Male and female circumcision
Recently we have received requests from readers for information regarding male and female circumcision. Both practices appear to be common to religious like Christianity and "Islam". It is interesting to see what the Quran has to say about such practices.
Your Lord said to the angels, "I am making a human being from aged mud, like potters clay. Once I PERFECT HIM and blow into him from My spirit, you shall fall prostrate before him". Surah 1 5:28-29.
Indeed God has perfected man in
shape arid form and provided man sufficient physical and mental
faculties to live and prosper on the earth. Therefore to insist
that the male or the female carries a piece of flesh that makes
him or her
imperfect is to be quite presumptuous of God's handiwork
However the "Muslims" do indeed circumcise their male children and there are many Arabs, Malays and others who also circumcise their daughters (Female Genital Mutilation).
The circumcision of Muslim males is based on hadith like the one that says that Abraham circumcised himself with an adze (small axe) at the age of eighty.
This story is derived from the
Jewish-Christian tradition The Christians also say that Jesus was
circumcised on the seventh day after being born.
Here too the Quran is apt, O you who believe, do not take Jews
and Christians as allies, these are allies; of one another. Those
among you who ally themselves with these belong with them. God
does no guide the transgressors. Is it the laws of the days of
ignorance that they seek to uphold? Whose law is better than
God's for those who have attained certainty? Surah 5:50-51.
The Quran does not prescribe
circumcision for anyone. God has made man perfect. Male and
female circumcision does exist however from "the days of
old" of Christianity, Judaism and the Pagan religions We
have to decide, "Is it the laws of the days of ignorance
that they seek to uphold?"
| Where Does Britain
Stand? Female genital mutilation was made illegal in the U.K. in 1985, with the passing of the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act. Since then several local authorities have intervened to prevent parents mutilating daughters or wards. In November 1993, Harley Street doctor Farooque Hayder Siddique was struck off by the General Medical Council for agreeing to perform the operation. And yet, according to the
Foundation for Women's Health Research and Development
(Forward), which has the support of the Department of
Health, an estimated British children are still thought
to be at risk. FORWARD is campaigning for tighter
legislation to ensure that those involved in arranging
FGM operations are prosecuted. For help or information
contact FORWARD, Africa Centre, 38 King Street, London
WC2E BJT, or telephone 071-379 6889. (Readers Digest July
1994). |
Lament of the Qur'an As an ornament do they adorn me, Yet they keep me and sometimes kiss me, In their celebrations they recite me, In disputes they swear by me, On shelves do they securely keep me, Till another celebration or dispute, when they need me.
Yes, they read me and memorize me, Yet only an ornament am I.
My message lies neglected, my treasure untouched, The field lies bare, where blossomed once true glory, Wrong is the treatment that I receive, So much to give I, but none is there to perceive. |