Between Religion, Tradition & Rationality

I was thinking about a custom practiced widely in our country which is “Female Genital Mutilation” called in Arabic “Khetan”. The term scientifically means to remove the clitoris that is part of the female genital.

Searching for the roots of mutilation, there was no clear evidence about where or why had it appeared, but Greek papyrus 163 B.C. showed that girls in Ancient Egypt were circumcised, another proof is from the Egyptian Female mummies which were found to be circumcised. Nonetheless, a lot of people think that it has something to do with religion, but by farther digging in the three monotheistic books I came out with this:

1) Not a single sentence in Qur’an or The New Testament thing about circumcision act.

2) Hadith which is the second source of Islamic enactment, I found this:

* The prophet told Um Attia who used to circumcise girls “Um Attia, Don’t Cut too much, as it is better for the woman and more desirable for the husband”

قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم لأم عطية التي كانت تختن البنات " يا أم عطية, أشمي ولا تنهكي, فإنه اسرى للوجه و أحضى عند الزوج

* Circumcise is Sunnah for men, desired for women

"الختان سنة في الرجال مكرمة للنساء"

* And another thing said for Abdullah bin Umr telling that he talked to some women ordering them to circumcise their new born children.

These are the only three sources I could find dealing in a direct way with circumcision, but according to Islamic scholars they came from very weak sources and cannot be considered by any means a fully trustable source that can be a religious reference.

3) The Old Testament was the only source stating clearly that circumcision must be performed on the newborn males (nothing about females)

Genesis - Chapter 17

17:8. And I will give to thee, and to thy seed, the land of thy sojournment, all the land of Chanaan, for a perpetual possession, and I will be their God.

17:10. This is my covenant which you shall observe between me and you, and thy seed after thee: All the male kind of you shall be circumcised.

17:12. An infant of eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations: he that is born in the house, as well as the bought servant, shall be circumcised, and whosoever is not of your stock:

17:14. the male whose flesh of his foreskin shall not be circumcised, that soul shall be destroyed out of his people: because he hath broken my covenant.

Moreover, Fatwas encouraged people to perform circumcision on their newborn children; those are the some of the Fatwas concerning it:

2003 (fatwa 38122) stated that circumcision is generally allowed and some scientists consider it a duty. And that circumcision is connected to lessening the sexual desire for the woman.
2004 (fatwa 48068) stated that circumcision of both male and female is preferred according to medical reasons (which opposes all the scientific scholars published about circumcision)

Well, these are called Fatwa and my definition to Fatwa is “a formal legal opinion or religious decree issued by an Islamic leader, On the other hand not part of the law, just blind brain-washed Islamic followers must follow it”. Maybe my opinion is that much important as Azhar Sheikh, but comparing between what the Qur’an, Hadith, and New Testament stated and what Fatwa stated. I think you can get with a logical result.

The German Magazine interviewed Sheikh Badri Muslim Fundamentalist, he indicated that the Female genital mutilation is performed in Egypt and not Morocco and Algeria because females clitoris in Egypt are larger in size and it has to be surgically reduced to the normal size and he believed that circumcised females are less likely to catch AIDS than normal females. He believed as well that America is spreading false information about health risks of circumcision.

Ancient people through that when woman is circumcised this guarantees her virginity before marriage, lessen her sexual desire assuring she after marriage is completely faithful to her husband. This is just CRAP and this crap people believed in from before the Christ birth to our present time. Organs are parts of the body controlled by the brain. The brain is the center of sexual desires. So if you want to control my sexual desire then cut part from my brain not my clitoris.

How can any human on earth hold a lance and cut a part of an infant’s body. And not only infants the crime extends to 6, 7, 10 years old children. Leaving them victims of psychological and physical complains in the future. And this scarify is under the name of traditions. If scarifying a girl to the beast every year is a tradition. Would you follow it? Why cannot people think? Why do they take everything for granted? Why are we so brain-washed?

The government has ruled that the operation has nothing to do with Islam and is subjected to Egyptian law. And no parents are allowed to undergo the surgery for their children except for health complication. But is this applied practically? NO it isn’t. The process is held in our country widely in midnight clinics, midwifes, and even nurses. And what the authorities do to prevent the tragedy from spreading is ……

Maro

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