Posted on 03/20/2007 10:46:40 AM PDT by Sam Hill
From those omniscient clerics at Islam Question and Answer:
Ruling on female circumcision
Question No 1188
Question:
Is female circumcision sunnah or a bad practice? I read in a magazine that female circumcision in any form is a bad practice that is harmful from a medical point of view, and that it may sometimes lead to sterility. Is this correct?
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
Circumcising females is sunnah; it is neither a bad practice or harmful, if it is done within moderation. When extreme forms of female circumcision are carried out, harm may result.
Okay.
As long as it is done in moderation.
There are many variants of female circumcision. The mildest is the rough equivalent of male circumcision, removal of the prepuce. Most males who have undergone this procedure are not particularly traumatized by it.
The most extreme are the rough equivalent of removal of testes and penis, not with regard to fertility but with regard to potential for sexual pleasure. I would think this would be traumatic for anyone.
Circumcision doesn't apply to women. They can't be circumcized, because there nothing to cut around or in a circle. Women don't have foreskins or penises.
Cutting the clitoris off is mutilation--a removal of a needed organ. The linguistic revisionism phrase, "female circumcision," is feminist/homosexual-activist/anti-Judaism propaganda practice aimed at outlawing circumcision of men.
Did someone wonder where the Neanderthals went?
Actually if you even remove only the loose skin around the clitoris, the exposure leads to oversensitivity, pain, and eventually numbness.
However I've heard of a form of female circumcision where the clitoris is pricked with a pin, just to draw a little blood and therefor fulfill the requirements without doing any long-term (physical) damage.
It means if the man doing the beheading does not cut himself.
I'm not arguing for it. I think even the basic female circumcision is barbaric. Of course, I think male circumcision is barbaric for the same reasons.
However I've heard of a form of female circumcision where the clitoris is pricked with a pin, just to draw a little blood and therefor fulfill the requirements without doing any long-term (physical) damage.
I've heard of this too. They're getting better, although slowly.
No, in a male the prepuce is the foreskin and in a female the prepuce is the hood of the clitoris.
"prepuce (Science: anatomy) A covering fold of skin, often used alone to designate the preputium penis. A fold of skin covering the tip of the clitoris. A fold of skin covering the tip of the penis. The mammalian foreskin."
So I smacked a straw man, and it's beside the point. Clitoridectomy is still not the same as circumcision, and attempts to equate the two are unhealthy.
So I smacked a straw man, and it's beside the point. Clitoridectomy is still not the same as circumcision, and attempts to equate the two are unhealthy.
Does the local Imam perform the operation?
Or,
Are Imams' also traveling to help in remote areas like Minnesota?
Clitoridectomy is not the only type of female genital cutting (FGC), just as male circumcision is not the only type of male genital cutting (MGC).
Genital scarification is one of the least damaging forms of FGC. Several years ago doctors at Harborview Hospital in Seattle proposed offering that type of FGC to parents who wanted to do it to their daughters for cultural or religious reasons. Making an incision in a girl's labia or in the hood of her clitoris is less damaging than cutting off a boy's foreskin.
How much can a doctor cut a girl's genitals before it is a violation of her human rights?
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