Egyptian Grand Mufti - FGM is forbidden by Islam

Tell on those people

It can only be welcome news as a £20,000 reward for information on practitioners of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the UK is accompanied with a law that expressly forbids the practice in Egypt.

The practice had already been banned in Egypt since 1997, but a UNICEF report in 2005 indicated that 97% of Egyptian women between the ages of 15 and 49 have been circumcised.

It is heartening to know that the Grand Mufti (Highest Official of Islamic law) of Egypt has clearly stated that there is no religious basis for FGM that it is forbidden by Islam and there is no Christian law on the practice either.

This is a rotten "tradition of men" that has become a kind of doctrinal belief system such that there are people who think there is a religious obligation to commit what is literally a heinous mutilating crime against the humanity of pre-pubescent girls.

Patriarchy denying women's rights

As one commentator did state, this thing thrives in highly patriarchal societies where the rights of women are suppressed in servitude to men and where the premise is about keeping the women pure - that kind of purity however, does not seem to pertain to men.

Now, Christianity and Islam does support male circumcision and this is part of the Abrahamic covenant which God made with Abraham - all of his male seed were to have their foreskin cut off - this religious practise does also have health benefits and has been advocated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as an anti-HIV/AIDS drive.

None of the beneficial experience can be alluded to the same barbaric practice on girls apart from sexual dysfunction, psychological trauma, tetanus, blood poisoning and irreparable damage to the urethra, bladder and vulva.

One in five girls are said to die during this procedure to keep up with tradition.

No safety in formal medicine

This "rite of passage" which presumably keeps girls chaste got its worst publicity just over two weeks ago when astute parents decided to use the medical profession rather than traditional charlatans to perform the procedure on their 11-year old daughter.

The hapless and helpless girl was given too much anaesthetic - now this is humane compared to videos of girls shrieking with utter terror being held down by their mothers and other related woman folk as her genitalia is being cut and sliced in the fulfilment of some long held tradition.

Cautionary Viewing - FGM Mutilation Information Video

The girl died, but not in vain, there was such uproar about it that this law would also make the medical profession liable to prosecution for performing the procedure on anyone, it is hopefully a fully enforceable ban .

Vengeful mothers on helpless daughters

I wrote about the banning of FGM in Eritrea in April and the more this practice is explicitly outlawed in societies that think their traditions are dying out if they do not continue to practise barbarity and savagery the better the chance for the more amenable parts of their traditions to survive.

The problem is however growing in immigrant communities in Diaspora where some tend to be greater adherents than those in the indigenous homelands because of the nostalgic complex that beclouds the judgement of some in societies that appear alien to them.

Any information leading to the stoppage of these acts as well as the naming, shaming and prosecution of FGM practitioners must be very welcome, women who have lost their things should not vengefully visit this thing on generations after them, their daughters and grand-daughters, there is no use or benefit from this practice and it most stop forthwith in all societies civilised or uncivilised.

I am sorry if anyone has suffered this kind of mutilation, but it must stop with you and go no further.

Reference

Making trouble in the name of mutilated women

FGM banned in Eritrea

Too prevalent for comfort

This is topic I think experts would celebrate better than I could in this write up. I was quite shocked to find out how prevalent it was in Africa, Middle-East and Indonesia, no more so when I also heard that the practices does still thrive in Nigeria.

Learning that Eritrea has banned the practice of Female Genital Mutilation or Circumcision (FGM or FGC) is definitely great news and to be celebrated.

It marks a beginning of what should be a wave of the civilising of customs, traditions and religious practices that cause undue physical harm without any particular health benefit apart from a modicum of social acceptance.

With this law, the practitioners of these acts of mutilation who are usually female too and matriarchs of those communities when caught could face fines and possible imprisonments.

Enforcing the law

However, the issue at hand would be how to break down the ranks after this illegal act has been committed; people can be sworn to silence, risk ostracism within their communities or even suffer worse fates like "honour killing" - basically, one wonders about the enforceability of this law.

Beyond this is the need to health and material support for the victims of this heinous mutilation which at times to other health complications.

Now, we also have the aspect of Male Genital Mutilation known as circumcision which seemingly has a religious progeny has been found to provide health benefits in arresting the spread of HIV/AIDS, this is no way comparable to the mutilation that females suffer as a rite of passage into womanhood.

Conserving the good bits

In all, there is no way that the 4 listed types of mutilation which are just too revolting and despicable to list here but covers excision of critical parts of female sexual organs and in some cases the application of corrosive substances can be justified in the 21^st Century, in fact, it is violent abuse and now considered a violation of human rights by the UN. The other types are no less atrocious in trying to understand what they are trying to achieve.

It is time to ensure that these archaic and barbaric customs are rolled back and consigned to history; we should not condone or countenance anymore the sacrifice of human beings to customs, traditions, culture or religious practices just for the sake of keeping uncivilised practices alive.

We can conserve the positive parts of our heritage whilst losing the negative parts without necessarily losing our identity, acts of separation and differentiation through mutilation have no place in what is now a global village of interacting peoples.

Finally, it is a welcome development that even Muslim scholars have called for an end to this practice, with bans and sanctions; it might require religious leaders sounding the word from the pulpit about how unnecessary these acts are without rubbing up too hard on long held but out-dated customs - the abuse must be stopped forthwith.

References

FGM on the rise in the UK - 2004

Images of FGC - cautionary viewing advised