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Religious views on female genital mutilation From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Figure 1- Percentages of Girls and Women Aged 15 to 49 Who Have Undergone Female Genital Mutilation-Cutting (FGM-C) in High-Prevalence Countries, 2004–2015 (27172657301).jpg Female genital mutilation in Africa, Iraqi Kurdistan and Yemen Origin Northeast Africa, possibly Meroë (current Sudan), c. 800 BCE – c. 350 CE Earliest reference 163 BCE Concentration Africa, Middle East, Indonesia, Malaysia Religions Mostly Muslim, but also animist, Christian and one Jewish group Required by any religion None Definition "Female genital mutilation comprises all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons" (WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, 1997).[1] There is a widespread view among practitioners of female genital mutilation (FGM) that it is a religious requirement, although there is no unequivocal link between the practice and religion.[2] Prevalence rates vary not according to religion but to geography and ethnic group, sometimes differing along national lines within the same ethnicity.[3] There is an ongoing debate about the extent to which the practice's continuation is influenced by custom, social pressure, lack of health-care information, and the position of women.[a] The procedures confer no health benefits and can lead to serious health problems.[1][5] Figures from UNICEF in 2016 suggested that FGM is concentrated in 27 African countries, Yemen, Iraqi Kurdistan, and Indonesia. Over 200 million women and girls are thought to be living with it in those 30 countries. The highest percentages are found in Somalia, Guinea, Mali, Egypt, and Sudan, where 87–98 percent of women had experienced it.[6] FGM is practised predominantly within Muslim societies,[7] but it also exists within Christian and animist groups.[8] It is found only within and adjacent to Muslim communities,[8] but it is not required by Islam—indeed, Muslim scholars have declared it unIslamic[9]—and predates it by centuries.[b] There is mention of it on a Greek papyrus from 163 BCE and a possible indirect reference to it on a coffin from Egypt's Middle Kingdom (c. 1991–1786 BCE).[10] It has been found among Coptic Christians in Egypt, Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia, and Protestants and Catholics in Sudan and Kenya.[11] The only Jewish group known to have practised it are the Beta Israel of Ethiopia.[c] Contents [hide] 1 Background 1.1 Definition 1.2 Origins 2 Christianity 3 Islam 3.1 Overview 3.2 Sunni view 3.2.1 Southeast Asia 3.3 Shia view 4 Judaism 5 Other religions 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References Background[edit] Definition[edit] Further information: Female genital mutilation and Prevalence of female genital mutilation by country Until the 1980s FGM was widely known as female circumcision, which gave the erroneous impression that it was equivalent in severity and health effects to male circumcision. In fact, FGM has no health benefits and is almost always more extensive than male circumcision.[13][1] In 1990 the IAC began referring to it as female genital mutilation, as did the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1991.[14] The WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA defined FGM in 1997 as "all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons".[1] There are four WHO categories: Type I: complete or partial removal of the clitoral glans and/or clitoral hood; Type II (excision): complete or partial removal of the inner labia, with or without removal of the clitoral glans and outer labia; Type III (infibulation): removal of the inner and outer labia and the fusion of the wound, leaving a matchstick-sized hole for the passing of urine and menstrual blood; Type IV: miscellaneous practices, including symbolic nicking.[1][15] Origins[edit] See also: Ancient Egyptian religion Figures showing a male circumcision scene, based on a wall carving found in Sakkara, Egypt[16] FGM is concentrated in what Gerry Mackie called an "intriguingly contiguous" zone in Africa—east to west from Somalia to Senegal, and north to south from Egypt to Tanzania.[17] The practice is both "contiguously distributed and contagious", he writes: "It spreads across groups as more resource-endowed males encounter less resource-endowed females in circumstances of inequality." Marriageability is its "main engine of continuation".[18] The practice's distribution in Africa meets in Nubia in the Sudan, leading Mackie to suggest that Type III FGM began there with the Meroite civilization (c. 800 BCE – c. 350 CE) to increase confidence in paternity.[19][20] The proposed circumcision of an Egyptian girl is mentioned on a Greek papyrus from 163 BCE.[21] Spell 1117 of the Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts may refer to an uncircumcised girl ('m't), although there is disagreement about the word's meaning. Found on the sarcophagus of Sit-Hedj-Hotep, the spell dates to Egypt's Middle Kingdom (c. 1991–1786 BCE).[22][23] The examination of mummies has shown no evidence of FGM.[24] Strabo (c. 64 BCE – c. 23 CE) wrote about FGM after visiting Egypt around 25 BCE,[25] as did Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BCE – 50 CE): "the Egyptians by the custom of their country circumcise the marriageable youth and maid in the fourteenth (year) of their age, when the male begins to get seed, and the female to have a menstrual flow."[26] Type III FGM became linked to slavery. João dos Santos wrote in 1609 of a group near Mogadishu who had a "custome to sew up their Females, especially their slaves being young to make them unable for conception, which makes these slaves sell dearer, both for their chastitie, and for better confidence which their Masters put in them".[27] Christianity[edit] See also: Campaign against female genital mutilation in colonial Kenya The New Testament does not mention FGM.[d] Christian authorities agree that the practice has no foundation in Christianity's religious texts, and Christian missionaries in Africa were at the forefront of efforts to stop it. Indeed, they led the way in referring to it as mutilation; from 1929 the Kenya Missionary Council called it the "sexual mutilation of women", following the lead of Marion Scott Stevenson, a Church of Scotland missionary.[31] When, in the 1930s, Christian missionaries tried to make the abandonment of FGM a condition of church membership in colonial Kenya, they provoked a far-reaching campaign in defence of the practice.[32] Despite the absence of scriptural support, women and girls within Christian communities, including in Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania, do undergo FGM.[9] It has been found among Coptic Christians in Egypt, Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia, and Protestants and Catholics in Sudan and Kenya.[11] A 2013 UNICEF report identified 17 African countries in which at least 10 percent of Christian women and girls aged 15–49 had undergone it. In Niger, for example, 55 percent of Christian women and girls had experienced it, against two percent of Muslim women and girls.[14] Islam[edit] Overview[edit] FGM is found mostly within and adjacent to Muslim communities, but most Muslim countries do not practise it. Prevalence rates depend on the ethnicity and location. [33] In Arabic, the practice is referred to as khafḍ (Arabic: خفض‎) or khifaḍ (Arabic: خِفَض‎). Khitan (Arabic: خِتان‎) means male circumcision, but it can also encompass FGM.[34][35] Less severe forms of FGM, or what the World Health Organization calls Type I (removal of the clitoral hood and/or the clitoral glans), may be referred to as sunna (recommended).[36] Senior Muslim religious authorities appear to agree that FGM is not required by Islam or is prohibited by it.[7] The Quran does not mention FGM or male circumcision.[37][38] FGM is praised in a few daʻīf (weak) hadith (sayings attributed to Muhammad) as noble but not required.[39] In addition to Sharia, the Ijtihad have been one of the four sources of Muslim law through the centuries. Ijtihad include fatwas (opinions of Muslim religious scholars), which are often widely distributed and describe behaviour that conforms to religious requirements. Fatwas have been issued forbidding FGM,[40] favouring it,[41] and leaving the decision to parents but advising against it.[42] Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu Several Muslim leaders have called for an end to the practice. In 2004, after CNN broadcast images of a girl in Cairo undergoing FGM, then Grand Mufti of Egypt Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi declared that hadiths on FGM were unreliable.[41][43][44][45] A conference at Al-Azhar University in Cairo in 2006 saw prominent Muslim clergy declare it unnecessary.[46] After a 12-year-old Egyptian girl died during an FGM procedure in 2007, the Al-Azhar Supreme Council of Islamic Research in Cairo ruled, according to UNICEF, that FGM had "no basis in core Islamic law or any of its partial provisions and that it is harmful and should not be practiced".[47][48] Ali Gomaa, then Grand Mufti of Egypt, stated: "It's prohibited, prohibited, prohibited."[48] Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said in 2012 that FGM was "a ritual that has survived over centuries and must be stopped as Islam does not support it".[49] Sunni view[edit] Different schools of Islamic jurisprudence have expressed different views on FGM.[50] The Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence views it as makrumah lilnisa (noble but not required). The Hanbali school sees it as sunna (good practice). For the Hanafi school it is preferred, and for the Shafi'i school it is obligatory (wājib).[51][52][53] Other scholars say it has no justification at all.[54] Egyptian scholars such as Mohammed Emara and Mohammad Salim Al-Awa argue that FGM is not an Islamic practice and is not endorsed by Islamic jurisprudence. In May 2012 it was reported that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt was working to decriminalize FGM. According to reporter Mariz Tadros, they "offered to circumcise women for a nominal fee as part of their community services, a move that threatens to reverse decades of local struggle against the harmful practice. ... Many of the Brothers (and Salafis) argue that while it is not mandatory, it is nevertheless mukarama (preferable, pleasing in the eyes of God).[55] One hadith from the Sunan Abu Dawood collection states: "A woman used to perform circumcision in Medina. The Prophet said to her: Do not cut severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband." Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani describes this hadith as poor in authenticity, and quotes Ahmad Bayhaqi's opinion that it is "poor, with a broken chain of transmission". Yusuf ibn Abd-al-Barr commented: "Those who consider (female) circumcision a sunna, use as evidence this hadith of Abu al-Malih, which is based solely on the evidence of Hajjaj ibn Artaa, who cannot be admitted as an authority when he is the sole transmitter."[56] Another hadith used in support is in Sahih Muslim: "The Messenger of Allah said: When anyone sits amidst four parts (of the woman) and the circumcised parts touch each other a bath becomes obligatory." Mohammad Salim al-Awa states that, while the hadith is authentic, it is not evidence of support for FGM. He states that the Arabic for "the two circumcision organs" is a single word used to connote two forms of circumcision. While the female form is used to denote both male and female genitalia, it should be considered to refer only to the male circumcised organ.[57] A hadith in Sahih Bukhari says: "I heard the Prophet saying. "Five practices are characteristics of the Fitra: circumcision, shaving the pubic hair, cutting the moustaches short, clipping the nails, and depilating the hair of the armpits."[58] Mohamed Salim Al-Awwa writes that it is unclear whether these requirements were meant for females.[59] Southeast Asia[edit] Further information: Islam in Southeast Asia External images FGM ceremony in Indonesia Preparations Girl before procedure Nine-month-old afterwards — Stephanie Sinclair (The New York Times Magazine, April 2006)[60] According to William Clarence-Smith, Islamic Southeast Asia "overwhelmingly" follows the Shafi`i school of law, the only one to make FGM obligatory. The greatest opposition in the area, he writes, is from syncretic Muslims in Java; some practitioners use the root of the turmeric plant to perform an alternative symbolic procedure.[61] Islam introduced FGM into Indonesia and Malaysia from the 13th century on.[62][63] Over 80 percent of Malaysian women claim religious obligation as the primary reason for practising FGM, along with hygiene (41 percent) and cultural practice (32 percent).[64] The practice is widespread among Muslim women in Indonesia,[65] and over 90 percent of Muslim adults supported it as of 2003.[66] In 2013 the Indonesian Ulema Council, Indonesia's top Muslim clerical body, ruled that it favours FGM, stating that although it is not mandatory, it is "morally recommended".[67] The Ulema has been pushing the Indonesian government to circumcise girls, arguing that it is part of Islamic teachings.[68] Shia view[edit] Shiite religious texts, such as the hadith transmitted by Al-Sadiq, state that "circumcision is makrumah for women" (noble but not required).[69] FGM is performed within the Dawoodi Bohra community in India, Pakistan, Yemen and East Africa.[70] According to a 2015–2016 survey, over 80 percent of 365 Dawoodi Bohra women surveyed wanted the practice to end.[71] 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.[72] Judaism[edit] Ethiopian Jews arriving in Israel, 1991 See also: Aliyah from Ethiopia and Ethiopian Jews in Israel Judaism requires male circumcision, but it does not allow FGM and the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) does not mention it. The only Jewish group known to have practised FGM are the Beta Israel of Ethiopia.[12][73] The Beta Israel were not familiar with the Talmud, the Mishnah, and other religious scripture, and read and spoke little or no Hebrew. Most were flown to Israel between 1984 and 1991, where they converted to Orthodox Judaism.[9] Once in Israel, the women abandoned FGM. A study in 1997 found that one third of the 113 Beta Israel women examined had experienced it; 27 percent had undergone partial or total clitoridectomy.[74] Other religions[edit] Several animist groups in Africa, particularly Guinea and Mali, practise it.[75] Hinduism and Buddhism reject it.[76] It is absent from Confucian traditions.[77] See also[edit] Religious male circumcision Notes[edit] Jump up ^ Gerry Mackie and John LeJeune (2008): "An ethnic or religious explanation of FGM/C is not sufficient since, first, it is practiced in a wide variety of ethnic and religious groups; and second, the practice is not necessarily universal within the broad descriptive group, but is often practiced only within a number of subgroups. Take religion: there are Muslim communities who practice FGM/C, often believing that the practice is required by the holy book. Yet, nearby communities of the same religion may not engage in FGM/C, and worldwide most Muslims do not follow the practice. Religious obligation is an important factor in the decision to practice FGM/C, but is typically just one of several elements within what one WHO report (1999) calls a mental map that incorporates the stories, beliefs, values, and codes of conduct of society, and which are in fact 'interconnected and mutually reinforcing and, taken together, form overwhelming unconscious and conscious motivations' for its continuation."[4] Jump up ^ Islam is thought to have originated in Mecca in the early 7th century CE. Jump up ^ Shaye J. D. Cohen (2005): Aside from the Beta Israel of Ethiopia (the so-called Falashas) ... no Jewish community, in either ancient, medieval, or modern times, is known to have practiced female circumcision."[12] Jump up ^ Samuel Waje Kunhiyop (2008): "Nowhere in all of Scripture or in any of recorded church history is there even a hint that women were to be circumcised."[28][29][30] References[edit] ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Classification of female genital mutilation", Geneva: World Health Organization, 2017. "Female genital mutilation". Geneva: World Health Organization. February 2017. Jump up ^ Cappa, Claudia; et al. (22 July 2013). Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Statistical Overview and Exploration of the Dynamics of Change (pdf). New York: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). pp. 69–71. Jump up ^ Yoder, Stanley P.; Yang, Shanxiao; Johansen, Elise (29 May 2013). "Estimates of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in 27 African Countries and Yemen". Studies in Family Planning. 44 (2): (189–204), 196–198. doi:10.1111/j.1728-4465.2013.00352.x. JSTOR 23408619. Jump up ^ Mackie, Gerry; LeJeune, John (2008). "Social Dynamics of Abandonment of Harmful Practices: A New Look at the Theory" (PDF). Working Paper No. 2008-XXX, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre: 8. Jump up ^ Abdulcadira, Jasmine; Margairaz, C.; Boulvain, M.; Irion, O. (January 2011). "Care of women with female genital mutilation/cutting". Swiss Medical Weekly. 6 (14). doi:10.4414/smw.2011.13137. PMID 21213149. Jump up ^ "Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Global Concern", New York: United Nations Children's Fund, February 2016. ^ Jump up to: a b Rouzi, Abdulrahim A. (2013). "Facts and controversies on female genital mutilation and Islam". The European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care. 18 (1): 10–14. doi:10.3109/13625187.2012.749982. PMID 23286241. ^ Jump up to: a b Mackie, Gerry (December 1996). "Ending Footbinding and Infibulation: A Convention Account" (pdf). American Sociological Review. 61 (6): 999–1017. ^ Jump up to: a b c El-Damanhoury, I. (2013). "Editorial: The Jewish And Christian View On Female Genital Mutilation". African Journal of Urology. 19.3: 127–129. doi:10.1016/j.afju.2013.01.004. Jump up ^ Knight, Mary (June 2001). "Curing Cut or Ritual Mutilation?: Some Remarks on the Practice of Female and Male Circumcision in Graeco-Roman Egypt". Isis. 92 (2): (317–338), 330. JSTOR 3080631. PMID 11590895. ^ Jump up to: a b Papademetriou, George C. (2011).Two Traditions, One Space: Orthodox Christians and Muslims in Dialogue. Somerset Hall Press, p. 138. ISBN 978-1-935-24406-6 ^ Jump up to: a b Cohen, Shaye J. D. (2005). Why Aren't Jewish Women Circumcised? Gender and Covenant In Judaism, Oakland: University of California Press, p. 59. Jump up ^ Nussbaum, Martha (1999). Sex and Social Justice. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 119. ^ Jump up to: a b UNICEF 2013, pp. 6–7. Jump up ^ Ismail, Edna Adan; Ali, Amal Ahmed; Mohamed, Abdirahman Saeed; Kraemer, Thomas; Winfield, Sarah (2016). "Female genital mutilation survey in Somaliland" (PDF). Hargeisa: Edna Adan Maternity and Teaching Hospital: 5ff. Jump up ^ This scene is based on this wall carving. Jump up ^ Mackie & LeJeune 2008, p. 5. Jump up ^ Mackie, Gerry (2000). "Female Genital Cutting: The Beginning of the End" (PDF). In Shell-Duncan, Bettina; Hernlund, Ylva. 'Female "Circumcision" in Africa: Culture Controversy and Change. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers. pp. 264–265. Jump up ^ Mackie 2000, pp. 266–267. Jump up ^ Also see Hicks, Esther K. (1996). Infibulation: Female Mutilation in Islamic Northeastern Africa. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, p. 19ff. Jump up ^ Knight 2001, pp. 329–330. Jump up ^ Knight 2001, p. 330. Jump up ^ De Buck, Adriaan and Gardiner, Alan (1961). The Egyptian Coffin Texts, Volume 7, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 448–450. Jump up ^ Knight 2001, p. 331. Jump up ^ Strabo, Geographica, Book VII, chapter 2, 17.2.5. Jump up ^ Knight 2001, p. 333. Jump up ^ Mackie 1996, pp. 1003, 1009. Jump up ^ Kunhiyop, Samuel Waje (2008). African Christian Ethics, Zondervan, p. 297: "Nowhere in all of Scripture or in any of recorded church history is there even a hint that women were to be circumcised." Jump up ^ Caldwell, J. C., Orubuloye, I. O., & Caldwell, P. (1997). "Male and female circumcision in Africa from a regional to a specific Nigerian examination", Social Science & Medicine, 44(8), pp. 1181–1193. Jump up ^ Jones, S. D., Ehiri, J., and Anyanwu, E. (2004). "Female genital mutilation in developing countries: an agenda for public health response". European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, 116(2), pp. 144–151. doi:10.1016/j.ejogrb.2004.06.013PMID 15358454 Jump up ^ Karanja, James (2009). The Missionary Movement in Colonial Kenya: The Foundation of Africa Inland Church. Göttingen: Cuvillier Verlag, 93, n. 631. Jump up ^ Thomas, Lynn M. (2000). "'Ngaitana (I will circumcise myself)': Lessons from Colonial Campaigns to Ban Excision in Meru, Kenya", in Bettina Shell-Duncan, Ylva Hernlund, eds., Female "Circumcision" in Africa. Lynne Rienner, p. 132. Jump up ^ Mackie 1996, p. 1004. Jump up ^ Clarence-Smith, William G. (2008). "Islam and Female Genital Cutting in Southeast Asia: The Weight of the Past" (pdf). Finnish Journal of Ethnicity and Migration. 3 (2): 14–15. Jump up ^ "Khitān", Encyclopædia Britannica. Jump up ^ Gruenbaum, Ellen (2001). The Female Circumcision Controversy: An Anthropological Perspective. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 2–3, 63. Jump up ^ Mackie 1996, pp. 1004–1005. Jump up ^ Al-Awa, Mohamed Selim (May 2012). "FGM in the context of Islam" (PDF). Cairo: The National Council for Childhood and Motherhood: 2. Jump up ^ Asmani, Ibrahim Lethome; Abdi, Maryam Sheikh (2008). De-linking Fe male Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam. Frontiers in Reproductive Health, United States Agency for International Development (USAID). pp. (1–28), 6–13. Jump up ^ "In Mauritania, progress made in ending female genital mutilation/cutting", UNICEF, October 2012. "Religious fatwa for banning all forms of FGM/C" (PDF). Somalia Ministry of Justice, Religion and Rehabilitation. Retrieved 6 September 2014. "Mauritania fatwa bans female genital mutilation", BBC News, 18 January 2010. ^ Jump up to: a b Kedar, Mordechai (2002). "Islam and 'Female Circumcision': The Dispute over FGM in the Egyptian Press, September 1994". Medicine and Law. 21 (2): 403–418. PMID 12184615. Jump up ^ "Iraqi Kurdistan: FGM Fatwa Positive, but Not Definitive", Human Rights Watch, 17 July 2010. Jump up ^ Gruenbaum 2001, p. 208. Jump up ^ Roald, Ann-Sophie (2003). Women in Islam: The Western Experience. New York: Routledge. p. 239. ISBN 978-1-134-53546-0. Jump up ^ Shehabuddin, Elora (2005). "Fatwa", in Suad, Joseph and Afsaneh, Najmabadi, eds. Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures: Family, Law and Politics. Volume 2. Leiden: Brill, p. 173. ISBN 978-9004128187 Jump up ^ El Ahl, Amira (6 December 2006). "Theologians Battle Female Circumcision". Der Spiegel. Jump up ^ "Fresh progress toward the elimination of female genital mutilation and cutting in Egypt", UNICEF press release, 2 July 2007. ^ Jump up to: a b Michael, Maggie (29 June 2007). "Egypt Officials Ban Female Circumcision", Associated Press. "Egypt mufti says female circumcision forbidden", Reuters, 24 June 2007. Jump up ^ "Secretary general of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation speaks in Jakarta at conference on the role of women in development". Thomson Reuters Foundation. 4 December 2012. Jump up ^ Rispler-Chaim, Vardit (1993). Islamic Medical Ethics in the Twentieth Century. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 84ff. ISBN 978-9004096080. Jump up ^ Rispler-Chaim 1993, pp. 85–86. Jump up ^ Roald 2003, p. 243. Jump up ^ Asmani & Abdi 2008, p. 13. Jump up ^ Rispler-Chaim 1993, p. 86. Jump up ^ Tadros, Mariz (24 May 2012). "Mutilating bodies: the Muslim Brotherhood's gift to Egyptian women". openDemocracy. Jump up ^ Al-Sabbagh, Muhammad Lutfi (1996). "Islamic Ruling on Male and Female Circumcision", Alexandria: World Health Organization, pp. 17–19, 125–126. Jump up ^ Al-Awa 2012, p. 5. Jump up ^ Rizvi et al. (1999). "Religious Circumcision: A Muslim View". BJU international, 83(S1), pp. 13-16. Berkey, J. P. (1996). "Circumcision Circumscribed: Female Excision and Cultural Accommodation in the Medieval Near East". International Journal of Middle East Studies, 28(1), pp. 19–38. Jump up ^ Al-Awa 2012, pp. 6–7. Jump up ^ Stephanie Sinclair, "Inside a Female-Circumcision Ceremony", The New York Times Magazine, April 2006, slideshow of images from Indonesia (article). Jump up ^ Clarence-Smith 2008, p. 14. Jump up ^ Feillard, Andree and Morcoes, Lies (1998). "Female Circumcision in Indonesia: To Islamize in Ceremony or Secrecy", Persee, 56, pp. 337–367. Jump up ^ Ali, Kecia (2006). Sexual Ethics And Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur'an, Hadith, and Jurisprudence. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, p. 100. Clarence-Smith, William G. (2012). "Female Circumcision in Southeast Asia since the Coming of Islam", in Chitra Raghavan and James P. Levine (eds.). Self-Determination and Women's Rights in Muslim Societies. Brandeis University Press, pp. 124–146. ISBN 978-1611682809 Ghadially, R. (1991). "All for 'Izzat': The Practice of Female Circumcision among Bohra Muslims." Manushi, 66, Sept—Oct, pp. 17—20. Hefner, Robert (1985). Hindu Javanese: Tengger Tradition and Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 34–39, 142–147, 255–258. Jump up ^ Maznah Dahlui (10 May 2012). "The Practice of Female Circumcision in Malaysia", Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya. Taha, Sya (12 March 2013). "A Tiny Cut": Female Circumcision in South East Asia", The Islamic Monthly. Jump up ^ "Indonesia", UNICEF, February 2015. Corbett, Sara (20 January 2008). "A Cutting Tradition", The New York Times. Haworth, Abigail (17 November 2012). "The day I saw 248 girls suffering genital mutilation", The Guardian. Jump up ^ "Female Circumcision in Indonesia", Population Council and USAID, September 2003, pp. 24–27. Jump up ^ Hariyadi, Mathias (24 January 2013). "Indonesian Ulema in favour of female circumcision: a 'human right'", Asia News, Jakarta. Jump up ^ "MUI pushes government to circumcise girls". The Jakarta Post. 22 January 2013. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Jump up ^ Abu-Sahlieh, S. A. Aldeeb (1999). "Muslims' Genitalia in the Hands of the Clergy: Religious Arguments about Male and Female Circumcision". In Denniston, George C.; Hodges, Frederick Mansfield; Milos, Marilyn Fayre. Male and Female Circumcision: Medical, Legal, and Ethical Considerations in Pediatric Practice. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. pp. (131–172), 147. ISBN 978-0306461316. Jump up ^ Subramanian, Reetika (9 December 2011). "Bohra women go online to fight circumcision trauma", Hindustan Times. Zahidi, Farahnaz (6 February 2013). "Female Genital Mutilation: Many Pakistani women's painful secret", The Express Tribune. Sarkar, Gaurav; Ashar, Hemal (15 April 2017). "Will the Syedna finally denounce khatna now?". Mid-day.com. Archived from the original on 16 April 2017. Jump up ^ Poisson, Jayme; Henry, Michele (21 August 2017). "Women in small Muslim sect say they have had FGM in Canada". The Toronto Star. "FAQs: Who are the Dawoodi Bohras?". Sahiyo. Archived from the original on 16 April 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017. Jump up ^ Williams, Janice (14 April 2017). "Nearly 100 Girls May Have Had Genitals Cut by Doctors in Michigan, Prosecutor Says". Newsweek. Jump up ^ Adele Berlin (ed.), "Circumcision", The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion, New York: Oxford University Press, 2011, 173. Jump up ^ Grisaru, N.; Lezer, S.; Belmake, R. H. (April 1997). "Ritual female genital surgery among Ethiopian Jews". Archives of Sexual Behaviour. 26 (2): 211–215. PMID 9101034. Jump up ^ UNICEF 2013, p. 175. Jump up ^ Clarence-Smith 2008, pp. 14–22. Jump up ^ Circumcision. Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. 2014. p. 1. 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Religious views on female genital mutilation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Figure 1- Percentages of Girls and Women Aged 15 to 49 Who Have Undergone Female Genital Mutilation-Cutting (FGM-C) in High-Prevalence Countries, 2004–2015 (27172657301).jpg
OriginNortheast Africa, possibly Meroë (current Sudan), c. 800 BCE – c. 350 CE
Earliest reference163 BCE
ConcentrationAfrica, Middle East, Indonesia, Malaysia
ReligionsMostly Muslim, but also animist, Christian and one Jewish group
Required by any religionNone
Definition"Female genital mutilation comprises all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons" (WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, 1997).[1]
There is a widespread view among practitioners of female genital mutilation (FGM) that it is a religious requirement, although there is no unequivocal link between the practice and religion.[2] Prevalence rates vary not according to religion but to geography and ethnic group, sometimes differing along national lines within the same ethnicity.[3] There is an ongoing debate about the extent to which the practice's continuation is influenced by custom, social pressure, lack of health-care information, and the position of women.[a] The procedures confer no health benefits and can lead to serious health problems.[1][5]
Figures from UNICEF in 2016 suggested that FGM is concentrated in 27 African countries, Yemen, Iraqi Kurdistan, and Indonesia. Over 200 million women and girls are thought to be living with it in those 30 countries. The highest percentages are found in Somalia, Guinea, Mali, Egypt, and Sudan, where 87–98 percent of women had experienced it.[6]
FGM is practised predominantly within Muslim societies,[7] but it also exists within Christian and animist groups.[8] It is found only within and adjacent to Muslim communities,[8] but it is not required by Islam—indeed, Muslim scholars have declared it unIslamic[9]—and predates it by centuries.[b] There is mention of it on a Greek papyrus from 163 BCE and a possible indirect reference to it on a coffin from Egypt's Middle Kingdom (c. 1991–1786 BCE).[10] It has been found among Coptic Christians in Egypt, Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia, and Protestants and Catholics in Sudan and Kenya.[11]The only Jewish group known to have practised it are the Beta Israel of Ethiopia.[c]

Background[edit]

Definition[edit]

Further information: Female genital mutilation and Prevalence of female genital mutilation by country
Until the 1980s FGM was widely known as female circumcision, which gave the erroneous impression that it was equivalent in severity and health effects to male circumcision. In fact, FGM has no health benefits and is almost always more extensive than male circumcision.[13][1] In 1990 the IAC began referring to it as female genital mutilation, as did the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1991.[14]The WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA defined FGM in 1997 as "all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons".[1] There are four WHO categories:
  • Type I: complete or partial removal of the clitoral glans and/or clitoral hood;
  • Type II (excision): complete or partial removal of the inner labia, with or without removal of the clitoral glans and outer labia;
  • Type III (infibulation): removal of the inner and outer labia and the fusion of the wound, leaving a matchstick-sized hole for the passing of urine and menstrual blood;
  • Type IV: miscellaneous practices, including symbolic nicking.[1][15]

Origins[edit]

See also: Ancient Egyptian religion

Figures showing a male circumcision scene, based on a wall carving found in Sakkara, Egypt[16]
FGM is concentrated in what Gerry Mackie called an "intriguingly contiguous" zone in Africa—east to west from Somalia to Senegal, and north to south from Egypt to Tanzania.[17] The practice is both "contiguously distributed and contagious", he writes: "It spreads across groups as more resource-endowed males encounter less resource-endowed females in circumstances of inequality." Marriageability is its "main engine of continuation".[18] The practice's distribution in Africa meets in Nubia in the Sudan, leading Mackie to suggest that Type III FGM began there with the Meroite civilization (c. 800 BCE – c. 350 CE) to increase confidence in paternity.[19][20]
The proposed circumcision of an Egyptian girl is mentioned on a Greek papyrus from 163 BCE.[21] Spell 1117 of the Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts may refer to an uncircumcised girl ('m't), although there is disagreement about the word's meaning. Found on the sarcophagus of Sit-Hedj-Hotep, the spell dates to Egypt's Middle Kingdom(c. 1991–1786 BCE).[22][23] The examination of mummies has shown no evidence of FGM.[24]
Strabo (c. 64 BCE – c. 23 CE) wrote about FGM after visiting Egypt around 25 BCE,[25] as did Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BCE – 50 CE): "the Egyptians by the custom of their country circumcise the marriageable youth and maid in the fourteenth (year) of their age, when the male begins to get seed, and the female to have a menstrual flow."[26]Type III FGM became linked to slavery. João dos Santos wrote in 1609 of a group near Mogadishu who had a "custome to sew up their Females, especially their slaves being young to make them unable for conception, which makes these slaves sell dearer, both for their chastitie, and for better confidence which their Masters put in them".[27]

Christianity[edit]

See also: Campaign against female genital mutilation in colonial Kenya
The New Testament does not mention FGM.[d] Christian authorities agree that the practice has no foundation in Christianity's religious texts, and Christian missionaries in Africa were at the forefront of efforts to stop it. Indeed, they led the way in referring to it as mutilation; from 1929 the Kenya Missionary Council called it the "sexual mutilation of women", following the lead of Marion Scott Stevenson, a Church of Scotland missionary.[31] When, in the 1930s, Christian missionaries tried to make the abandonment of FGM a condition of church membership in colonial Kenya, they provoked a far-reaching campaign in defence of the practice.[32]
Despite the absence of scriptural support, women and girls within Christian communities, including in Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania, do undergo FGM.[9] It has been found among Coptic Christiansin Egypt, Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia, and Protestants and Catholics in Sudan and Kenya.[11] A 2013 UNICEF report identified 17 African countries in which at least 10 percent of Christian women and girls aged 15–49 had undergone it. In Niger, for example, 55 percent of Christian women and girls had experienced it, against two percent of Muslim women and girls.[14]

Islam[edit]

Overview[edit]

FGM is found mostly within and adjacent to Muslim communities, but most Muslim countries do not practise it. Prevalence rates depend on the ethnicity and location. [33] In Arabic, the practice is referred to as khafḍ (Arabic: خفض‎) or khifaḍ (Arabic: خِفَض‎). Khitan (Arabic: خِتان‎) means male circumcision, but it can also encompass FGM.[34][35] Less severe forms of FGM, or what the World Health Organization calls Type I (removal of the clitoral hood and/or the clitoral glans), may be referred to as sunna (recommended).[36]
Senior Muslim religious authorities appear to agree that FGM is not required by Islam or is prohibited by it.[7] The Quran does not mention FGM or male circumcision.[37][38] FGM is praised in a few daʻīf(weak) hadith (sayings attributed to Muhammad) as noble but not required.[39] In addition to Sharia, the Ijtihad have been one of the four sources of Muslim law through the centuries. Ijtihad include fatwas (opinions of Muslim religious scholars), which are often widely distributed and describe behaviour that conforms to religious requirements. Fatwas have been issued forbidding FGM,[40] favouring it,[41] and leaving the decision to parents but advising against it.[42]

Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu
Several Muslim leaders have called for an end to the practice. In 2004, after CNN broadcast images of a girl in Cairo undergoing FGM, then Grand Mufti of Egypt Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi declared that hadiths on FGM were unreliable.[41][43][44][45] A conference at Al-Azhar University in Cairo in 2006 saw prominent Muslim clergy declare it unnecessary.[46]
After a 12-year-old Egyptian girl died during an FGM procedure in 2007, the Al-Azhar Supreme Council of Islamic Research in Cairo ruled, according to UNICEF, that FGM had "no basis in core Islamic law or any of its partial provisions and that it is harmful and should not be practiced".[47][48] Ali Gomaa, then Grand Mufti of Egypt, stated: "It's prohibited, prohibited, prohibited."[48] Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said in 2012 that FGM was "a ritual that has survived over centuries and must be stopped as Islam does not support it".[49]

Sunni view[edit]

Different schools of Islamic jurisprudence have expressed different views on FGM.[50] The Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence views it as makrumah lilnisa (noble but not required). The Hanbali school sees it as sunna (good practice). For the Hanafi school it is preferred, and for the Shafi'i school it is obligatory (wājib).[51][52][53] Other scholars say it has no justification at all.[54] Egyptian scholars such as Mohammed Emara and Mohammad Salim Al-Awa argue that FGM is not an Islamic practice and is not endorsed by Islamic jurisprudence.
In May 2012 it was reported that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt was working to decriminalize FGM. According to reporter Mariz Tadros, they "offered to circumcise women for a nominal fee as part of their community services, a move that threatens to reverse decades of local struggle against the harmful practice. ... Many of the Brothers (and Salafis) argue that while it is not mandatory, it is nevertheless mukarama (preferable, pleasing in the eyes of God).[55]
One hadith from the Sunan Abu Dawood collection states: "A woman used to perform circumcision in Medina. The Prophet said to her: Do not cut severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband." Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani describes this hadith as poor in authenticity, and quotes Ahmad Bayhaqi's opinion that it is "poor, with a broken chain of transmission". Yusuf ibn Abd-al-Barr commented: "Those who consider (female) circumcision a sunna, use as evidence this hadith of Abu al-Malih, which is based solely on the evidence of Hajjaj ibn Artaa, who cannot be admitted as an authority when he is the sole transmitter."[56]
Another hadith used in support is in Sahih Muslim: "The Messenger of Allah said: When anyone sits amidst four parts (of the woman) and the circumcised parts touch each other a bath becomes obligatory." Mohammad Salim al-Awa states that, while the hadith is authentic, it is not evidence of support for FGM. He states that the Arabic for "the two circumcision organs" is a single word used to connote two forms of circumcision. While the female form is used to denote both male and female genitalia, it should be considered to refer only to the male circumcised organ.[57] A hadith in Sahih Bukhari says: "I heard the Prophet saying. "Five practices are characteristics of the Fitra: circumcision, shaving the pubic hair, cutting the moustaches short, clipping the nails, and depilating the hair of the armpits."[58] Mohamed Salim Al-Awwa writes that it is unclear whether these requirements were meant for females.[59]

Southeast Asia[edit]

Further information: Islam in Southeast Asia
External images
FGM ceremony in Indonesia
 Preparations
 Girl before procedure
 — Stephanie Sinclair (The New York Times Magazine, April 2006)[60]
According to William Clarence-Smith, Islamic Southeast Asia "overwhelmingly" follows the Shafi`i school of law, the only one to make FGM obligatory. The greatest opposition in the area, he writes, is from syncretic Muslims in Java; some practitioners use the root of the turmeric plant to perform an alternative symbolic procedure.[61]
Islam introduced FGM into Indonesia and Malaysia from the 13th century on.[62][63] Over 80 percent of Malaysian women claim religious obligation as the primary reason for practising FGM, along with hygiene (41 percent) and cultural practice (32 percent).[64] The practice is widespread among Muslim women in Indonesia,[65] and over 90 percent of Muslim adults supported it as of 2003.[66] In 2013 the Indonesian Ulema Council, Indonesia's top Muslim clerical body, ruled that it favours FGM, stating that although it is not mandatory, it is "morally recommended".[67] The Ulema has been pushing the Indonesian government to circumcise girls, arguing that it is part of Islamic teachings.[68]

Shia view[edit]

Shiite religious texts, such as the hadith transmitted by Al-Sadiq, state that "circumcision is makrumah for women" (noble but not required).[69] FGM is performed within the Dawoodi Bohra community in India, Pakistan, Yemen and East Africa.[70] According to a 2015–2016 survey, over 80 percent of 365 Dawoodi Bohra women surveyed wanted the practice to end.[71] 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.[72]

Judaism[edit]


Ethiopian Jews arriving in Israel, 1991
See also: Aliyah from Ethiopia and Ethiopian Jews in Israel
Judaism requires male circumcision, but it does not allow FGM and the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) does not mention it. The only Jewish group known to have practised FGM are the Beta Israel of Ethiopia.[12][73] The Beta Israel were not familiar with the Talmud, the Mishnah, and other religious scripture, and read and spoke little or no Hebrew. Most were flown to Israel between 1984 and 1991, where they converted to Orthodox Judaism.[9] Once in Israel, the women abandoned FGM. A study in 1997 found that one third of the 113 Beta Israel women examined had experienced it; 27 percent had undergone partial or total clitoridectomy.[74]

Other religions[edit]

Several animist groups in Africa, particularly Guinea and Mali, practise it.[75] Hinduism and Buddhism reject it.[76] It is absent from Confucian traditions.[77]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. Jump up^ Gerry Mackie and John LeJeune (2008): "An ethnic or religious explanation of FGM/C is not sufficient since, first, it is practiced in a wide variety of ethnic and religious groups; and second, the practice is not necessarily universal within the broad descriptive group, but is often practiced only within a number of subgroups. Take religion: there are Muslim communities who practice FGM/C, often believing that the practice is required by the holy book. Yet, nearby communities of the same religion may not engage in FGM/C, and worldwide most Muslims do not follow the practice. Religious obligation is an important factor in the decision to practice FGM/C, but is typically just one of several elements within what one WHO report (1999) calls a mental map that incorporates the stories, beliefs, values, and codes of conduct of society, and which are in fact 'interconnected and mutually reinforcing and, taken together, form overwhelming unconscious and conscious motivations' for its continuation."[4]
  2. Jump up^ Islam is thought to have originated in Mecca in the early 7th century CE.
  3. Jump up^ Shaye J. D. Cohen (2005): Aside from the Beta Israel of Ethiopia (the so-called Falashas) ... no Jewish community, in either ancient, medieval, or modern times, is known to have practiced female circumcision."[12]
  4. Jump up^ Samuel Waje Kunhiyop (2008): "Nowhere in all of Scripture or in any of recorded church history is there even a hint that women were to be circumcised."[28][29][30]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e "Classification of female genital mutilation", Geneva: World Health Organization, 2017.
    "Female genital mutilation". Geneva: World Health Organization. February 2017.
  2. Jump up^ Cappa, Claudia; et al. (22 July 2013). Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Statistical Overview and Exploration of the Dynamics of Change (pdf). New York: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). pp. 69–71.
  3. Jump up^ Yoder, Stanley P.; Yang, Shanxiao; Johansen, Elise (29 May 2013). "Estimates of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in 27 African Countries and Yemen". Studies in Family Planning. 44 (2): (189–204), 196–198. doi:10.1111/j.1728-4465.2013.00352.x. JSTOR 23408619.
  4. Jump up^ Mackie, Gerry; LeJeune, John (2008). "Social Dynamics of Abandonment of Harmful Practices: A New Look at the Theory" (PDF). Working Paper No. 2008-XXX, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre: 8.
  5. Jump up^ Abdulcadira, Jasmine; Margairaz, C.; Boulvain, M.; Irion, O. (January 2011). "Care of women with female genital mutilation/cutting". Swiss Medical Weekly. 6 (14). doi:10.4414/smw.2011.13137. PMID 21213149.
  6. Jump up^ "Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Global Concern", New York: United Nations Children's Fund, February 2016.
  7. ^ Jump up to:a b Rouzi, Abdulrahim A. (2013). "Facts and controversies on female genital mutilation and Islam". The European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care. 18 (1): 10–14. doi:10.3109/13625187.2012.749982. PMID 23286241.
  8. ^ Jump up to:a b Mackie, Gerry (December 1996). "Ending Footbinding and Infibulation: A Convention Account"(pdf). American Sociological Review. 61 (6): 999–1017.
  9. ^ Jump up to:a b c El-Damanhoury, I. (2013). "Editorial: The Jewish And Christian View On Female Genital Mutilation". African Journal of Urology. 19.3: 127–129. doi:10.1016/j.afju.2013.01.004.
  10. Jump up^ Knight, Mary (June 2001). "Curing Cut or Ritual Mutilation?: Some Remarks on the Practice of Female and Male Circumcision in Graeco-Roman Egypt". Isis. 92 (2): (317–338), 330. JSTOR 3080631. PMID 11590895.
  11. ^ Jump up to:a b Papademetriou, George C. (2011).Two Traditions, One Space: Orthodox Christians and Muslims in Dialogue. Somerset Hall Press, p. 138. ISBN 978-1-935-24406-6
  12. ^ Jump up to:a b Cohen, Shaye J. D. (2005). Why Aren't Jewish Women Circumcised? Gender and Covenant In Judaism, Oakland: University of California Press, p. 59.
  13. Jump up^ Nussbaum, Martha (1999). Sex and Social Justice. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 119.
  14. ^ Jump up to:a b UNICEF 2013, pp. 6–7.
  15. Jump up^ Ismail, Edna Adan; Ali, Amal Ahmed; Mohamed, Abdirahman Saeed; Kraemer, Thomas; Winfield, Sarah (2016). "Female genital mutilation survey in Somaliland"(PDF). Hargeisa: Edna Adan Maternity and Teaching Hospital: 5ff.
  16. Jump up^ This scene is based on this wall carving.
  17. Jump up^ Mackie & LeJeune 2008, p. 5.
  18. Jump up^ Mackie, Gerry (2000). "Female Genital Cutting: The Beginning of the End" (PDF). In Shell-Duncan, Bettina; Hernlund, Ylva. 'Female "Circumcision" in Africa: Culture Controversy and Change. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers. pp. 264–265.
  19. Jump up^ Mackie 2000, pp. 266–267.
  20. Jump up^ Also see Hicks, Esther K. (1996). Infibulation: Female Mutilation in Islamic Northeastern Africa. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, p. 19ff.
  21. Jump up^ Knight 2001, pp. 329–330.
  22. Jump up^ Knight 2001, p. 330.
  23. Jump up^ De Buck, Adriaan and Gardiner, Alan (1961). The Egyptian Coffin Texts, Volume 7, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 448–450.
  24. Jump up^ Knight 2001, p. 331.
  25. Jump up^ Strabo, Geographica, Book VII, chapter 2, 17.2.5.
  26. Jump up^ Knight 2001, p. 333.
  27. Jump up^ Mackie 1996, pp. 1003, 1009.
  28. Jump up^ Kunhiyop, Samuel Waje (2008). African Christian Ethics, Zondervan, p. 297: "Nowhere in all of Scripture or in any of recorded church history is there even a hint that women were to be circumcised."
  29. Jump up^ Caldwell, J. C., Orubuloye, I. O., & Caldwell, P. (1997). "Male and female circumcision in Africa from a regional to a specific Nigerian examination", Social Science & Medicine, 44(8), pp. 1181–1193.
  30. Jump up^ Jones, S. D., Ehiri, J., and Anyanwu, E. (2004). "Female genital mutilation in developing countries: an agenda for public health response". European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, 116(2), pp. 144–151. doi:10.1016/j.ejogrb.2004.06.013PMID 15358454
  31. Jump up^ Karanja, James (2009). The Missionary Movement in Colonial Kenya: The Foundation of Africa Inland Church. Göttingen: Cuvillier Verlag, 93, n. 631.
  32. Jump up^ Thomas, Lynn M. (2000). "'Ngaitana (I will circumcise myself)': Lessons from Colonial Campaigns to Ban Excision in Meru, Kenya", in Bettina Shell-Duncan, Ylva Hernlund, eds., Female "Circumcision" in Africa. Lynne Rienner, p. 132.
  33. Jump up^ Mackie 1996, p. 1004.
  34. Jump up^ Clarence-Smith, William G. (2008). "Islam and Female Genital Cutting in Southeast Asia: The Weight of the Past" (pdf). Finnish Journal of Ethnicity and Migration. 3(2): 14–15.
  35. Jump up^ "Khitān", Encyclopædia Britannica.
  36. Jump up^ Gruenbaum, Ellen (2001). The Female Circumcision Controversy: An Anthropological Perspective. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 2–3, 63.
  37. Jump up^ Mackie 1996, pp. 1004–1005.
  38. Jump up^ Al-Awa, Mohamed Selim (May 2012). "FGM in the context of Islam" (PDF). Cairo: The National Council for Childhood and Motherhood: 2.
  39. Jump up^ Asmani, Ibrahim Lethome; Abdi, Maryam Sheikh (2008). De-linking Fe male Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam. Frontiers in Reproductive Health, United States Agency for International Development (USAID). pp. (1–28), 6–13.
  40. Jump up^ "In Mauritania, progress made in ending female genital mutilation/cutting", UNICEF, October 2012.
    "Religious fatwa for banning all forms of FGM/C" (PDF). Somalia Ministry of Justice, Religion and Rehabilitation. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  41. ^ Jump up to:a b Kedar, Mordechai (2002). "Islam and 'Female Circumcision': The Dispute over FGM in the Egyptian Press, September 1994". Medicine and Law. 21 (2): 403–418. PMID 12184615.
  42. Jump up^ "Iraqi Kurdistan: FGM Fatwa Positive, but Not Definitive", Human Rights Watch, 17 July 2010.
  43. Jump up^ Gruenbaum 2001, p. 208.
  44. Jump up^ Roald, Ann-Sophie (2003). Women in Islam: The Western Experience. New York: Routledge. p. 239. ISBN 978-1-134-53546-0.
  45. Jump up^ Shehabuddin, Elora (2005). "Fatwa", in Suad, Joseph and Afsaneh, Najmabadi, eds. Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures: Family, Law and Politics. Volume 2. Leiden: Brill, p. 173. ISBN 978-9004128187
  46. Jump up^ El Ahl, Amira (6 December 2006). "Theologians Battle Female Circumcision". Der Spiegel.
  47. Jump up^ "Fresh progress toward the elimination of female genital mutilation and cutting in Egypt", UNICEF press release, 2 July 2007.
  48. ^ Jump up to:a b Michael, Maggie (29 June 2007). "Egypt Officials Ban Female Circumcision", Associated Press.
  49. Jump up^ "Secretary general of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation speaks in Jakarta at conference on the role of women in development". Thomson Reuters Foundation. 4 December 2012.
  50. Jump up^ Rispler-Chaim, Vardit (1993). Islamic Medical Ethics in the Twentieth Century. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 84ff. ISBN 978-9004096080.
  51. Jump up^ Rispler-Chaim 1993, pp. 85–86.
  52. Jump up^ Roald 2003, p. 243.
  53. Jump up^ Asmani & Abdi 2008, p. 13.
  54. Jump up^ Rispler-Chaim 1993, p. 86.
  55. Jump up^ Tadros, Mariz (24 May 2012). "Mutilating bodies: the Muslim Brotherhood's gift to Egyptian women". openDemocracy.
  56. Jump up^ Al-Sabbagh, Muhammad Lutfi (1996). "Islamic Ruling on Male and Female Circumcision", Alexandria: World Health Organization, pp. 17–19, 125–126.
  57. Jump up^ Al-Awa 2012, p. 5.
  58. Jump up^ Rizvi et al. (1999). "Religious Circumcision: A Muslim View". BJU international, 83(S1), pp. 13-16.
    Berkey, J. P. (1996). "Circumcision Circumscribed: Female Excision and Cultural Accommodation in the Medieval Near East". International Journal of Middle East Studies, 28(1), pp. 19–38.
  59. Jump up^ Al-Awa 2012, pp. 6–7.
  60. Jump up^ Stephanie Sinclair, "Inside a Female-Circumcision Ceremony", The New York Times Magazine, April 2006, slideshow of images from Indonesia (article).
  61. Jump up^ Clarence-Smith 2008, p. 14.
  62. Jump up^ Feillard, Andree and Morcoes, Lies (1998). "Female Circumcision in Indonesia: To Islamize in Ceremony or Secrecy", Persee, 56, pp. 337–367.
  63. Jump up^ Ali, Kecia (2006). Sexual Ethics And Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur'an, Hadith, and Jurisprudence. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, p. 100.
    Clarence-Smith, William G. (2012). "Female Circumcision in Southeast Asia since the Coming of Islam", in Chitra Raghavan and James P. Levine (eds.). Self-Determination and Women's Rights in Muslim Societies. Brandeis University Press, pp. 124–146. ISBN 978-1611682809
    Ghadially, R. (1991). "All for 'Izzat': The Practice of Female Circumcision among Bohra Muslims." Manushi, 66, Sept—Oct, pp. 17—20.
    Hefner, Robert (1985). Hindu Javanese: Tengger Tradition and Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 34–39, 142–147, 255–258.
  64. Jump up^ Maznah Dahlui (10 May 2012). "The Practice of Female Circumcision in Malaysia", Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya.
    Taha, Sya (12 March 2013). "A Tiny Cut": Female Circumcision in South East Asia", The Islamic Monthly.
  65. Jump up^ "Indonesia", UNICEF, February 2015.
    Corbett, Sara (20 January 2008). "A Cutting Tradition", The New York Times.
    Haworth, Abigail (17 November 2012). "The day I saw 248 girls suffering genital mutilation", The Guardian.
  66. Jump up^ "Female Circumcision in Indonesia", Population Council and USAID, September 2003, pp. 24–27.
  67. Jump up^ Hariyadi, Mathias (24 January 2013). "Indonesian Ulema in favour of female circumcision: a 'human right'", Asia News, Jakarta.
  68. Jump up^ "MUI pushes government to circumcise girls". The Jakarta Post. 22 January 2013. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013.
  69. Jump up^ Abu-Sahlieh, S. A. Aldeeb (1999). "Muslims' Genitalia in the Hands of the Clergy: Religious Arguments about Male and Female Circumcision". In Denniston, George C.; Hodges, Frederick Mansfield; Milos, Marilyn Fayre. Male and Female Circumcision: Medical, Legal, and Ethical Considerations in Pediatric Practice. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. pp. (131–172), 147. ISBN 978-0306461316.
  70. Jump up^ Subramanian, Reetika (9 December 2011). "Bohra women go online to fight circumcision trauma", Hindustan Times.
    Zahidi, Farahnaz (6 February 2013). "Female Genital Mutilation: Many Pakistani women's painful secret", The Express Tribune.
    Sarkar, Gaurav; Ashar, Hemal (15 April 2017). "Will the Syedna finally denounce khatna now?". Mid-day.com. Archived from the original on 16 April 2017.
  71. Jump up^ Poisson, Jayme; Henry, Michele (21 August 2017). "Women in small Muslim sect say they have had FGM in Canada". The Toronto Star.
    "FAQs: Who are the Dawoodi Bohras?". Sahiyo. Archived from the original on 16 April 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  72. Jump up^ Williams, Janice (14 April 2017). "Nearly 100 Girls May Have Had Genitals Cut by Doctors in Michigan, Prosecutor Says". Newsweek.
  73. Jump up^ Adele Berlin (ed.), "Circumcision", The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion, New York: Oxford University Press, 2011, 173.
  74. Jump up^ Grisaru, N.; Lezer, S.; Belmake, R. H. (April 1997). "Ritual female genital surgery among Ethiopian Jews". Archives of Sexual Behaviour. 26 (2): 211–215. PMID 9101034.
  75. Jump up^ UNICEF 2013, p. 175.
  76. Jump up^ Clarence-Smith 2008, pp. 14–22.
  77. Jump up^ Circumcision. Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. 2014. p. 1.
Location: Rafah-e-Aam Society, Karachi, Pakistan

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