We refer all of those that are not familiar with the term ‘genital mutilation of women’, the so-called female circumcision, to articles on the Wikipedia site. Female circumcision is still common practice in certain cultures, both Islamic and non-Islamic.

It is, however, a practice that proves difficult to eradicate especially in Islamic nations, the reason being that Islam explicitly allows this form of circumcision. This is based on the following Hadith/pronouncement of Muhammad: Sunan Abu Dawood 41.5251:

Another Hadith/pronouncement in the authentic traditions collected by Muslim proves that circumcision was common for men and women alike during Muhammad’s lifetime.

Conclusion:

The answer to the question “Genital mutilation of women, an Islamic practice?” is: “Genital mutilation of women is permitted in Islam but is not an obligation; at the same time, it may not be prohibited!”

With this in mind, one may ask how the Islamic scholars will be contorting themselves to keep Islam shielded from this controversial issue while, at the same time, having to make pronouncements that are conform to their faith.

DECEPTION BY LEADING ISLAMIC SCHOLARS

On 22 November 2006, numerous Islamic leaders from around the world spoke out against female circumcision during a conference in Cairo. Amongst them were the two highest members of the Egyptian Muslim clergy, Sheik al-Azhar, who is seen as the most influential leader in the Sunni world, and the Grand-Mufti of Jerusalem, whose fatwa carries great weight. The Sheik [of] al-Azhar, Muhammad Seyed Tantawi, declared at the conference that, in Islam, circumcision is only meant to be practised on males. [He means here that it is only compulsory for men. This, of course, does not mean that it is prohibited for women... and hence he refrains from saying it.] The Grand-Mufti, Ali Gomaa, pointed out that Muhammad did not have his daughters circumcised. [Here again, just because Muhammad did not, for one or another reason, have his daughters circumcised does not mean that he forbade it for other women; on the contrary, he allowed it]. Muslims from Europe, who opine that female circumcision gives Islam a bad name [these European Muslims are not worried about the women being circumcised but about the bad image that is created, though they themselves do not practise this], exerted pressure to enter the pronouncement in a fatwa.


Example 2: this is a classic defence: “It isn’t written in the Koran”. This misleading statement is generally used when it pertains to stoning of adulterers and the killing of apostates. This indeed is not clearly or explicitly stated in the Koran but it is found in the traditions /Hadith that carry as much weight as the Koran. It is therefore not an outright lie but a misleading subterfuge and the “Great Sheik” knows this all too well. But the non-Muslim then hears it said, or wants to hear it said, or gets the impression that these practices have nothing to do with Islam. See the following example from the newspaper “De Standaard” of 22 November 2006:

CAIRO – Last Wednesday, leading Islamic clergy from around the world participated in the Egyptian capital Cairo in a conference on (and opposed to) female circumcision. The Sunni Egyptian Great Sheik Mohammed Sayed Tantawi stated during the conference organized by the German group for Human Rights TARGET that the Koran contains nothing about female circumcision.

LIES BY THE LESSER SCHOLARS

Example 3: this is a downright lie. The Muslim student Association of Nijmegen published the following:

The high Egyptian Muslim leader Abbas Khadar of the Al-Azhar University declared himself in agreement. He explained during the meeting that Islam has nothing to do with female circumcision. Given that Khadar is a high-ranking Muslim leader, this pronouncement carries a lot of weight.

The Hadith/pronouncement we referred to above proves rather the opposite. Muhammad, hence Islam, makes a pronouncement about female circumcision. In addition, his own University (Al-Azhar) did in 1991 approve of a Shariah handbook where female circumcision was even recommended. Thus... a lot of double-talk.

Abbas Khadar is called here a high-ranking Muslim leader. In reality, he is hardly that. He is just an instructor at the University of Al-Azhar.


WHY DO THESE KINDS OF HARDCORE PROBLEMS IN ISLAM PROVE SO DIFFICULT TO ERADICATE?

Through contact with the West, Muslims are being confronted with elements from their religion, the Islamic faith, that are clearly contrary to the UDHR. Instead of admitting that Muhammad did indeed spread doctrine that in many aspects is unacceptable in the modern world, Muslims deny this obvious truth and reality. Of course, this denial does nothing to make these elements disappear.

A situation is thus created whereby these elements that prove less savoury to a Western public are being softened and have their prickly edges rounded off by the studied means of rhetorical subterfuge and sophistry, at least in such cases where the critics of such practices are not simply denounced as racists, Islamophobes, dispensers of hatred versus Islam, and the like.

Many of the dogmas in Islam are furthermore so exaggerated and unreal that few Muslims give them any currency or even believe them. “This cannot possibly be the case”, so they dismiss them. When non-Muslims do confront them with these ‘beliefs’, they generally accuse the former of ill-will towards Islam. “Islam-bashing is the in-thing these days.” The interesting thing in this is that when fundamentalists or even Imams proclaim the same, these same moderate Muslims keep quiet.

Furthermore, nothing about these topics has changed in Islamic books, published both in Islamic and Western countries, wherein these unacceptable dogmas are propounded... these books are being re-published time and time again without causing any protest from the Islamic corner.

The result of all of this is a schizophrenic situation that stokes the tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims. And as non-Muslims get to know Islam better, these tensions will only increase.