Two FGM Updates from MEMRITV. “Egyptian Villagers Explain Why They Circumcise Their Daughters”:
Following are excerpts from a television program about female circumcision in Egypt, which aired on Al-Mihwar TV on May 10, 2007:
[...]
Interviewer: In the Islamic religion, and in the villages and neighborhoods, it is always said that girls should be circumcised just like boys. Does it come from the Sunna, or is it a custom or yours?
Female villager: Circumcision is part of the Sunna of the Prophet. We used to bring a daya, and she would circumcise the children, but when the role of the daya was abolished, we stopped. Now we take our children to the doctor, and he circumcises them.
Interviewer: So it is the doctor who circumcises the girl?
Female villager: Yes. If a girl is not circumcised, she can’t stand it. When she is circumcised, she is calm and has self-restraint. The circumcision protects the girl and makes her calm.
[...]
Interviewer: So you think all women should be circumcised to protect their honor.
Female villager: The Prophet said that the men go and wage Jihad for a year. He said that girls should be circumcised so they can bear it for a whole year until the men return. [...]
And “Al-Azhar Cleric Farahat Sa’id Al-Munji Justifies Female Circumcision: It Replaces the Chastity Belts of Ancient Times”:
Following are excerpts from an interview with Al-Azhar Cleric Farahat Said Al-Munji, which aired on Al-Mihwar TV on May 10, 2007:
Farahat Sa’id Al-Munji: The Prophet said that circumcision is obligatory for men, and is noble for women. This means that for the sake of her honor, a woman can be circumcised. This noble act can be either carried out or not. Moreover, this noble act is subject to restrictions nowadays. I once had a discussion with a gynecologist, who said: “A man brought his daughter to me, and I told him she must be circumcised immediately.” Why? Because he discovered that her clitoris was so big that it was bound to cause her pain or bother her when she reached puberty, and therefore, she had to be circumcised. He told me that other girls came to him, and he said they should not be circumcised. Why? Because their clitoris was normal in size, and did not bother them. It would be crazy to deal with such a clitoris, which does not protrude to an extent that might bother the woman, when it rubs against her clothing and so on…
Guys, all these things appear in Islamic law. Don’t think we are making these things up. It all exists [in religious law] and is determined… We say that if the clitoris is so on and so forth… What am I saying? When the Prophet Muhammad met Umm Salama in Al-Madina – what did he say to her? “Are you still doing what you used to do in Mecca?” In other words, are you still circumcising girls, like you used to do in Mecca? She said: Yes. He said: “Trim it, but don’t cut it off.” According to another version, he said: “Shorten it, but don’t cut it off.” “Trim it” means leaving room for sexual desire. That little bit on top, which looks like the rooster’s crest, is shortened, but just the upper part. She needs to cut off the prepuce, the little bit at the top.
“All Religions” means “Muslims Only”
My profession is a gynecologist and during my work I examine women of nearly all religions and nationalities. For few years I worked in Makkah as well as in Kuwait where you could sample women of all religions and I found that only Egyptians, Sudanese, and Ethiopians have this habit of circumcision.
* Makkah is ‘Muslims Only’- how this nutbag can claim that she could ’sample women of all religions’ is a mystery.
*****
Update: Warning Graphic Images!
17 January 2009
Clit-Cutting Tradition in Indonesia:
Warning: Graphic Images!
Female circumcisers and their attendants waiting in an elementary-school classroom, where they do their work
* More Pic’s here
*
By SARA CORBETT/NYT
A Cutting Tradition
* Looks like the NYT has removed the article. Here’s another link…
When a girl is taken — usually by her mother — to a free circumcision event held each spring in Bandung, Indonesia, she is handed over to a small group of women who, swiftly and yet with apparent affection, cut off a small piece of her genitals. Sponsored by the Assalaam Foundation, an Islamic educational and social-services organization, circumcisions take place in a prayer center or an emptied-out elementary-school classroom where desks are pushed together and covered with sheets and a pillow to serve as makeshift beds. The procedure takes several minutes. There is little blood involved. Afterward, the girl’s genital area is swabbed with the antiseptic Betadine. She is then helped back into her underwear and returned to a waiting area, where she’s given a small, celebratory gift — some fruit or a donated piece of clothing — and offered a cup of milk for refreshment. She has now joined a quiet majority in Indonesia, where, according to a 2003 study by the Population Council, an international research group, 96 percent of families surveyed reported that their daughters had undergone some form of circumcision by the time they reached 14.
Tears are wiped from the face of a 9-month-old following her circumcision.
*
These photos were taken in April 2006, at the foundation’s annual mass circumcision, which is free and open to the public held during the lunar month marking the birth of the prophet Muhammad. The Assalaam Foundation runs several schools and a mosque in Bandung, Indonesia’s third-largest city and the capital of West Java. The photographer Stephanie Sinclair was taken to the circumcision event by a reproductive-health observer from Jakarta and allowed to spend several hours there. Over the course of that Sunday morning, more than 200 girls were circumcised, many of them appearing to be under the age of 5. Meanwhile, in a nearby building, more than 100 boys underwent a traditional circumcision as well.
According to Lukman Hakim, the foundation’s chairman of social services, there are three “benefits” to circumcising girls.
“One, it will stabilize her libido,” he said through an interpreter. “Two, it will make a woman look more beautiful in the eyes of her husband. And three, it will balance her psychology.”
Female genital cutting — commonly identified among international human rights groups as female genital mutilation — has been outlawed in 15 African countries. Many industrialized countries also have similar laws. Both France and the U.S. have prosecuted immigrant residents for performing female circumcisions.
In Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population, a debate over whether to ban female circumcision is in its early stages. The Ministry of Health has issued a decree forbidding medical personnel to practice it, but the decree which has yet to be backed by legislation does not affect traditional circumcisers and birth attendants, who are thought to do most female circumcisions. Many agree that a full ban is unlikely without strong support from the country’s religious leaders. According to the Population Council study, many Indonesians view circumcision for boys and girls as a religious duty.
* But of course: none of this has anything to do with Islam, right?
Update:
Warning: What follows now is very graphic:
| Clitoridectomy; Wikipedia; The Age and Islam |  |  |  |
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| Written by Circe | |||
| Friday, 18 July 2008 | |||
Warning: Very graphic and disturbing content! Surprise, surprise the Age (9/7/08) does its usual article concentrating on ‘female circumcision’, particularly the most horrific variety with the ‘gosh isn’t it shocking but it’s nothing to do with Islam’…. The reality that Islamic text/laws make clitoridectomy mandatory or regard it as sunnah (supported by Mohammad) or at least a worthy practise is completely ignored. Also ignored are the many hadiths (which dictate day-to-day life) that support the practise.  No-one claimed Islam invented clitoridectomy – the Arabs practiced it at the time of Mohammad ..but to deny that it was taken up by Islam, is promoted by Islamic religious leaders, is mostly practised by Muslims and has spread around the world with Islam just shows the power of Islam in stopping people (including UN groups) from telling the obvious truth – in the case of Islam, there IS a religious base to the practice!!! Note: May 2008 the Egyptian parliament seemed to have dropped laws making female genital mutilation illlegal in Egypt (other laws re increasing marriageable age and reporting families who beat their children were also over-ruled) (reference), though more recent reports claim clitoridectomy has been criminalised with trivial maximum sentences of up to 2 years jail and $1000 fine –AND it’s allowed in cases of ‘medical necessity!!! Conservatives maintain that Islam condones the removal of a girl’s clitoris to tame her sexual desires and condemn the amendment as a western import. (reference) In a recent study in Yemen, of the 39 clerics who participated, 72 percent wanted the practice to continue for reasons of religious mandate, virginity and tradition. (Report on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) or Female Genital Cutting (FGC)  >The sad truth is: FGM is performedall around the world wherever Muslim communities are present
Islamic Law
Yes! The Arabic version of the law states:
Sadly – Wikipedia fails to report the comment by Sheikh ‘  Abd al-Wakil Durubi in the English ‘version’ who notes:
Note: ‘sunna’ means the actions and words of Mohammad, the perfect example for all Muslims to follow! Sheikh ‘Abd al-Wakil Durubi’s comments show that support for clitoridectomy is widespread across Islam, not limited to the followers of Shafi Law! Sadly – Wikipedia also allows Sheikh ‘Abd al-Wakil Durubi to try the ‘it really only means trimming the clitoral hood’ line. Of course, that’s why it says ‘removal of the clitoris’ and naturally those illiterate Arab/Muslim tribes-people past and present would have been right up with the fine detail of female anatomy. Often the clitoris is cut from babies when the clitoris is enlarged due to pregnancy hormones and the ‘hood’ not visible (even the labia minora are just threads and are often cut too) or the clitoris is destroyed by applying hot sand and chemicals to it or it is grabbed and stretched out and sometimes a band applied and rolled back along the clitoral shaft to fully expose it for cutting —- hood, yeah, right!! They’ve all just been ‘mistaken’ for 1400 years!! (until some westerner put them right??). Wikipedia also notes:
There has been ongoing endorsement of ‘circumcision’ but note the swift switching of terms – it’s not female genital mutilation, it’s just harmless female genital cutting FGC!! Once again I will post this recent support for clitoridectomy (as in Egypt): On 12/2/2007 Al-Arabiya TV aired ‘Al-Azhar University Scholars Argue over the Legitimacy of Female Circumcision Practiced in Egypt. The debate was between Egyptian Al-Azhar University scholars Sheikh Muhammad Al-Mussayar and Sheikh Mahmoud Ashur. The exerts are interesting because they acknowledge the hadiths related to FGM -Muhammad Al-Mussayar notes:
Hadith: these apply to all (sunni) Muslims: 1) Wikipedia has the courage to note the hadith supporting the view that clitoridectomy is sunnah – Umm Atiyyah was a known clitoris cutter.
(Note: The powerful Mohammad did NOT stop the procedure yet he stopped adoption so he could marry his adopted son’s wife Zainab, regarded as incest by the Arabs because adopted sons were held as sons!) Sadly – Wikipedia then allowed the usual excuse – it’s ‘weak in transmission.’ (Isn’t this an opinion?) Funny then that it’s survived 1400 years, including revisions and influenced Islamic law!! Both the ‘science’ of the hadith and this excuse are too absurd to waste time on! 2) Wikipedia also notes a hadith from the highly authentic, reliable Muslim collection:
Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi: Whoever finds it serving the interest of his daughters should do it, and I personally support this under the current circumstances in the modern world.
Sadly it implies this is the only one – WRONG and it allows Dr. Muhammad Salim al-Awwa, Secretary General of the World Union of the Muslim Ulemas, who agrees that the hadith is authentic, to state the most absurd, convoluted, twisted lack of reason to claim that silly Aisha, when she said TWO circumcised organs (in the feminine form) she really meant one – the male one of course… (see logical alternative explanation below) Both Wikipedia and Dr al-Awwa might like to try these which show that the circumcised parts were often referred to separately ie ‘when the circumcised part touches the circumcised part’ and that both Aisha and Malik tracing several different transmitters, refer to two separate circumcised parts and that the instruction re circumcised parts and ghusl is reported in several sets of hadith making it important! Remember, female circumcision meant cut out the clitoris in Mohammad’s time! a) Maliks Muwatta Section: Obligation to Do Ghusl when the Two Circumcised Parts Meet
b) Hajj
Above hadiths from this SITE suggest that ‘circumcision’ of females was normal for Muslims: c) Tirmidi hadith:
Logical alternative explanation: Clitoridectomy was widely practised by Arabs at the time of Mohammad; Aisha was an Arab; Mohammad had endorsed the practice of clitoridectomy when speaking to Um Attiyyah (clitoris cutter) and Aisha simply spread Mohammad’s instructions; hence it would be reasonable for Aisha (probably circumcised herself) to address people re ‘washing after dirty sex,’ to refer to the TWO circumcised organs coming into contact as this would be the normal case. Malik likewise notes the same statements coming from Umar ibn al-Khattab and Uthman ibn Affan and A’isha. d) As for female circumcision (clitoridectomy in Mohammad’s day) being a sign of respect for women, and a hadith where the women of al-Ansar were addressed endorsing female circumcision, they are referred to in Dr al-Awwa’s paper ‘Female Circumcision Neither a sunna, nor a Sign of Respect’ – ( I own a copy but it’s nolonger available!). Indonesia- Inside a Female-Circumcision Ceremony: A girl is soothed by an attendant before her circumcision being sexually -and mentally- crippled. Also Hadith in the Musnad by Ahmed Ibn Hanbal, where Shaddad Ibn Aws reports that the prophet said:
These show that such hadith exist—call them ‘weak’ if you like! Shia View Judaism; Christianity: Sadly- Wikipedia refers to an extremist nut case who calls himself a Christian in regard to FGC but fails to report the array of Islamic clerics that endorse the practice, in full accordance with Islamic text/laws in the Islamic world and the west. The false Christian-Muslim’ equivalence continues while hiding the full extent of Islamic involvement. ‘A cutting tradition’ where practices vary from pricking the clitoris, cutting/removing it or removing it plus labia with more destructive procedures increasing). Note how the spread of FGM/clitoridectomy matches the spread of Islam – Africa (NOT in the south where Arab/Islam didn’t penetrate initially); Middle-East; Turkey; India; Malaysia; Indonesia…  Female Genital Mutilation in Indonesia – Let’s blame it on the Black Africans! Will we blame the Africans for all of it? – surely, given the thousands of years since the Pharaohs, it would have spread throughout Africa if we are to only blame the Pharaohs who were generally not black, and the black Africans! Irfan Yusuf blames an old Indonesian practice! ( Does Yusuf mean liar in Arabic?) It’s practised in Australia- – will we call it an old Australian practice? Dito Europe, America?  ______________________________ Australia’s Mufti supports clitoridectomy – do you think he’s ignorant of Islamic text and laws? Pamela Bone (who also thought clitoridectomy wasn’t part of Islamic law!) referred to an interview with Sheik Fehmi al-Imam of the Preston Mosque where she asked him about clitoridectomy and he replied:
What’s the bet that the first person prosecuted for genital mutilation/clitoridectomy is an African Christian or Animist – in an effort to show it’s not Islamic! Including other forms of genital cutting helps to fudge the relationship between Islam and clitoridectomy. Remember, when overtaken, some cultures take-on the culture of their overlords particularly if there are already some similarities (eg some African tribes) while others resist certain practises (eg initially Christian Syria resisting clitoridectomy) so culture does have an influence but in the case of Islam so does religion (religious culture!!). So, the fact that a restricted few others perform FGM/clitoridectomy/FGC (genitals have always been fascinating) and some Muslim groups don’t, does NOT mean there is not a close link between FGM/clitoridectomy and Islam. Quiz:
If you answered Islam to all, give yourself a tick!! But remember, it’s nothing to do with Islam!! Some articles on FGM/clitoridectomy on the site: Female Genital Mutilation – 18/04/07 Female Genital Mutilation Part 2 – 07/06/07 Female Genital Mutilation Part 3 – 21/06/07 Does Yusuf mean liar in Arabic? Wednesday, 19 March 2008
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The Arabic version of the law states:
“Circumcision is obligatory (for every male and female) by cutting off the piece of skin on the glans of the penis of the male, but circumcision of the female is by cutting out the clitoris (bazr in Arabic)- (this is called HufaaD). ” (Reliance of the Traveller, a classical manual of Islamic sacred law in Arabic with facing English text, commentary and appendices edited and translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller (1994) p59.
* Note the English version falsely translates bazr as ‘prepuce ‘ of the clitoris!!)
I wonder if Keysar would care to comment? Which part of these much-vaunted “values” should we attempt to emulate? Islamic “honor” or Islamic murder?
I also wonder if he has any comment on the 16 cases of backyard clitorectomy reputed to have been performed in Queensland this past year?
http://fgmnetwork.org/news/show_news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1206899204&archive=&template=
Things to emulate from “islamic values”.
An article I recently read, relating to FGM, asks “whether groups that are illiberal and sexist should be afforded group rights and protections by liberal states, or whether, instead, sexist cultural practices and perhaps entire cultures should be altered or allowed to become ‘extinct’.”
The author, Susan Moller Okin, was discussing multiculturalism under the question,“Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?” and her conclusion, in terms of the barbarity that has been sanctioned in order to appease politically correct, cultural tyranny, is… YES, M/C has been bad for many women, usually those who come from “3rd World” countries.
Like the students at the Brisbane school in question.
I watched video of the poor little mites, 2 nights ago, trotted out to do what the adults can’t do… defend islam. “See, how brightly they shine!”
Headscarf and other signs of inferior status proudly worn, it was quite obvious that the student body is made up of immigrant children and just as obvious that many of their parents would have been from those ‘3rd World countries’ we aren’t supposed to be critical of. Except if you are a Feminist academic, apparently.
About 12% of the schools student body (or their parents) come from Egypt.
“Egypt is the second most populous African nation and the most populous Arab nation. Egypt is a leader in Islamic jurisprudence, and its citizenry is 90% Muslim. Female circumcision (female genital mutilation or FGM) has been practiced in Egypt for thousands of years and perhaps as many as 97% of Egyptian “ever-married” women have endured the practice. Although there is disagreement among theologians, fundamentalists continue to promote FGM as an Islamic mandate for the preservation of women’s chastity.” (Source unknown) In fairness, the Egyptians have made FGM illegal, as of ‘97, but reports from reliable sources indicate that the letter of the law and the practice of it is lagging somewhat in Egypt. Many tens of thousands of Egyptian women still face these horrors, just without access to modern medicine!
The chance that some of Keysar’s charges have been cut up to placate some primitive, religiously-inspired barbarity?
In MY AUSTRALIA, I don’t want to run the chance that even ONE has suffered this barbarity. I guess that is un-islamic, but I can live with it.
Keysar says upholding Australian law and culture is a pre-eminent focus of the school. Well, as FGM is illegal in Queensland and every other State, I suggest his school has a legal responsibility to inform Authorities of cases it knows of.
In the abridged Table below, please note that Indonesia, from where this school also draws a large number of its students, is rated as 100% in instituting 2 forms of FGM.
Note also the likelihood of the remaining school populace to be comprised of students from the other nations listed.
FGM Around the World
COUNTRY – PREVALENCE (%) – TYPE PERFORMED
Benin – 16.8 – II
Burkina Faso – 76.6 – II – Performed throughout the country in all but a few provinces.
Cameroon – 1 – I, II
Central African Republic – 35.9 – I, II
Chad – 44.9 – II – Widely practiced in all parts of Chad.
III – Confined to areas bordering Sudan in the eastern part of the country.Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) – 44.5 – II
Djibouti – 90-98 – II – Performed on girls of Yemeni origin. III – Most common among the Issa and Afar.
DRC (Congo)- Unknown – II
Egypt – 97.3% – I, II, III
Eritrea – 88.7 – I, II, III
Ethiopia – 79.9 – I – Commonly practiced among Amharas, Tigrayans and the Jeberti Muslims living in Tigray.
II – Most commonly practiced form. The Gurages, some Tigrayans, Oromos and the Shankilas practice this form.
III – Practiced in the eastern Muslim regions bordering Sudan and Somalia.
IV – Referred to as “Mariam Girz” in Ethiopia, it is practiced mainly in Gojam in the Amhara region.Gambia – 60-90 – I – The Sarahulis perform this on girls one week after birth. The Bambaras perform the procedure on girls between 10-15 years of age.
II – Nearly all Mandinkas, Jolas and Hausas practice this form on girls 10-15 years old.
III – The Fulas perform a procedure similar to Type III that is described as “vaginal sealing” on girls from one week old to 18 years old.
IV – The Fulas perform this type on girls from one week old to 18 years old.Ghana – 5.4 – I, II, III
Guinea – 98.6 – I, II, III, IV
Indonesia – 100 – I, IV
Kenya – 32.2 – I and II most common.
III – found in the far eastern areas bordering Somalia.Liberia – 50 – II
Mali – 91.6 – I, II, III (Type III practiced in southern areas of country)
Mauritania – 71.5 – I, II
Niger – 4.5 – II
Nigeria – 19 – I, II, III, IV
(Type I and II more prominent in the south; Type III more prominent in north)Senegal – 28.2 – II, III
(Type II is most common)Sierra Leone – 80-90 – II
Somalia – 90-98 – I – practiced mainly in the coastal towns of Mogadishu, Brava, Merca, and Kismayu.
III – Approximately 80% of the circumcisions are this type.Sudan – 90 – I, II, III
(Type III is most common)Tanzania – 17.7 – II, III
Togo – 12 – II
Uganda – 5 – No information available.
Yemen – 22.6 – II, III
DEFINITIONS OF TYPES OF FGC/FC :
Type I – Circumcision is the excision (removal) of the prepuce (clitoral hood) with or without removal of a part of the clitoris (a.k.a. sunna circumcision).Type II – Excision or clitoridectomy is the excision of the clitoris together with part or all of the labia minora (the inner vaginal lips).
Type III – Infibulation is the excision of part or all of the external genitalia (clitoris, labia minora and labia majora) and stitching or narrowing of the vaginal opening, leaving a very small opening, about the size of a matchstick, to allow for the flow of urine and menstrual blood. The girl or woman’s legs are generally bound together from the hip to the ankle so she remains immobile for approximately 40 days to allow for the formation of scar tissue (referred to as Sudanese circumcision in Egypt; referred to as Pharaonic circumcision in Somalia).
Type IV – Unclassified includes the p***king, piercing or incision of the clitoris and/or labia; also includes symbolic rituals. The application or insertion of corrosive substances into the vagina is also considered Type IV.
Defibulation or deinfibulation – Cutting open the scar tissue that has formed around the vaginal opening to allow penetration by her husband or for the birth of a child.
Refibulation or reinfibulation or recircumcision – The sewing up of a circumcised woman’s vaginal opening after childbirth or periodically during her life when she feels as though her opening has gotten too big or loose.
Alternative rituals – An alternative to FGM in which the traditional ceremony takes place without the actual cutting. In Kenya, girls go through a week-long program designed as a coming-of-age workshop. This ritual is called “Ntanira Na Mugambo” or “Circumcision Through Words.”
Introcision – A form of FGM/C that is practiced by the Pitta-Patta aborigines of Australia where the vaginal orifice is enlarged by tearing it downward with three fingers bound with an opossum string. The procedure is performed by an elderly man when the girl reaches puberty. In other districts, the perineum is split with a stone knife. Compulsory sexual intercourse with a number of young men usually follows the introcision. Mexico, Brazil, and Peru reportedly practice this form of FGM/C. In Peru, among a division of Pano Indians, an elderly woman uses a bamboo knife to cut around the hymen from the vaginal entrance and severs the hymen from the labia, at the same time exposing the clitoris. Medicinal herbs are applied, followed by the insertion of a phallic clay object into the vagina.
Islamic values or Australian? Frankly, the concept of “islamic values” is an affront to every person who calls himself Australian.
There is no way to overstate this – the implications of allowing islam to continue unchecked and cosseted by appeasing lawmakers, etc, MUST BE STOPPED, or this country runs the risk of sliding into a dark pit of depravity such as it has never known.
People of Australia – the time to fight for your country is NOW.
Update:
Female genital mutilation in Iraqi Kurdistan: “we will never stop because Islam and our elders require it”
The mainstream media and Islamic advocacy groups in the United States constantly tell us that female genital mutilation is a cultural practice that has nothing to do with Islam. They do this despite the fact that the among the schools of Islamic jurisprudence, Shafi’is consider circumcision obligatory for women; Hanbalis say it is an honorable custom, but not obligatory; Hanafis say it should be done as a courtesy to the husband. None of the three, you’ll note, say that the practice is wrong, immoral, un-Islamic.
Anyway, the upshot of this situation is that while most Westerners take for granted, if they’ve ever heard of female genital mutilation at all, that it is un-Islamic, it remains only Muslims who haven’t gotten this message.
“For Kurdish Girls, a Painful Ancient Ritual,” by Amit R. Paley for the Washington Post, December 29 (thanks to Morgaan Sinclair):
TUZ KHURMATU, Iraq – Sheelan Anwar Omer, a shy 7-year-old Kurdish girl, bounded into her neighbor’s house with an ear-to-ear smile, looking for the party her mother had promised.There was no celebration. Instead, a local woman quickly locked a rusty red door behind Sheelan, who looked bewildered when her mother ordered the girl to remove her underpants. Sheelan began to whimper, then tremble, while the women pushed apart her legs and a midwife raised a stainless-steel razor blade in the air. “I do this in the name of Allah!” she intoned.
As the midwife sliced off part of Sheelan’s genitals, the girl let out a high-pitched wail heard throughout the neighborhood. As she carried the sobbing child back home, Sheelan’s mother smiled with pride.
“This is the practice of the Kurdish people for as long as anyone can remember,” said the mother, Aisha Hameed, 30, a housewife in this ethnically mixed town about 100 miles north of Baghdad. ”We don’t know why we do it, but we will never stop because Islam and our elders require it.”
Kurdistan is the only known part of Iraq –and one of the few places in the world–where female circumcision is widespread. More than 60 percent of women in Kurdish areas of northern Iraq have been circumcised, according to a study conducted this year. In at least one Kurdish territory, 95 percent of women have undergone the practice, which human rights groups call female genital mutilation.
The practice, and the Kurdish parliament’s refusal to outlaw it, highlight the plight of women in a region with a reputation for having a more progressive society than the rest of Iraq. Advocates for women point to the increasing frequency of honor killings against women and female self-immolations in Kurdistan this year as further evidence that women in the area still face significant obstacles, despite efforts to raise public awareness of circumcision and violence against women. [...]
Supporters of female circumcision said the practice, which has been a ritual in their culture for countless generations, is rooted in sayings they attribute to the prophet Muhammad, though the accuracy of those sayings is disputed by other Muslim scholars….
Of course. But they don’t seem to be able to dispute the accuracy of those sayings effectually enough to curb this practice where it is found among Muslims.
Update:
Thousands of girls in Britain have suffered genital mutilation
Circumcision is “obligatory” for “both men and women” — so says a legal manual of the Shafi’i school of Islamic jurisprudence, ‘Umdat al-Salik (e4.3). This school is dominant in Egypt, where 97% of women have suffered genital mutilation. The Hanbali school teaches, in contrast, that female genital mutilation is not obligatory, while noting that it is accepted Islamic practice; the Hanafi school calls it “a mere courtesy to the husband.”
In any case, the Islamic justifications given for the practice enable it to continue. Yet in the West it is considered “Islamophobic” to mention these Islamic justifications. However, the longer they are ignore, the more girls will be mutilated in Britain and the West in general. Calling this an African custom, as this article does, is a misdiagnosis, and like all misdiagnoses it will contribute nothing toward a cure.
“Thousands of girls mutilated in Britain,” by Richard Kerbaj in the Times, March 16 or Jihad Watch
The NHS is to advertise free operations to reverse female circumcisions, with experts warning that each year more than 500 British girls have their genitals mutilated.Despite having been outlawed in 1985, female circumcision is still practised in British African communities, in some cases on girls as young as 5. Police have been unable to bring a single prosecution even though they suspect that community elders are being flown from the Horn of Africa to carry out the procedures.
The advertisement will appear from next month on a Somali satellite TV station much viewed in Britain. It features Juliet Albert, a midwife who does the reverse operations, and promises, in English and Somali, confidentiality for victims of female genital mutilation.
The advertisement was expected to help to undermine demand for girls to be circumcised, and to popularise the reversal procedure, Ms Albert said. Thousands of such operations have been carried out at specialist clinics and hospitals around Britain and demand is growing slowly.
Female circumcision, which is done for various reasons, such as religious and cultural traditions, can cause severe health complications including infections and psychological problems. The procedure, predominantly carried out on girls aged between 5 and 12, can range from the removal of the clitoris to the removal of all the exterior parts of the vagina, which is then sewn up.
A study by the Foundation for Women’s Health, Research and Development (Forward), estimated that 66,000 women living in England and Wales had been circumcised, most before leaving their country of origin. The government-funded research also found that more than 7,000 girls were at a high risk of being subjected to genital mutilation in Britain.
Sarah McCulloch, of the Agency for Culture Change Management UK, said that every year more than 500 British girls were having circumcisions. “A lot of them are done in the UK, but some still travel overseas,” she said….
Update:
Mali: Women demand law against genital mutilation
Brava! But they will face an uphill battle, with opposition sure to come from Islamic clerics. “Circumcision is obligatory (O: for both men and women. For men it consists of removing the prepuce from the penis, and for women, removing the prepuce (Ar. bazr) of the clitoris (n: not the clitoris itself, as some mistakenly assert). (A: Hanbalis hold that circumcision of women is not obligatory but sunna, while Hanafis consider it a mere courtesy to the husband.)” – ‘Umdat al-Salik e4.3.
“Women Finally Demand Law Against Genital Mutilation,” from MISNA, August 7 (thanks to JW):
Yesterday, some 700 activists, mostly women, have marched in favor of the introduction of laws to ban the practice of female genital mutilation (FMG) in Bamako. The demonstrators presented the request directly to parliament. The long overdue initiative, organized by the Coordination of women’s NGO’s in Mali, was repeated in other areas of the country, where more women also staged small gatherings. “The rate of FMG in Mali is very high, reaching some 92%” said Nicola Giovannini of the “No Peace without Justice” NGO to MISNA; the organization has been engaged in a vast campaign against female mutilation alongside Malian NGO’s. Giovannini said that in Mali, there is a strong political consensus for a law to ban the practice, but authorities have so far suggested that Malian society itself is not yet ready to penalize this terrible and very established practice. The participation in anti FMG protests suggests that there is an ever stronger – if long overdue – desire for change.
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Can’t be bothered, “Susanne”.
You had your chance to make your point and you blew it. Bye now!
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