Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is not Islamic

Irish Imam is wrong to say FGM should be recognised

Ali Selim, a spokesman for the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland in Clonskeagh, said in an interview with a newspaper for doctors that “female circumcision” was provided for in Islam. He claims that there is a difference between “female circumcision” and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). He is totally wrong. The two are the same and are a brutal mutilation of the female body which causes untold psychological damage to women subjected to it.

FGM is an ancient practice which originated in pre-Islamic Africa. It is a common practice in some countries in Africa and the Middle East. Inhabitants of those countries practice FGM regardless of their faith. For example, Ethiopia is a predominantly Christian country and yet FGM is a common practice. Somalia is a predominantly Muslim country and FGM is practiced there. In Nigeria, Muslims and Christians are almost equal in numbers and both practice FGM.

Female circumcision or FGM is against Islamic teaching. Not only is female circumcision not practiced in most Muslim majority countries such as Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, but in fact is not even known in those countries and, when it is mentioned, people express astonishment.

The Holy Quran states: “Follow the faith of Abraham”. The Prophet Abraham was circumcised, according to Jewish tradition. There is no evidence to show that any female related to the Prophet Abraham himself or among the Jewish people was ever circumcised. Accordingly, if Muslims are to follow the faith of Abraham, then only males are to be circumcised and not females.

The Holy Quran also says that the devil will lead people astray and they will mutilate Allah’s creation (4:119). This is one reason, among others, why Muslims have expressed opposition to post-mortems.

If female circumcision were an obligatory Islamic practice, then the Holy Prophet Muhammad would have engaged in it. There were girls in the Holy Prophet’s (s) family and Hazrat Fatima (r) was his daughter, yet there is no evidence that any woman in the family of the Holy Prophet (s) was circumcised, while there is clear evidence that the Prophet circumcised his grandsons.

FGM is a heinous crime against women. Those who engage in it must be most severely punished.

The Ahmadiyya Association for the Propagation of Islam (Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam) was established in Lahore in 1914 to promote the informed understanding of Islam in the West. In the UK it operated the Shah Jehan Mosque in Woking until the early 1960s. Its new headquarters is at Dar-us-Salaam, 15 Stanley Avenue, Wembley, HA0 4JQ, UK. In 1924, in Berlin, it built the first mosque in Continental Europe of the modern era. The German Government recognises the Berlin Mosque as part of the German national heritage. From its European and other centres around the world this organisation has taught that Islam promotes peace, harmony and mutual respect between all communities and nationalities.

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