INTRODUCTION
Female circumcision
(FC), often referred to as female genital mutilation (FGM),
is a social custom, not a religious practice. According
to Aisha Samad Matias, from African Update:
Over
80-100 million women in the world have experienced the custom
first recorded over 4000 years ago. Some practitioners of
FC explain it in this manner: "It is our religious
obligation;" or "All normal (our) people have
done it," or "It makes you clean, beautiful, better,
sweet-smelling," or "You will be able to marry,
be presentable to your husband, able to satisfy and keep
your husband, able to conceive and bear children."
Female circumcision, is often thought to purify and protect
the next generation from dangerous outside influences. Other
obvious functions include the control of female sexuality
and marital chastity. Another function is to insure marriage
in a society in which men have been taught that only circumcised
women make good wives. FC is also practiced to limit the
possible enjoyment level of sex for women. It also serves
to implant fear of pain and being shamed and cast out if
not a virgin girl or chaste wife.
In Muslim countries
where it is practiced, FC is often justified by a controversial
saying attributed to the Prophet Mohammed. The Sunnah
(the words and actions of the Prophet Mohammed) contains
a reference to female circumcision. According to the Muslim
Women's League: "Those who advocate for FGM from an
Islamic perspective commonly quote the following hadith
to argue that it is required as part of the Sunnah
or Tradition of the Prophet:
The Prophet
(pbuh) said to her: Do not cut too severely as that is better
for a woman and more desirable for a husband."
This passage is regarded by many Muslims as having little
credibility or authenticity. According to Sayyid Sabiq, renowned
scholar and author of Fiqh-us-Sunnah, all hadiths
concerning female circumcision are non-authentic.
Many Muslims see passages in the Qur'an which, by implication,
oppose FGM. They reason: God apparently created the clitoris
for the sole purpose of generating pleasure. It has no other
purpose. There is no instruction in the Qur'an or in the writings
of the Prophet Mohammed which require that the clitoris be
surgically modified. Thus God must approve of its presence.
And so, it should not be removed or reduced in size or function.
The
Qur'an promotes the concept of a husband and wife giving each
other pleasure during sexual intercourse. "It is lawful
for you to go in unto your wives during the night preceding
the (day's) fast: they are as a garment for you and you are
as a garment for them." (2:187) ". . . and He has
put love and mercy between you." (30:21)
Mu,
in The Qur'an (An-Nisa': 119) states that Satan will try
to trick humans into body modification: "And I will
surely lead them astray, and arouse desires in them, and
command them and they will cut the cattle's ears, and I
will surely command them and they will change Allah's creation."
This might be interpreted as forbidding FGM as well as tattoos,
piercing and any other modification that alters the design
of the human body as Allah created it.
Nawal El-Saadawi, a Muslim victim of infibulation (partial
closing/stitching of the vagina), says, "The importance
given to virginity and an intact hymen in these societies
is the reason why female circumcision still remains a very
widespread practice despite a growing tendency, especially
in urban Egypt, to do away with it as something outdated
and harmful. Behind circumcision lies the belief that, by
removing parts of girls' external genitals organs, sexual
desire is minimized. This permits a female who has reached
the dangerous age of puberty and adolescence to protect
her virginity, and therefore her honor, with greater ease.
Chastity was imposed on male attendants in the female harem
by castration which turned them into inoffensive eunuchs.
Similarly female circumcision is meant to preserve the chastity
of young girls by reducing their desire for sexual intercourse."
Mohammed Sayyed
Tantawi, head of the al-Azhar Islamic Institute has stated
that the practice is un-Islamic. The Health Minister of
Egypt, Ismail Sallam, announced the ban on FGM in 1996.
This was upheld by a junior administrative court in Cairo.
Sheik Youssef
Badri, a Muslim fundamentalist, took the health minister
to court. In 1997, an Egyptian court overturned the country's
ban on FGM. Eight Muslim scholars and doctors had testified
that the ban exceeded the government's authority and violated
the legal rights of the medical profession. Sheik Youssef
Badri commented: "[Female] circumcision is Islamic;
the court has said that the ban violated religious law.
There's nothing which says circumcision is a crime, but
the Egyptians came along and said that Islam is a crime."
The German newsmagazine Der Spiegel interviewed
Sheik Badri. He claimed that many Muslim women are pleased
with this victory of Islam over its enemies. When it was
pointed out to him that parents in Morocco and Algeria do
not practice FGM, he replied that the clitoris in Egyptian
girls was larger than in those countries and had to be cut
back to a normal size. He quoted a French study which showed
that circumcised girls are less likely to contract AIDS.
He believes that the United States is spreading misinformation
on the health risks of FGM.
The government
appealed the case to Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court.
They ruled that the operation is not required by Islam,
and that "female circumcision is not a personal right
according to the rules of Islamic Sharia (law)." Thus,
FGM is subject to Egyptian law. They prohibited the procedure,
even if it is done with the agreement of the child and her
parents.
REACTION AND
RESPONSE
The United
Nations has supported the right of member states to grant
refugee status to women who fear being mutilated if they
are returned to their country of origin. Canada has granted
such status to women in this situation.
In 1994, CNN
broadcast footage of the circumcision of a 10 year old Egyptian
girl by an unskilled practitioner. This program drew international
attention to the operation. A 500 million dollar lawsuit
was brought against CNN for allegedly damaging Egypt's reputation,
It was rejected by the courts.
In the West,
the procedure is outlawed in Britain, Canada, France, Sweden,
Switzerland and the United States. A US federal bill, Federal
Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation, was passed in
1996. Section 273.3 of the Canadian Criminal Code protects
children who reside in Canada (as citizens or landed migrants)
from being removed from their country and subjected to FGM.
Legislation
against FGM can be counter-productive when it forces the
practice underground. Women, who have been informally operated
on and in need of medical attention, might not seek help
because of legal ramifications.
In 1989, the
Regional Committee of the WHO for Africa passed a resolution
urging participating governments "to adopt appropriate
policies and strategies in order to eradicate female circumcision"
and "to forbid medicalization of female circumcision
and to discourage health professionals from performing such
surgery."
The UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child is ambiguous about FGM. On one
hand, Article 24, paragraph 3 states: "States Parties
shall take all effective and appropriate measures with a
view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to
the health of children." But Article 29 paragraph 1.c
calls for: "The development of respect for the child's
parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and
values, for the national values of the country in which
the child is living, the country from which he or she may
originate, and for civilizations different from his or her
own."
In the
August 1st issue, filmmaker
Erica Pomerance (Dable!
Excision) takes us into the heart and control of female
genital mutilation.
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