A translation of this fatwa from Naseem al-Sham
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| FGM Prevalence |
Question:
What is the ruling in the Revealed Law of
Islam regarding female circumcision?
Answer (from the great scholar and
martyr, Imam Muḥammad Saʿīd Ramaḍān
al-Būṭī):
The established rulings of the Revealed Law
are taken either from the Book of Allah, that which has been authentically
established from the Sunnah[1]
of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, or from the
consensus of the First Three Generations. With regards to female circumcision,
we have not found any proof that it is obligatory or sunnah[2]
in the Qurʾān, the Sunnah or in the consensus of the First Three Generations.
The ḥadīth “Five things are from one’s fitrah[3]…”[4]
mentions circumcision and it applies to the circumcision of males. The proof
for this is that the Messenger of Allah did not command that any of his
daughters be circumcised and this practice did not become prevalent and
widespread amongst the Companions or the Followers. If it were obligatory, the
Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would have been
the first to do it and he would have commanded that his daughters be
circumcised. Therefore, female
circumcision was merely a custom on the Arabian Peninsula. The Messenger of
Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was sent while the practice
existed and the Messenger of Allah was silent on the matter. Therefore, the
ruling in this situation follows what has been established in terms of benefit
or harm, and specialist physicians are in absolute agreement that female
circumcision carries no benefit, i.e. in the way that male circumcision has
benefit. Rather, it is dangerously harmful for females and it hurts them
considerably with regards to their natural right to enjoy marital life.
[1] (tn): In this case, the word is referring
to the statements, actions or affirmations of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah
bless him grant him peace. In other words, the Sunnah (transliterated as such)
is a source of legislation. Please see ʿAlī Filālī (and other teachers at the
Qarawiyyīn High School, Fes, Morocco), Durūs fī Uṣūl Al-Fiqh li Al-Sanat
Al-Thānīyya min Al-Taʿlīm Al-Aṣīl (Casablanca: Dār al-Thaqāfa, 1419/1998), p.28
[2] (tn): i.e. When transliterated in this
matter, it is a ruling in the Revealed Law, meaning recommended, i.e. something
that one is rewarded for doing but not liable to punishment for leaving off.
Synonyms would include words like mandūb and mustaḥabb. Please see Jalāl Al-Dīn Muḥammad Ibn Aḥmad
Al-Maḥallī, Sharḥ Al-Waraqāt fī ʿIlm Uṣūl Al-Fiqh(Casablanca: Dār al-Rashād al-Ḥadītha, 1427/2006), p.5
[3] (tn): i.e. one’s natural disposition
[4] (tn): This ḥadīth can
be found in the collections of Imams al-Bukhārī, Muslim and several
others.
