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{{Quote|[https://unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/De-linking%20FGM%20from%20Islam%20final%20report.pdf 'Delinking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam'] by Ibrahim Lethome Asmani & Maryam Sheikh Abdi (2008)|'Shafi’i view it as wajib (obligatory) for both females and males'}} | {{Quote|[https://unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/De-linking%20FGM%20from%20Islam%20final%20report.pdf 'Delinking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam'] by Ibrahim Lethome Asmani & Maryam Sheikh Abdi (2008)|'Shafi’i view it as wajib (obligatory) for both females and males'}} | ||
'Reliance of the Traveller' by by Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri (1302–1367) is the Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law according to Shafi'i School. {{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 clitoris')}}Nuh Ha Mim Keller's 1991 translation of Reliance of the Traveller is bowdlerised to make its content more acceptable to Western eyes and translates the word 'bazr' ( بَظْرٌ ) as 'clitorial prepuce' instead of simply 'clitoris' (see section [[#Defining Bazr|Defining Bazr)]]. | 'Reliance of the Traveller' by by Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri (1302–1367) is the Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law according to Shafi'i School. {{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 clitoris')}}'''Nuh Ha Mim Keller's 1991 translation of Reliance of the Traveller is bowdlerised to make its content more acceptable to Western eyes and translates the word 'bazr' ( بَظْرٌ ) as 'clitorial prepuce' instead of simply 'clitoris' (see section [[#Defining Bazr|Defining Bazr)]].''' | ||
===Hanbali Madhab=== | ===Hanbali Madhab=== | ||
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{{anchor|equivocation}} | {{anchor|equivocation}} | ||
====FGM not required by Islam==== | ====FGM not required by Islam==== | ||
'Not obligatory', 'allowed' or 'tolerated' are no more acceptable legal or ethical positions to take with respect to FGM than they would be for murder, child sexual abuse or rape. | |||
Since the 1990s Islamic scholars, clerics and other sources have issued fatwas and statements that appear to criticise, condemn and even forbid FGM. However, a critical reading of these reveals that they virtually all engage in some form of equivocation (deliberate use of ambiguous or equivocal language) in order to appear to be more critical of FGM than they are. | Since the 1990s Islamic scholars, clerics and other sources have issued fatwas and statements that appear to criticise, condemn and even forbid FGM. However, a critical reading of these reveals that they virtually all engage in some form of equivocation (deliberate use of ambiguous or equivocal language) in order to appear to be more critical of FGM than they are. | ||
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{{Quote|[https://www.academia.edu/6142789/Egypts_Villages_Fight_Female_Genital_Mutilation_WFS_NEWS Dr Ahmed Talib, Dean of the Faculty of Sharia at Al-Azhar University]|“All practices of female circumcision and mutilation are crimes and have no relationship with Islam. Whether it involves the removal of the skin or the cutting of the flesh of the female genital organs… it is not an obligation in Islam.”}}After gaining our trust by forthrightly condemning FGM, the implication of his final phrase (‘''it is not an obligation in Islam’'') could easily pass unnoticed i.e. that under Islam, FGM’s legitimacy may stop only just short of ‘obligatory’ - which, of course, could include''‘highly recommended’''. There is a world of difference between something '<nowiki/>''not being obligatory'<nowiki/>'' and something being '''forbidden':'' the fact something is not ‘obligatory’ in no way implies that it is undesirable, unacceptable or forbidden: owning a dog is not ‘obligatory’; giving to charity is valued, respected and encouraged but, like FGM in Islam, it is not ‘obligatory’. A fatwa may be adorned with much criticism and condemnation of FGM, but if all that criticism amounts to nothing more than a statement that ''‘FGM is not obligatory under Islam’'' – it merely reveals that the author of the fatwa was unable to state that ''‘FGM is forbidden under Islam’''. | {{Quote|[https://www.academia.edu/6142789/Egypts_Villages_Fight_Female_Genital_Mutilation_WFS_NEWS Dr Ahmed Talib, Dean of the Faculty of Sharia at Al-Azhar University]|“All practices of female circumcision and mutilation are crimes and have no relationship with Islam. Whether it involves the removal of the skin or the cutting of the flesh of the female genital organs… it is not an obligation in Islam.”}}After gaining our trust by forthrightly condemning FGM, the implication of his final phrase (‘''it is not an obligation in Islam’'') could easily pass unnoticed i.e. that under Islam, FGM’s legitimacy may stop only just short of ‘obligatory’ - which, of course, could include''‘highly recommended’''. There is a world of difference between something '<nowiki/>''not being obligatory'<nowiki/>'' and something being '''forbidden':'' the fact something is not ‘obligatory’ in no way implies that it is undesirable, unacceptable or forbidden: owning a dog is not ‘obligatory’; giving to charity is valued, respected and encouraged but, like FGM in Islam, it is not ‘obligatory’. A fatwa may be adorned with much criticism and condemnation of FGM, but if all that criticism amounts to nothing more than a statement that ''‘FGM is not obligatory under Islam’'' – it merely reveals that the author of the fatwa was unable to state that ''‘FGM is forbidden under Islam’''. | ||
{{anchor|noFGMQur}} | {{anchor|noFGMQur}} | ||
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The underlying assumption of this argument is that ''if a practice existed before Islam then it can not be Islamic''. | The underlying assumption of this argument is that ''if a practice existed before Islam then it can not be Islamic''. | ||
FGM did indeed exist before Islam. However, if this disqualified FGM from being 'Islamic' then | FGM did indeed exist before Islam. However, if this disqualified FGM from being 'Islamic' then monotheism, male circumcision, pilgrimage to Mecca and veneration of the kaaba, abstention from pork, giving to charity, interdictions on lying and murder, and much more would also be un-Islamic since previous religions and societies have held these beliefs and practices. Indeed, if 'Islam' were only that which was completely original to Islam almost nothing that has been considered Islamic over the last 1400 would remain. | ||
Mohammed took what was a practice specific to his particular tribe and region and, | Mohammed took what was a practice specific to his particular tribe and region and, through Islam, sacralised FGM and guaranteed that it would exist and flourish for as long as Islam existed. If Muhammed not done this FGM would have died out as more advance Graeco-Roman and Christian conceptions of society and humanity spread and prevailed, not least normative monogamy (footbinding, sati, slavery and child marriage have all been eliminated or curtailed where the West has had influence). | ||
{{anchor|african}} | {{anchor|african}} | ||
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===The Question of Responsibility=== | ===The Question of Responsibility=== | ||
Debates concerning FGM and Islam are generally conducted in terms of whether FGM is 'Islamic' - whether Mohammed approved of the practice or not. But | Debates concerning FGM and Islam are generally conducted in terms of whether FGM is 'Islamic' - whether Mohammed approved of the practice or not. But a<s>sking if FGM is 'Islamic' is to ask as the wrong question: it is to ask whether FGM conforms to Islam's best conception of itself.</s> | ||
<s>But this is not how we hold each other accountable, nor is it how we judge ideologies – both Communism and Nazism would be 'not guilty' of the millions they have killed if they were judged according to their best conceptions of themselves. And Catholicism would exonerate itself of the inquisition.</s> | |||
<s>Religions judging themselves by this criteria results in them systematically claiming credit for any good they can associate themselves with, whilst refusing the other side of the coin – taking responsibility for those ills they may have caused or facilitated, even when caught red-handed.</s> | |||
<s>We are all angels in our best, imagined versions of ourselves.</s> | |||
<s>We are responsible for much more than those of our actions that are in conformity with the best conception of ourselves.</s> | |||
<s>So the question we must ask is not whether FGM is Islamic, but to what extent Islam is ''responsible'' for the existence of FGM.</s> | |||
<s>Asking about responsibility shifts us from the narrow focus of what Islam makes obligatory to what it encourages and discourages, and what it allows, what it facilitates and hinders, what is has perpetuated, for unintended consequences as well as intended ones, and for where it has been negligent and allowed bad practices to persist and fest.</s> | |||
<s>Remember, the first fatwa at all critical of FGM dates from 1982, and there are countless earlier fatwas which praise and recommend FGM. If FGM is not Islamic then why has Islam done nothing over the past 1400 years to eliminate or discourage it? Why is the Islamic world still rife with FGM? After all doesn't Islam ''aspire to eliminate e''verything that is 'unislamic'?</s> | |||
<s>How would things be different if Mohammed had forbidden or criticised FGM in the Quran or in the Hadith? Instead Mohammed deemed himself as perfect and exemplary for all time and for all humanity + then approvedof FGM in the Hadith – and by doing so he sacralised FGM and has guaranteed that it will exist and flourish for as long as Islam exists.</s> | |||
<s>I believe that if islam had not been invented there would be no FGM in the world today.</s> | |||
It is an axiom of Islamic epistemology that Islam and Muhammad are perfect. This means that anything 'imperfect' is automatically exuded from Islam's conception of itself. Courts don't judge the accused according to the best conception they have of themselves: everyone would be innocent if only the very best of ourselves was admitted as evidence. Nor does the fact that the crime is 'out of character', or resulted from negligence, discharge the accused of responsibility for his actions (or inaction). To evaluate the relationship of Islam's and FGM solely in terms of whether FGM is Islamic or not, is to conduct the investigation constrained by axioms and rules determined by the accused. | It is an axiom of Islamic epistemology that Islam and Muhammad are perfect. This means that anything 'imperfect' is automatically exuded from Islam's conception of itself. Courts don't judge the accused according to the best conception they have of themselves: everyone would be innocent if only the very best of ourselves was admitted as evidence. Nor does the fact that the crime is 'out of character', or resulted from negligence, discharge the accused of responsibility for his actions (or inaction). To evaluate the relationship of Islam's and FGM solely in terms of whether FGM is Islamic or not, is to conduct the investigation constrained by axioms and rules determined by the accused. | ||