FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

http://www.religioustolerance.org/fem_cirm.htm

DOES GOD SAY TO DESTROY WOMANS GENITALS,NOOOOOOOOOOO.

GENESIS 1:26-31
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

OK, countries that do Genital mutilation, lets look at verse 28. GOD says he created MAN and WOMAN to be fruitful and multiply. This sounds like no Gental mutilation to me which can destroy the Womans Gentitals. Woman can't bear children if their Genitals are cut out.

As for sexual reasons, GOD gave Woman their Genitals to have feelings to enjoy sex, not to have them destroyed so they can't have sexual desire. This Genital Mutilation is clearly against GODS WORD and should be stopped around the world.

GOD CREATED WOMAN (EVE) FOR THE MAN (ADAM) TO BE IN A MONOGOMOUS RELATIONSHIP AND TO ENJOY SEX TOGETHER AND TO PRODUCE CHILDREN AND FILL THE EARTH. NOT DESTROY THE WOMANS GENITALIA.

So there no debate about it. ITS WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Africa, the Middle East & Far East,Debates about FGM

Debate Among Muslims:

As noted above, FGM is a social custom, not a religious practice.

However, in those Muslim countries where it is practice, FGM is often justified by a controversial saying attributed to the Prophet Mohammed that seem to favor sunna circumcision. The authenticity of these sayings are unconfirmed, and some scholars have refuted them. Even if true, they only permit the practice; they do not mandate it. FGM has probably been performed for at least 1,400 years (some references estimate 2,000 years), and started during what Muslims call al-gahiliyyah (the era of ignorance). The Qu'r'an, Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and Christian Scriptures (New Testament) is silent on the subject. The Sunnah (the words and actions of the Prophet Mohammed) contains a reference to female circumcision.

According to the Muslim Women's League:

Those who advocate for FGM from an Islamic perspective commonly quote the following hadith to argue that it is required as part of the Sunnah or Tradition of the Prophet:Um Atiyyat al-Ansariyyah said: A woman used to perform circumcision in Medina. The Prophet (pbuh) said to her: Do not cut too severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband'.1,8. One interpretation of this passage is that the woman was going to proceed with the circumcision anyway; Muhammad suggested that she remove a smaller amount of her genitalia than she had perhaps intended to.This passage is regarded by many Muslims as having little credibility or authenticity. The Muslim Women's League comments: According to Sayyid Sabiq, renowned scholar and author of Fiqh-us-Sunnah, all hadiths concerning female circumcision are non-authentic.

Many Muslims see passages in the Qur'an which, by implication, oppose FGM. they reason: God apparently created the clitoris for the sole purpose of generating pleasure. It has no other purpose. There is no instruction in the Qur'an or in the writings of the Prophet Mohammed which require that the clitoris be surgically modified. Thus God must approve of its presence. And so, it should not be removed or reduced in size or function. The Qur'an promotes the concept of a husband and wife giving each other pleasure during sexual intercourse. For example: It is lawful for you to go in unto your wives during the night preceding the (day's) fast: they are as a garment for you and you are as a garment for them.(2:187) and He has put love and mercy between you.(30:21)

Mutilated genitalia reduce or eliminate a woman's pleasure during the act.

The Qur'an (An-Nisa': 119) states that Satan will try to trick humans into body modification: And I will surely lead them astray, and arouse desires in them, and command them and they will cut the cattle's ears, and I will surely command them and they will change Allah's creation.This might be interpreted as forbidding FGM as well as tattoos, piercing and any other modification that alters the design of the human body as Allah created it.

Nawal El-Saadawi, a Muslim victim of infibulation, stated:

The importance given to virginity and an intact hymen in these societies is the reason why female circumcision still remains a very widespread practice despite a growing tendency, especially in urban Egypt, to do away with it as something outdated and harmful.

Behind circumcision lies the belief that, by removing parts of girls' external genitals organs, sexual desire is minimized. This permits a female who has reached the dangerous age of puberty and adolescence to protect her virginity, and therefore her honor, with greater ease. Chastity was imposed on male attendants in the female harem by castration which turned them into inoffensive eunuchs. Similarly female circumcision is meant to preserve the chastity of young girls by reducing their desire for sexual intercourse.3.Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, head of the al-Azhar Islamic Institute has stated that the practice is un-Islamic. The Health Minister of Egypt, Ismail Sallam, announced the ban on FGM in 1996-JUL. This was upheld by a junior administrative court in Cairo.

Sheik Youssef Badri, a Muslim fundamentalist, took the health minister to court. In 1997-JUN, an Egyptian court overturned the country's ban on FGM. Eight Muslim scholars and doctors had testified that the ban exceeded the government's authority and violated the legal rights of the medical profession. Sheik Youssef Badri commented: [Female] circumcision is Islamic; the court has said that the ban violated religious law. There's nothing which says circumcision is a crime, but the Egyptians came along and said that Islam is a crime.

About 1997-JUL-6, the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel interviewed Sheik Badri. He claimed that many Muslim women are pleased with this victory of Islam over its enemies. When it was pointed out to him that parents in Morocco and Algeria do not practice FGM, he replied that the clitoris in Egyptian girls was larger than in those countries and had to be cut back to a normal size. He quoted a French study which showed that circumcised girls are less likely to catch AIDS. He believes that the United States is spreading misinformation on the health risks of FGM. Author's note: This may be true; victims of FGM are probably less likely to be sexually active.

The government appealed the case to Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court. They ruled that the operation is not required by Islam, and that female circumcision is not a personal right according to the rules of Islamic Sharia (law).Thus, FGM is subject to Egyptian law. They prohibited the procedure, even if it is done with the agreement of the child and her parents. However, gynecologists will be able to approve the surgery if it is needed for health reasons. Fatwas are published opinions by Muslim religious scholars. They are non-binding in law. But Muslim believers are expected to follow them. In Egypt, a number of Fatwas have been issued by the influential Egyptian Fatwa Committee on FGM:

1949-MAY-28: They decided that it is not a sin to reject female circumcision.

1951-JUN-23: They stated that female circumcision is desirable because it curbs nature (i.e. sexual drive among women). It stated that medical concerns over the practice are irrelevant.

1981-JAN-29: The Great Sheikh of Al-Azhar (the most famous University of the Islamic World) stated that parents must follow the lessons of Mohammed and not listen to medical authorities because the latter often change their minds. Parents must do their duty and have their daughters circumcised.

Reaction by the rest of the world

The United Nations has supported the right of member states to grant refugee status to women who fear being mutilated if they are returned to their country of origin. Canada has granted such status to women in this situation. A judge of a Canadian Federal Court declared it a cruel and barbaric practice. In 1994 CNN broadcast footage of the circumcision of a 10 year old Egyptian girl by an unskilled practitioner. This program drew international attention to the operation. A 500 million dollar lawsuit was brought against CNN for allegedly damaging Egypt's reputation, It was rejected by the courts.In the West, the procedure is outlawed in Britain, Canada, France, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. A US federal bill, Federal Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation of 1995 was passed in 1996-SEP. Section 273.3 of the Canadian Criminal Code protects children who are ordinarily resident in Canada, (as citizens or landed migrants) from being removed from the country and subjected to FGM. In the US and Canada, the very small percentage of immigrants who wish to continue the practice often find it impossible to find a doctor who will cooperate. The operation is often done in the home by the family.

Legislation against FGM can be counter-productive in some cases. It might force the practice deeply underground. Women may not seek medical care because their parents might be charged.

UN activity:

In 1958, the Economic and Social Committee of the United Nations invited the World Health Organization (WHO) to undertake a study on the persistence of customs involving ritual practices on girls and on the measures in effect or planned to put an end to those practices.4 The WHO responded that the ritual practices in question, resulting from social and cultural conceptions, are not within the WHO's jurisdiction.5 They subsequently changed their position. 6 In 1989, the Regional Committee of the WHO for Africa passed a resolution urging participating governments to adopt appropriate policies and strategies in order to eradicate female circumcision and to forbid medicalization of female circumcision and to discourage health professionals from performing such surgery.In 1980, UNICEF announced that its anti-FGM program is based on the belief that the best way to handle the problem is to trigger awareness through education of the public, members of the medical profession and practitioners of traditional health care with the help of local collectives and their leaders.7.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is ambiguous about FGM. On one hand, Article 24, paragraph 3 states: States Parties shall take all effective and appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children.But Article 29 paragraph 1.c calls for: The development of respect for the child's parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living, the country from which he or she may originate, and for civilizations different from his or her own.

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

Position paper on Female Genital Mutilation/Female Circumcision, Muslim Women's League, at: http://www.mwlusa.org/

Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh, Religious arguments about male and female circumcision, at: http://www.lpj.org/

Nawal El-Saadawi, The hidden face of Eve, Women in the Arab World, translated and edited by Sherif Hetata, Zed Press, London, 1980, P. 33.

United Nations, 26th Session of the Economic and Social Committee, 1029th Plenary Meeting, 1958-JUL-10.

WHO, 12th World Health Assembly, 11th Plenary Meeting, 1959-MAY-28.

WHO, Resolution of the Regional Committee for Africa, 39th session, AFR/RC39/R9, 1989-SEP-13.

UNICEF, Department of Information, Position of UNICEF on Female Excision, 1980-SEP-23, Page 1.

Partial Translation of Sunan Abu-Dawud, Book 41: General Behavior (Kitab Al-Adab), at: http://www.usc.edu/