We're constantly admonished that female genital mutilation is a "cultural" practice that has nothing to do with Islam. It's just another lie. Even the story below, while telling us that the practice is widespread, tells us that it "is not a rule set in a rigid manner by the precepts of Islam," and that it is only widespread because of the actions of "the more extreme and integral fringe." The fringe made it widespread? This is just more whitewashing of Islam's human rights abuses. The practice is fundamentally Islamic:
“Circumcision is obligatory (O: for both men and women. For men it
consists of removing the prepuce from the penis, and for women, removing
the prepuce (Ar. Bazr) of the clitoris." Page
59, Umdat al-Salik (“Reliance of the Traveler”), a manual of Islamic jurisprudence certified as "reliable" by Egypt's very own Al-Azhar University
Obama say, "Respect it!"
"Java, radical Islam in favor of female genital mutilation" by Mathias Hariyadi Asia News December 7 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
Jakarta
(AsiaNews) – In rural areas and more remote areas of Indonesia,
particularly the island of Java, female circumcision is still a
widespread traditional practice. Although it is not a rule set in a
rigid manner by the precepts of Islam, it resists in the most populous
Muslim country in the world thanks to the favorable opinion of a large
part of society, due to the more extreme and integral fringe. Over the
years, activists and politicians have launched campaigns and appeals in
an attempt to eradicate the popular custom, which puts the physical
health of girls at risk. However, efforts to stem the "tetesan" – as it
is called in the country – have so far been a vain war fought on "two
different fronts", at a governmental level and on a purely religious
level.
Renowned experts of Islamic law in Indonesia, interviewed
by AsiaNews, stigmatize the practice of female circumcision as
"damaging", even if it continues the comparison – which in many cases
results in open clashes – between the fuqaha extremists and moderate
Muslims leaders. With the first in favor of mutilation, while the latter
engaged in campaigns to put an end to the phenomenon.The the
Muslim intellectual Sumanto Al Qurtuby says the faction that supports
tetesan is linked to the Salafi and Wahhabi community, which together
with other fundamentalist groups are concentrated in Bandung and Aceh.
They believe that circumcision is "morally" encouraged by Sharia, or
Islamic law, and reiterated in the hadith, in anecdotes related to the
life of the Prophet Muhammad. However, the expert adds, while the
practice is "suggested" it is not "mandatory" and there are no moral
foundations of Islamic law that state it should be perpetrated. There
are in fact six different drafts of the hadith – better known as "Kutub
as-Sittah" – and only one of these "calls for" the spread of female
circumcision.
Together with the moral issue, there is also a
health and a pyscological aspect. The practice of FGM, in fact, results
in the loss of sexual pleasure and is often practiced in contexts far
from sterile, in which there is a clear risk of infection or
post-operative consequences. This is why human rights activists,
citizens and a large part of civil society have fought for and end to
this practice – especially in rural areas. An act, they describe as
"dangerous" and "contrary to the health care."
The author of this
article in his youth, when he was about eight years old, witnessed
firsthand circumcision practiced on a young girl, forced by her parents
(Muslims) to submit to the "Islamic ritual." Rather than doing it in a
private and appropriately sterilized room – as I recall – the act of
female circumcision was carried out in the open air, her feet on the
ground, while the genital organ was removed with a razor blade. The
little girl began to scream in pain, as a stream of blood oozed from the
wound. At the end of the rite, I remember that the family offered a
kind of celebration of the "thank you" to neighbors, for taking part in
the "Islamic ritual."
An opinion poll carried out by the
government in 2003 confirmed that the practice of female genital
mutilation is still widespread in rural areas. In 2006, the Ministry of
Health tried to intervene to stem the tide, without any substantive
results regarding what is defined by a number of fronts, especially
among female movements as, "an example of domestic violence." Throughout
Indonesia at least 400 non-governmental organizations have arisen that
are fighting against the practice. The movements in unison, recall that
Jakarta is one of the signatories of the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Convention) and is
called to make every effort to reduce the social impact of this
practise.
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