Greetings all.  I really think that I'm having a bit of an epiphany on this issue.  When I
first heard of FGC, I was well, I'd say horrified, but I think that is too strong of a word.  I
remember looking at my own body, and thinking how I'd feel if a procedure like that were done to
me.  However, at the time, I was looking at things from my own cultural perspective.  And when
you're talking about this sort of thing, I think that that is a wrong approach to take!


     I think that I bought all the "stuff" about FGC, the harmful affects, how it was used merely
as a way to keep women down and subservient to their husbands, etc.  However, again, I was looking
at things from my own cultural prism, and worse, looking at things with an air of superiority,
like "we", meaning "Westerners" were somehow "better" because we didn't do that sort of thing.


     How ignorant I was, at the time, about so-called "vaginal alterations", or whatever they are
called, which are practiced here for cosmetic reasons, or the fact that some forms of genital
cutting were also practiced in "The West", as a "way of curing hysteria", if I remember an article
I later read on the subject describing it.


     Regarding Islam's stance on the matter, it is interesting to note that there are ahaddith
which speak of the practice, but which state that only the skin covering the clitoris should be
cut, and that the clitoris and other adjacent tissues should be left in tact.  So, for anyone to
say that FGC is entirely *not* part of Islam, I think, would be mistaken.


     Although I will say that the ahadith mentioning this practice are considered "weak". 
However, "weak" doesn't necessarily mean "fabricated".  A weak hadith could be graded "weak" for
many reasons, either having to do with the chain of transmission back to the Prophet Muhammad, the
text of the hadith itself, the number of people who related it, or even the trustworthiness or
uprightness of the people in the chains of transmission.

     I don't want to make this a whole discussion on the science of hadith, but I do bring all of
this up that hadith cannot be rated as "strong" or "weak", and that is it, there are different
grades of rating the soundness of a hadith, and even so-called "weak" hadiths can be used in
giving rulings, etc. and as part of Fiqh (juris prudence), in general.


     Now, having said that, I can't speak for certain on the other three schools of Sunni Islamic
law, and definitely not on Shia Islam, but in Maliki fiqh, "female circumcision", i.e., only the
cutting I described above, and what in the Shell-Duncan / Hernlund book has been termed as "Sunnah
circumcision", is classed in Maliki Fiqh as "mandub", which means recommended, though if a girl /
woman does not have this procedure done, she would not be held responsible for that.  Though
"mandub" means she would be rewarded for doing so.


     Being that Maliki fiqh is followed in West / Central Africa, this may explain why the
practice is so closely associated with Islam in that part of Africa, although please don't quote
me on that, that is just a mere educated guess, and I'm only speaking of the people who are
Muslims here.


     I also came across a "fatwa" on www.sunnipath.com, which describes "female circumcision" as
described in the Islamic literature as a "lost art", and that though it's recommended, the type of
FGC practiced today, falls outside of Islamic bounds, in that more is cut than is stipulated.


     However, having said all of this, even if something isn't necessarily mandated in Islam, it
doesn't necessarily forbidden either.  If the type of FGC practiced is not harmful to the person
undergoing it, then perhaps it would fall into the category of "mubah" or neutral, meaning that
you can either do it or leave it.  


     However, I think that knowledgeable people, both in Islamic fiqh and medical knowledge, as
well as intimate, respectful familiarity with the cultures in question, will need to come up with
a ruling regarding this.  I don't think issuing fatwas just banning the practice is going to help.


     I think in this case, it is only going to hurt the very people this ruling is supposedly
seeking to help.  Because non-Muslims will use this "fatwa" to further criminalize the practice. 
Not only this, a "fatwa" is not legally binding on Muslims.  It is a legal verdict but is only
meant to be adhered to by the one asking for the fatwa.  And even if it is meant for all Muslims,
again, it is left to the decision of the individual as to whether to follow it or not.  We don't
have a clergy and an Islamic scholar is not like a pope, and whether you decide to follow a fatwa
/ ruling is left between you and God.


    Again, my position is that the so-called "harm" etc., needs to be evaluated, to see if
whatever harm, physical, psychological, or whatever, is truly living up to all of the hype that us
"Westerners" would have everyone believe.


     At the very least, this is a sensitive issue which needs to be handled with utmost care!  And
not only care, but respect, compassion, sympathy, and anything else along those lines that I can't
think of at the moment.


     Another thought occurs to me that anyone making a judgment or giving a ruling should be
intimately familiar with the culture, place, people, etc., to whom they are giving the ruling.  I
really do need to go back and read the article again, as it's been a long day, and I'd not been
able to reply to this when things were fresh in my mind.


     However, I did at least want to say that this is not as cut-and-dry of an issue as it would
appear.  And I'd like to think that I'd show the same respect and consideration to others'
practices, as I'd like to think they'd show to me, if something I was doing were scrutinized.


Just some thoughts, and I hope I'm forgiven for any initial offense I may have caused anyone.


     Perhaps I am not the one to assist in ironing this issue out, because I've found that again,
I am humbled and I truly know nothing.  I have a terrible habit of speaking before my brain can
stop me, and I'm really trying to work on that.  I also have a tendency to be misunderstood, or at
least I think I do, and I think sometimes I come across in a way which upsets people.  I know I
tend to have a, what I'd describe as, a kind of a sarcastic side, I don't know how to describe it
and maybe "sarcastic" isn't putting it correctly.  At any rate, perhaps I should learn to use the
emoticons, etc., and perhaps I'd then be understood better.


Ginny




Visit me and read my blog online at:  http://quickgm28.blogs.com/

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