The issue of female genital mutilation came up on another thread and the debate was whether it's an Islamic practice sanctioned by Mohammed or an Egyptian/African ritual. A quick search of the Arab News reveals that they discussed this issue before and denounced it as being harmful to the child. FGM was addressed in an Arab News paper article in 2003. Prayer, Pilgrimage, Female Circumcision ADIL SALAHI Published Monday 21 July 2003 http://www.arabnews.com/node/234590 The question was: Q.3. Is female circumcision a Sunnah? The answer was: A.3. Female circumcision is not a Sunnah. There is no basis to consider it as such. Shaikh Muhammad Al-Sabbagh, a reputable Hadith scholar, has verified all the Hadiths that mention this practice and shown that they are all very poor in authenticity. As such, they are unsuitable to be taken as a basis for any action. From another point of view, it has been medically established that this social tradition, which is common in some African countries, is harmful to the girl in childhood and adulthood. As such, it should be avoided by all means. Parents who arrange this to be done to their daughters must not do so, because it exposes their daughters to lasting harm. This is something a parent is forbidden to do to a child. Egypt outlawed the practice in 2008 but it's still being done by both muslims and Christians. The dummies think that it's part of their faith. A doctor is on trial for doing it to a girl who died. The girl's father brought her to the doctor. Egypt doctor in the dock for fatal female mutilation Wednesday 12 March 2014 http://www.arabnews.com/news/538636 "CAIRO: A doctor in Egypt will face trial for performing a female circumcision operation that killed a teenage girl, a judicial official said on Tuesday. The 14-year-old girls father who took her to the doctor for the procedure will also face trial. Although banned in 2008, female genital mutilation is still rampant in Egypt, especially in rural areas where many believe it is part of their faith. The doctor in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura performed the dangerous procedure at a private clinic. The practice has been common among both Muslims and Christians, said Nehad Abolkomsan, who heads the Egyptian Center for Womens Rights. A survey in 2000 said the procedure had been carried out on 97 percent of the countrys married women. She said efforts to reach out to rural areas to end the practice had been partially successful, but more government supervision was needed." Dummies in Kenya do it all the time. FGM: Images of female circumcision ceremony show distressing reality of female genital mutilation Pictures from a Pokot ceremony show young girls being cut in ritual HEATHER SAUL Saturday 15 November 2014 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...ity-of-female-genital-mutilation-9863029.html Well, Jesus did say to cutoff any body parts that will cause you to sin so that you won't end up in hell. Matthew 5:29-30
Has little to do with religion (obviously, since it's practised by people of different faiths), and everything to do with geographical tradition and culture. It's practised in many parts of the world, from South East Asia / Pacific to West Africa. It's just another nasty leftover from our darker days. In authoritarian/patriarchal cultures no one is going to question it. Same way all 'bad stuff' is carried forward. People don't keep doing it because they like it, and chose it from of a number of options - whatever 'it' is. Whether genital mutilation or the religion of their fathers.
English doctors performed it on English women in the 1860s. American doctors did it all the time in the 1890s. http://www.historyofcircumcision.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=50&Itemid=68 http://www.historyofcircumcision.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=51&Itemid=68 A Texas doctor went wild doing them in the early 20th Century. http://www.historyofcircumcision.net/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=60&Itemid=68 Based on the available evidence, most people have fewer brains than earthworms.
exactly. it's what happens when fetishist level conservatism (which is ALWAYS about sex) is allowed free rein.
In ancient primitive societies it could have started as a way to make a tribe's women less appealing as war captives. It's still effective because few, if any, men outside of the particular culture would marry such a woman. The English and American doctors who did it were simply criminally insane perverts.
FGM is not practiced in Arabia or any of the other Gulf countries. I believe it is Egyptian in origin where men and women priests were circumcised.
The Jews fell in love with circumcision, that's for sure. It's amazing that they didn't do the women.
