Female Circumcision in Predominantly Muslim

Cultures

J. Luis Dizon
# 998869513
NMC 484 H1

4 December
2013
Female circumcision is a global problem affecting many cultures around the
globe. The World Health Organization has estimated the number of girls
worldwide who have undergone this procedure to be around 130 million. The
term female circumcision and other terms related to it describe a wide
variety

of

practices,

all

of

which

are

condemned

by

international

organizations worldwide. The practice is defined, for example, by the World

Health Organization, United Nations Children's Fund and the United Nations
Population Fund in a joint statement on female circumcision as follows:
Female genital mutilation comprises all procedures involving
partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other
injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural or other
non-therapeutic reasons (Abusharaf 5).
It is interesting to note that the majority of cases of female circumcision take
place either in cultures where the majority of the population happens to be
Muslim, or have come into close contact with cultures that are majority
Muslim. As such, it becomes a matter of dispute whether Islam (or rather,
specific

schools

of

Islamic

jurisprudence)

actually

permits

(or

even

mandates) this practice, whether there are any ideological currents within
Islam that are fuelling the practice regardless of whether or not it is
specifically permitted or mandated, or whether it is mere coincidence that

Islam happens to be the dominant religion in the cultures where this practice
has arisen.
The purpose of this research essay is to look at the historical and legal
situation in the different countries where female circumcision is practiced.
Also, various traditional Islamic texts (the Quran, Ahadith and Islamic legal
texts) will be examined to see whether there is any connection between
those texts and female circumcision. This essay seeks to answer the
following questions:
1) What passages in the traditional Islamic texts might be used to
justify the practice of female circumcision? Are these passages
authentic or spurious?
2) What ideological currents within Islam could plausibly give
credence (directly or indirectly) to the practice of female
circumcision?
3) What are the various modes of legal reasoning that are used by
Islamic legal scholars to arrive at their respective conclusions for
or against female circumcision?
The basic thesis of this essay, as will be demonstrated below, is that
historically, the various schools of Islamic jurisprudence have permitted at
least some form of female circumcision to take place. These different schools
may have different levels of acceptance regarding the practice (ranging from
making it mandatory to merely permitting it), and there may even be some
dispute as to what form this female circumcision actually comes in. However,
2

that this practice is permitted has not been disputed until very recent times
among some modern Islamic legal scholars.

Usage of Terminology
First, some issues relating to terminology need to be addressed. The
practice under question is known by many names. The primary designation
that is given to it is female circumcision. While the term in and of itself has
no connotations, proponents of the practice have used female circumcision
in order to highlight, and at times exaggerate, the similarities between it and
male circumcision. As a result, alternate terminology has been developed to
describe the procedure. One of the more common terms, coined by Fran
Hosken of the Womens International Network, is the term female genital
mutilation (Boyle 25). This term has been adopted by agencies such as the
WHO, UNICEF and the UNFPA (as shown in the quoted statement above).
Although this term has gained a lot of traction, it has been criticized as being
too ethnocentric and politically charged, hence the avoidance of this term in
more scholarly circles. There are other lesser known alternatives, such as the
term female genital cutting. This used by Elizabeth Heger Boyle in her
3

book of the same name. She states that she derived this term from the U.S.
Agency for International Development, and has the advantage of being an
accurate, nonpoliticized description of the practice (Boyle 25). Nevertheless,
because it is the most well known term used to describe the practice (outside
of academic circles), and is the term used in the majority of the literature
that was consulted during the course of writing this essay, the term female
circumcision will be used for the rest of this essay.
In the non-English speaking world, different terms have come to be
used to designate the practice in each of the cultures where it is performed,
which can sometimes reveal much about the way it is viewed in those
cultures. In various local African dialects, female circumcision is referred to
as bolokoli, irua, bondo, kuruna, negekorsigin, or kene-kene.
(Abusharaf 1) Of particular interest, however, are the Arabic term that is
used for the practice. In Arabic, the term used is tahara, which has the
connotation of purification. This connotation highlights the religious
undertones of the practice, which have to do with chastity and purity. (Boyle
30) There are also the terms khitan and khifad, which appear in Islamic
literature, in connection with both male and female circumcision (AbdurRazzaq 8-9). This is the term which appears in most of the Arabic Islamic
sources which are cited herein.

Female Circumcision as a Global Phenomenon

In discussions of female circumcision, it must be recognized that the
term does not refer to just one single practice, but actually refers to three
distinct practices (as outlined by the World Health Organization), which vary
in their severity of cutting of the female genitals (Ali 100-101; Boyle 25-26;
Wangila 3):
1) The first type of female circumcision, clitoridotomy, involves the
removal of the prepuce (or hood) covering the clitoris. This is the
least invasive of the three types of female circumcision, and is
regarded in majority Muslim cultures as the Sunnah method of
circumcision (what this means will be tackled below). However,
the designation of this type of circumcision as sunnah does not
mean that other types are not also followed among majority
Muslim cultures, especially in Africa, where more invasive forms
of female circumcision are often utilized.
2) The second type of female circumcision, clitoridectomy, involves
the partial or complete removal of the clitoris, as well as part of
the labia minora. This is the type of female circumcision that
happens most frequently with young girls in various parts of
Africa, due to the difficulty in distinguishing the prepuce covering
the clitoris from the clitoris itself.
3) The third type of female circumcision, infibulation, is the most
invasive

and

destructive

of

the

three

types

of

female
5

circumcision. This type of female circumcision involves not only

completely removing the clitoris and the labia minora, but also
portions of the labia majora. In addition, the vaginal orifice is
sewn shut, with only a small opening for urination and
menstruation. Infibulation is also sometimes referred to as
pharaonic circumcision due to the widespread (albeit highly
disputed) belief that this type of circumcision was practiced back
in Ancient Egyptian times.
In addition to these three types of circumcision, another practice was
recently innovated as an alternative to them which involves only symbolic
pricking, rubbing or scraping of the female parts. This practice has been
implemented in Southeast Asia and certain parts of Africa as an interim
measure towards eliminating female circumcision. Unfortunately, since this
procedure is not recognized in many cultures as female circumcision, it has
been met with limited success in Africa (Ali 101).
The practices just described occur in many countries, mostly in Africa
and Asia. It is practiced widely in twenty-five different countries. Of those
twenty-five countries, fourteen of them have the majority of families
reporting that they practice female circumcision in some form or another. It
is also being brought into western nations by new immigrants from these
countries (Boyle 24). Of these countries, the highest prevalent of female
circumcisions occur in the countries of Egypt, Gambia, Mali, Sudan, Sierra
6

Leone, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Djibouti, where the percentage goes
anywhere between 71 and 98 percent. The fact that some of these countries
have banned the practice has not prevented it from going underground
(Mokaya 17; Wangila 8).
The interesting thing to note is that nearly all of the countries in Asia
that practice female circumcision are those that are majority Muslim in
population. In Southeast Asia, female circumcision was unheard of before the
coming of Islam, and to this day, it is almost exclusively practiced by Muslims
there (Ali 100). In Africa, there is some female circumcision being practiced
among tribes of different religions. However, it is notable that most of them
are those in close contact with Muslims, such as Coptic Christians in Egypt,
or Ethiopians living in the southern regions of Ethiopia (Abusharaf 54). In
fact, maps showing the prevalence of female circumcision by country in
Africa indicate that the practice is most prevalent in the sub-Saharan
countries where Islam is the dominant religion (Mokaya 18). While these
facts do not in and of themselves prove that pressure from the Islamic
cultures caused the non-Islamic ones to practice female circumcision, it does
open up the possibility of it being one several cultural factors leading to the
adoption of female circumcision (if the use of Arabic terms and the use of the
phrase sunnah circumcision are any indication). Also, these facts have led
to questions on what the relationship is between the Islamic religion and the
practice of female circumcision amongst those African tribes that adhere to it
or are in close contact with it, which is what will be discussed next.
7

Female Circumcision and the Islamic Tradition

While the practice of female circumcision does predate Islam, its exact
historical origins are unclear. For a long time, it was commonly believed that
the practice originated in Ancient Egypt during the time of the Pharaohs.
However, there is no hard evidence to support this claim, and as such it is
disputed whether this is, in fact, the case (Abusharaf 2; Boyle 27, AbdurRazzaq 28). It does appear to be the case, however, that female circumcision
was practiced among the pagan Arabs inhabiting the Arabian Peninsula
during the seventh century C.E. Evidence for this is provided in one
particular hadith where Muhammad

comes into contact with one such

practitioner:
Look at what the Messenger said when the women emigrated
and among them was a woman called Umm Habiba. She used to
circumcise girls. When the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon
him, saw her, he asked her, Umm Habiba, are you still practising
today what you used to practise before? She said, Yes,
Messenger of Allah, unless it is forbidden and you forbid me to do
it. He said, It is allowed. Come closer so that I can teach you.
She went closer to him and he said, Umm Habiba, if you do it,
do not overdo it because it brings more radiance to the face and

it is more pleasant for the husband (Abdur-Razzaq, 30-31; Al

Sabbagh 17).
Based on this passage, it is believed that the Islamic tradition
inherited (for lack of a better term) the practice of female circumcision,
with the caveat that it must not be done in excess. This is just one of several
traditions that are used to justify the practice in predominantly Muslim
cultures. This narration is often cited by scholars in support of it, although
there are a few who contest its authenticity, questioning the reliability of its
claim to go back to the days of Muhammad (Al Sabbagh 17-19).
That being said, the debate over whether female circumcision could
properly be called Islamic, and what it means for a practice to be called
Islamic must be addressed. If that term means that Islamic originated the
practice, then female circumcision could not be called Islamic, since it
predates Islam. On the other hand, the same thing could be said about most
of Islams pillars (praying in the direction of Mecca, going on pilgrimage to
Mecca and completing certain rituals there, etc.), since they also were
practiced by pre-Islamic pagan Arabs. If calling something Islamic means
that significant numbers of Muslims practice it, then one is on better ground
in calling Female Circumcision Islamic. However, this still does not
eliminate the possibility that it is nothing more than a cultural practice. The
best way to determine whether a practice is Islamic or not is to look at
whether the practitioners are able to substantiate their practice using
9

traditional Islamic sources or not. Islamic Feminist K. Ali argues on this basis,
pointing to the use of Islamic sources to rebut claims by those who assert
that female circumcision is a practice of culture, not religion (Ali 102).
If one is to use this final criterion for determining whether or not a
practice is Islamic, then entire sets of questions arise regarding the
interpretation of Islamic religious sources, determining the authenticity of
specific narratives within said sources, and how different schools of legal
thought in Islam construct legal rulings based on those that have been
verified as authentic. One should also consider the question of whether the
practice is considered mandatory by a certain legal school, or if it is merely
permitted or encouraged without being made a requirement. It is necessary
to answer these questions in order to determine whether the use of Islamic
texts by practitioners of female circumcision to justify their practice is
justified or not.

The Formulation of Legal Rulings

Before going into the details of how Female Circumcision is justified in
Islamic circles, one must first look at how Islamic jurisprudence operates, in
order to see the legal reasoning behind those who prescribe this practice.

10

There are four sources (grouped into three levels) from which Islamic
law is derived. The first source is Islams main holy text, the Quran. Some
people mistakenly think that if a certain teaching or practice is not explicitly
mentioned in the Quran, then that definitively proves that that teaching or
practice is not really Islamic. However, this is not the case, as Islam derives
its theology and its legal rulings from multiple sources, of which the Quran is
just one (albeit the primary source). After the Quran comes the Sunnah
(traditions concerning the prophet Muhammads behaviour and teachings),
which are recorded in the various hadith narrations (pl. ahadith) (Vikr 31).
Because of the voluminous nature of the hadith collections, there are
many narrations that are spurious in nature that are found alongside other
narrations that are usually regarded as authentic. Because of this, Islamic
scholars have developed a science of hadith authentication, whereby
narrations are judged as to their reliability. The most reliable ahadith (those
with complete chains of narration and are passed on through multiple lines of
transmission) are regarded as sahih (sound), and are the ahadith used in
making legal formulations. Those of questionable reliability are regarded as
daif (weak). There are other gradations of soundness aside from these two,
but in general, most narrations are placed in one of these two categories. In
some cases, scholars may disagree on how to grade certain ahadith, with
some regarding them as sahih, and others regarding them as daif. In such
cases, the majority opinion generally prevails (Vikr 40-43).

11

Together, the Quran and the Sunnah form the first level in establishing
Islamic Law. Below this first level is the third source, which is qiyas
(analogical deduction), which forms the second level for establishing Islamic
Law. Qiyas is the process by which specific commands and incidents are
taken from the first level sources, and legal rulings are extrapolated from
those commands and incidents based on the legal/ethical principles guiding
them. Thus, Qiyas is used to develop legal rulings for situations that are not
directly addressed in the Quran or the Sunnah (Vikr 31-32).
The fourth source in the development of Islamic Law is Ijma
(consensus), which forms the third and final level in establishing Islamic Law.
Once a legal ruling has been developed by way of qiyas, it is only a potential
legal rule, not an actual one. That ruling must achieve a consensus within
one or more of the various madhhabs (schools of Islamic jurisprudence). In
Sunni Islam, there are four of these schools: Hanafi, Shafii, Maliki and
Hanbali. There is also the Jafari school in Shia Islam. Because these different
schools of thought have different methods of legal reasoning (for example,
the Hanbalis reject the use of qiyas and rely on a Literalist reading of the first
level sources), certain legal rulings may attain Ijma in some madhhabs but
not in others (Vikr 32).

Islamic Legal Formulations on Female Circumcision

12

In, applying this type of legal reasoning to female circumcision, it is

noteworthy that while all of the legal schools accept female circumcision (at
least the least invasive form, which is clitoridotomy), their level of
acceptance varies. For the Hanafi and Hanbali schools, female circumcision is
not mandatory, but it is regarded as honourable for women. For the Maliki
schools, circumcision is recommended for women. The Shafii school goes
furthest of the four in stating that circumcision is obligatory for both men and
women (Abdur-Razzaq 45). No information is available in the available
sources regarding the legality of female circumcision in the Jafari school, as
the practice does not seem to be a problem in areas where Shiism is the
predominant form of Islam.
These differences in opinion are illustrated in the classic Shafii legal
manual known as Reliance of the Traveler (Arabic: Umdat al Salik) by the 14th
century Egyptian Muslim jurist Ahmad Ibn Naqib, which was translated into
English by Nuh H.M. Keller. In the Reliance, it states:
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. Badhr) of the clitoris (n: not
the clitoris itself, as some mistakenly assert). (A: Hanbalis hold
that circumcision of women is not obligatory but sunna, while
Hanafis consider it a mere courtesy to the husband (Umdat al
Salik e4.3).
13

It should be noted that there is a an interpretive gloss in the translation

provided by Keller (marked by the n:), wherein he interprets the Arabic
word badhr ( )as referring to the prepuce of the clitoris. However, K. Ali
challenges this translational gloss by pointing to lexical sources such as
Lanes Arabic-English Lexicon, and Faruqis Law Dictionary which point to
badhr as referring to the clitoris itself (Ali 108-109, 182). In addition, modern
Arabic dictionaries clear If this actually the case, then this may be seen as
evidence that the Shafii school is prescribing the second type of
circumcision (clitoridectomy), rather than the first type (clitoridotomy) as
being sunnah. Nevertheless, in actual practice it is clitoridotomy and not
clitoridectomy that is regarded as the sunnah form of circumcision by all four
schools.
As for the primary-level sources on which these rulings are based,
there are no explicit Quranic references to female circumcision. There are,
however, various hadith narrations that speak on the subject. The one cited
earlier regarding Muhammads encounter with the female circumciser Umm
Habiba is one of the most oft-cited references in this regard. Its command to
not overdo it is commonly interpreted as permission to perform the least
severe form of female circumcision. Some moderate Muslim scholars argue
that the moderating of the practice is not intended to give approval to it, but
to show disapproval by pointing in the direction of lessening the practice with
the aim of eventually abolishing. Conservative Muslim scholars argue back
that if that was the case, Muhammad would have outright banned the
14

practice rather than merely moderated it, as was the case with many other
practices, such as drinking alcohol or practicing female infanticide (AbdurRazzaq 32).
Other than this one hadith, there are other passing references to
female circumcision in various narrations. The earliest such reference comes
from the mid eighth century in Malik Ibn Anass hadith collection, Al Muwatta.
In it, there are references to a saying by the Prophet Muhammad stating:
When the circumcised part touches the circumcised part, ghusl [ritual
bathing] is obligatory (Al Muwatta, 2:19:73, 77). By speaking of both male
and

female

genitals

as

being

circumcised,

there

is

the

implicit

acknowledgement here that both males and females have undergone

circumcision. However, since Al Muwatta is not considered one of the six
canonical collections of hadith (which are the most widely regarded as
authentic), these narrations do not carry much weight beyond the Maliki
school of Islamic jurisprudence. However, a similar narration does appear in
one of those canonical collections, Sahih Muslim. In it, there is a passing
reference to Muhammad stating: When anyone sits amidst four parts (of the
woman) and the circumcised parts touch each other a bath becomes
obligatory (Sahih Muslim 3:684). Similarly, there is a passing reference in
Sahih al Bukhari (widely considered to be the most authentic hadith
collection) to Umm Anmar, the one who circumcises other ladies (Sahih al
Bukhari 5:59:399). Based on these references, it can be ascertained that the
practice of female circumcision did exist in the early Islamic community.
15

However, while the narrations in question acknowledge the existence of the

practice, they give no explicit order to carry them out. Thus, one can at best
determine that it was permitted as a practice during those days, not that it
was made mandatory. This is whyas we have seendifferent schools of
Jurisprudence have come to difference conclusions with regards to what level
of legality the practice is to be accorded with.
It is interesting how different scholars look at these sources and come
to different conclusions about the level of legality that is to be assigned to
them. In his book, Circumcision in Islam, Abu Bakr Abdur-Razzaq cites the
statements of ten different legal scholars on the issue (Abdur-Razzaq 43-68).
Most of them speak favourably of the practice, citing the lessening of sexual
promiscuity among women as one of the prime benefits for its continuation.
Of these scholars, only one, Muhammad al-Banna, expresses reservations
about the practice, saying some kind of health benefit must be directly linked
to the practice or it should be abandoned (Abdur-Razzaq 49-50). The fact
that these highly-regarded Islamic legal experts speak favourably of female
circumcision is a major obstacle towards its abolition. On the other hand, the
fact that they only approve of clitoridotomy and not the more severe forms
of circumcision may be regarded as a positive in that it would help stem the
tide of more severe forms of female circumcision being practiced, such as
infibulations, which is endemic in countries like Sudan.

16

Conclusion
Female circumcision is not as simple a topic to address as one may
initially think it to be. First of all, there different types of female circumcision
which vary in severity. While the most severe form (infibulation) is widely
considered to be morally repugnant, less severe forms of female circumcision
such as clitoridotomy and clitoridectomy occupy a grayer area, since their
negative effects are not as clearly defined, and those who oppose such
practice are sometimes accused of engaging in a form of cultural
imperialism, particularly if they are coming from a western perspective. It is
clear that Islamic law permits these less severe forms of female circumcision,
a practice which was carried over into Islam from pre-Islamic Arabian
practice. What is not as clear is whether or not they were intended to remain
mandatorythe position which the Shafii school of jurisprudence maintains,
in opposition to the other schools. Because of the strong religious impetus for
maintaining

the

practiceand

the

majority

of

female

circumcision

practitioners do list religion as their primary motivating factor for performing

the practice (El Dareer 70)it is highly unlikely that this practice will be
eliminated any time soon.

17

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Ya`qub
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(3,901 words)

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