 'Female Genital Mutilation' and 'Female Circumcision']]An Ngram for the terms ‘fgm’, ‘female genital mutilation’ and ‘female circumcision’ shows an increasing preference for terms using ‘mutilation’ over the more anodyne 'circumcision'  in English-language texts starting around 1990. This coincides with the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, which first identified female genital mutilation as a harmful traditional practice, and mandated that governments abolish it as one of several ''<nowiki/>'traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children'''.<ref>[http://archive.today/2016.10.21-124829/http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx Convention on the Rights of the Child]</ref> Soon afterwards organisations such as the World Health Organisation (1995),<ref>[https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/63602/WHO_FRH_WHD_96.10.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Female genital mutilation : report of a WHO technical working group, Geneva, 17-19 July 1995]</ref> the Council of Europe (1995), and UNICEF & UNFPA (1997)<ref>[https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/41903/9241561866.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Female Genital Mutilation - A Joint WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA Statement]</ref> also issued reports - all critical of FGM.   

The archaeological and historical record does indeed amply demonstrate that FGM existed before Islam (see [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox2#FGM before Islam|FGM before Islam]]).   

The premise implied by this argument is that if a practice existed before Islam then it can not be Islamic. Critics point out that monotheism, praying, heaven and hell, male circumcision, pilgrimage to Mecca, the veneration of the Kaaba, abstention from pork, giving to charity, interdictions on lying and murder, and much more all existed before Islam. These pre-Islamic practices became Islamic when, and because, Muhammad integrated them into the religion he was inventing.   

It is true that FGM existed in parts of Africa before Islam – notably Egypt and the West coast of the Red Sea (see [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox2#Non-Islamic sources|FGM before Islam: non-Islamic Sources]]).   

However, the historical record shows that FGM was not just practiced in Africa before Islam, but also in Arabia and other parts of the Middle East. More significantly the hadith themselves suggest that Mohammed's native tribe, the Banu Quraysh traditionally practiced FGM.   

#only those parts of Africa that have come under Islamic influence practice FGM. Most of Africa does not practice FGM,

It is documented that FGM was brought to Indonesia by Muslim traders and conquerors in the 13^th Century. Indonesia follows the Shaafi school (the madhab that makes FGM obligatory) and has +90% rates of FGM amongst its Muslims. This suggests that FGM is more of an Islamic practice than an African one. {{Quote|William G. Clarence-Smith (Professor of the Economic History of Asia and Africa at SOAS, University of London) in ‘Self-Determination and Women’s Rights in Muslim Societies’ Ed. Chitra Raghavan and James P. Levine|'The Southeast Asian case undermines a widespread notion that female circumcision is a pre-­Islamic custom that has merely been tolerated by the newer faith. In contrast to other regions, female circumcision seems to have been introduced into Southeast Asia as part of the inhabitants’ conversion to Islam from the thirteenth century on. Indeed, for Tomás Ortiz, writing about the southern Philippines in the early eighteenth century, female circumcision was not only a Muslim innovation, but also one that had spread to some degree to non-­Muslims.'}}

FGM in Liberia is practiced as part of the initiation into secret women's societies. It should be noted that whilst only 12% of Liberia's population is Muslim, its marriage and kinship practices appear to be Islamic: men can have up to 4 wives; a third of all Liberian marriages are polygamous; a third of married women aged between 15-49 are in polygamous marriages, and married woman's rights to inherit property from her spouse are restricted. <ref>https://www.genderindex.org/wp-content/uploads/files/datasheets/LR.pdf</ref>

 

These are text-book conditions for the emergence of chastity assurance practices, such as FGM.<!-- link to causes of FGM section --> Polygyny creates sexually violent societies where the virginity, reputation and 'purity' of girls and women are both over-valued and also under heightened threat. Practices such as FGM are a response to this threat. 

 

Dr. Ashenafi Moges (2009)]|However, '''not all Muslims practise FGM''', for example, it is not practised in Saudi Arabia, Libya, Jordan, Turkey, Syria, the Maghreb countries of northwest Africa, Morocco, Iran and Iraq. All the Muslims in FGM practicing countries do not practice it, for example, in the case of Senegal where 94% of the population are Muslims only 20% practice FGM (Mottin-Sylla 1990). }}(NB - since Dr Ashenafi Moges published the essay cited above, FGM has been reported in Jordan, Syria, Iran and Iraq and many other Middle East countries. Studies have found FGM-rates of 20% in Saudi Arabia)<ref>[https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190606-almost-1-in-5-women-in-saudi-subject-to-fgm/ Almost 1 in 5 women in Saudi subject to FGM] (2019)</ref> 

 

About 20% of Muslim women have undergone FGM<ref name=":0" />, which suggests that about 80% of Muslims ''don't'' practice FGM. However, if this fact is taken to prove that FGM is un-Islamic, it must be on the assumption that Islam is defined only by that which it universally forbids or makes universally obligatory - that only those practices which ''all'' Muslims engage in are Islamic, and that minority practices are by definition un-Islamic.

For example the information that Muhammad considered a form of FGM excessively sever can be taken from ''<nowiki/>'Do not cut severely''', even assuming it a daif hadith, since it is not in contradiction with the stronger FGM hadith and does not contradict the Qur'an.     

anything done to the body is prohibited unless there is evidence to allow}}

Male circumcision, for example, is a mutilation that Islamic law permits, and therefore it is not forbidden. As are [[Amputation in Islamic Law|amputation of hand and feet]]. Beheading, [[stoning]], and [[crucifixion]] -  which all involve mutilation prior to the victim's death - are all also permitted in Islamic law. This argument is an example of the fallacy of Petitio Principi, or 'Begging the Question' (assuming in the premise of an argument that which one wishes to prove in the conclusion).  

Qur'an 2:195 (referenced in the quote at the start of this section) forbids suicide and ''self''-mutilation - and is therefore does not apply to FGM.

The term Female Circumcision is sometimes used by those who consider certain practices commonly classified as FGM as insufficiently harmful or traumatic to merit the epithet 'mutilation'.  

that which is 'islmic' can't be a mutilation because of Qur'an 2:195

definition of mutilation

'evil x is tolerated so therefore evil y should also be tolerated'

Such practices are 'Sunnah circumcision' and (check web site - see what it includes)