The doctors in Michigan who have been charged with performing FGM are members of the Dawoodi Bohra sect. Before their arrests, the establishment media routinely used to characterize female genital mutilation as an East African cultural practice. Now we see attempts to portray it as being practiced exclusively by members of the Dawoodi Bohra sect. In reality, it is practiced in various places all over the Islamic world, because it is sanctioned by Islamic law: “Circumcision is obligatory (for every male and female) (by cutting off the piece of skin on the glans of the penis of the male, but circumcision of the female is by cutting out the bazr ‘clitoris’ [this is called khufaadh ‘female circumcision’]).” — ‘Umdat al-Salik e4.3, translated by Mark Durie, The Third Choice, p. 64
And it is widespread in 30 Muslim countries.
“‘Heartwrenching’ study shows FGM prevalent among India’s Bohra sect,” by Emma Batha, Reuters, February 5, 2018:
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Three quarters of women among India’s Dawoodi Bohra sect have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM), according to a study published on Monday which comes just weeks after government officials said there was no data to support its existence.
Campaigners hope the survey – the largest of its kind – will bolster calls for a law to ban the secretive ritual which they say causes physical, emotional and sexual harm.
One mother told how she feared her daughter would bleed to death after she was cut. A third of women believed the procedure had damaged their sex lives. Others spoke of emotional trauma.
Traditional circumcisers told researchers they had cut thousands of girls….
The Dawoodi Bohra, a Shi‘ite Muslim sect thought to number up to 2 million worldwide, considers the ritual, known as khafd, a religious obligation although it is not mentioned in the Koran.
The procedure, which entails cutting the clitoral hood, is performed around the age of seven.
India’s Supreme Court is considering a petition to ban FGM. Campaigners were shocked in December when the women’s ministry told the court there was no official data or study supporting its existence.
FGM is more commonly linked to a swathe of African countries where cutters may remove all external genitalia….
Ranalvi said khafd was rooted in beliefs a woman’s sexual desire must be curbed, but it was “mired in secrecy” and few women dared speak out for fear of ostracisation [sic]….