Female circumcision 'unIslamic'
2006-11-24 07:31
Cairo - A conference of Muslim scholars from around the world declared female circumcision to be contrary to Islam and an attack on women, and called on Thursday for those who practised it to be punished.
The conference, organised by the German human rights group, TARGET, recommended that governments should pass laws to prohibit the tradition and that judicial bodies should also prosecute those who mutilated female genitals.
The participants said: "The conference appeals to all Muslims to stop practising this habit, according to Islam's teachings, which prohibit inflicting harm on any human being."
Egypt's two top Islamic clerics, the Grand Sheik of Al-Azhar, Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, the foremost theological institute in the Sunni Muslim world, and Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, attended the conference, which drew scholars from as far afield as Russia. Tantawi's and Gomaa's edicts were considered binding.
Female circumcision 'required by Islam'
Female circumcision, which involved cutting the clitoris, continued to be practised in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa as well as Egypt, Yemen and Oman, despite numerous campaigns against it.
Those men who supported the tradition believed it lowered a girl's sexual desire and helped maintain her honour. They also believed it was required by Islam.
The scholars said circumcision inflicted physical and mental harm on women. Furthermore, they said, Islam considered it to be an aggression against women. Those who performed it should be punished.
The scholars said: "The conference reminds all teaching and media institutions of their role to explain to the people the harmful effects of this habit in order to eliminate it.
"The conference calls on judicial institutions to issue laws that prohibit and criminalise this habit ... which appeared in several societies and was adopted by some Muslims although it is not sanctioned by the Qur'an or the Sunna."
Although many countries had outlawed female circumcision, the law was poorly enforced and prosecutions were rare.
In the 1950s, the Egyptian government tried to stop midwives from performing the custom, while allowing doctors to do so - fearing that otherwise families who insisted on circumcising their daughters would have the operation carried out in unsafe conditions.
But in 1996, the health minister imposed a total ban on the practice.
- AP