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=Female Genital Mutilation in Islam=
[[File:712px-fgc types-ii.svg .jpg|thumb|274x274px|Female Genital Mutilation]]
[[File:712px-fgc types-ii.svg .jpg|thumb|274x274px|Female Genital Mutilation]]
The discussion, debate and analysis of FGM tends to focus exclusively on the question of whether it is Islamic or not. This is not surprising. It arises partly because the majority of Muslim don't practice FGM and have, over the past half century, become troubled by the sizeable minority of Muslims that ''do'' practice it. The focus on the doctrinal issue may also be in part, because it offer a shortcut to explaining the existence of FGM in the Islamic world: if a mother cites her religion as the reason for having her daughter mutilated, and that mother's imam decree the practice as required by Islam, then it feels that something has been demonstrated and proved.   
'''Female Genital Mutilation''' (Arabic: ختان المرأة) is the practice of cutting away and altering the external female genitalia for ritual or religious purposes. It can involve both or either '''Clitoridectomy''' and '''Excision'''. Clitoridectomy is the amputation of part or all of the clitoris or the removal of the clitoral prepuce. '''Excision''' is the cutting away of either or both the inner and outer labia. A third practice, '''Infibulation''' (or Pharaonic circumcision), is the paring back of the outer labia, whose cut edges are then stitched together to form, once healed, a seal that covers both the openings of the vagina and the urethra. Infibulation usually also includes clitoridectomy.   


However, as the section [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox2#FGM before Islam|FGM before Islam]] demonstrates, FGM existed before Islam, and there is no evidence that pre-Islamic FGM was religiously-motivated. Thus FGM can not solely a religious practice - there must have been other reasons for its existence in pre-Islamic societies.
FGM predates Islam. The [[Banu Qurayza|Banu Quraysh]], Muhammad's native tribe, appear to have engaged in the practice. Muhammad maintained the practice after migrating to Medina and is recorded as approving of the practice in four hadith. Two hadith record the [[sahabah]] (Companions of Mohammed) engaging in the practice (see [[Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Law#FGM in the Hadith|FGM in the Hadith]]).  


It is all too natural to consider FGM as nothing more than an arbitrarily cruel misogynistic practice. However, it is actually a solution to certain social problems - albeit problems that not all societies suffer from, and that no society ''need'' suffer from. The section [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox2#The origins of FGM|the origins of FGM]] will consider what these 'problems' are, and why they arise in some societies. The next section ([[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox2#Islamic Doctrine that creates social conditions favourable to FGM|Islamic Doctrine that creates social conditions favourable to FGM]]) shows how Islam doctrine reproduces the very factors that ''made'' FGM useful or necessary in some pre-Islamic societies. A third section ([[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox2#The functions of FGM|Functions of FGM]]) considers how the social purposes of FGM is realised through the experience of the individual child undergoing FGM.  
The FGM hadith give very few clues as to ''the nature'' of the practice they approve. Hence the nature, incidence and distribution of FGM varies between countries and communities. The most significant determining factor appears to be the presiding school of Islam (fiqh). Other factors include the culture's level of anxiety around female sexuality, its proximity to Islamic slave-trade routes (Infibulation is associated with the transportation of slaves), and the nature and degree of Christian influence.


'''Female Genital Mutilation''' (Arabic: ختان المرأة) is the practice of cutting away and altering the external female genitalia for ritual or religious purposes. It can involve both or either '''Clitoridectomy''' and '''Excision.''' Clitoridectomy is the amputation of part or all of the clitoris (or the removal of the clitoral prepuce). Excision is the cutting away of either or both the inner or outer labia. A third practice, '''Infibulation''' (or Pharaonic circumcision), is the paring back of the outer labia, whose cut edges are then stitched together to form, once healed, a seal that covers both the openings of the vagina and the urethra. Infibulation usually includes clitoridectomy.
Whilst the Qur'an contains no explicit mention of FGM, verse 30:30, by exhorting Muslims to 'adhere to the fitrah' indirectly, but ineluctably, exhorts Muslims to engage in FGM (see [[Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Law#FGM in the Qur.27an|FGM in the Qur'an]]).


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 world-wide have undergone FGM. About 80% of this 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<ref>[https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/A-Profile-of-FGM-in-Ethiopia_2020.pdf A Profile of Female Genital Mutilation in Ethiopia]</ref>). Assuming a world population of Muslims of 1.7 billion, this means that at least one in five (20%) Muslim women, and about one in eighty (1.28%) non-Muslim women are genitally mutilated.  [[File:Fgmmuslimmap.jpg|alt=World maps comparing distributions of FGM and of Muslims|thumb|World maps comparing distributions of FGM and of Muslims|left|350x350px]]FGM predates Islam. The [[Banu Qurayza|Banu Quraysh]], Muhammad's native tribe, appear to have engaged in the practice (see [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#FGM before Islam|FGM before Islam]]). Muhammad maintained the practice after migrating to Medina and is recorded as approving of the practice in four hadith. Two other hadith record the [[sahabah]] (Companions of Mohammed) engaging in the practice. (see [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#FGM%20in%20the%20Hadith|FGM in the Hadith]]) 
Islamic law also implicitly favors FGM by creating social conditions that 1/ make the practice useful or necessary, and 2/ normalise it. [[Polygamy in Islamic Law|Polygyny]] (which Islam encourages) creates sexually violent societies which put girls and women at a heightened risk of rape or abduction. In response to this the community develops 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 and purdah, arranged marriages, chaperoning, veiling, 'honour' culture, bride-price ([[Mahr (Marital Price)|mahr]]) and footbinding.<ref>'[http://webarchiv.ethz.ch/soms/teaching/OppFall09/MackieFootbinding.pdf 'Ending Footbinding and Infibulation: A Convention Account' -  Gerry Mackie (1996)]</ref> Islam's legitimisation of slavery, especially [[Rape in Islamic Law|sex slavery]], also has a significant role in the nature, incidence and distribution of FGM.<!-- add link to sociology section in 'FGM in Islam' -->


The Qur'an contains no explicit mention of FGM. However, Quran 30:30, by exhorting Muslims to 'adhere to the fitrah' indirectly, but ineluctably exhorts Muslims to engage in FGM. (see [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#FGM in the Qur.27an|FGM in the Qur'an]])  
Traditional scholars all allow, recommend or mandate FGM (see [[Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Law#FGM and the Schools of Islamic Law|FGM and the Schools of Islamic Law]]). Whilst most modern fatwas favour FGM, there has been, over the past half century, a growing unease in the Islamic world concerning the practice (due to a growing concern on the part of organisations such as the UN and UNICEF). This has resulted in some fatwas critical of FGM. It appears that the earliest fatwa clearly critical of FGM was 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> (see [[Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Law#Modern Fatwas|Modern Fatwas]])


The FGM hadith give very few clues as to ''the nature'' of the practice they approve. Hence the nature, incidence and distribution of FGM varies between countries and communities. The most significant determining factor appears to be the presiding school of Islam (fiqh). Other factors include the culture's level of anxiety around female sexuality, its proximity to Islamic slave-trade routes (Infibulation is associated with the transportation of slaves), and the nature and degree of Christian influence ( see [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#FGM%20in%20Islamic%20law|FGM in Islamic law]]).  
It should be noted that those who practice FGM refer to it as '''Female Circumcision''' rather than '''Female Genital Mutilation.''' The Hadith and most of the fatwas reproduced on this page are translations. Where this is the case it is likely that the term used is the translator's choice, not the hadith or fatwa's originator.
==FGM in the Hadith==
{{anchor|hadith}}FGM is mentioned  in (at least) seven Hadith. Four report Muhammad approving of FGM and two report [[Sahabah]] (Muhammad's companions) participating in FGM. The remaining hadith has little import doctrinally, but is of linguistic, historical and sociological interest.
===Hadith: Muhammad===
====The fitrah is five things====
{{Quote|1={{Bukhari|7|72|777}}; See also {{Muslim|2|495}}|2=Abu Hurayrah said: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: “The fitrah is five things – or five things are part of the fitrah – '''circumcision''' [الْخِتَانُ - khitan], shaving the pubes, trimming the moustache, cutting the nails and plucking the armpit hairs.”}}Hadith methodology dictates that if it is not mentioned specifically or if the pronouns do not point to a certain gender, then the hadith is valid for both sexes (either directly or by analogy, or ''qiyas'', in the case of women). Hence, this hadith is applicable for both men and women.


Whilst most modern fatwas favour or defend FGM, there has been, over the past half century, a growing unease in the Islamic world concerning the practice (due to a growing concern on the part of organisations such as the UN and UNICEF). This has resulted in some fatwas critical of FGM. It appears that the earliest fatwa clearly critical of FGM was issued in 1984.<ref name=":12">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> (see [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#Modern%20Fatwas|Modern Fatwas]] and [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#FGM%20as%20Un-Islamic|FGM as Un-Islamic]]) 
====A preservation of honor for women====
==The History of FGM==
{{Quote|1=Ahmad Ibn Hanbal 5:75; Abu Dawud, Adab 167.|2=Abu al- Malih ibn `Usama's father relates that the Prophet said: "'''Circumcision''' [الْخِتَانُ - khitan] is a law for men and a preservation of honour for women'."}}
===FGM before Islam===
====Do not cut severely====
====Islamic sources====
{{Quote|1={{Abu Dawud|41|5251}}|2=Narrated Umm Atiyyah al-Ansariyyah: A woman used to perform '''circumcision''' [الْخِتَانُ - khitan] in Medina. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to her: "Do not cut severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband".}}
The hadith [[#other ladies|'One Who Circumcises Other Ladies']] suggests that FGM was practiced by the Banu Quraysh, Mohammed's native tribe, and that the FGM reported in the Hadith (which therefore took place after Mohammed's migration to Medina) was a practice carried over from pre-Islamic Mecca.{{Quote|{{Bukhari|5|59|399}}|“[…] I went out with the people for the battle. When the army aligned for the fight, Siba’ came out and said, ‘Is there any (Muslim) to accept my challenge to a duel?’ Hamza bin `Abdul Muttalib came out and said, ‘O Siba’. O Ibn Um Anmar, '''the one who circumcises other ladies!''' Do you challenge Allah and His Apostle?’ […]”}}The Hadith tells how, prior to the battle of Uhud, Hamza, one of Mohammed’s companions, taunts the Meccan warrior, Siba. Hamza implies that Siba is like ‘Ibn Um Anmar’ – a woman who was a known circumciser of women. The more descriptive phrase ''muqteh al-basr'' – ‘one who cuts clitorises‘ – is used rather than the usual ''khitan''.
====When the circumcised parts touch each other====
{{Quote|1={{Muslim|3|684}}; see also {{Bukhari|1|5|289}}|2=Abu Musa reported: There cropped up a difference of opinion between a group of Muhajirs (Emigrants and a group of Ansar (Helpers) (and the point of dispute was) that the Ansar said: The bath (because of sexual intercourse) becomes obligatory only-when the semen spurts out or ejaculates. But the Muhajirs said: When a man has sexual intercourse (with the woman), a bath becomes obligatory (no matter whether or not there is seminal emission or ejaculation). Abu Musa said: Well, I satisfy you on this (issue). He (Abu Musa, the narrator) said: I got up (and went) to 'A'isha and sought her permission and it was granted, and I said to her: 0 Mother, or Mother of the Faithful, I want to ask you about a matter on which I feel shy. She said: Don't feel shy of asking me about a thing which you can ask your mother, who gave you birth, for I am too your mother. Upon this I said: What makes a bath obligatory for a person? She replied: You have come across one well informed! The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: When anyone sits amidst four parts (of the woman) and the '''circumcised''' [الْخِتَانُ - khitan]  
parts touch each other a bath becomes obligatory.}}To '''''<nowiki/>'sit amidst four parts'<nowiki/>''''' of a woman is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
===Hadith: the Sahabah (the Companions of Muhammad)===
The following three hadith touch on FGM, but do not involve Muhammad.
====One Who Circumcises Other Ladies====
{{anchor|other ladies}}This hadith includes an exchange of insults between Meccan warriors and Muhammad's companions prior to the [[Battle of Uhud|battle of Uhud]]. {{Quote|1={{Bukhari|5|59|399}}|2=“[…] I went out with the people for the battle. When the army aligned for the fight, Siba’ came out and said, ‘Is there any (Muslim) to accept my challenge to a duel?’ Hamza bin `Abdul Muttalib came out and said, ‘O Siba’. O Ibn Um Anmar, '''the one who circumcises''' [أَنْمَارٍ مُقَطِّعَةِ الْبُظُورِ - muqaṭwiʿaẗi al-ْbuẓūri] other ladies! Do you challenge Allah and His Apostle?’ […]”}}أَنْمَارٍ مُقَطِّعَةِ الْبُظُورِ (muqaṭwiʿaẗi al-ْbuẓūri) translates as 'cutter of clitorises'.


This taunt suggests that clitoridectomy was practiced by the Quraysh, and that it was a role reserved for women, probably of low-status, hence its insulting nature when directed against a warrior. The taunt could only be effective if it humiliated Siba in the eyes of ''both'' his fellow Meccan warriors and also the Muslim warriors. Thus its use implies that members of both camps had knowledge of the practice and a shared culture of clitoridectomy. The fact that a circumciser of women could be famous (or notorious) also suggests that it was an established practice with the Meccan Quraysh.
====In Bukhari's al-Adab al-Mufrad====
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]]''. The Adab have less doctrinal authority than hadith featuring Muhammad. However, scholars have ruled most of the hadith in the collection as being ''sahih'' (authentic) or ''hasan'' (sound).
=====Someone to Amuse Them=====
{{Quote|1=[http://archive.today/2016.08.04-024338/http://sunnah.com/urn/2212030 Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 53:1247]|2=“Umm ‘Alqama related that when the daughters of ‘A’isha’s brother were '''circumcised''' [اخْتُتِنَّ - khitan], ‘A’isha was asked, “Shall we call someone to amuse them?” “Yes,” she replied. ‘Adi was sent for and he came to them. ‘A’isha passed by the room and saw him singing and shaking his head in rapture – and he had a large head of hair. ‘Uff!’ she exclaimed, ‘A shaytan! Get him out! Get him out!'””}}
=====Go and Circumcise Them and Purify Them=====
{{Quote|1=[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-044937/https://sunnah.com/urn/2212010 Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 53:1245]|2=An old woman from Kufa, the grandmother of 'Ali ibn Ghurab, reported that Umm al-Muhajir said, "I was captured with some girls from Byzantium. 'Uthman offered us Islam, but only myself and one other girl accepted Islam. 'Uthman said, "Go and '''circumcise''' [فَاخْفِضُو - khaffad] them and purify them."'}}فَاخْفِضُو (khaffad) translates as 'lower them' or 'trim them'.
==FGM in the Qur'an==
There is no explicit reference to Female Genital Mutilation in the Qur'an. However, the {{Quran|30|30}} requires Muslims to ''<nowiki/>'adhere to the fitrah'''.
''<nowiki/><nowiki/>''{{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.}}'''''The word ''<nowiki/>'fitrah''' appears only this once in the Qur'an, and is left undefined and unexplained. To know what 'fitrah means, traditional scholars turned to hadith which make use of the word. {{Quote|{{Bukhari|7|72|777}}; See also {{Muslim|2|495}}|Abu Hurayrah said: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: “The fitrah is five things – or '''five things are part of the fitrah – circumcision''' [اخْتُتِنَّ - khitan], shaving the pubes, trimming the moustache, cutting the nails and plucking the armpit hairs.”}}Note that this hadith uses the Arabic word ''khitan'' (ختان) for 'circumcision'.


====Non-Islamic sources====
Two other hadith ([[Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Law#Someone to Amuse Them|Someone to Amuse Them]] and [[Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Law#Do not cut severely|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 ([[Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Law#The fitrah is five things|The fitrah is five things]], [[Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Law#A preservation of honor for women|A preservation of honor for women]] and [[Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Law#When the circumcised parts touch each other|When the circumcised parts touch each other]]) use the word 'khitan to refer to ''both'' FGM and Male Circumcision.
There is evidence that FGM was practiced before the birth of Muhammad in the Middle East and along the African coast of the Red Sea. The following are listed in roughly chronological order.  


'''There are reports''' that some Egyptian mummies show signs of FGC. However this appears to be disputed.  
Thus, the word '<nowiki/>''khitan'<nowiki/>'' appears to refer to both or either FGM and Male Circumcision. According to traditional interpretive methodology, {{Quran|30|30}} by requiring Muslims to ''<nowiki/>'adhere to the fitrah''' advocates FGM.
{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-071736/https://www.scribd.com/document/317447900/Female-Genital-Mutilation-Cutting Salima Ikram, professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, told to Discovery News.]|“This was not common practice in ancient Egypt. There is no physical evidence in mummies, neither there is anything in the art or literature. It probably originated in sub-saharan Africa, and was adopted here later on,”}}
==FGM and the Schools of Islamic Law==
[[File:Glyph1.jpg|thumb|spell or prayer found on an Egyptian coffin dating from sometime between 1991–1786 BC ]]
[[File:Madhhabplusfgm.jpeg|alt=Maps showing distribution of madhaps and prevalence of FGM|thumb|Maps showing distribution of madhaps and prevalence of FGM|link=https://wikiislam.net/wiki/File:Madhhabplusfgm.jpeg|400x400px]]Only one school of Islam - the Shafi'i - makes FGM universally obligatory. The other schools of Islam recommend it with differing levels of obligation. Since nothing that Muhammad allowed can be prohibited, no school of Islam can forbid FGM.
'''A spell or prayer''' found on an Egyptian coffin dating from sometime between 1991–1786 BC appears to refer to an uncircumcised girl.  
Differences in hermeneutics (methodologies of interpretation of texts, especially religious and philosophical texts) result in certain Hadith having more weight and influence in some schools than in others. The hadith {{Abu Dawud|41|5251}} is an example of this:{{Quote|{{Abu Dawud|41|5251}}|Narrated Umm Atiyyah al-Ansariyyah: A woman used to perform circumcision in Medina. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to her: '''Do not cut ''severely''''' as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband.}}Shafi’i and Hanbali scholars have evaluated this hadith as being ''sahih.'' Consequently, these schools consider FGM as being either obligatory or highly recommended, and FGM is very common or nearly universal amongst their followers. Maliki and Hanafi scholars have evaluated this Hadith as being ''mursal'' (good but missing an early link in its [[isnad]]) or ''daif'' (weak)– possibly explaining the lower rates of FGM amongst followers of these schools. However, it may be that followers of the Maliki and Hanafi schools who are devout (or who wish to ''appear'' devout) will tend to treat as 'obligatory' practices that are merely 'recommended' – since for the devout anything that is recommended should be definitely done.
{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-072542/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3080631?seq&#61;1 Mary Knight - 'Curing Cut or Ritual Mutilation?: Some remarks on the Practice of Female and Male Circumcision in Graeco-Roman Egypt' (2001)]|“But if a man wants to know how to live, he should recite it [a magical spell] every day, after his flesh has been rubbed with the b3d [unknown substance] of an uncircumcised girl [‘m’t] and the flakes of skin of an uncircumcised bald man.”}}
===Maliki Madhab===
An analysis of this hieroglyph by the Egyptologist Saphinaz-Amal Naguib suggests that the procedure referred to was not the infibulation that has become commonly associated with Ancient Egypt (hence ‘pharaonic’ circumcision), but rather clitoridectomy. This seems to be confirmed by other later Greek descriptions of the Egyptian practice.
The Maliki school was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century, who ruled that FGM is recommended, but not obligatory.{{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)|Maliki hold the view that it is wajib (obligatory) for males and sunnah (optional) for females}}{{Quote|Al-Dardir (died 1786, malikite)|Female circumcision is recommended.}}{{Quote|Ibn-al-jallab (died 988, Malikite)|Circumcision is Sunnah for men and women.}}
===Hanafi Madhab===
This school is named after the scholar Abū Ḥanīfa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit (d. 767) and is school with the largest number of followers among Sunni muslims. Abū Ḥanīfa maintained that FGM is not obligatory but optional or recommended.{{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)|The Hanafi view is that it is a sunnah (optional act) for both females and males}}{{Quote|Al-Musuli (died 1284, hanafite)|Circumcision is sunnah and fitrah. For women, circumcision is makrumah. If the inhabitants of a country reach a unanimous decision to abandon circumcision, the Imam has to wage war against them as it is one of the rituals and a specificity of Islam.}}
===Shafi'i Madhab===
The Shafi’i school was founded by the Arab scholar Al-Shafi‘i in the early 9th century. The Shafi’i school rejects two interpretative heuristics 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. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is obligatory in the Shafi'i madhab. Infibulation, the most severe form of FGM practiced under Islam, is almost entirely attributable to followers of the Shafi'i school of fiqh.{{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' translates the word 'bazr' ( بَظْرٌ ) as 'clitorial prepuce' instead of simply 'clitoris'.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/RelianceOfThetraveller/New%20Folder/RelianceOfThetraveller_by_AhmadIbnNaqib-al-misri_english-arabic/page/n77/mode/2up Reliance Of The traveller (عمدة السالك وعدة الناسك) By Ahmad Ibn Naqib Al Misri English Arabic]</ref> This is disputed because 1/ the usage is obscure and 2/ it leaves Arabic without a word for 'clitoris'.<ref>[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-042436/https://ejtaal.net/aa/%23hw4=h92,ll=259,ls=h5,la=h306,sg=h149,ha=h56,br=h124,pr=h26,aan=h73,mgf=h108,vi=h76,kz=h149,mr=h80,mn=h93,uqw=h174,umr=h122,ums=h91,umj=h75,ulq=h387,uqa=h55,uqq=h31,bdw=h102,amr=h66,asb=h65,auh=h200,dhq=h57,mht=h49,msb=h28,tla=h30,amj=h63,ens=h1,mis=h1 '''بعث''' | Lane's Lexicon, page 222]</ref>
===Hanbali Madhab===
The Hanbali school is named after the Iraqi scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 855). Ahmad ibn Hanbal studied under Al-Shafi‘i (founder of the Shafi’i school) and inherited his deep concerns about the jurists of his time, who were ready to reinterpret the doctrines of the Koran and Hadiths to pander to public opinion and the demands of the rich and powerful. Ibn Hanbal advocated a return to the literal interpretation of Koran and Hadiths. This has made the Hanbali school intensely traditionalist. Today’s ultra-conservative Wahhabi–Salafist movement is an offshoot of this school. The Hanbali school, unlike the Hanafi and Maliki schools, reject ''Istihsan'' (jurist discretion) and ''Urf'' (the customs of Muslims) as a sound basis by which to derive Islamic law.{{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)|Hanbali have two opinions: -it is wajib (obligatory) for both males and females – it is wajib (obligatory) for males and makrumah (honourable) for females.}}{{Quote|Al-Qudamah (died 1223, hanbalite)|Circumcision is obligatory for men, and noble deed for women and not obligatory according to many scholars. Ahmad said: circumcision for men is more important for men than for women, as the foreskin is pending over the glans, therefore what is behind cannot be cleaned. Female circumcision is also prescribed for women. Abu-Abdallah said that the hadith “If the two circumcised membranes meet, ghusl is necessary” means that female circumcision was practiced. According to the hadith of Umar, a circumciser woman performed circumcision; he told her: leave some of it if you circumcise. It is also reported that the Prophet Muhammad said to the circumciser woman: Cut very slightly and do not exaggerate as it is preferable for the husband and better for the face.}}{{Quote|Al-Bahuti (died 1641, Hanbalite)|male and female circumcision are obligatory.}}{{Quote|Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (died 1328, Hanbalite)|Praise be to Allah. Yes, they should be circumcised, i.e., the top of the piece of skin that looks like a rooster’s comb should be cut. The Messenger of Allah said to the woman who did circumcisions: “Leave something sticking out and do not go to extremes in cutting. That makes her face look brighter and is more pleasing to her husband.” That is because the purpose of circumcising a man is to make him clean from the impurity that may collect beneath the foreskin. But the purpose of circumcising women is to regulate their desire, because if a woman is not circumcised her desire will be strong. Hence the words “O son of an uncircumcised woman” are used as an insult, because the uncircumcised woman has stronger desire. Hence immoral actions are more common among the women of the Tatars and the Franks, that are not found among the Muslim women. If the circumcision is too severe, the desire is weakened altogether, which is unpleasing for men; but if it is cut without going to extremes in that, the purpose will be achieved, which is moderating desire. And Allah knows best.}}{{Quote|Ibn Qayyim (died 1350, Hanbalite)|Khitaan is a noun describing the action of the circumciser (khaatin). It is also used to describe the site of the circumcision, as in the hadith, “When the two circumcised parts (al-khitaanaan) meet, ghusl become obligatory.” In the case of a female the word used is khafad. In the male it is also called i’dhaar. The one who is uncircumcised is called aghlaf or aqlaf.}}{{Quote|Ibn Taymiyya (1263 - 1328), Hanbalite)|[FGM's] purpose is to reduce the woman's desire; if she is uncircumcised, she becomes lustful and tends to long more for men.}}
===Shia Islam===
The attitudes of Shia Islam towards FGM are as not clear-cut as with the schools of 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 particular) in India. A survey by WADI conducted in the region of Kirkuk in Iraq found that 23% of Shia girls and women had undergone FGM<ref>[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-043653/https://mena.hivos.org/news/female-genital-mutilation-in-iraq/ Female Genital Mutilation in Iraq (April 13, 2012)]</ref>.
====Jafari====
{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-045325/https://courtingthelaw.com/2016/04/28/commentary/islam-and-female-genital-mutilation-fgm/ Islam And Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)]|Ayatollah Khamenei, the leading scholar among contemporary jurists of Iran, says that FGM is permissible but not obligatory for women. He also states that if the husband wants his wife to be circumcised then it might be carried out if it isn’t harmful for her.}}{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-045325/https://courtingthelaw.com/2016/04/28/commentary/islam-and-female-genital-mutilation-fgm/ Islam And Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)]|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.}}{{Quote|Al-Amili (died 1559, shiite)|Boys must be circumcised when they become adult…. and it is preferable that women be circumcised even if they are adult.}}{{Quote|Al-Tusi (died 1067, shiite)|The circumcision of female slaves, if performed, is great honor and precious merit. If not, nothing bad in it.}}
====Ismaili====
FGM appears to be common amongst the Dawoodi Bohras<ref>[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-044009/https://scroll.in/article/867572/reminder-to-government-new-study-confirms-widespread-female-genital-cutting-among-bohra-muslims Reminder to government: New study confirms widespread female genital cutting among Bohra Muslims]</ref> – 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.{{Quote|Al-Nazawi (died 1162, ibadite)|Circumcision is obligatory for every Muslim…. If somebody refuses to submit to circumcision after being ordered to do, he should be killed if he exaggerates in delaying. Circumcision is not obligatory for women but they are ordered to submit to circumcision in honor of their husbands. Women are not obliged as circumcision for women is makrumah and for men it is sunnah, and some said it is faridah (obligation).}}


'''A fragment referring''' to a fifth-century B.C. history by Xanthos of Lydia (Western Asiatic Turkey) uses the word 'castrated' in relation to women. It may refer to FGM, or some method of permanently sterilizing women.
In 2017 two doctors and a third woman connected to the Dawoodi Bohra in Detroit, Michigan, were arrested on charges of conducting FGM on two seven-year-old girls in the United States. Their Attorney confirmed that FGM was, for her clients, a religious practice<ref>[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-044404/https://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/26/health/fgm-indictment-michigan/index.html Prosecutor: 'Brutal' genital mutilation won't be tolerated in US]</ref>:{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-044404/https://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/26/health/fgm-indictment-michigan/index.html 'Prosecutor: 'Brutal' genital mutilation won't be tolerated in US' - CNN]|They have a [right] to practice their religion. And they are Muslims and they’re being under attack for it. I believe that they are being persecuted because of their religious beliefs}}
{{Quote|1=[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-072542/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3080631?seq=1 Mary Knight - 'Curing Cut or Ritual Mutilation?: Some remarks on the Practice of Female and Male Circumcision in Graeco-Roman Egypt' (2001)]|2='The Lydians arrived at such a state of delicacy that they were even the first to “castrate” their women … Thus Xanthos says in his second book on the Lydians that Adramytes, the king of the Lydians, castrating the women, used them instead of male eunuchs…. In the second book, he reports that Gyges, the king of the Lydians, was the first who “castrated” women, so that he might use them while they would remain forever youthful.'}}
===Muʿtazila===
'''There are several classical references from the geographer Agatharchides of Cnidus (fl. 2nd century BC., who identified a tribe living on the west coast of the Red Sea which excised their women in the manner of the Egyptians, and that another group cut of in infancy with razors the whole portion that others circumcise'.'' <ref>[https://www.amazon.com/Agatharchides-Cnidus-Erythraean-Hakluyt-Society/dp/090418028X 'Agatharchides of Cnidus: On the Erythraean Sea' by Stanley M. Burstein]</ref>
Muʿtazila is a rationalist school of Islamic theology that flourished in the cities of Basra and Baghdad during the 8th to the 10th centuries. The Mu'tazila developed an Islamic type of rationalism, partly influenced by Ancient Greek philosophy.{{Quote|Al-Jahiz (Muʿtazila, died 868-9)|A woman with clitoris has more pleasure than a woman without clitoris. The pleasure depends on the quantity which was cut from the clitoris. Muhammad said: “If you cut, cut the slightest part and do not exaggerate because it makes the face more beautiful and it is more pleasant for the husband”. It seems that Muhammad wanted to reduce the concupiscence of the women to moderate it. If concupiscence is reduced, the pleasure is also reduced as well as the love for the husbands. The love of the husband is an impediment against debauchery. Judge Janab Al-Khaskhash contends that he counted in one village the number of the women who were circumcised and those who were not, and he found that the circumcised were chaste and the majority of the debauched were uncircumcised. Indian, Byzantine and Persian women often commit adultery and run after men because their concupiscence towards men is greater. For this reason, India created brothels. This happened because of the massive presence of their clitorises and their hoots.}}
==Modern Fatwas==
<!-- (for a more comprehensive collection of modern fatwas see  - link to QHS section -->The following is a selection of Fatwas, mainly extracts, from the 20th and 21st Century. They have been, as far as possible, arranged in chronological order. Note that many are secondary or even tertiary sources.
===Favourable===
{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-052246/https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/q-and/2005/03/08/irin-interview-sheikh-omer-muslim-religious-leader IRIN interview with Sheikh Omer, a Muslim religious leader, Ethiopia (2005)]|“Medical research […] does not show that the Sunnah circumcision – cutting only the outer part of the clitoris – has caused any medical complications […] Islam condones the Sunnah circumcision; it is acceptable. What’s forbidden in Islam is the pharaonic circumcision [...] Islamic scholars believe that female circumcision is different from male circumcision. They have a strong view that female circumcision is allowed, and that there is no evidence from Islamic sources prohibiting female circumcision, unless it is pharaonic.”}}'<nowiki/>'''Pharaonic circumcision'''<nowiki/>' is a synonym for Infibulation.{{Quote|[https://islamqa.info/en/answers/82859/is-there-any-saheeh-hadeeth-about-the-circumcision-of-females Is there any saheeh hadeeth about the circumcision of females? (2006)]|"It is also indicated by the general meaning of the evidence that has been narrated concerning circumcision, such as the hadeeth in al-Bukhaari (5891) and Muslim (527) from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him): I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: “The fitrah is five things – or five things are part of the fitrah – circumcision, shaving the pubes, trimming the moustache, cutting the nails and plucking the armpit hairs.” 
[...]The Shaafa’is, the Hanbalis according to the well-known view of their madhhab, and others are of the view that circumcising women is obligatory. Many scholars are of the view that it is not obligatory in the case of women; rather it is Sunnah and is an honour for them.  
But we would like to point out here that it has medical benefits to which attention should be paid, regardless of the difference of opinion among the scholars as to whether it is obligatory or mustahabb."}}{{Quote|[http://myjurnal.my/filebank/published_article/34088/Article_4.PDF Women's Genital Cutting Law (Female Genital Mutilation) - Taqwa bint Zabidi (Jakim), (2009)]|"DECISION OF MUZAKARAH OF THE FATWA COMMITTEE, NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS MALAYSIA
The issue of Female Genital Mutilation was discussed by Muzakarah The 87th National Fatwa Committee convened on 23-25 June 2009. In this conference, Muzakarah members agreed decided that: After examining the evidence, arguments and views submitted, Muzakarah is of the view that the practice of circumcision for women is part of the syiar of the ummah Islam. While the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is contrary to the practice of circumcision prescribed by syarak. Accordingly, in line with the view jumhur ulama, Muzakarah agreed to decide that the law circumcision for women is compulsory. However, if it can bring harm to oneself, then it is should be avoided."}}[[File:Fgmflyer-mozlem-brotherhood.jpg|thumb|Muslim Brotherhood flyer promoting FGM (amongst other medical services)|link=]]{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-053608/https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/mutilating-bodies-muslim-brotherhoods-gift-to-egyptian-women/ Mutilating bodies: the Muslim Brotherhood’s gift to Egyptian women, (2012)]|“The second strategy of the [Muslim Brotherhood] to contest the undesirability of FGM is to present it as a medical operation or procedure. By doing so, they encourage people to go to doctors – rather than midwives – who will perform the “operation” under anaesthesia and in accordance with proper surgical procedures […] Some people talk about taking their daughters to the doctor to check whether “they need it or not”, as if there is a physiological condition that would justify mutilating a woman’s reproductive organs […] Some doctors believe that not circumcising females leads to sexual arousal and that this could lead to the committing unlawful acts. So circumcision is a duty for the protection of the honour of the believing woman and for the preservation of her chastity and purity […] The third strategy deployed by the Brothers to promote FGM is to push for its decriminalization, under the premise that it is a matter that should be left to the personal choice of the girls’ guardians […] “the decision is up to the guardian and the doctor who decides on the extent to which the girl needs this operation”}}{{Quote|[https://www.memri.org/tv/egyptian-cleric-supports-fgm-cites-protocols-elders-zion Egyptian Cleric: Female Circumcision Has Economic Benefits; Jews Fight It in Keeping with Protocols of the Elders of Zion, (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 [...]In The Protocols of the Elders of Zion it is written: 'We must strive for the collapse of morals, so that it will be easier for us to dominate the world.'[...] Female circumcision is a preventive medical measure. Someone who is uncircumcised will be afflicted with many serious diseases{...]"}}{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2016.02.09-070313/https://islamqa.info/en/60314 Circumcision of girls and some doctors’ criticism thereof] – islamqa (2018)]|“Circumcision is not an inherited custom as some people claim, rather it is prescribed in Islam and the scholars are unanimously agreed that it is prescribed. Not a single Muslim scholar – as far as we know – has said that circumcision is not prescribed. Their evidence is to be found in the saheeh ahaadeeth of the Prophet, which prove that it is prescribed [...] With regard to the criticism of circumcision by some doctors, and their claim that it is harmful both physically and psychologically, This criticism of theirs is not valid. It is sufficient for us Muslims that something be proven to be from the Prophet [...], then we will follow it, and we are certain that it is beneficial and not harmful. If it were harmful, Allaah and His Messenger [...] would not have prescribed it for us [...] As for the opinions of doctors who say that female circumcision is harmful, these are individual opinions which are not derived from any agreed scientific basis, and they do not form an established scientific opinion […] medical theories about disease and the way to treat it are not fixed, rather they change with time and with ongoing research. So it is not correct to rely on them when criticizing circumcision which the Wise and All-Knowing Lawgiver has decreed in His wisdom for mankind. Experience has taught us that the wisdom behind some rulings and Sunnahs may be hidden from us. May Allaah help us all to follow the right path.”}}
===Critical===
Some contemporary scholars have criticised and condemned FGM. However, because nothing that Muhammad allowed can be prohibited, it is not licit to forbid FGM. Therefore fatwas critical of FGM generally stop well short of forbidding it. 
<!-- insert link to debunking section when 'FGM in Islam' page  is completed -->
{{Quote|1=[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-070320/https://w3i.target-nehberg.de/HP-08_fatwa/index.php?p=fatwaAzhar Professor Ali Gom’a, Grand Mufti of Egypt, (2006)]|2=“Allah has endowed people with dignity. In the Qur'an, Allah says: "We have honored the children of Adam". Therefore, Allah forbids all harm to people, regardless of social status and gender. Female genital cutting is an inherited bad habit practiced in some societies and has been adopted in imitation by some Muslims in several countries. This without a textual basis in the Koran or an authentic tradition of the prophet. Female genital cutting practiced today causes physical and psychological damage to women. Therefore, these practices must be stopped, based on one of the highest values ​​of Islam, namely not to harm people - according to the saying of the Prophet Mohammad, peace and blessings be upon him: "Do not harm and do no harm to anyone". Rather, it is considered a criminal aggression. The conference appeals to Muslims to put an end to this bad habit according to the teachings of Islam, which prohibit harming people in any way. The participants of the conference also call on the international and regional institutions and bodies to concentrate their efforts on educating and informing the population. This applies in particular to the basic hygienic and medical rules that must be adhered to towards women so that this bad habit is no longer practiced.The conference reminds educational institutions and the media that they have an absolute duty to educate about the harms of this bad habit and its devastating consequences for society in order to help eliminate this bad habit. The conference calls on the legislative bodies to pass a law that prohibits practitioners from the harmful bad habit of female genital cutting and declares it a crime, regardless of whether the practitioner is the perpetrator or the initiator. Furthermore, the conference calls on the international institutions and organizations to provide aid in all regions in which this bad habit is practiced, in order to contribute to its elimination.”}}{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-062048/https://www.hrw.org/news/2010/09/18/fatwa-fgm-could-be-part-solution%23 A Fatwa on FGM Could be Part of the Solution – Kurdistan (2010)]|“The Kurdistan Islamic Scholars Union, the highest Muslim authority in Iraqi Kurdistan for religious pronouncements and rulings, issued a fatwa or religious edict last month [...]this particular fatwa stated that "female circumcision" is not an Islamic practice.While the fatwa did not forbid the practice [...] its clear and unequivocal statement that the practice is not required by Islam was significant for women in Kurdistan, where the practice is widespread. The practice is not mentioned in the Quran, and many other Muslim scholars have disassociated the practice from Islam. Until last month, the Kurdistan Islamic Scholars Union had not joined those ranks [...] The fatwa will help dispel that belief and should begin to lead to a reduction of the practice in the name of Islam.
But it's not all good news yet. The fatwa does not explicitly ban female genital mutilation, and the failure to prohibit it altogether remains troubling because parents may still decide to subject their daughters to this practice. ”}}
[[File:Khamenei4.jpg|thumb|400x400px|Fatwa - Ayatollah Khamenei]]
{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2015.01.20-032048/http://www.stopfgmmideast.org/the-point-of-view-of-the-supreme-leader-of-the-islamic-republic-of-iran-on-female-genital-mutilation/ Fatwa of the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, (2014)]|In response to a question of the author of the book Razor and Tradition, which discusses Female Genital Mutilation,'' [Khamenei] ''noted that female circumcision is permissible but not obligatory"
[...]
"Today, female genital mutilation is not common among Shiites but the usage narrative show that it does not hurt if it can be done with its conditions, including compliance with health issues. But because the social norms have changed today, this action would not be acceptable like many other topics which their sentences were changed due to circumstances and facts"


'''A papyrus dated''' from 163 BC refers to the operation being performed on girls in Memphis, Egypt, to coincide with the time when they received their dowries.
[...]
{{Quote|'Greek Papyri in the British Museum.' Kenyon, F. G. (1893)|'Sometime after this, Nephoris [Tathemis’s mother] defrauded me, being anxious that it was time for Tathemis to be circumcised, as is the custom among the Egyptians. She asked that I give her 1,300 drachmae … to clothe her … and to provide her with a marriage dowry … if she didn’t do each of these or if she did not circumcise Tathemis in the month of Mecheir, year 18 [163 BCE], she would repay me 2,400 drachmae on the spot.'}}
The question is asked to Ayatollah Khamenei:
'''Strabo (64 or 63 BC – c. AD 24)''', a Turkish-born Greek geographer, observed the practice whilst travelling up the Nile.
What is the wife`s duty to her husband`s request to circumcise herself?
{{Quote|'Geographica' - Strabo|‘This is one of the procedures most enthusiastically performed by [the Egyptians]: to raise every child that is born and to circumcise the males and cut the females… as is also the custom among the Jews, who are also Egyptians in origin. And then to the Harbour of Antiphilus [Naucratis in Egypt], and, above this, to the Creophagi [meat-eaters], of whom the males have their penises circumcised and the women and cut in the Jewish fashion'}}
Another passage from Strabo suggests that Jews practiced FGM some time after Moses’ death.
{{Quote|'Geographica' - Strabo|'Superstitious men were appointed to the priesthood, and then tyrannical people; and from superstition arose abstinence from flesh, from which it is their custom to abstain even today, and circumcisions and excisions of females'}}
'''The Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria''' (c. 20 BC – 50 AD) reports in his ''‘Questions on Genesis’''<ref>[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-073825/https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674994188 Questions on Genesis - Philo]</ref>:
{{Quote||‘Why orders he the males only to be circumcised? (Genesis 17:11). For in the first place, Egyptians, in accordance with the national customs of the country, in the fourteenth year of their age, when the male begins to have the power of propagating his species, and when the female arrives at the age of puberty, circumcise both bride and bridegroom. But the divine legislator appoints circumcision to take place in the case of the male alone for many reasons: the first of which is, that the male creature feels venereal pleasures and desires matrimonial connexions more than the female, on which account the female is properly omitted here, while he checks the superfluous impetuosity of the male by the sign of circumcision.’}}
'''The Greek physician Galen''' (129-c. 200 AD) notes that the Romans developed a procedure which involved slipping fibulae (the latin word for ‘brooches’) through the labia majora of female slaves as a form of contraception. He also notes in his ''‘Introductio sive Medicus’'':{{Quote||‘Between these [labia majora], a small bit of flesh, the clitoris, grows out at the split. When [the clitoris] protrudes to a great extent in their young women, Egyptians consider it appropriate to cut it out’}}
'''Greek physician, Soranus of Ephesus''' (1st/2nd century AD. Ephesus was a Greek colony found on the west coast of Turkey) also noted the same procedure. One of the titles in his manual of gynecology is ''‘On an excessively large clitoris’.'' The actual text of this chapter has not survived. However there exists a translation, probably from the the sixth century AD:
{{Quote|Projected Cultural Histories of the Cutting of Female Genitalia: A Poor Reflection as in a Mirror Sara Johnsdotter,
Malmö University|'On the excessively large clitoris, which the Greeks call the “masculinized” [reading “yos” as a Latinized Yril/Ya;, the god of fertilizing moisture] nymphe [clitoris]. The presenting feature […] of the deformity is a large masculinized clitoris. Indeed, some assert that its flesh becomes erect just as in men and as if in search of frequent sexual intercourse. You will remedy it in the following way: With the woman in a supine position, spreading the closed legs, it is necessary to hold [the clitoris] with a forceps turned to the outside so that the excess can be seen, and to cut off the tip with a scalpel, and finally, with appropriate diligence, to care for the resulting wound.'}}'''Caelius Aurelianus, a fifth-century AD physician''' from Sicca Veneria (modern el-Kef in Tunisia), synthesised much of Soranus’s work. In a chapter entitled ‘On an excessively large clitoris’, he wrote:
{{Quote||'A dreadful size attends to certain clitorides and it upsets the women with the ugliness of the parts, and, as many relate, when it is affected by immoderate tumescence, these women acquire an appetite like men, and when [the clitoris] is so driven, they come into venery. The woman is placed in a supine position with her thighs slightly together so they do not have recourse to too much of the space of the female cavity. Then the superfluous amount should be held with a forceps and an appropriate amount cut off with the scalpel. For if it is stretched out to its greatest length, [?] may follow, and it may cause hurt to the patient with a very large discharge from the cutting off. But after surgery, a remedy that keeps [the wound] under control and [?] should be applied.'}}
'''Closer to the time of Mohammed''', the Byzantine Greek physician Aëtius of Amida (fl. mid-fifth century to mid-sixth century. Amida was located where modern Diyarbakır now stands in east Turkey) describes a clitoridectomy, citing the physician Philomenes:
{{Quote|Aëtius Amidenus 'Tetrabibilion 16'|‘The so-called nymphe [clitoris] is a sort of muscular or skinlike structure that lies above the juncture of the labia minora; below it the urinary outlet is positioned. [This structure] grows in size and is increased to excess in certain women, becoming a deformity and a source of shame. Furthermore, its continual rubbing against the clothes irritates it, and that stimulates the appetite for sexual intercourse.


For this reason, it seemed proper to the Egyptians to remove it before it became greatly enlarged especially at the time where the girls were about to be married.
The answer is: “Although implementation of husband’s order is obligatory for the wife if it does not have disadvantages or it is not harmful for the wife, she has to listen to her husband’s request.”}}{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-045325/https://courtingthelaw.com/2016/04/28/commentary/islam-and-female-genital-mutilation-fgm/ Islam And Female Genital Mutilation, Pakistan, (2016)]|The group of jurists from different schools of thoughts reject the permissibility of FGM in Islam and do not consider it part of the injunctions of Islam. Their arguments are as follows:


The surgery is performed in this way: have the girl sit on a chair while a muscled young man standing behind her places his arms below the girl’s thighs. Have him separate and steady her legs and whole body. Standing in front and taking hold of the clitoris with a broad-mouthed forceps in his left, the surgeon stretches it outward, while with the right hand, he cuts it off at the point next to the pincers of the forceps.
Answer to the justifications from Holy Quran: The proponent jurists alleged that Allah said in the holy Quran to follow the Sunnah of Ibrahim (A.S). That meant following the Sunnah of Ibrahim (A.S) as he believed in the oneness of God. Also if Ibrahim (A.S) was circumcised because he was a male, that cannot be taken as precedent for the females because there is no resemblance between the male and female body structure. Allah Almighty prohibits in the Holy Quran to cut a body part of human beings without any reason because a human being is the most beloved creature to the omnipotent Allah, and is the creature in whose beautiful creation the Almighty takes pride in.


It is proper to let a length remain from that cut off, about the size of the membrane that’s between the nostrils, so as to take away the excess material only; as I have said, the part to be removed is at the point just above the pincers of the forceps. Because the clitoris is a skin-like structure and stretches out excessively, do not cut off too much, as urinary fistula may result from cutting such large growths too deeply.
Answer to the justification from Holy Sunnah:
Ahadith put forward by the proponents have ‘weak health’ (Dhuaee’f Sih’ha) mainly because of the chain of hadith and of the narrators, so we cannot rely on such ahadith on such delicate issues.


After the surgery, it is recommended to treat the wound with wine or cold water, and wiping it clean with a sponge to sprinkle frankincense powder on it. Absorbent linen bandages dipped in vinegar should be secured in place, and a sponge in turn dipped in vinegar placed above. After the seventh day, spread the finest calamine on it. With it, either rose petals or a genital powder made from baked clay can be applied. This [prescription] is especially good: Roast and grind date pits and spread the powder on [the wound]; [this compound] also works against sores on the genitals'}}
Answer to the Qiyas: First of all if we are making Qiyas a deciding factor for another analogy, the ill’at (cause) must be the same between the cases but in the case of FGM, how can we use the analogy of a male body for a female when they are both totally different and distinct from each other. The ill’at of circumcision of men is to increase pleasure, is also good for sexual life and includes many other medical benefits to men. But in case of women it reduces pleasure, is harmful for her physical as well as mental health, so the idea of Qiyas here is totally strange.}}
'''Paulus of Aegina''' (Aegina is one of the Saronic islands of Greece), a 7th Century AD urologic surgeon, was something of an expert and gives his version of how to perform the procedure (the word ‘nympha’ usually refers the labia minora, but here seems to be being also used of the clitoris):
{{Quote|Paulus of Aegina “De Re Medica” book 7|'In certain women the nympha is excessively large and presents a shameful deformity, insomuch that, as has been related, some women have had erections of this part like men, and also venereal desires of a like kind. Wherefore, having placed the woman in a supine posture, and seizing the redundant portion of the nympha in a forceps we cut it out with a scalpel, taking care not to cut too deep lest we occasion the complaint called rhoeas'}}
 
===FGM since 622 CE===
{{Quote|al-Zahrawi (born 936 AD, Córdoba, Spain)|The clitoris may grow in size above the order of nature so that it gets a horrible deformed appearance; in some women it becomes erect like the male organ and attains to coitus. You must grasp the growth with your hand or a hook and cut it off. Do not cut too deeply, especially at the root of the growth, lest hemorrhage occur. Then apply the usual dressing for wounds until it is healed.}}{{Quote|[https://archive.org/details/ethiopiaorienta00santgoog Fr Joao Dos Santos (1609)]|a custome to sew up their Females, specially their slaves being young to make them unable for conception, which makes these Slaves sell dearer, both for the their chastitie , and for better confidence which their Masters put in them}}
reported that inland from Mogadishu a group has
{{Quote|James Bruce (British explorer)|The Falasha [as the Agaazi] submit to both [male and female circumcision]. These nations however they agree in their rite, differ in their accounts of the time they received this ceremony, as well as the manner of performing it. The Abyssinians of Tigre say, that they have received it from Ishmael’s family and his descendants, with whom they wee early connected in their trading voyages. They say also , athat the queen of Sheba, and all the women of that coast, had suffered excision at the usual time of life, before puberty, and before her journey to Jerusalem. The Falasha again declare, that their circumcision was that commonly practiced at Jerusalem in the time of Solomon, and in use among them when they left Palestine, and came into Abyssinia.}}
The British explorer  in his account of his journey in Africa between 1768 and 1772 reports
 
James Bruce also reports that the Catholic missionairies in Egypt thought Copts practiced excision ''“upon Judaic principles”'', therefore, they ''“forbade, upon pain of excommunication, that excision should be performed upon the children of parents who had become Catholics”.''
 
Browne reported in 1799 that Egyptians practice female excision, and that infibulation to prevent pregnancy is general among female slaves, who come from the Black south.
 
<nowiki>***</nowiki>
 
Other travellers to Egypt (Larrey 1803 and Burckhardt in 1819) confirm Browne and claim that Moslem slave traders infibulated young female captives.
 
<nowiki>*</nowiki> * *
 
The explorer Sir Richard Burton claimed that ''“Female circumcision'' […] ''is I believe the rule among some outlying tribes of Jews.”''
 
==The origins of FGM==
The roots of FGM as lying in polygyny, particularly the kind of extreme polygyny that existed at the heart of empires, where some men could become powerful and wealthy enough to be able to afford harems of hundreds of concubines (the word 'concubine' is a euphemism for sex-slave).<ref name=":0">'[http://webarchiv.ethz.ch/soms/teaching/OppFall09/MackieFootbinding.pdf Ending Footbinding and Infibulation: A Convention Account' Gerry Mackie (1996)]</ref><ref>[https://pages.ucsd.edu/~gmackie/documents/BeginningOfEndMackie2000.pdf 'Female Genital Cutting: the Beginning of the End' Gerry Mackie (2000)]</ref><ref>[http://pages.ucsd.edu/~gmackie/documents/UNICEF.pdf 'Social Dynamics of Abandonment of Harmful Practices: A New Look at the Theory' - John Lejeune and Gerry Mackie (2008)]</ref>
 
In a monogamous marriage a husband and wife can spend much time together (and thus better monitor each others fidelity), can grow close to one another, and their sexual and emotional needs are more-or-less proportional. In polygynous societies the high-status men who can afford to keep multiple wives face a problem guaranteeing the fidelity of their many wives, whom he must satisfy emotionally and sexually, provide with offspring. If these needs are not satisfied, his wives will be tempted to look elsewhere, and this may result in the high-status man rearing children that are not his own.[[File:Polygamy-fgm.jpg|alt=maps showing distribution of polygamy (its legal status and/or its practice) and the distribution of FGM|thumb|maps showing distribution of polygamy (its legal status and/or its practice) and the distribution of FGM]]
 
Chastity assurance practices evolve to which assure the chastity of wives: '''harems''' keep 'concubines' locked away, guarded by eunuchs; '''footbinding''' (as once practiced by the Chinese) reduces the mobility of girls and women '''chaperoning and gender segregation''' eliminate interactions between the sexes; '''arranged and child marriages''' obviate the dangers that romance and courtship pose to a girl's chastity and reputation; '''veiling''' makes girls less desirable and identifiable to other males.
 
FGM is, of course, a chastity assurance practice. It reduces women's capacity for sexual pleasure both physically (through the removal of the clitoris and labia, or sealing the vagina shut) and mentally (through the effects of trauma).
 
In polygynous societies:
 
*a married high-status man remains available to further marriages (unlike in monogamous societies);
*the only acceptable role for a girl to aspire to is that of 'wife'. A girl can only better her life by marrying a rich man;
*the wealth gradient tends to be steeper – the poor poorer, the rich richer ;
*marriages involve the payment of a brideprice by the groom (or his family) to the bride (or her family), which will be higher from a rich man than from a poor man;
*marriage to high status men is highly advantageous to the bride's family, who will benefit from the bride-price and from having a high-status male as a relative.
 
Thus in polygynous societies it is preferable to be the n<sup>th</sup> wife of a rich man than the only wife of a poor man. This makes polygynous societies intensely ''hypergynous'' (hypergyny is the tendency for women to marry men of higher social status).
 
To stand a chance of making an 'advantageous' marriage girls must meet the requirements of the high-status polygynous men i.e. persuade him that she is 'pure', chaste and will be faithful. This is demonstrated by adopting the chastity assurance practices required by polygynous elite, whether it be FGM and/or other practices mentioned earlier. The intensely hypergynous nature of polygynous societies means that the marriage requirements of high-status polygynous men cascade down through the ranks of society, and are adopted by almost all families.
 
In polygynous societies the marriage market heavily favours polygynous elite men, because they are relatively few elite polygynous men whilst there are many lower-ranking potential brides. Low-ranking families must therefore compete with each other and ''persuade'' higher-ranking men to marry their daughters. It is not enough to simply ''adopt'' the elite’s marriage-practices, the daughter has to be made to stand out from the crowd of other candidates hoping to make a hypergynous match.
 
A girl’s fidelity, purity and chastity becomes her most important selling-point and the more spectacularly she can advertise this the better. Families therefore seek to make conspicuous the ‘honour’ of their lines, the purity of their females, and their commitment to the values of chastity, fidelity and modesty. In a process analogous to Sexual Selection in Nature, female modesty takes on a ''competitive'' value rather than an ''intrinsic'' one and this provokes an ‘inflation’ of modesty practices and attitudes: “''one wrong word about my sister and I will kill you”''…''”the smaller the foot, the better the family”''….''”the more extreme the cutting the better the girl’s reputation”''…''”the more harshly a family punishes its daughters’ immodesty, the more likely she is to be pure”…''
 
FGM becomes a symbol, a proxy, for chastity and fidelity. Girls and families who do not observe these Chastity Assurance practices are stigmatised as 'impure', contaminating and guaranteed to be unfaithful if anyone should have the misfortune to marry them. They are 'untouchable' and suffer discrimination, ostracism and persecution. Only the daughters of the poorest families, who can not afford to engage in such practices, remain unmutilated. They serve as public demonstrations of the ignominy that results from not following modesty practices. The avoidance of stigma becomes as much an incentive to mutilate one's daughters as making a good marriage.
 
The universality of FGM within a local intramarrying community generates folk beliefs: that women must have excessively lascivious natures to require such scrupulous guarding and restraint; that the clitoris will grow to the length of a goose’s neck if not removed during childhood; that contact with the clitoris kills, be it the baby during its birth or the husband during intercourse; that an 'uncut' vulva is ugly; that FGM enhances a woman’s facial beauty; that FGM improves a woman's health and hygiene; that a ‘cut’ vulva is more pleasurable to the husband; that FGM enhances fertility. These folk beliefs are self-enforcing because the believed consequences of violating them are sufficiently grave that their truth is never tested – they are ‘belief traps’. This is the case not only with those folk beliefs which threaten death, but also those which postulate the un-marriageability of the uncut girl.
 
FGM persists even if its originating conditions lapse, and even when the majority of the community wish to abandon the practice. In a community where it is a pre-condition of marriage that a girl should be mutilated, a parent who doesn't have his daughters mutilated risks having unmarried daughters to support those daughters for the rest of his life, and also suffer the stigma and persecution that comes with having uncut daughters. Thus the consequences of not having his daughters mutilated only serve to reinforce, in the eyes of the community, the necessity of having one's daughters mutilated. The only way a community can abandon FGM is if the whole community, or a significant part of it, in a coordinated manner, pledges to not mutilate their daughters and also, crucially, pledges to only marry their sons to unmutilated girls. This approach - the Pledge Association method - worked spectacularly well with footbinding in China. However, it has been much less successful with FGM, probably because whilst footbinding was a secular practice, FGM is a religious one.
 
==Islamic Doctrine that creates social conditions favourable to FGM==
As might be evident from the previous section, Islam, by allowing and encouraging polygyny, not only reproduces the originating conditions for FGM but also enshrines in law and custom secondary consequences of polygyny, such as bride-price, veiling, gender segregation, arranged marriage, child marriage, and excessive preoccupation with feminine 'purity'. Indeed, Islam could be characterised as: '''''the codification and sacralisation of polygyny, and of the consequences of polygyny'''''. 
 
A society's kinship system shapes the rest of the culture around itself and has far reaching implications - determining laws, beliefs and institutions that, at first sight, can appear unrelated to kinship and reproduction. 
 
Thus, even if Islamic doctrine ''didn't'' explicitly mandate/allow FGM, it is possible that FGM would still be associated with Islam, since by sacralising the causes of FGM and also its consequences it erects round the practice an institutional and normative armature that culturally justifies and normalises it.
 
Monogamous kinship systems approach a state of equilibrium where every man and woman can expect to find a spouse. This state of equilibrium is impossible in a polygynous system. Females become a commodity with both inherent value (their beauty, and their reproductive and home-making capacities) and status value (the more you have the higher your status). This fuels a dynamic where the demand for marriageable females always exceeds the supply, where elite men can never have enough wives and poor men are doomed to systemic bachelorhood.
 
The 'bride-famine' that develops amongst poor low-status men is alleviated by introducing ever more females to the marriage market: children, cousins, and females captured in raids (either to be taken as wives by the raiders, or sold as sex-slaves to the elite). Where such raids are not an option - celibate young men direct their sexual frustration towards females closer to home: the girls and women of their community. This makes for sexually violent societies. And this ambiance of sexual violence further amplifies the anxieties of families and husbands with regard to the chastity and purity of their females - leading them to sequester and protect their females even more from young men. This is a positive feedback dynamic whose endpoint is the complete absence and invisibility of non-familial females from the lives of the low-status young men, who are doomed to systemic chronic bachelorhood. {{Quote|New York Times (2004) - cited in 'Marriage and Civilization' by William Tucker|'In a 2004 New York Times article, a graduate student in his twenties described what it was like growing up in Saudi Arabia. He said that he had never been alone in the company of a young woman. He and his friends refer to women as “BMOs – black moving objects” gliding past in full burkas. Brideprices are steep and men cannot think of getting married until they are well established in a profession. All marriages are arranged and it is not uncommon for the bride and groom to meet at their wedding.'}}
 
The supposed perfection of Islam, makes it hard for Muslims to identify the social causes of the sexual violence endemic to their societies. It is instead attributed to notions that female sexuality is excessive, indiscriminate and dangerous if left unchecked by chastity assurance measures such as FGM. Islam thus creates a concurrence of dysfunctional marital, sexual and kinship practices. It overvalues the chastity and purity of females whilst, at the same time, creating sexually violent societies which put that very chastity and purity at increased risk. The solutions Islam offers to this conundrum exacerbate the problems thus creating a social and normative context in which chastity assurance measures such as FGM, become useful or even necessary.
 
====Sex-slavery====
Islam permits [[Women in Islamic Law|sex-slavery]], nor limits the number of sex-slaves a man can own.
 
Gerry Mackie suggests that it is ''extreme polygyny'' that gives rise to chastity assurance measures such as FGM. In a closed system (where females are not imported), the extent of polygyny is limited by the number of females in the system and the number of of systemically agamous young men (which, being a cause of crime, conflict and unrest, is a destabilizing force).<ref name=":0" /> Extreme polygyny is therefore only possible if sex-slaves are introduced into the system. We can note that the famously large harems of the Sultans, Shahs and Sheiks scrupulously respected Islamic law (e.g. the Sultan Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif of Morocco<ref>'[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-075329/https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/locus-control/201008/all-my-888-children All my 888 children' by Nando Pelusi Ph.D. in Psychology Today]<br /></ref> had four wives and at least 500 'concubines', and Fat′h Ali Shah Qajar, the second Shah of Iran, also had 4 wives, but also a harem of 800-1000 'concubines'). Extreme polygyny without sex-slavery (i.e. females forcibly imported into the system) creates correspondingly extreme bride-famines at the bottom of society, and also deprives the affected men of a means whereby to relieve that famine. This makes for unstable societies - where the interdiction on capturing sex-slaves would not, anyway, be respected. [[File:Infibexzisionplus.jpg|thumb|Maps comparing distribution of FGM and Infibulation and main centes and routes of the Islamic Slave Trade]]Furthermore polygyny that is strictly restricted to a maximum of four wives (with no sex-slavery permitted) loses its power as a status symbol and becomes less desirable to elite men, and likewise diminishes the community's hypergynous drive. Thus in the absence of sex-slavery polygyny tends to diminish and die out.
Historians estimate that two thirds of slaves under Islam were girls or women. Whilst ''local'' raids on neighbors fuel tribal polygyny, Islamic polygyny drew on sources of slaves from far afield - especially Africa. This involved captured women and children in long treks across the continent, often to Ethiopia or Zanzibar for transportation to Arabia. These treks were risky and took a heavy toll on those in captivity. Virgins (and therefore prepubescent or adolescent girls) were the most valuable slaves. Infibulation (the sealing up of the vagina) developed as a technology to protect the virginity of these girls over these long hazardous treks (four out of five slaves died during the forced march to the slave trading post at Zanzibar. There appears to be a correlation between the historical centres of the Islamic slave trade and the distribution of infibulation today, and the influence of the Islamic slave trade could explain the pervasiveness of FGM in Islamic Africa today. 
 
It should be noted that boys suffered an even worse fate than girls. In a process analogous to infibulation (see description below) captured boys between the age of ten and fifteen were systematically castrated in order to become eunuchs to guard the harems of elite Muslim men. Malek Chebel estimates the death rate had a 10% survival rate,<ref>'[https://www.amazon.fr/Lesclavage-terre-dIslam-Malek-Chebel/dp/2818500710/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_fr_FR=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&dchild=1&keywords=chebel+L%27esclavage+en+terre+d%27islam&qid=1617337451&s=books&sr=1-1 L'esclavage en terre d'Islam' by Malek Chebel] </ref> Charles Gordon (1833 – 1885), governor of Khartoum, estimated the procedure had a 0.5% survival rate. Because of their rarity, eunuchs were worth about twelve times the other slaves because of the death rate from the operation. 
 
{{Quote|quoted and translated from 'L'Escalavage en Terre d'Islam' - M. Chebel (2007)|'[...] completely removing the whole genitals, penis and testicles. After castration, those conducting the procedure introduce a lead wire into the urethra which the mutliated boy removes for urination until the cauterization is complete [...] the number who died was far greater to those who survived, essentially because of a lack of care and hygeine, the procedure concerning vital organs'}}
 
====Mahr====
The payment of bride-price (''[[Mahr (Marital Price)|mahr]]'') by the groom (or his family) to the bride (or her family) is mandatory in Islamic law.
 
All marriages in polygynous kinship systems involve some kind of bride-price. The scarcity of marriageable women which polygyny causes turns them into a valuable asset, that is cashed in when she is 'sold' in marriage. The scarcer marriageable women are the greater the dowries. This makes marriage unaffordable to low-ranking young men, even if they do manage to find a bride. But if a girl is perceived to be unchaste, or if she’s been a victim of sexual violence, she becomes impure and un-marriageable and loses all her economic value. This leaves her family stuck with a valueless commodity that they must support for the rest of their lives. This creates a further incentive for parents to engage in chastity assurance practices such as FGM.
 
====Child marriage====
[[Child Marriage in Islamic Law|Islamic law sets no lower age at which a girl can be married off]]. [[File:Niqab-eyes-hijab-niqab.jpg|thumb]]Introducing little girls into the marriage market is a response to the the scarcity of women caused by polygyny and child marriage is universal to polygynous societies. Dowry further incentives child-marriage, as it becomes advantageous for parents to ‘sell-off’ their daughters before adolescence, when reputations (and therefore also the girl's economic value) are at greater risk. The bride-price for a child is generally less than for an adolescent or adult woman. This makes children a more affordable to poor and low-status men. Polygyny increases mens' paternity anxieties and doubts, and also creates anxieties connected to the management of multiple wives – therefore submissiveness, obedience, manipulability are valued in a wife - characteristics more pronounced in younger brides. It has been observed that polygamous men select younger girls as wives (even as first wives) than monogamous men.
In monogamous societies, the incest taboo extends not only to daughters but also to women young enough to be a man's daughter. This separation of generations does not naturally occur in polygynous cultures. Polygyny thus sexualises the society's perception of prepubescent girls, making them vulnerable to the sexual violence endemic to polygynous societies. This drives down the age at which chastity assurance practices (including FGM) are felt to be required.
 
====Sexual dysfunction and incest====
Long-term prisoners and boys in single-sex boarding schools, when deprived of contact with female coevals, tend to direct their sexuality at the next best things available viz other boys or other prisoners. Under Islamic restrictions boys and girls are deprived of contact with unrelated coevals of the opposite sex. The next best thing available - those whose faces are visible, to whom they can talk, whom they might touch - will be mothers, aunts or sisters - or other boys, babies and children, or even livestock. The evidence for the effects of this on sexual health is anecdotal, but one can hypothesise that rates of incest, bestiality, paedophilia and otherwise deviant sexuality will be higher in polygynous societies, especially where multiple chastity assurance practices are in place, and that paedophilia, incest and bestiality are considered more acceptable than in monogamous cultures, where chastity assurance practices are absent. FGM, infibulation in particular, may serve as much to protect a girl's chastity from the attentions of immediate family members, as from sexual violence of the wider community.
====Violence against girls and women====
[[Wife Beating in Islamic Law|Islamic law permits wife beating.]]
 
Social scientists such as Joseph Heinrich, et al. and William H. Tucker have shown that polygynous societies are by their very nature belligerent and sexually violent. These societies develop chastity assurance measures to protect girls and women from this sexual violence.
 
The bride-famine created by polygyny dooms a sizeable proportion of young men to systemic bachelorhood. The resulting sexual frustrations can be relieved by them capturing females from neighbouring tribes and countries. However, a more available and less dangerous option is to engage in sexual violence towards girls and women of their own community.
 
Polygyny by increasing the society's anxieties around the 'purity', chastity and reputations of girls and women, gives rise to 'honour culture' – whereby excessive measures and excessive punishments are used to control girls and women, and to stop the family's honour being sullied by any (actual or percieved) unchastity of female members. This honour, once lost, can only be restored by severe and violent punishment and revenge, including murder of the female family member and/or the male that compromised her honour.
 
Polygynyous societies (including Islamic ones) are pervaded by a generalised violence that normalise practices such as FGM: sexual violence, male circumcision, the licitness of wife-beating, public executions and amputations, the glorification of violence in the Qur'an and the Sunnah, the requirement of Jihad, and animal cruelty, including halal slaughter and the mass public slaughter of animals during Eid, – all act to desensitize the culture to the violent nature of practices such as FGM.
 
====The polygynous family====
Polygynous households tend to be characterised by:
 
*competition and rivalry among co-wives
*increased spousal age gaps
*decreased genetic inter-relatedness within the household
*reduced confidence as to the husband's paternity of the children (which increases his sexual jealousy and anxiety)
*more step-parents.
 
All these factors correlate with increased neglect of, and violence towards, children, either from the father or from step-mothers. Data from 22 sub-Saharan African countries finding that children of (rich) polygynous families were 24.4% more likely to die compared with children of (poor) monogamous families. Fathers have less involvement with their many wives, and even less involvement with their even more numerous children (Osama bin laden’s father had 54 children by 22 wives and is reputed to have not known many of his children's names). Islam encourages parents, relatives and teachers to treat and discipline children in ways that are considered unnecessarily harsh in the non-Muslim world.
 
All this and the physical violence and wife-beating that is common in polygynous/Islamic families normalises the cruelty of FGM.
 
===The Liberian Experiment===
can this be tested? Is there somewhere which applies Islamic polygyny laws but is not Islamic, is free of doctinal
 
In Liberian FGM 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. 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.{{Quote|[https://odi.org/en/publications/the-fallout-of-rape-as-a-weapon-of-war/ The fallout of rape as a weapon of war]|[Liberia] has one of the highest incidences of sexual violence against women in the world. Rape is the most frequently reported crime, accounting for more than one-third of sexual violence cases.}}
==FGM as an Initiation Rite==
Islamic FGM is not an initiation rite. However, non-Islamic FGM often is and as Islamic FGM geographically approaches these cultures it often takes on certain aspects of initiation ritual (e.g. Gambia).
 
The  function of chastity assurance is fundamental to both the pre-Islamic origins of FGM and also to Islam's adoption, maintenance and spread of FGM. However, chastity assurance doesn't fully explain certain near-universal aspects of FGM - in particular the eschewal of anaesthetics (either general or local), even when available. (proof)
 
This aversion to the use of anaesthetics It is a characteristic
 
Islamic FGM
 
https://answersafrica.com/top-10-reasons-why-female-genital-mutilation-in-africa-is-evil.html
 
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/female-genital-mutilation-no-anaesthetic-before-she-cut-me-1.2093014
 
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13131835.i-screaming-mother/
 
lack of anaesthetics
 
https://answersafrica.com/top-10-reasons-why-female-genital-mutilation-in-africa-is-evil.html
 
 
pain
 
https://answersafrica.com/top-10-reasons-why-female-genital-mutilation-in-africa-is-evil.html
 
https://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/a19042103/female-genital-mutilation-survivor/
 
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/advice/a6504/female-genital-mutilation-survivor-stories/
 
http://blogs.reuters.com/the-human-impact/2014/02/07/the-pain-is-far-worse-than-childbirth-fgm-survivor/
 
- break down personality
 
- instill fear and submission*
 
- frigidity and trauma
 
- chastiry assurance
==Arguments de-linking FGM and Islam==
{{Quote|[https://www.memri.org/tv/egyptian-cleric-supports-fgm-cites-protocols-elders-zion 'Egyptian Cleric: Female Circumcision Has Economic Benefits; Jews Fight It in Keeping with Protocols of the Elders of Zion' (Mar 27, 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.”}}
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. 
 
For the first time in Islamic history, narratives critical of FGM were penetrating the Islamic world, parts of which began to feel uncomfortable about Islam's association with FGM, and have consequently sought to de-link the two by showing that FGM is un-Islamic.
 
The 'FGM as un-Islamic' narrative is reinforced by the fact that it is a minority of Muslims that practice FGM. Muslims who don't practice FGM generally share the objections of non-Muslims towards the practice and are, in addition, troubled by its association with Islam. Immigration to the West has till recently come from Hanafi countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey, or the Maghreb. The Hanafi is the school of fiqh which least favours FGM, merely ruling it as 'optional', and the Maghreb practices a Maliki Islam that appears to eschew FGM. These immigrant populations have effectively imported the 'FGM is un-Islamic' narrative to the West. This narrative is challenged by the rise in immigration from countries such as Indonesia and Somalia, and the Kurdish Middle East<ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305745749_Effect_of_female_genital_mutilationcutting_on_sexual_functions Effect of female genital mutilation/cutting on sexual functions] - Mohammad-Hossein Biglu et al</ref>, where FGM-rates are high and the practice is accepted as Islamic. 
 
FGM (alongside other Islamic phenomena - such as jihadi terrorism) give rise to a dilemma by which telling the truth (or facts or evidence) about the practice
 
A dilemma arises with FGM (as with other Islamic practices - such as jihad terrorism) whereby telling the truth, or even making known facts and evidence, is likely to aggravate the problem. 
 
In recent decades many agencies and charities have engaged themselves in the fight against FGM<ref>[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-035738/https://www.humanrightscareers.com/issues/organizations-fighting-female-genital-mutilation/ 20 Organizations Fighting Female Genital Mutilation]</ref>. These agencies face a particular challenge when interacting with individuals and populations who practice FGM: how, for example, should a campaigner for an anti-FGM charity respond to a Somali mother who asks whether FGM is Islamic? 
 
If the charity worker tells her about the FGM hadith, and how FGM is part of the ''fitrah'' (which Qur'an 30:30 exhorts Muslims to adhere to - see [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#FGM in the Qur.27an|FGM in the Qur'an]]), and how the school of fiqh which the Somali woman follows, the Shafi'i, makes FGM mandatory - then that mother will come away from that interaction ''more'' likely to have her daughter mutilated, not ''less''.
 
This dilemma faces not just on-the-ground charity workers, but the whole hierarchy of institutions devoted to combating FGM. To resolve the dilemma a number of propositions have evolved to support the proposition that FGM is un-Islamic. 
===FGM is not required by 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'''.”}}It is correct that only the Shafi'i madhab,  the second or third largest school of Sunni Islam, unarguably rule FGM to be obligatory in Islam. Some Hanbali scholars also rule FGM to be obligatory.
 
But critics of Dr Talib's position might point out that if FGM is a crime, '<nowiki/>''not an obligation'<nowiki/>'' is a no more appropriate response to it than it would be to murder, child sexual abuse or rape. 'Not an obligation' is far from the same thing as 'forbidden'. 'Not obligatory' acts can be 'tolerated', 'allowed', 'recommended' or 'highly recommended' as well as 'forbidden'. And acts that are '''not an obligation''<nowiki/>' can be virtuous, vicious or ethically neutral, such as (respectively) charitable giving, murder, and owning a dog.
 
 
 
His first sentence (''"All practices of female circumcision and mutilation are crimes and have no relationship with Islam"'') thus sets up an expectation that his conclusion fails to deliver. Which suggests that he felt unable to conclude that FGM is forbidden in Islam. 
===There is no FGM in the Qur'an===
{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-062048/https://www.hrw.org/news/2010/09/18/fatwa-fgm-could-be-part-solution%23 A Fatwa on FGM Could be Part of the Solution – Kurdistan (2010)]|[...] its clear and unequivocal statement that the practice is not required by Islam was significant for women in Kurdistan, where the practice is widespread. '''The practice is not mentioned in the Quran''', and many other Muslim scholars have disassociated the practice from Islam.}}
It is correct that there is no mention of FGM in the Qur'an. 
 
But according to traditional interpretive methodology Qur'an 30:30, by requiring one to ''<nowiki/>'adhere to the fitrah','' indirectly, but ineluctably, advocates FGM (see [[Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Law#FGM in the Qur.27an|FGM in the Qur'an]]). Nor is there any mention of the unquestionably Islamic practice of male circumcision in the Qur'an. 
 
Most of the practical details of how to be a Muslim come from the Sunnah (the [[hadith]] plus the [[sirat]]). The Qur'an has 91 verses commanding to follow Muhammad's example to the last detail. However the Qur'an contains virtually no detail of Muhammad's life. Muslims can only know of Muhammad's life by turning to the hadith and sirat. For example, none of the [[Five Pillars of Islam]] are explained in the Qur'an.
 
===FGM existed before Islam===
{{Quote|[http://fiqhcouncil.org/gender-equity-in-islam/ 'Gender Equity in Islam'  Dr. Jamal Badawi (2016)]|While the exact origin of female circumcision is not known, '''“it preceded Christianity and Islam.”''' The most radical form of female circumcision (infibulation) is known as the Pharaonic Procedure. This may signify that it may have been practiced long before the rise of Islam, Christianity and possibly Judaism.}}
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. 
===FGM is an African practice===
{{Quote|[https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/02/female-genital-mutilation-not-uniquely-muslim-problem/ 'Female Genital Mutilation Is Not a Uniquely Muslim Problem' Kevin Drum]|Basically, '''FGM is a practice limited to certain parts of Africa''' [...] As for Britain, its FGM problem is more due to where their African immigrants come from than it is to Islam per se.}}[[File:Indonesia-religion-fgm-map-reworked.jpg|thumb|Maps showing the correlation between Islam and FGM in Indonesia: the first map shows the distribution and prevalence of FGM in Indonesia; the second map shows the distribution of religions in Indonesia:|alt=]]
 
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. 
 
It should also be noted that:
 
#only those parts of Africa that have come under Islamic influence practice FGM. Most of Africa does not practice FGM,
#It appears to have been the expansions of Islam into Africa and the Islamic slave trade that spread FGM to its current extent (which closely coincides with that of Islam)
#about 40% of FGM takes place outside of Africa, in South Asia in particular.<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>
 
It is documented that FGM was brought to Indonesia by Muslim traders and conquerors in the 13<sup>th</sup> 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.'}}
 
===Christians practice FGM too===
{{Quote|[https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/06/female-genital-mutilation-facts Female genital mutilation: facts you need to know about the practice]|Although the practice is mainly found in some Muslim societies, who believe, wrongly, that it is a religious requirement, it is also carried out by non-Muslim groups such a '''Coptic Christians in Egypt'''', and '''several Christian groups in Kenya'''.}}
It is correct that some Christians practice FGM. Indeed about 20% of global FGM is attributable to non-Muslims, or the most part Christians.<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>
 
However, Islamic scholarship rejects this argument because it implies that a practice can not be Islamic if (some or all) Christians also engage in it. This would mean that Islam's scope is restricted to that which Christians don't do. 
''<nowiki/>''[[File:Infibmap correct20111.jpg|thumb|The prevalence of Female Genital Cutting. Note that many Western Christian countries are assigned the rubric '''<nowiki>'rare or limited to particular ethnic minority enclaves''</nowiki>.'' This indicates the presence of FGM-practicing immigrants (who are almost entirely Muslim), rather than that ''Christians'' in those countries engage in FGM.|alt=|left]]
 
However, these Christians nearly all live as isolated and persecuted minorities within dominant Islamic FGM-practicing cultures. Islamic FGM is a purity practice, and within FGM-practicing societies girls who are not cut are considered impure. Any contact or proximity with them, or sharing of objects will be considered as contaminating. Individuals, families and communities that do not follow the dominant culture's purity observances are perceived as gravely threatening the spiritual and religious lives of that community since, for example, a Muslim's prayers will be rendered invalid if he is inadvertently contaminated, and will continue to be invalid until he correctly purifies himself.
 
This means that in such Islamic communities, non-Muslims who do not follow the communities purity observances are shunned, stigmatised, discriminated against and persecuted. An example of this recently occurred in Pakistan when a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, drank from a Muslim's cup - and brought upon herself, her family and her community much violence, hatred and persecution.<ref>[https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/the-aasiya-noreen-story/ The Story of Asia Bibi]</ref>
 
Hence, non-Muslims living in such societies come under great pressure to adopt the dominant Islamic purity practices in order to minimise persecution. The Copts are Christian and make up 10 to 15% of the population of Egypt. Copts practice FGM at about a 74% (compared to 92% Muslims). Copts acknowledge that they practice FGM in order to minimise persecution. And it is Christian minorities such as the Copts who appear to be the most ready to abandon FGM when it becomes safe for them to do so.<ref>[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: INICEF report (2013)]</ref>
 
There are however three countries where FGM appears to be practiced by Christian ''majorities'' – Ethiopia, Eritrea and Liberia. 
 
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. 
 
{{Quote|[https://odi.org/en/publications/the-fallout-of-rape-as-a-weapon-of-war/ The fallout of rape as a weapon of war]|[Liberia] has one of the highest incidences of sexual violence against women in the world. Rape is the most frequently reported crime, accounting for more than one-third of sexual violence cases.}}
 
Polygyny - though illegal-  is also common amongst Muslils in Ethiopia and Eritrea. However, FGM in Ethiopia and Eritrea may be to a combination of historical factors: much of their history the surrounding Islamic states for centuries kept them isolated from mainstream Christianity, and they were the hubs of the Islamic slave trade, where slave girls captured in West Africa were infibulated (complete excision of the clitoris, labia minora, and most of the labia majora followed by stitching to close up most of the vagina) to guarantee their virginity and thus raise their price, in preparation for the slave markets of the Islamic Middle East. This Islamic practice was adopted by the locals, and has persisted.
 
The following graphs (adapted from graphs found at https://www.28toomany.org/research-resources/) combine rates of decline of FGM practice in a variety of African countries with the proportion of the population that is Muslim (in green and mauve). Note that the lower the proportion of the nation that is Muslim, the steeper rate of decline of FGM-practice. <gallery perrow="10" mode="slideshow" caption="rates of decline of FGM in African countries with (in green and red) the proportion of the population that is Muslim">
File:Somaliland-1.jpg|Somaliland
File:Sudan prevalence graph-1.jpg|Sudan
File:Senegal-1.jpg|Senegal
File:Djibouti-1.jpg|Djibouti
File:Guinea-1.jpg|Guinea
File:Eritrea-1.jpg|Eritrea
File:Tanzania-1.jpg|Tanzania
File:Ethiopia-1.jpg|Ethiopia
File:Benin-1.jpg|Benin
File:Liberia prevalence graph-1.jpg|Liberia
</gallery>
===Not all Muslims practice FGM===
{{Quote|[http://www.african-women.org/documents/behind-FGM-tradition.pdf What is behind the tradition of FGM?
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=":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>, 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. 
 
But religions are also defined by, and responsible for, what they recommend, encourage, allow and discourage. For example, the Eucharist (Holy Communion) is recommended, not obligatory, but it is nevertheless Christian, despite not all Christians taking the Eucharist. And polygyny is Islamic, despite not every Muslim having several wives. 
 
Not all Islamic practices are obligatory: polygyny and child marriage are not obligatory, and whilst a Muslim must complete 5 prayers a day, there are optional (nawafil) prayers which confer additional rewards. Fasting outside of the month of Ramadhan, or giving sadaqah (voluntary charity) are also optional. 
 
Where a practice is not obligatory it is generally the case that 'not all Muslims' - or even a minority of Muslims - practice it. 
 
Variations in the stances of the schools of fiqh to a large extent account for why not all Muslims practice FGM. The schools' different levels of obligation are reflected in the incidence of FGM. And where it is merely 'allowed' or 'tolerated' are we surprised that parents abstain from an act that goes against parents deepest instincts? The Shafi'i school makes FGM obligatory and we find FGM rates of +90% in Shafi'i communities. The Maliki and Hanbali schools recommend it - and the FGM rates in those communities are generally lower than with Shafi'i communities. The Hanafi school merely allows FGM - and Hanafi communities largely eschew FGM. 
 
Thus the fact that not all Muslims practice FGM is a consequence of some schools allowing FGM, others recommending it, and others mandating it. That some communities, where they have the freedom to choose, have historically chosen not to engage in FGM does not alter the fact that Islam's basic position of ''allowing'' FGM, makes FGM Islamic. But FGM is not an ethically neutral act, such as the Eucharist - swallowing a wafer - or Baptism - sprinkling water on a baby's head. FGM is an act of mutilation carried out on a child. 'Allowing' is no more the appropriate base-line for such an act than it would be for child sexual abuse, rape or murder. Likewise a legal system does not need to make child sexual abuse ''compulsory'' for it to be defined as being favourable to child sexual abuse - it is sufficient that it ''allows'' child sexual abuse to earn itself that label. 
 
===The FGM Hadith are weak===
{{Quote|[https://rumahkitab.com/female-genital-mutilation-forbidden-islam-dar-al-ifta/ Female genital mutilation is forbidden in Islam: Dar Al-Ifta (2019)]|Highly-ranking Egyptian Muslim institution Dar Al-Ifta Al-Misriyyah recently confirmed in a press statement that female genital mutilation (FGM) is religiously forbidden due to it’s negative impact on physical and mental well-being.
 
The statement came as a response to the Tadwin Center for Gender Studies, who has urged the Sheikh of Al-Azhar to reconsider unreliable fatwas released by some members of the faculty of Al-Azhar University who claim '''FGM is a religious necessity based on weak Hadith'''.}}Some of the FGM hadith are considere weak by some scholars and schools of Islam.   
 
But weak hadiths do not cancel, or weaken, more reliable ones, and several sahih hadith favour FGM. 
 
Four of the seven '[[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#FGM in the Hadith|FGM hadith]]' report Muhammad favouring FGM. Two of these ('[[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#The fitrah is five things.2C including circumcision|The fitrah is five things]]' and '[[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#When the circumcised parts touch each other|When the circumcised parts touch]]') are included in ''both'' sahih Bukhari and sahih Muslim. Both hadith compilations are considered wholly authoritative. Moreover these two hadith are also some of the best-supported hadith in these compilations. '[[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#When the circumcised parts touch each other|When the circumcised parts touch]]' is a 'tacit approval' in that it reports Muhammad referring in passing to FGM without him expressing disapproval of it.   
 
The two other hadith that report Muhammad's attitude towards FGM ([[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#A preservation of honor for women|'A preservation of honour for women]]' and [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#Do not cut .22severely.22|'Do not cut severely']]) are not generally considered as ''sahih'', but ''hasan'' (good) or ''daif'' (weak). 
 
Al-Bukhari also compiled the two adab ('[[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#Someone to Amuse Them|Someone to Amuse Them]]' and '[[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#Go and Circumcise Them and Purify Them|Go and Circumcise Them and Purify Them]]') which touch on FGM. 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'' or ''hasan''. 
 
Furthermore, whilst doctrine cannot be generated from a weak hadith alone, they can be used if: 
 
#the ''hadith'' not be very weak;
#the ''hadith'' be within the scope of an authentic legal principle that is applied and accepted in either the Qur’an or Sunnah;
#its weakness, not authenticity, be realized when applying it.<ref>[https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/Data/pdf/PDF_11_046_2.pdf Portrait of Sheikh Dr. Yusuf Abdallah al-Qaradawi, senior Sunni Muslim cleric, affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood] - The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (2011)</ref>
 
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.   
 
The hadith - whether daif, hasan, or sahih - provide robust evidence that some form of FGM was practiced by Muhammad's followers. The Hanbali, Maliki and Shafi'i schools of Islam all have as their principle daleels the consideration what the Sahabah (the Companions of Muhammad) did or thought (Ijma, Ijtihad and Amal). Thus the deeds and words of the Muhammad's companions are second only to the Quran and Sunnah in determining what is Islamic or not - and come into play when the Qur'an and Hadith don't resolve an issue. The exception is the Hanafi school, which ascribes a lesser importance to the deeds and words of the Sahabah - which may explain why the Hanafi madhab rules FGM as merely 'optional' and why Hanafi Muslims generally don't practice FGM.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/39727001/FOUR_SCHOOLS_OF_SUNNI_LAW Four Schools of Sunni Law] - Fatima Tariq</ref> <ref>[https://www.academia.edu/35835897/ISLAMIC_JURISPRUDENCE_FIQH <nowiki>Islamic Jurisprudence [Fiqh]</nowiki>] - Tej Chopra</ref>     
===The Qur'an forbids mutilation===
{{Quote|[https://unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/De-linking%20FGM%20from%20Islam%20final%20report.pd 'Delinking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam' Ibrahim Lethome Asmani & Maryam Sheikh Abdi (2008)]|there is no verse in the Quran that can be used as evidence for [FGM]. On the contrary, '''there are several verses that strongly condemn any acts that negatively affect the human body in any way and interfere with Allah’s (SWT) creation without a justification'''. Examples include, “…and there is no changing Allah’s creation. And that is the proper religion but many people do not know” (Quran 30:30) and, “…and make not your own hands contribute to your destruction” (Quran 2:195) }}Islam forbids mutilations to the human body. 
 
However, Islam exempts from this interdiction those mutilation that it permits. 
 
{{Quote|[https://unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/De-linking%20FGM%20from%20Islam%20final%20report.pdf 'Delinking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam' - Ibrahim Lethome Asmani & Maryam Sheikh Abdi (2008)]|the general rule is that
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. The 'Qur'an forbids mutilation' 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.
 
===Circumcision is not Mutilation===
{{Quote|[https://femalecircumcision.org/a-problem-of-definition-female-circumcision-vs-fgm/ A Problem of Definition: Female Circumcision vs FGM]|The World Health Organisation’s biased classification of female circumcision as FGM from a perspective of harm is not supported by any scientific study.
 
The limited, prescribed religious ritual of female circumcision has been regrettably deemed by the WHO to be a form of female genital mutilation [...] The classification of female circumcision as FGM “reinforces the image of female circumcision as a barbaric one, practiced by an uncivilised people.” Conflating the practice of female circumcision with mutilation prohibits any possibility of impartiality in considering the practice as a legitimate, protected religious rite.}}
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
 
Such practices are 'Sunnah circumcision' and (check web site - see what it includes)
 
sunnah circumcision - by qiyas or by translation of Bazr (find old section)
 
check brid hehir's work too
 
because the shafi'i make FGM obligatory and because shafi'ism traditionally is associated with inifibulation, the most severe form of FGM, there has been more of a need for this argument an,d
 
the fact that bodies such as the UN and WHO do not classify male circumcision carried out on children as a mutilation...
 
it might be too late to shut the door on MGM - that does mean that we should also let FGM slip through, even in its relatively milder forms.?
 
be careful talking to moslems about 'mutiklation' - you will often read moslems condemning Female Gential ''mutilation'', who on further discussion, reveal themselves to support Female ''circumcision''. 
 
===There is no record of Muhammad having his wives or daughters circumcised===
{{Quote|[https://archive.ph/2021.04.09-045325/https://courtingthelaw.com/2016/04/28/commentary/islam-and-female-genital-mutilation-fgm/#selection-1263.35-1263.257 Islam And Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)]|The Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had four daughters and '''we have no strong sources to prove if even one of them was circumcised''', therefore it can be concluded that this practice has no strong reasons to be called as Islamic.}}
The Qur'an, hadith and sirat conatin no reference to Muhammad having his wives or daughters mutilated. 
 
However, there are many aspects of Islamic law for which there is no record of Mohammed having practiced: there is no record of Muhammad having undergone circumcision himself, or of him having his sons circumcised. Nor, for example, is there any record of Muhammad limiting himself to just four wives.
 
Current practice and the hadith suggest that females in Muhammad's circle would have been circumcised in childhood.  In the [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox2#Someone to Amuse Them|hadith narrated by Umm ‘Alqama]] the persons being cut are clearly children, and the function of Islamic FGM (see [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox2#The origins of FGM|The Origins of FGM]], [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox2#Islamic Doctrine that creates social conditions favourable to FGM|Islamic Doctrine that creates social conditions favourable to FGM]] and [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox2#The Functions of FGM|the Functions of FGM]]) requires that it be prepubescents who are submitted to FGM, not adolescents or adults.Therefore it is unlikely that Muhammad would have needed to command or require the circumcision of his wives, since they would have already been circumcised before he married them. 
 
FGM in Islamic cultures is matriarchal, taboo-ridden and secretive affair, usually arranged by female relatives. The hadith '[[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#Do not cut .22severely.22|do not cut severely]]' and '[[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#One Who Circumcises Other Ladies|One who circumcises other ladies]]' depict women performing the mutilation, not men. Male family members are excluded and may not even realise that their community engages in the practice. <ref>[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-081411/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/08/victim-fgm-speaking-out-cut-genitals-culture-of-silence I’m a survivor of female genital cutting and I’m speaking out – as others must too - Maryum Saifee]</ref> 
 
{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-082018/https://fgmtruth.wordpress.com/2019/06/14/a-response-to-delinking-female-genital-mutilation-cutting-from-islam-part-2/ A Response to ‘Delinking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam’ – part 2]|[...]brothers are often unaware that their sisters have been 'cut'. The author records a striking instance of this: an Omani undergraduate who was assisting his research into FGM, was stunned to read surveys reporting FGM-rates of between 75 to 95% in Oman, having assumed that his country was free of the practice. <ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326191394_Female_Genital_Mutilation_in_the_Middle_East_Placing_Oman_on_the_Map Female Genital Mutilation in the Middle East: Placing Oman on the Map, June 2018, Hoda Thabet & Azza Al-Kharousi]</ref>
He was even more stunned when, on raising the issue with a sister, he learnt that she, his other sisters and his mother had all undergone FGM. }}
 
===Muhammad wanted to forbid FGM but couldn't===
{{Quote|[https://archive.ph/SJmql#selection-283.0-287.152 Grand Ayatollah Fadlalllah's remarks on the circumcision of women (2010)]|'''Islam did not forbid [FGM] at that time because it was not possible to suddenly forbid a ritual with strong roots in Arabic culture'''; rather it preferred to gradually express its negative opinions. This is how Islam treated slavery as well, (gradual preparation of the society for the final forbiddance of slavery) [...]The Prophet had prevented people several times from circumcising women}}
The evidence that Muhammad wished FGM to be abolished appears to be the following hadith (or a variant of it):    {{Quote|1={{Abu Dawud|41|5251}}|2=Narrated Umm Atiyyah al-Ansariyyah: A woman used to perform '''circumcision''' [الْخِتَانُ - khitan] in Medina. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to her: "Do not cut severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband".}}Here, a hadith that is usually assigned the status of ''daif'' (weak) when proposed as evidence that Muhammad approved of FGM, is being treated as ''sahih'' (authentic) when proposed as evidence that he wanted to moderate the practice. And regardless of its level of authority this hadith is a textbook example of a tacit approval.   
{{Quote|[https://unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/De-linking%20FGM%20from%20Islam%20final%20report.pdf 'Delinking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam' Ibrahim Lethome Asmani & Maryam Sheikh Abdi (2008)]|There are several versions of this Hadith, but all of them have been declared dhaeef (weak)
because the chain of transmitters (sanad) is weak and there is conflict in its meaning.}}
Undermining this argument is also the fact that Muhammad affirmed the practices that ''cause'' FGM: polygyny and sex-slavery. He also affirmed sister-practices (practices that emerge from the same causes, and that create a normative, legal and institutional structure that supports, justifies and normalizes FGM) such as male circumcision, child marriage, bride-price and gender segregation.   
 
Muhammad forbade .   
 
One of the major ‘selling points’ of Mohammed’s new religion was that it overturned and rejected the established practices of pre-Islamic Arabian polytheism. Mohammed suddenly forbade many harmless (or 'harmless' if enjoyed in moderation) things that would have been dear to the people he ruled over - [[Intoxicants and Recreation in Islamic Law|pork products,]] [[Intoxicants and Recreation in Islamic Law|alcohol, gambling]], [[Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Music|instrumental music and singing]],  art depicting the human form, the easy fraternisation of men and women, interest in debt, and the public display of women’s faces. He also imposed on his followers such new practices as male circumcision, ritual ablutions and praying 5 times a day.   
 
And his followers obeyed these new rules. How much more willingly would his followers have abandoned a practice that is harmful, and that must be distressing for loving parents to perform and witness? 
 
One can speculate how things would be different if, in the Qur'an, Muhammad had forbidden FGM with the same force he did alcohol, and not approved of it in his words and deeds in the Hadith.   
 
{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.10-062324/https://islamqa.info/en/answers/6682/selling-alcohol-to-kaafirs Selling alcohol to kaafirs Islam Q&A 2000]|“[Mohammed] cursed alcohol and the one who drinks it, the one who sells it, the one who buys it, the one who carries it, the one to whom it is carried, the one who consumes its price, the one who squeezes the grapes and the one for whom they are squeezed.”}}
 
Would Islam have allowed its followers to practice FGM for 1400 years? And would the Islamic world be as rife with FGM as it is today? 


==See Also==
==See Also==
[[Female Genital Mutilation in Islam]] (includes sections on FGM before Islam, The Sociology and Causes of FGM, and FGM as unislamic)


*[[Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Female Genital Mutilation]]
[[Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Female Genital Mutilation|Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars: Female Genital Mutilation]]
*[[Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Law]]
*[https://unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/De-linking%20FGM%20from%20Islam%20final%20report.pdf 'Delinking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam']
*[https://fgmtruth.wordpress.com/2019/06/14/a-response-to-delinking-female-genital-mutilation-cutting-from-islam-part-1/ A Critique of ‘Delinking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam’]


==References==
==References==
<references />
<references />

Revision as of 03:45, 21 April 2021

Female Genital Mutilation

Female Genital Mutilation (Arabic: ختان المرأة) is the practice of cutting away and altering the external female genitalia for ritual or religious purposes. It can involve both or either Clitoridectomy and Excision. Clitoridectomy is the amputation of part or all of the clitoris or the removal of the clitoral prepuce. Excision is the cutting away of either or both the inner and outer labia. A third practice, Infibulation (or Pharaonic circumcision), is the paring back of the outer labia, whose cut edges are then stitched together to form, once healed, a seal that covers both the openings of the vagina and the urethra. Infibulation usually also includes clitoridectomy.

FGM predates Islam. The Banu Quraysh, Muhammad's native tribe, appear to have engaged in the practice. Muhammad maintained the practice after migrating to Medina and is recorded as approving of the practice in four hadith. Two hadith record the sahabah (Companions of Mohammed) engaging in the practice (see FGM in the Hadith).

The FGM hadith give very few clues as to the nature of the practice they approve. Hence the nature, incidence and distribution of FGM varies between countries and communities. The most significant determining factor appears to be the presiding school of Islam (fiqh). Other factors include the culture's level of anxiety around female sexuality, its proximity to Islamic slave-trade routes (Infibulation is associated with the transportation of slaves), and the nature and degree of Christian influence.

Whilst the Qur'an contains no explicit mention of FGM, verse 30:30, by exhorting Muslims to 'adhere to the fitrah' indirectly, but ineluctably, exhorts Muslims to engage in FGM (see FGM in the Qur'an).

Islamic law also implicitly favors FGM by creating social conditions that 1/ make the practice useful or necessary, and 2/ normalise it. Polygyny (which Islam encourages) creates sexually violent societies which put girls and women at a heightened risk of rape or abduction. In response to this the community develops practices which safeguard the 'purity', chastity and reputation of its girls and women. FGM is such a practice - as are child marriage, gender segregation and purdah, arranged marriages, chaperoning, veiling, 'honour' culture, bride-price (mahr) and footbinding.[1] Islam's legitimisation of slavery, especially sex slavery, also has a significant role in the nature, incidence and distribution of FGM.

Traditional scholars all allow, recommend or mandate FGM (see FGM and the Schools of Islamic Law). Whilst most modern fatwas favour FGM, there has been, over the past half century, a growing unease in the Islamic world concerning the practice (due to a growing concern on the part of organisations such as the UN and UNICEF). This has resulted in some fatwas critical of FGM. It appears that the earliest fatwa clearly critical of FGM was issued in 1984.[2] (see Modern Fatwas)

It should be noted that those who practice FGM refer to it as Female Circumcision rather than Female Genital Mutilation. The Hadith and most of the fatwas reproduced on this page are translations. Where this is the case it is likely that the term used is the translator's choice, not the hadith or fatwa's originator.

FGM in the Hadith

FGM is mentioned in (at least) seven Hadith. Four report Muhammad approving of FGM and two report Sahabah (Muhammad's companions) participating in FGM. The remaining hadith has little import doctrinally, but is of linguistic, historical and sociological interest.

Hadith: Muhammad

The fitrah is five things

Abu Hurayrah said: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: “The fitrah is five things – or five things are part of the fitrah – circumcision [الْخِتَانُ - khitan], shaving the pubes, trimming the moustache, cutting the nails and plucking the armpit hairs.”
Sahih Bukhari 7:72:777; See also Sahih Muslim 2:495

Hadith methodology dictates that if it is not mentioned specifically or if the pronouns do not point to a certain gender, then the hadith is valid for both sexes (either directly or by analogy, or qiyas, in the case of women). Hence, this hadith is applicable for both men and women.

A preservation of honor for women

Abu al- Malih ibn `Usama's father relates that the Prophet said: "Circumcision [الْخِتَانُ - khitan] is a law for men and a preservation of honour for women'."
Ahmad Ibn Hanbal 5:75; Abu Dawud, Adab 167.

Do not cut severely

Narrated Umm Atiyyah al-Ansariyyah: A woman used to perform circumcision [الْخِتَانُ - khitan] in Medina. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to her: "Do not cut severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband".
Sunan Abu Dawud 41:5251

When the circumcised parts touch each other

Abu Musa reported: There cropped up a difference of opinion between a group of Muhajirs (Emigrants and a group of Ansar (Helpers) (and the point of dispute was) that the Ansar said: The bath (because of sexual intercourse) becomes obligatory only-when the semen spurts out or ejaculates. But the Muhajirs said: When a man has sexual intercourse (with the woman), a bath becomes obligatory (no matter whether or not there is seminal emission or ejaculation). Abu Musa said: Well, I satisfy you on this (issue). He (Abu Musa, the narrator) said: I got up (and went) to 'A'isha and sought her permission and it was granted, and I said to her: 0 Mother, or Mother of the Faithful, I want to ask you about a matter on which I feel shy. She said: Don't feel shy of asking me about a thing which you can ask your mother, who gave you birth, for I am too your mother. Upon this I said: What makes a bath obligatory for a person? She replied: You have come across one well informed! The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: When anyone sits amidst four parts (of the woman) and the circumcised [الْخِتَانُ - khitan] parts touch each other a bath becomes obligatory.
Sahih Muslim 3:684; see also Sahih Bukhari 1:5:289

To 'sit amidst four parts' of a woman is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

Hadith: the Sahabah (the Companions of Muhammad)

The following three hadith touch on FGM, but do not involve Muhammad.

One Who Circumcises Other Ladies

This hadith includes an exchange of insults between Meccan warriors and Muhammad's companions prior to the battle of Uhud.

“[…] I went out with the people for the battle. When the army aligned for the fight, Siba’ came out and said, ‘Is there any (Muslim) to accept my challenge to a duel?’ Hamza bin `Abdul Muttalib came out and said, ‘O Siba’. O Ibn Um Anmar, the one who circumcises [أَنْمَارٍ مُقَطِّعَةِ الْبُظُورِ - muqaṭwiʿaẗi al-ْbuẓūri] other ladies! Do you challenge Allah and His Apostle?’ […]”
Sahih Bukhari 5:59:399

أَنْمَارٍ مُقَطِّعَةِ الْبُظُورِ (muqaṭwiʿaẗi al-ْbuẓūri) translates as 'cutter of clitorises'.

In Bukhari's al-Adab al-Mufrad

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. The Adab have less doctrinal authority than hadith featuring Muhammad. However, scholars have ruled most of the hadith in the collection as being sahih (authentic) or hasan (sound).

Someone to Amuse Them
“Umm ‘Alqama related that when the daughters of ‘A’isha’s brother were circumcised [اخْتُتِنَّ - khitan], ‘A’isha was asked, “Shall we call someone to amuse them?” “Yes,” she replied. ‘Adi was sent for and he came to them. ‘A’isha passed by the room and saw him singing and shaking his head in rapture – and he had a large head of hair. ‘Uff!’ she exclaimed, ‘A shaytan! Get him out! Get him out!'””
Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 53:1247
Go and Circumcise Them and Purify Them
An old woman from Kufa, the grandmother of 'Ali ibn Ghurab, reported that Umm al-Muhajir said, "I was captured with some girls from Byzantium. 'Uthman offered us Islam, but only myself and one other girl accepted Islam. 'Uthman said, "Go and circumcise [فَاخْفِضُو - khaffad] them and purify them."'
Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 53:1245

فَاخْفِضُو (khaffad) translates as 'lower them' or 'trim them'.

FGM in the Qur'an

There is no explicit reference to Female Genital Mutilation in the Qur'an. However, the Quran 30:30 requires Muslims to 'adhere to the fitrah'.

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.
Quran 30:30

The word 'fitrah appears only this once in the Qur'an, and is left undefined and unexplained. To know what 'fitrah means, traditional scholars turned to hadith which make use of the word.

Abu Hurayrah said: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: “The fitrah is five things – or five things are part of the fitrah – circumcision [اخْتُتِنَّ - khitan], shaving the pubes, trimming the moustache, cutting the nails and plucking the armpit hairs.”
Sahih Bukhari 7:72:777; See also Sahih Muslim 2:495

Note that this hadith uses the Arabic word khitan (ختان) for 'circumcision'.

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, 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.

Thus, the word 'khitan' appears to refer to both or either FGM and Male Circumcision. According to traditional interpretive methodology, Quran 30:30 by requiring Muslims to 'adhere to the fitrah' advocates FGM.

FGM and the Schools of Islamic Law

Maps showing distribution of madhaps and prevalence of FGM
Maps showing distribution of madhaps and prevalence of FGM

Only one school of Islam - the Shafi'i - makes FGM universally obligatory. The other schools of Islam recommend it with differing levels of obligation. Since nothing that Muhammad allowed can be prohibited, no school of Islam can forbid FGM. Differences in hermeneutics (methodologies of interpretation of texts, especially religious and philosophical texts) result in certain Hadith having more weight and influence in some schools than in others. The hadith Sunan Abu Dawud 41:5251 is an example of this:

Narrated Umm Atiyyah al-Ansariyyah: A woman used to perform circumcision in Medina. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to her: Do not cut severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband.
Sunan Abu Dawud 41:5251

Shafi’i and Hanbali scholars have evaluated this hadith as being sahih. Consequently, these schools consider FGM as being either obligatory or highly recommended, and FGM is very common or nearly universal amongst their followers. Maliki and Hanafi scholars have evaluated this Hadith as being mursal (good but missing an early link in its isnad) or daif (weak)– possibly explaining the lower rates of FGM amongst followers of these schools. However, it may be that followers of the Maliki and Hanafi schools who are devout (or who wish to appear devout) will tend to treat as 'obligatory' practices that are merely 'recommended' – since for the devout anything that is recommended should be definitely done.

Maliki Madhab

The Maliki school was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century, who ruled that FGM is recommended, but not obligatory.

Maliki hold the view that it is wajib (obligatory) for males and sunnah (optional) for females
'Delinking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam' by Ibrahim Lethome Asmani & Maryam Sheikh Abdi (2008)
Female circumcision is recommended.
Al-Dardir (died 1786, malikite)
Circumcision is Sunnah for men and women.
Ibn-al-jallab (died 988, Malikite)

Hanafi Madhab

This school is named after the scholar Abū Ḥanīfa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit (d. 767) and is school with the largest number of followers among Sunni muslims. Abū Ḥanīfa maintained that FGM is not obligatory but optional or recommended.

The Hanafi view is that it is a sunnah (optional act) for both females and males
'Delinking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam' by Ibrahim Lethome Asmani & Maryam Sheikh Abdi (2008)
Circumcision is sunnah and fitrah. For women, circumcision is makrumah. If the inhabitants of a country reach a unanimous decision to abandon circumcision, the Imam has to wage war against them as it is one of the rituals and a specificity of Islam.
Al-Musuli (died 1284, hanafite)

Shafi'i Madhab

The Shafi’i school was founded by the Arab scholar Al-Shafi‘i in the early 9th century. The Shafi’i school rejects two interpretative heuristics 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. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is obligatory in the Shafi'i madhab. Infibulation, the most severe form of FGM practiced under Islam, is almost entirely attributable to followers of the Shafi'i school of fiqh.

Shafi’i view it as wajib (obligatory) for both females and males
'Delinking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam' by Ibrahim Lethome Asmani & Maryam Sheikh Abdi (2008)

'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.

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')
Reliance of the Traveler [Umdat al-Salik], Section e4.3 on Circumcision

Nuh Ha Mim Keller's 1991 translation of 'Reliance of the Traveller' translates the word 'bazr' ( بَظْرٌ ) as 'clitorial prepuce' instead of simply 'clitoris'.[3] This is disputed because 1/ the usage is obscure and 2/ it leaves Arabic without a word for 'clitoris'.[4]

Hanbali Madhab

The Hanbali school is named after the Iraqi scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 855). Ahmad ibn Hanbal studied under Al-Shafi‘i (founder of the Shafi’i school) and inherited his deep concerns about the jurists of his time, who were ready to reinterpret the doctrines of the Koran and Hadiths to pander to public opinion and the demands of the rich and powerful. Ibn Hanbal advocated a return to the literal interpretation of Koran and Hadiths. This has made the Hanbali school intensely traditionalist. Today’s ultra-conservative Wahhabi–Salafist movement is an offshoot of this school. The Hanbali school, unlike the Hanafi and Maliki schools, reject Istihsan (jurist discretion) and Urf (the customs of Muslims) as a sound basis by which to derive Islamic law.

Hanbali have two opinions: -it is wajib (obligatory) for both males and females – it is wajib (obligatory) for males and makrumah (honourable) for females.
'Delinking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam' by Ibrahim Lethome Asmani & Maryam Sheikh Abdi (2008)
Circumcision is obligatory for men, and noble deed for women and not obligatory according to many scholars. Ahmad said: circumcision for men is more important for men than for women, as the foreskin is pending over the glans, therefore what is behind cannot be cleaned. Female circumcision is also prescribed for women. Abu-Abdallah said that the hadith “If the two circumcised membranes meet, ghusl is necessary” means that female circumcision was practiced. According to the hadith of Umar, a circumciser woman performed circumcision; he told her: leave some of it if you circumcise. It is also reported that the Prophet Muhammad said to the circumciser woman: Cut very slightly and do not exaggerate as it is preferable for the husband and better for the face.
Al-Qudamah (died 1223, hanbalite)
male and female circumcision are obligatory.
Al-Bahuti (died 1641, Hanbalite)
Praise be to Allah. Yes, they should be circumcised, i.e., the top of the piece of skin that looks like a rooster’s comb should be cut. The Messenger of Allah said to the woman who did circumcisions: “Leave something sticking out and do not go to extremes in cutting. That makes her face look brighter and is more pleasing to her husband.” That is because the purpose of circumcising a man is to make him clean from the impurity that may collect beneath the foreskin. But the purpose of circumcising women is to regulate their desire, because if a woman is not circumcised her desire will be strong. Hence the words “O son of an uncircumcised woman” are used as an insult, because the uncircumcised woman has stronger desire. Hence immoral actions are more common among the women of the Tatars and the Franks, that are not found among the Muslim women. If the circumcision is too severe, the desire is weakened altogether, which is unpleasing for men; but if it is cut without going to extremes in that, the purpose will be achieved, which is moderating desire. And Allah knows best.
Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (died 1328, Hanbalite)
Khitaan is a noun describing the action of the circumciser (khaatin). It is also used to describe the site of the circumcision, as in the hadith, “When the two circumcised parts (al-khitaanaan) meet, ghusl become obligatory.” In the case of a female the word used is khafad. In the male it is also called i’dhaar. The one who is uncircumcised is called aghlaf or aqlaf.
Ibn Qayyim (died 1350, Hanbalite)
[FGM's] purpose is to reduce the woman's desire; if she is uncircumcised, she becomes lustful and tends to long more for men.
Ibn Taymiyya (1263 - 1328), Hanbalite)

Shia Islam

The attitudes of Shia Islam towards FGM are as not clear-cut as with the schools of 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 particular) in India. A survey by WADI conducted in the region of Kirkuk in Iraq found that 23% of Shia girls and women had undergone FGM[5].

Jafari

Ayatollah Khamenei, the leading scholar among contemporary jurists of Iran, says that FGM is permissible but not obligatory for women. He also states that if the husband wants his wife to be circumcised then it might be carried out if it isn’t harmful for her.
Islam And Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
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.
Islam And Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Boys must be circumcised when they become adult…. and it is preferable that women be circumcised even if they are adult.
Al-Amili (died 1559, shiite)
The circumcision of female slaves, if performed, is great honor and precious merit. If not, nothing bad in it.
Al-Tusi (died 1067, shiite)

Ismaili

FGM appears to be common amongst the Dawoodi Bohras[6] – 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.

Circumcision is obligatory for every Muslim…. If somebody refuses to submit to circumcision after being ordered to do, he should be killed if he exaggerates in delaying. Circumcision is not obligatory for women but they are ordered to submit to circumcision in honor of their husbands. Women are not obliged as circumcision for women is makrumah and for men it is sunnah, and some said it is faridah (obligation).
Al-Nazawi (died 1162, ibadite)

In 2017 two doctors and a third woman connected to the Dawoodi Bohra in Detroit, Michigan, were arrested on charges of conducting FGM on two seven-year-old girls in the United States. Their Attorney confirmed that FGM was, for her clients, a religious practice[7]:

They have a [right] to practice their religion. And they are Muslims and they’re being under attack for it. I believe that they are being persecuted because of their religious beliefs
'Prosecutor: 'Brutal' genital mutilation won't be tolerated in US' - CNN

Muʿtazila

Muʿtazila is a rationalist school of Islamic theology that flourished in the cities of Basra and Baghdad during the 8th to the 10th centuries. The Mu'tazila developed an Islamic type of rationalism, partly influenced by Ancient Greek philosophy.

A woman with clitoris has more pleasure than a woman without clitoris. The pleasure depends on the quantity which was cut from the clitoris. Muhammad said: “If you cut, cut the slightest part and do not exaggerate because it makes the face more beautiful and it is more pleasant for the husband”. It seems that Muhammad wanted to reduce the concupiscence of the women to moderate it. If concupiscence is reduced, the pleasure is also reduced as well as the love for the husbands. The love of the husband is an impediment against debauchery. Judge Janab Al-Khaskhash contends that he counted in one village the number of the women who were circumcised and those who were not, and he found that the circumcised were chaste and the majority of the debauched were uncircumcised. Indian, Byzantine and Persian women often commit adultery and run after men because their concupiscence towards men is greater. For this reason, India created brothels. This happened because of the massive presence of their clitorises and their hoots.
Al-Jahiz (Muʿtazila, died 868-9)

Modern Fatwas

The following is a selection of Fatwas, mainly extracts, from the 20th and 21st Century. They have been, as far as possible, arranged in chronological order. Note that many are secondary or even tertiary sources.

Favourable

“Medical research […] does not show that the Sunnah circumcision – cutting only the outer part of the clitoris – has caused any medical complications […] Islam condones the Sunnah circumcision; it is acceptable. What’s forbidden in Islam is the pharaonic circumcision [...] Islamic scholars believe that female circumcision is different from male circumcision. They have a strong view that female circumcision is allowed, and that there is no evidence from Islamic sources prohibiting female circumcision, unless it is pharaonic.”
IRIN interview with Sheikh Omer, a Muslim religious leader, Ethiopia (2005)

'Pharaonic circumcision' is a synonym for Infibulation.

"It is also indicated by the general meaning of the evidence that has been narrated concerning circumcision, such as the hadeeth in al-Bukhaari (5891) and Muslim (527) from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him): I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: “The fitrah is five things – or five things are part of the fitrah – circumcision, shaving the pubes, trimming the moustache, cutting the nails and plucking the armpit hairs.”

[...]The Shaafa’is, the Hanbalis according to the well-known view of their madhhab, and others are of the view that circumcising women is obligatory. Many scholars are of the view that it is not obligatory in the case of women; rather it is Sunnah and is an honour for them.

But we would like to point out here that it has medical benefits to which attention should be paid, regardless of the difference of opinion among the scholars as to whether it is obligatory or mustahabb."
Is there any saheeh hadeeth about the circumcision of females? (2006)
"DECISION OF MUZAKARAH OF THE FATWA COMMITTEE, NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS MALAYSIA The issue of Female Genital Mutilation was discussed by Muzakarah The 87th National Fatwa Committee convened on 23-25 June 2009. In this conference, Muzakarah members agreed decided that: After examining the evidence, arguments and views submitted, Muzakarah is of the view that the practice of circumcision for women is part of the syiar of the ummah Islam. While the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is contrary to the practice of circumcision prescribed by syarak. Accordingly, in line with the view jumhur ulama, Muzakarah agreed to decide that the law circumcision for women is compulsory. However, if it can bring harm to oneself, then it is should be avoided."
Women's Genital Cutting Law (Female Genital Mutilation) - Taqwa bint Zabidi (Jakim), (2009)
Muslim Brotherhood flyer promoting FGM (amongst other medical services)
“The second strategy of the [Muslim Brotherhood] to contest the undesirability of FGM is to present it as a medical operation or procedure. By doing so, they encourage people to go to doctors – rather than midwives – who will perform the “operation” under anaesthesia and in accordance with proper surgical procedures […] Some people talk about taking their daughters to the doctor to check whether “they need it or not”, as if there is a physiological condition that would justify mutilating a woman’s reproductive organs […] Some doctors believe that not circumcising females leads to sexual arousal and that this could lead to the committing unlawful acts. So circumcision is a duty for the protection of the honour of the believing woman and for the preservation of her chastity and purity […] The third strategy deployed by the Brothers to promote FGM is to push for its decriminalization, under the premise that it is a matter that should be left to the personal choice of the girls’ guardians […] “the decision is up to the guardian and the doctor who decides on the extent to which the girl needs this operation”
Mutilating bodies: the Muslim Brotherhood’s gift to Egyptian women, (2012)
"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 [...]In The Protocols of the Elders of Zion it is written: 'We must strive for the collapse of morals, so that it will be easier for us to dominate the world.'[...] Female circumcision is a preventive medical measure. Someone who is uncircumcised will be afflicted with many serious diseases{...]"
Egyptian Cleric: Female Circumcision Has Economic Benefits; Jews Fight It in Keeping with Protocols of the Elders of Zion, (2017)
“Circumcision is not an inherited custom as some people claim, rather it is prescribed in Islam and the scholars are unanimously agreed that it is prescribed. Not a single Muslim scholar – as far as we know – has said that circumcision is not prescribed. Their evidence is to be found in the saheeh ahaadeeth of the Prophet, which prove that it is prescribed [...] With regard to the criticism of circumcision by some doctors, and their claim that it is harmful both physically and psychologically, This criticism of theirs is not valid. It is sufficient for us Muslims that something be proven to be from the Prophet [...], then we will follow it, and we are certain that it is beneficial and not harmful. If it were harmful, Allaah and His Messenger [...] would not have prescribed it for us [...] As for the opinions of doctors who say that female circumcision is harmful, these are individual opinions which are not derived from any agreed scientific basis, and they do not form an established scientific opinion […] medical theories about disease and the way to treat it are not fixed, rather they change with time and with ongoing research. So it is not correct to rely on them when criticizing circumcision which the Wise and All-Knowing Lawgiver has decreed in His wisdom for mankind. Experience has taught us that the wisdom behind some rulings and Sunnahs may be hidden from us. May Allaah help us all to follow the right path.”
Circumcision of girls and some doctors’ criticism thereof – islamqa (2018)]

Critical

Some contemporary scholars have criticised and condemned FGM. However, because nothing that Muhammad allowed can be prohibited, it is not licit to forbid FGM. Therefore fatwas critical of FGM generally stop well short of forbidding it.

“Allah has endowed people with dignity. In the Qur'an, Allah says: "We have honored the children of Adam". Therefore, Allah forbids all harm to people, regardless of social status and gender. Female genital cutting is an inherited bad habit practiced in some societies and has been adopted in imitation by some Muslims in several countries. This without a textual basis in the Koran or an authentic tradition of the prophet. Female genital cutting practiced today causes physical and psychological damage to women. Therefore, these practices must be stopped, based on one of the highest values ​​of Islam, namely not to harm people - according to the saying of the Prophet Mohammad, peace and blessings be upon him: "Do not harm and do no harm to anyone". Rather, it is considered a criminal aggression. The conference appeals to Muslims to put an end to this bad habit according to the teachings of Islam, which prohibit harming people in any way. The participants of the conference also call on the international and regional institutions and bodies to concentrate their efforts on educating and informing the population. This applies in particular to the basic hygienic and medical rules that must be adhered to towards women so that this bad habit is no longer practiced.The conference reminds educational institutions and the media that they have an absolute duty to educate about the harms of this bad habit and its devastating consequences for society in order to help eliminate this bad habit. The conference calls on the legislative bodies to pass a law that prohibits practitioners from the harmful bad habit of female genital cutting and declares it a crime, regardless of whether the practitioner is the perpetrator or the initiator. Furthermore, the conference calls on the international institutions and organizations to provide aid in all regions in which this bad habit is practiced, in order to contribute to its elimination.”
Professor Ali Gom’a, Grand Mufti of Egypt, (2006)
“The Kurdistan Islamic Scholars Union, the highest Muslim authority in Iraqi Kurdistan for religious pronouncements and rulings, issued a fatwa or religious edict last month [...]this particular fatwa stated that "female circumcision" is not an Islamic practice.While the fatwa did not forbid the practice [...] its clear and unequivocal statement that the practice is not required by Islam was significant for women in Kurdistan, where the practice is widespread. The practice is not mentioned in the Quran, and many other Muslim scholars have disassociated the practice from Islam. Until last month, the Kurdistan Islamic Scholars Union had not joined those ranks [...] The fatwa will help dispel that belief and should begin to lead to a reduction of the practice in the name of Islam. But it's not all good news yet. The fatwa does not explicitly ban female genital mutilation, and the failure to prohibit it altogether remains troubling because parents may still decide to subject their daughters to this practice. ”
A Fatwa on FGM Could be Part of the Solution – Kurdistan (2010)
Fatwa - Ayatollah Khamenei
In response to a question of the author of the book Razor and Tradition, which discusses Female Genital Mutilation, [Khamenei] noted that female circumcision is permissible but not obligatory"

[...] "Today, female genital mutilation is not common among Shiites but the usage narrative show that it does not hurt if it can be done with its conditions, including compliance with health issues. But because the social norms have changed today, this action would not be acceptable like many other topics which their sentences were changed due to circumstances and facts"

[...] The question is asked to Ayatollah Khamenei: What is the wife`s duty to her husband`s request to circumcise herself?

The answer is: “Although implementation of husband’s order is obligatory for the wife if it does not have disadvantages or it is not harmful for the wife, she has to listen to her husband’s request.”
Fatwa of the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, (2014)
The group of jurists from different schools of thoughts reject the permissibility of FGM in Islam and do not consider it part of the injunctions of Islam. Their arguments are as follows:

Answer to the justifications from Holy Quran: The proponent jurists alleged that Allah said in the holy Quran to follow the Sunnah of Ibrahim (A.S). That meant following the Sunnah of Ibrahim (A.S) as he believed in the oneness of God. Also if Ibrahim (A.S) was circumcised because he was a male, that cannot be taken as precedent for the females because there is no resemblance between the male and female body structure. Allah Almighty prohibits in the Holy Quran to cut a body part of human beings without any reason because a human being is the most beloved creature to the omnipotent Allah, and is the creature in whose beautiful creation the Almighty takes pride in.

Answer to the justification from Holy Sunnah: Ahadith put forward by the proponents have ‘weak health’ (Dhuaee’f Sih’ha) mainly because of the chain of hadith and of the narrators, so we cannot rely on such ahadith on such delicate issues.

Answer to the Qiyas: First of all if we are making Qiyas a deciding factor for another analogy, the ill’at (cause) must be the same between the cases but in the case of FGM, how can we use the analogy of a male body for a female when they are both totally different and distinct from each other. The ill’at of circumcision of men is to increase pleasure, is also good for sexual life and includes many other medical benefits to men. But in case of women it reduces pleasure, is harmful for her physical as well as mental health, so the idea of Qiyas here is totally strange.
Islam And Female Genital Mutilation, Pakistan, (2016)

See Also

Female Genital Mutilation in Islam (includes sections on FGM before Islam, The Sociology and Causes of FGM, and FGM as unislamic)

Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars: Female Genital Mutilation

References

  1. ↑ ''Ending Footbinding and Infibulation: A Convention Account' - Gerry Mackie (1996)
  2. ↑ p54 "Sexual Mutilations: A Human Tragedy" By International Symposium On Sexual Mutiliations 1996
  3. ↑ Reliance Of The traveller (عمدة السالك وعدة الناسك) By Ahmad Ibn Naqib Al Misri English Arabic
  4. ↑ بعث | Lane's Lexicon, page 222
  5. ↑ Female Genital Mutilation in Iraq (April 13, 2012)
  6. ↑ Reminder to government: New study confirms widespread female genital cutting among Bohra Muslims
  7. ↑ Prosecutor: 'Brutal' genital mutilation won't be tolerated in US
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