Is Female Circumcision Islamic?

May 25, 2023 | Is FGM cultural? Religious? What, exactly, do Islamic texts say about it? What's the difference between FGM and circumcision? Why is FGM practiced in so much of the Muslim world--and why does it matter?

The Girl Who Said No To FGM

In a short edit from The Guardian and Accidental Pictures' feature documentary 'Jaha's Promise' we follow the journey of Jaha Dukureh from survivor of FGM and forced child marriage to Time's 100 leader and FGM activist. Confronting her past, her family, her culture, her religion, country and its leaders, Jaha became a lightning-rod for change in Gambia, her work contributing to the eventual government ban on FGM and child marriage.

Activist Calls Women's March Organizer A 'Fake Feminist'

Ayaan Hirsi Ali says on 'The First 100 Days' that Linda Sarsour is a supporter of Sharia law

Outrage in Russia after Religious Leaders Back Female Genital Mutilation

THE TELEGRAPH: Two prominent religious leaders in Russia have provoked outrage after suggesting female genital mutilation could help reduce sexual promiscuity.

The scandal erupted on Wednesday when Vsevolod Chaplin, a former spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church, rushed to the defence of Ismail Berdiyev, a senior Muslim cleric from Dagestan who said “all women” should be subjected to the practice to eliminate sexual depravity. » | Roland Oliphant | Thursday, August 18, 2016

Female Genital Mutilation: U.S. Doctors Call for 'Compromise Solution'

Sheila Gunn Reid reports on a paper entitled "Female Genital Alteration: A Compromise Solution" written by American doctors, that encourages a less invasive way to mutilate female genitalia but cultures that practice FGM have no intention of changing what they do or how they do it and a moral society shouldn’t give advice on the best way to do the wrong thing.

Female Genital Mutilation Must Happen to Every Girl as Part of Culture, Alleged Victim Tells Court

ABC NEWS: A young girl has described the religious ceremony where she allegedly underwent female genital mutilation (FGM), the New South Wales Supreme court was told.

"It's part of our culture and that has to happen to every girl," she said in a 2012 recording of a police interview aired in court.

The girl's mother, a member of Sydney's Dawoodi Bohra community, is accused of arranging separate FGM procedures on two of her daughters when they were seven years old, between 2009 and 2012.

Dawoodi Bohra is a sect within Shia Islam mostly found in India, Pakistan and Yemen.

Also on trial is a former nurse and midwife who allegedly performed the procedures. » | Claire Aird | Tuesday, September 15, 2015

David Cameron Orders Crackdown on Summer Surge of FGM Cases

THE GUARDIAN: PM attacks ‘cruel, barbaric practice’ of female genital mutilation as ministers are told to rush through new powers to seize passports

New laws aimed at preventing young girls being taken abroad to undergo female genital mutilation are to be fast-tracked within weeks, amid fears that the number of cases could soar during the summer holidays.

David Cameron has ordered ministers to rush through measures before schools break up next month.

The measures will enable local authorities, social workers or police to apply directly to courts to ensure that any individual they suspect of trying to take someone abroad for FGM will have to surrender their passport and other travel documents with immediate effect. » | Toby Helm Political editor | Saturday, June 13, 2015

New Dark Age Alert! Campaigners Warn of 'Breast Ironing' in the UK

While attention is finally turning to FGM, campaigners warn that breast ironing, which involves placing hot objects on girls' chests, is also happening in the UK. Channel 4 News speaks to one victim.

Read the Channel 4 article here | Friday, April 18, 2014

Kenyan 'Cutter' Says Female Genital Mutilation Is Her Livelihood

THE GUARDIAN: Margaret, who has put more girls through FGM than she can remember, says cutters ask her how they will eat if they stop

There can be few women who understand both the agonies and the economics of female genital mutilation better than Margaret, a grandmother in her 70s from Pokot, northern Kenya.

Her life has spanned the clumsy colonial efforts to ban the practice, which saw it become a cultural cornerstone of the Mau Mau uprising against British rule, right through to independent Kenya's decision to re[-]impose the prohibition.

She has also put more girls than she can remember under the knife. When Margaret started, the tool of choice was a curved nail; more recently this has been replaced with imported razor blades.

The work, she concedes, is gruelling: frightened young girls would typically sit naked on a rock; once done, their excised clitorises would be thrown to the birds. For the cutters, or "koko mekong", who can earn 2,500 Kenyan shillings (£18) for each girl, it is a livelihood.

"The cutters ask me: 'If we leave doing this thing, what will we eat?'" Margaret says. "Tell the government to give us what to eat. If it's just workshops then it will be no use. The circumcisers will not leave their career simply because they're being told to leave it."

The "cut" has been outlawed in Kenya since 2001. Despite this, a public health survey in 2009 found that 27% of women had been subject to FGM. Among some ethnic groups – such as the Somalis (98%) and Masai (73%) – that figure is much higher. » | Daniel Howden in Baringo County | Friday, February 07, 2014

Female Genital Mutilation: A Family Speaks Out against the Practice

BBC: Doctors and nurses in the UK will be required to log details of the injuries suffered by victims of female genital mutilation (FGM).

The practice has been illegal in Britain since 1985, but no-one has ever been prosecuted for FGM, which is widely carried out by communities originally from the Middle East, Africa or Asia.

At least 66,000 girls and women in the UK are believed to be victims.

Three generations of one Somali family, scarred by the practice, have spoken out.

Reeta Chakrabarti reports. (+ BBC video) » | Wednesday, February 05, 2014

Female genital mutilation: Hospitals to log victims » | Thursday, February 06, 2014

Female Genital Mutilation: 'I Was Screaming'

BBC: A BBC investigation has revealed concerns that girls are being brought to Scotland from overseas to undergo female genital mutilation.

Specialist agencies have warned that the procedure is conducted here because the country is seen as "a soft touch".

Fatou Baldeh, remembers being cut aged seven: "I remember I was screaming for my mum and my grandmother to help me but no-one did."

Lucy Adams has been investigating the issue for BBC Scotland. (+ BBC video) » | Friday, November 15, 2013

British Girl Leads Guardian Campaign to End Female Genital Mutilation

17-year-old Fahma Mohamed calls on Michael Gove to ensure teachers and parents are informed about horrors of FGM

Read and comment on the Guardian article here | Alexandra Topping | Wednesday, February 05, 2014
Sign the petition here

Europe-wide Move to End FGM 'Barbarism'

LONDON EVENING STANDARD: The European parliament is set to debate sweeping plans to eradicate female genital mutilation across the continent.

Politicians will discuss proposals to eliminate the practice, which affects around 500,000 women and girls in Europe, as part of zero tolerance day on Thursday, a UN-sponsored awareness day.

Members of the gender equality committee want Europe to toughen its stance. This week they will call for all member states to prosecute those who carry out FGM and for the number of victims to be recorded properly.

They want it to be formally recognised that FGM, which involves the partial or total removal of female genitalia, is a “gross form of violence against women and violence against the child”. » | Anna Davis | Monday, February 03, 2014

Report Calls for Female Genital Mutilation to Be Treated as Child Abuse

THE GUARDIAN: Coalition of health professionals recommends aggressive steps to eradicate the practice in the UK

Thousands of girls in danger of genital mutilation are being failed by the health and justice systems, a coalition of health professionals has warned in a report that recommends aggressive steps to eradicate the practice in the UK.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) should be treated the same as any other kind of child abuse and evidence of it must be reported to the police, according to the report.

Janet Fyle, a policy adviser of the Royal College of Midwives and one of the report's authors, said that just as it was inconceivable that a health worker would not report evidence of child abuse to the police, it should be equally important to report evidence of FGM.

"If we are applying child protection laws, we cannot pick and choose which crimes against children we pursue," she said.

"We are not asking for more money or legislation, we are just asking that child protection laws should work for all children not just some." » | Conal Urquhart | Monday, November 04, 2013

UK Warns Africans Against Genital Mutilation
Some 20 thousand African immigrant girls are thought to be at risk of female genital mutilation practice.

UK: The Crisis of Female Genital Mutilation
GATESTONE INSTITUTE: Despite these laws, no one has ever been prosecuted for performing FGM. Victims are often afraid to speak out for fear of physical abuse or death threats, some involving paid hitmen.

British authorities are redoubling their fight against the spiraling problem of female genital mutilation (FGM) after a weekly primetime television show broadcast by the BBC forced the previously "taboo" subject into mainstream debate.

FGM is endemic in Muslim-majority countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Three million girls between infancy and age 15 are subject to FGM every year, and it is believed that 140 million women worldwide are suffering from the lifelong consequences of the practice.

FGM has emerged as a major problem in Europe due to mass immigration. The European Parliament estimates that 500,000 girls and women in the European Union are living with FGM, and every year another 180,000 girls in Europe are at risk of being "cut."

Britain has the highest levels of FGM in Europe. According to a government-funded study published in 2007, at least 66,000 women and girls in Britain have had the procedure performed on them, and more than 20,000 girls under the age of 15 are currently at risk. » | Soeren Kern | Thursday, May 09, 2013

100,000 British Women Mutilated
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: As many as 100,000 women in Britain have undergone female genital mutilations with medics in the UK offering to carry out the illegal procedure on girls as young as 10, it has been reported.

Investigators from The Sunday Times said they secretly filmed a doctor, dentist and alternative medicine practitioner who were allegedly willing to perform circumcisions or arrange for the operation to be carried out. The doctor and dentist deny any wrongdoing.

The practice, which involves the surgical removal of external genitalia and in some cases the stitching of the vaginal opening, is illegal in Britain and carries up to a 14 year prison sentence.

It is also against the law to arrange FGM.

Known as "cutting", the procedure is traditionally carried out for cultural reasons and is widespread across Africa.

It is thought to be needed as proof of a girl's "purity" for when she marries, but victims are rarely given anaesthetic and frequently suffer long-term damage and pain. » | Sunday, April 22, 2012

THE SUNDAY TIMES: Britain’s 100,000 mutilated women » | Mazher Mahmood and Eleanor Mills | Sunday, April 22, 2012 [£]

THE SUNDAY TIMES: I can circumcise them here: £750 for the first daughter: Finding people to conduct genital mutilation in Britain is easy — even a dentist will do it, report Mazher Mahmood and Eleanor Mills » | Mazher Mahmood and Eleanor Mills | Sunday, April 22, 2012 [£]

WATCH SUNDAY TIMES VIDEO: Undercover footage from the Sunday Times investigation »

People & Power - Clip: Abandon the Knife
In the Pokot community in Kenya young girls are starting to fight against the brutal rite of female circumcision

Female Genital Mutilation Still Practised in Egypt

Horror of Female Circumcision – February 2008