User:Flynnjed/Sandbox: Difference between revisions

UNICEF's 2016 report into FGM estimates that in the 30 countries surveyed at least 200 million girls and women have undergone FGM.<ref>UNICEF [https://www.unicef.org/media/files/FGMC_2016_brochure_final_UNICEF_SPREAD.pdf Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: a Global Concern (2016)]</ref> Assuming a world population of 7.9 billion, this means that about one in twenty girls or women have undergone FGM.   

FGM is a practice often associated with Islam. About 80% of FGM is attributable to Muslims.<ref name=":2">[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-040325/https://fgmtruth.wordpress.com/what-percentage-of-global-fgm-are-moslems-responsible-for/ What Percentage of Global FGM is done by Moslems ?]</ref> Most of the remaining 20% is attributable to non-Muslims living in FGM-practicing Islamic societies (e.g. the Egyptian Copts<ref>[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-040655/https://copticliterature.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/prevalence-of-and-support-for-female-genital-mutilation-within-the-copts-of-egypt-unicef-report-2013/ Prevalence of and Support for Female Genital Mutilation within the Copts of Egypt: Unicef Report (2013)]</ref>), or to non-Islamic societies that have been hubs of the Islamic slave trade (e.g. Ethiopia and Eritrea). Given a world population of Muslims of 1.7 billion, this means that at least one in five (20%) of Muslim girls and women have been genitally mutilated. The same statistics indicate that about one in seventy-eight (1.28%) non-Muslim girls and women are genitally mutilated.   

The practice of FGM varies greatly from community to community and country to country (unlike Islamic male circumcision, where the nature of the mutilation is uniform around the world). This is because the procedure of male circumcision is precisely described (in Genesis). Several hadith report Muhammad approving of FGM, but they give very few clues as to ''the nature'' of that which he was approving. Consequently the practice of FGM varies greatly from community to community and country to country, possibly according to the intensity of anxieties around female sexuality in the community, its proximity to Islamic slave-trade routes (Infibulation is associated with the transportation of slaves), the presiding school of Islam (fiqh), and the nature and degree of historical Christian influence and colonization.    

In addition to Islamic law that ''explicitly'' addresses FGM, Islamic law favors FGM by creating social conditions 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 in Islamic Law|child marriage]], gender segregation, arranged marriages, chaperoning, veiling, 'honour' culture, bride-price ([[Mahr (Marital Price)|mahr]]) and footbinding. Islam's attitudes towards slavery, especially [[Rape in Islamic Law|sex slavery]], appears to also have a significant role in the nature, incidence and distribution of FGM. 

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 (largely attributable to a growing awareness of the practice by organisations such as the UN and UNICEF). The earliest fatwa that is clearly critical of FGM appears to have been issued in 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>

The euphemism '''Female Circumcision''' is often used instead of '''Female Genital Mutilation''' by those who practice it, or who wish to defend or excuse it. Those who practice FGM will, of course, not refer to what they do as 'mutilation' - the word having negative connotations. {{Quran|30|30}} forbids mutilation - however Islamic law makes exceptions for mutilations it allows e.g. amputation of limbs of thieves ({{Quran|5|38}}) and male circumcision.  

{{anchor|hadith}}FGM is mentioned (at least) [[Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Female Genital Mutilation|seven times in the Hadith]]. Four report Muhammad approving of FGM and two report [[Sahabah]] (Muhammad's companions) participating in FGM. These have less doctrinal authority than the hadith featuring Muhammad. The remaining, seventh, hadith has little import doctrinally, but is of linguistic, historical and sociological interest.   

The following two hadiths come from Al-Adab Al-Mufrad. This is a collection of hadith about the manners of Muhammad and his companions, compiled by the Islamic scholar al-Bukhari. It contains 1,322 hadiths, most of which focus on Muhammad's companions rather than Muhammad himself. Al-Bukhari's evaluation of the hadiths within ''al-Adab al-Mufrad'' was not as rigorous as for his best-known collection - ''[[Sahih Bukhari]]''. However, scholars have ruled most of the hadith in the collection as being ''sahih'' (authentic) or ''hasan'' (sound).

However, the {{Quran|30|30}} requires Muslims to ''<nowiki/>'adhere to the fitrah'<nowiki/>''. The word ''<nowiki/>'fitrah''' appears only this once in the Qur'an, and is left undefined and unexplained. 

{{Quote|{{Quran|30|30}}|So direct your face toward the religion, inclining to truth. '''[Adhere to] the fitrah''' (فطرة or فطرت) of Allah upon which He has created (فطر) [all] people. No change should there be in the creation of Allah . That is the correct religion, but most of the people do not know.}}To know what fitrah means, traditional scholars turn to the hadith which make use of the word.   

Two other hadith ('Someone to Amuse Them' and 'Do not cut severely') use the word ''khitan'' in contexts where the procedure is unquestionably being performed on females, and only on females. Three other hadith ('The fitrah is five things, including circumcision', 'A preservation of honor for women' and 'When the circumcised parts touch each other') use the word 'khitan to refer to ''both'' FGM and Male Circumcision.