Islamic Progress

[A_Wanderer]

Baby steps of stating the obvious; hopefully it can have some effect in the tribal societies where it is practiced.

The Grand Sheikh of Al Azhar, the oldest and most highly respected institution in Sunni Islam; and the Grand Mufti of Egypt have released an official fatwa declaring the practice of female circumcision (also called female genital mutilation or female genital cutting) un-Islamic. The decision was made at a conference hosted in Egypt and attended by Muslim clergy from around the world.

The custom of female circumcision is concentrated in the Nile Valley and practiced by Muslim, Christian and animist groups. However, incidences of female circumcision have been documented as far afield as Tanzania and India.

The ruling follows repeated efforts by the Egyptian government to ban female circumcision during the 20th century. Those opposed to the multiple bans claimed that prohibiting female circumcision limited religious freedom

This is the highest eschelon of Islamic authority the issue has ever reached; Tantawi and Gomaa are two of the most influential clerics in modern Sunni Islam. This is also the most strongly-worded fatwa that has ever been released against female circumcision by a mainstream Sunni organization; previous fatwas have deemed the practice "not obligatory" and "not recommended".

It behooves anyone opposed to female circumcision to support this decision by Al Azhar and Mufti Gomaa. You can send messages of thanks and appreciation to the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, Egypt, via their website. The more encouragement they get, the more convinced they become that supporting the middle way supports the majority, and the more forward-thinking pragmatist rulings we can expect.

link

 

[AussieU2fanman]

It's a start.

 

[WinnieThePoo]

it's their own business

 

[AEON]

it's their own business

I think that's what the South said before the Civil War here in America.

 

[Dreadsox]

I do not get that analogy.

Do other religions have a say in your religion?

 

[WinnieThePoo]

i dont' have a certain religion , more like a rainbow of different thoughts

 

[verte76]

This is good news.

 

[Dreadsox]

it's their own business

I agree...

But why can't the world be happy there is a movement towards change?

 

[CTU2fan]

it's their own business

Am I misunderstanding this, or do you really not care if young girls are having their genitalia cut because they're Muslims? I hope I misunderstood...

 

[A_Wanderer]

I do not get that analogy.

Do other religions have a say in your religion?

Does religious practice exeed non-consensual harm in a civil society?

 

[Dreadsox]

Does religious practice exeed non-consensual harm in a civil society?

I support the fact that there are measures being taken to stop it. I would take measures to stop it in this country if it were happening. Should we stop it from being done to males as well? It still is done here in the United States.

 

[WinnieThePoo]

This is good news.

it's EXCELLENT news

 

[silja]

Good news and about bloody time too. Unfortunately it's a cultural rather than exclusively religious norm so it'll be difficult to change the practise and futhermore it's worth noting that female genital mutilation is widely practised outside Islam (as mentioned in the quote above).

 

[Angela Harlem]

I do not get that analogy.

Do other religions have a say in your religion?

Is it about religion or about abuse? What's religious about ruining a girl's sexual life like that? The damage it causes to young women far outweighs some protection religious freedom affords, surely.

In the larger picture, it seems people these days are getting too scared to stand up and say something is wrong; that others' views must be respected above all else. In examples like female mutilation, we should be able to say 'No, you are wrong on this.' Most people cant or wont respect it, especially in the western world, but we are too afraid to say it out loud. It's got to end.

 

[Dreadsox]

Good news and about bloody time too. Unfortunately it's a cultural rather than exclusively religious norm so it'll be difficult to change the practise and futhermore it's worth noting that female genital mutilation is widely practised outside Islam (as mentioned in the quote above).

Yes, sadly I see it is done by Christians as well. But that one sentence gets lost in here.

 

[Dreadsox]

Is it about religion or about abuse? What's religious about ruining a girl's sexual life like that? The damage it causes to young women far outweighs some protection religious freedom affords, surely.

I am not certain that everyone agrees with this stance. I do...

But, if it has something to do with religion, it is always easy to say who are you to interfere with my religious beliefs.

 

[anitram]

But, if it has something to do with religion, it is always easy to say who are you to interfere with my religious beliefs.

Your religious rights end where public peril begins.

 

[Dreadsox]

Your religious rights end where public peril begins.

My religious rights? I already said I do not hold this position. But there are many when it comes to other topics, who would scream it loudly from the highest mountaintop.

 

[Angela Harlem]

That is true, and noble. The big however though, is we should be able, and free, and willing to say NO to what others do which harms someone else. I dont want to cause a fight or bring up a whole slew of apples and oranges debate, but dont we often use our own moral principles to react to a percieved wrong? And sometimes even violently so? Why do we take a stand on some issues and not others? Is religion the one thing which we exclude from interfering in only? I'm not calling it hypocrisy, dont be offended, but I do see it as inconsistency.

 

[Dreadsox]

I'm not calling it hypocrisy, dont be offended, but I do see it as inconsistency.

I am not, I just think that there is hypocracy. Sadly, I think many who are "religious" are more than willing to interject their own moral beliefs, yet when the table is turned, they get their panties in a bunch.

Maybe this is not the thread for me to be going in this direction.

I am glad the religious leaders have spoken out on something.

 

[yolland]

This is far from the first time prominent Muslim clerics have condemned the practice; both of these men (Grand Sheikh Tantawy and Grand Mutfi Goma) have spoken out against it before, as have many other imams. In some cases imams simply stress that the practice has no basis in Islamic law (which leaves it open to support from other forms of authority), while others go further by invoking unjust-harm principles of Islamic law to make a specifically Muslim argument against it. Islam has no "Vatican" however, nor any concept of imam "infallibility", so it's difficult to anticipate how much influence such pronouncements will have, especially in tradition-bound rural areas where enforcement (including of the state-sanctioned variety) is lacking, and what "our elders" say tends to have the last word. The situation is vaguely analogous to some of the difficulties both religious and secular reformers have run into with attempting to end certain practices traditional to some tribal regions of western Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan (gang rape as an instrument of punishment for "unchastity", for example)--what clerics and legislators in Islamabad say carries little weight, and local imams and officials who have condemned such practices have been run out of their villages on occasion.

I think the fact that this conference was organized by a German human rights group has simply brought it more international media attention than such pronouncements usually get...which may or may not enhance their impact. The incidence of the practice in Egypt has been dropping in any case however, so there is reason for optimism.

 

[anitram]

My religious rights? I already said I do not hold this position. But there are many when it comes to other topics, who would scream it loudly from the highest mountaintop.

I meant it in a general sense. They can scream all they want, but there are limits to be placed on their rights, just like there are limits placed on all of our rights where public peril and harm are concerned.