Guest Name Dr. Hassan Hathout
Profession Medical Doctor
Subject Female Circumcision: Ask a Shari’ah and Medical Expert
Date Sunday,Sep 9 ,2007
Time Makkah
From… 21:00…To… 22:30
GMT
From… 18:00…To…19:30
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Profession
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Name assick – Mauritius
Profession civil servant
Question female circumcision is more an Arabo-African custom rather than an islamic obligation or sunnah.Your comments ,please.
Answer This is true. Female Circumcision was a social habit known a long time before Islam came, and it was mainly located in certain areas in Russia and around the Nile valley, namely Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. It was very rare amongst Arabs. And until today it is practically confined to Egypt and the Nile valley. It has nothing to do with the Islamic religion.
Circumcision of the male, however, started with Prophet Abraham, peace be upon him, and continued in Judaism and Islam. It should have continued in Christianity as Jesus was circumcised, but it was Paul later on who exempted Christians from Circumcision (allowed them to eat pig meat) in order to make it easier for the Romans to convert to Christianity.
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Name Abdo Aldaly – Egypt
Profession Web site Admin
Question
Dr Bashir Quereshi, author of Transcultural Medicine, explains: “Every Muslim is expected to follow the way and the life of the Prophet Muhammad. Therefore, all Muslims – devouts, liberals or seculars – observe this ritual. Muslim are obliged to follow not only Allah’s message in the Holy Qur’an but also what the Prophet said or did, as proof of their dedication to Islam.”
SHOULD FEMALE CIRCUMCISION BE BANNED OR RESTRICTED?
Answer
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) never ordered Muslims to circumcise the females; he followed Abraham in male circumcision only. There are some hadiths ordering female circumcision but all of them were proven weak by the ulama (scholars). As for female circumcision, one hadith reports that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) advised a woman professional who used to perform female circumcision by telling her to cut only a little bit saying that it would be then more pleasurable to both husband and wife than cutting a large bit. The rest of hadiths about having to circumcise girls were refuted by the reliable hadith ulama.
My profession is a gynecologist and during my work I examine women of nearly all religions and nationalities. For few years I worked in Makkah as well as in Kuwait where you could sample women of all religions and I found that only Egyptians, Sudanese, and Ethiopians have this habit of circumcision. It is not confined to Muslims because I saw Ethiopian Christian women circumcised.
My belief is that it is wrong to continue practicing it. I have seen people who told me that they perform it to their daughters to curb sexual excitation and therefore help the girl to remain chaste. To me this sounds like cutting a portion of the tongue and thinking this diminishes hunger. As an enlightened Muslim and as a gynecologist, I have always advised against female circumcision.
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Name G – Ethiopia
Profession student
Question
I have been circumcised when I was a little girl, what effect does it have now if I want to have a child?
Answer
This depends on the degree of circumcision; if only a little bit of tissue was removed it would not hamper child bearing and birth. But in extreme forms usually performed in Sudan it might obstruct the passage of the baby out causing tearing of the tissues, sometimes to a very serious degree. But a part from childbirth, circumcision may be complicated with other dangers. A very prevalent complication is interference with sexual satisfaction of the wife which destroys marital pleasure and is one of the causes of husband’s indulging in stupefying drugs like hashish and opium, hoping to prolong the sexual performance. Other complications include psychological affliction, hemorrhage, infection, cyst formation on the vulva and other complications.
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Name Zeinab –
Profession
Question
Is circumcision harmful to all females or there are some cases in the female in which circumcision is necessary?
Answer
It is very rare to have a medical indication for female circumcision. People do it always because of the social habits. Some people are under the impression that Islam advises it but this is not true.
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Name Hammad – Pakistan
Profession
Question
As salamu `alaykum
I appreciate this elegant web site about my sweet religion.
We never heard about it in India, Pakistan. Also, it’s banned in Egypt in June 2007. Please tell me about it permission in my religion. Does removing of clitoral hood really give more sexual pleasure to woman with her hubby? Very clearly, it’s not a good thing. Please tell about your views. I love Islam. Thanks a lot.
Answer
Female circumcision actually diminishes the woman her opportunity in full satisfaction and attaining an orgasm. So it works against the pleasure of sex rather than enhancing it. There is a hadith narrating the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) advising the husband who gets his orgasm not to leave his wife but to remain until she also gets her orgasm. Female circumcision makes it more difficult for the wife to readily get her orgasm concomitant with her husband.
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Name Zahra –
Profession
Question Assalamo Alaikum
I dont understand why a female had to get circumcised in some muslim countries, which only recently banned it?
Isnt this inhumane and an injustice?
We understand the reason why males have to get circumcised, but why girls?
WaSalam
Answer I agree with you that there are so many misconceptions about Islam at the hands of so many Muslims some of whom actually acquire the role of teaching people about Islam.
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Name Melissa –
Profession
Question Assalamualaikum,
Since in Islam we live by the Quran and the sunnah of Prophet SAW. In which hadith can I find the topic of female circumsicion? And also if it is indeed from the authenticated hadith why we never heard the righteous women talked or mentioned about it.
Is it a cultural traditions that is being mixed with Islam?
Answer We already pointed out that the hadiths advocating female circumcision are not authentic hadiths. I have references to prove that, and I refer people to the book of the late Sheikh Sayyed Sabiq “Fiqh As-Sunnah”, which is available in English. It adequately covers the subject.
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Name Rahman –
Profession
Question Assalamualaikum,
In my native country, we still do female circumcision. Back then, I didn’t question it & because of society and family pressure, I took my daughter to a female doctor to have it done. Now that I know that it’s not obligatory I keep blaming myself & regret it a lot. My question is if there is a difference between a circumcised & non-circumcised female regarding the satisfaction of intimate pleasure later on. I still don’t know how to deal with it in the future if my daughter ever ask this question.
Thank you.
Answer I pray that your daughter will be successful in her marriage, but I also urge you to tell her that when she becomes a mother it is much better and more Islamically acceptable not to have her daughter circumcised.
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Name Sister –
Profession
Question
You said there are no hadith advocating female circumcision. I read in Sahih Al-Bukhari where the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: إذا التقى الختانان وجب الغسل when the khitanan or the two circumcised parts meet, ghusl is obligatory. Also, I read in a book that the Arabs before Islam used to find it shameful that someone comes from a woman that had not been circumcised.
Answer
The word khitanan does not refer to circumcision but it refers to the site of contact between the male organ and female one.
As to mentioning that khitan was performed in the jahiliyyah, I think this is a proof that the habit was not initiated by Islam.
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Name Dawud –
Profession
Question
There have been researches conducted in Egypt and Kenya showing some health benefits when female circumcision is done in the proper way and not as practiced nowadays.
Answer
I was a professor of gynecology and I know what I am talking about. What you claim to exist is unfounded.
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Name Editor –
Profession
Answer
Finally, we would like to thank Dr. Hassan Hathout for taking the time to answer the questions of Islamonline viewers today, and we also thank all those who participated in this dialogue. We encourage our readers to join us in upcoming sessions.
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