Yusuf Rubs It…

*  This is the one with Female Genital Mutilation in it! Not for the squeamish!

Sharia advocate Yusuf Irfan is tireless in his da’awa efforts. For good Muslims like him, Islam, only Islam matters.  For Yusuf, anyone critcal of Islam is the enemy, and being a devout soldier of Allah, Yusuf just can’t hold his ink: once again, he keeps spilling it all over his old enemies like Daniel Pipes and Richard Kerbaj.

Unfortunately, Yusuf  doesn’t see any problem with stoning or FGM, wife-beating, public flogging, head-chopping, because all that  is rooted in Islamic “law”, the sharia. That, Yusuf believes,  needs defending.

Yusuf on FGM which is becoming widespread in formerly Hindu/Buddhist Indonesia: 

“Perhaps our imams can remind Indonesian  imams that not all vestiges of Indonesia’s indigenous pre-Islamic customs are worth holding onto.”

Mind you, nothing ever sticks, and  truth-challenged Yusuf hardly ever makes a point. Sometimes he gets caught up in his own lies and is forced to apologize.  Other than that, he relies on the flimsiest of arguments to try and smear the perceived enemies of Islam, like here: 

You can read more about this episode in dangerous media silliness here. You can also read more of Kerbaj’s works on the blog of one of Daniel “Saddam financed Obama’s house” Pipes here.

And Australian readers can again have a good laugh by reading Kerbaj getting even the most basic Arabic naming practices muddled.

Yusuf:  who gives a flying f*#k in Australia whether Arabic names are spelled right besides you? Wouldn’t it be wiser to teach some of your countrymen (or women) basic literacy, which is around 80%, is it not Yusuf? 

‘If the music annoys you (yes, there’s muzak on Planet Irfan) you can switch it off’, Yusuf advises annoyed readers. One wonders why Yusuf engages in such unislamic pastime, since music is haram, is it not Yusuf?

So lets ask the imam, shall we?

What is the Islamic ruling on female circumcision? Please explain in detail.

It is Mustahabb (commendable) for females to circumcise. It is narrated in 
an authentic Hadith quoted from Abu Dawood Shareef that during the Prophet 
(Sallallaahu Álayhi Wasallam)’s time there was a woman in Madinah who used 
to perform circumcision for women (Fathul Bari vol. 16 p. 353) 

and Allah Ta’ala Knows Best 

Mufti Ebrahim Desai

In other news:

Crapping for Allah  (The Opinionator)
A newly-invented toilet provides an excuse to run down Muhammad’s Rules of Relief. 

Dubai’s Dirty Little Secret  (ABC)
Western countries look positively egalitarian compared to the Arab world. 

The Muslim Case for Underage Sex  (Islam Q&A)
The second fatwa listed on this mainstream Islamic site page gives permission for men to marry off their underage daughters without their permission. 

Life Cheap in Taliban’s Afghanistan  (AFP)
How could we abandon the people to this? 

Letter to a Young Jihadi  (Ottawa Citizen)
“Don’t cut my head off, Bro!” This Left-Wing view from Canada probably won’t appeal to all of our readers, but there is some good humor, even if the historical facts are a bit hazy. 

Israel is a Red State  (FrontPage Magazine)
A partisan article, but one that we promote here merely because the mainstream media is so determined not to vet the next American President on such an important issue. 

Muslim Allegiance to a Non-Muslim Country<;/span>  (Islam Q&A)
Short answer: it doesn’t exist. As this fatwa puts it, “His homeland may not be Islamic, so how can he be loyal to his homeland?”

Warning: What follows now is very graphic:

Clitoridectomy; Wikipedia; The Age and Islam

Written by Circe  Â

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 completelyignored.  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   Clitoridectomy alone ensures a woman will never have an orgasm (this has been medically proved) ie her right to full sexual pleasure is denied!!  It is the same as removing the penis.  If the Islamic laws and text that support the practice are constantly hidden, they cannot be eradicated and whenever those who know Islam’s text and laws are in positions of power, they will be enforced again!   Pretending it isn’t Islamic seems good but is a dangerous distortion of the truth.   It is only pressure from the west and colonialism that has altered ‘Islamic’ behaviour but such western influence (leading to depravity) is resisted and can be overturned.             Some hope appeared when Wikipedia, which still tries to excuse Islam, actually had the courage to state accurately that there was a Shafi law (an important school of Islamic law) that mandated CLITORIDECTOMY.  And it also daringly referred to two hadith – there are many others but hey, it’s a start!!  Can we hope for more??   Islamic Law         “One of the four Sunni schools of religious law, the Shafi’i school, rules that clitoridectomy is mandatory” (Wikipedia)  Yes!  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!!) Sadly – Wikipedia fails to report the comment by Sheikh ‘Abd al-Wakil Durubi in the English ‘version’ who notes: “Hanbalis hold that circumcision of women is not obligatory but sunna, while Hanafis consider it a mere courtesy to the husband.”(Reliance of the Traveller p 59;)   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: In 1994, Egyptian Mufti Sheikh Jad Al-Hâqq ‘Ali Jad Al-Hâqq issued a fatwa stating, “Circumcision is mandatory for men and for women. If the people of any village decide to abandon it, the village imam must fight against them as if they had abandoned the call to prayer.” [60] The Al-Azhar University in Cairo has issued several fatwas endorsing FGC, in 1949, 1951 and 1981. 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: “All the jurisprudents, since the advent of Islam and for 14 centuries or more, are in consensus that female circumcision is permitted by Islam. But they were divided with regard to its status in shari’a. Some said that female circumcision is required by shari’a, just like male circumcision. Some said this is the mainstream practice, while others said it is a noble act. But throughout the history of Islam, nobody has ever said that performing female circumcision is a crime. There has been a religious ruling on this for 14 centuries.”        And this is why it is impossible to reform Islam … even if there attempts from within they fail.  “First of all, there are reliable hadiths in Al-Bukhari and Al-Muslim which support female circumcision. The Prophet Muhammad said: ‘If a circumcised woman and man have intercourse, they must undergo ablution.’ Unreliable hadiths do not cancel out the reliable ones. We have unreliable hadiths regarding prayer, fasting, charity, and pilgrimage. Should we abolish prayer and charity just because some hadiths are unreliable?..”Female circumcision is no less valid just because it was practiced in Pharaonic times and in the Jahiliya.  Islam accepted some customs, which were harmonious with human nature, and rejected others, which contradicted human nature.” (reported byMEMRI.org  27/2/2007 and FGMnetwork )    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.          Abu-Dawud   Book 41, No.  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. (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: Muslim  book 3 No. 684:  Abu Musa reported: There cropped up a difference of opinion between a group of Muhajirs ….He (Abu Musa, the narrator) said: I got up (and went) to ‘A’isha and sought her permission and it was granted…… 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 parts touch each other a bath becomes obligatory. 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  Maliks Muwatta Book 2 , Number 2.19.73: Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Said ibn al-Musayyab that Umar ibn al-Khattab and Uthman ibn Affan and A’isha, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to say, “When the circumcised part touches the circumcised part, ghusl is obligatory.” Maliks Muwatta Book 2 , Number 2.19.74: Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu’n Nadr, the mawla of Umar ibn Abdullah that Abu Salamaibn Abdar-Rahman ibn Awf related that he had asked A’isha, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, what made ghusl obligatory. She said, “Do you know what you are like, Abu Salama? You are like a chick when it hears the cocks crowing and so crows with them. When the circumcised part passes the circumcised part, ghusl is obligatory.” Maliks Muwatta Book 2 , Number 2.19.75: Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said from Said ibn al-Musayyab that Abu Musa al-Ashari came to A’isha, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and said to her, “The disagreement of the companions in a matter which I hate to bring before you has distressed me.” She said, “What is that? You did not ask your mother about it, so ask me.” He said, “A man penetrates his wife, but becomes listless and does not ejaculate. “She said, “When the circumcised part passes the circumcised part ghusl is obligatory.” Abu Musa added, “I shall never ask anyone about this after you.” Maliks Muwatta Book 2 , Number 2.19.77:   Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar used to say, “When the circumcised part passes the circumcised part, ghusl is obligatory.”  b) Hajj Maliks Muwatta Book 20   No.  20.46.161 – very long, all about penalties for contact between a male and female during hajj –……………Malik said, “What spoils a hajj or an umra and makes sacrificing an animal and repeating the hajj necessary is the meeting of the two circumcised parts, even if there is no emission. Above hadiths from this SITE suggest that ‘circumcision’ of females was normal for Muslims: c) Tirmidi hadith: Tirmidi hadith 166    Narrated Aisha;  Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said: When the circumcised parts bypass one another (i.e. have intercourse), taking of a bath is necessary. Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) and I did that and then we took a bath.  (from ALIM CD rom) 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.     Also Hadith in the Musnad by Ahmed Ibn Hanbal, where Shaddad Ibn Aws reports that the prophet said:  “Cicumcision is a sunnah for Men, MAKRUMAH for women”      (MAKRUMAH can be translated as “noble deed” or “honorable”) cited HERE  These show that such hadith exist—call them ‘weak’ if you like!          Shia View Foster states that female circumcision is rumoured to be common amongst Shi’ite communities ruled by Hezbollah in Lebanon  (Wikipedia) Judaism;  Christianity: Wikipedia may note correctly that neither Judaism nor Christianity have text supporting clitoridectomy etc and notes that the only members of these two groups that carry it out are those from Africa ie from areas under considerable Arab/Islamic influence for 1400 years.  Christian converts from Islam sometimes continue the practice.  Old WHO reports showed much higher practice rates amongst Muslims in FGM areas than Christians but it’s now politically incorrect to note this.   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.    Indeed further instances of such practices are found in the Islamic world all the time and becoming more prominent in Muslim countries where the progress of Islam was slowed by colonialism eg Indonesia ( see ‘In the cut’  Sydney Mornig Herald  January 13, 2004 and NYT.   ‘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: “You probably don’t need it but women in hot countries do”!!! (Melbourne   Age 21/7/01 p7)   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: Which religion has a law that makes clitoridectomy obligatory? Which religion has a prophet who endorsed clitoridectomy? Which religion has hadiths that support clitoridectomy/circumcision of females The spread of which religion is most closely related to the spread of clitoridectomy/FGM? Which religion carries out most clitoridectomies  the world over? Which religion has an Australian mufti that supports clitoridectomy?       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  Comments (22)