Establishment media treatments of female genital mutilation routinely insist that it has nothing to do with Islam, but actually FGM is mandated in 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
Why is it obligatory? Because Muhammad is held to have said so: “Abu al- Malih ibn Usama’s father relates that the Prophet said: ‘Circumcision is a law for men and a preservation of honour for women.’” — Ahmad Ibn Hanbal 5:75
“Narrated Umm Atiyyah al-Ansariyyah: A woman used to perform circumcision in Medina. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to her: ‘Do not cut severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband.’” — Abu Dawud 41:5251
That hadith is classified as weak, but this one is classified as sahih (reliable): “Aishah narrated: ‘When the circumcised meets the circumcised, then indeed Ghusl is required. Myself and Allah’s Messenger did that, so we performed Ghusl.’” — Jami` at-Tirmidhi 108
If Muhammad had the genitals of his favorite wife, Aisha, mutilated, that is a strong endorsement of the practice from the man who is an “excellent example” (Qur’an 33:21) for Muslims.
“Doctor in genital mutilation case at war with feds,” by Tresa Baldas, Detroit Free Press, August 6, 2018:
The doctor at the center of a historic genital mutilation case has another favor she’s asking of the judge: let me use the Internet.
This, on top of — please dismiss more charges against me.
More than a year after her arrest in the nation’s first female genital cutting case, the defiant Dr. Jumana Nagarwala continues to pound away at the government for pursuing the case. She claims, among other things, that the law that’s being used to prosecute her is unconstitutional, so therefore the key charges against her need to be dropped….
Nagarwala, who is accused of cutting the genitalia of dozens of prepubescent girls and instructing members of her religious community to lie about it, has asked permission to use the Internet for 78 hours a month to watch religious live-streamed sermons. Specifically, as a member of a small Indian Muslim sect known as the Dawoodi Bohra, she wants to watch services that celebrate a nine-day holiday honoring Prophet Mohammed’s grandson.
The government says forget it, arguing there’s no way to monitor Nagarwala’s online access 78 hours a month given that the sermons she intends to watch are overseas, private and need password access. And it’s too risky to let her to do it, prosecutors argue, noting the no-Internet-access condition was set because of concerns that she is a flight risk and a danger to the community….
The defendants are challenging the 22-year-old federal law that criminalizes female genital mutilation, which has never been used before this case. The statute states: “Whoever knowingly circumcises, excises or infibulates the whole or any part of the labia majora or labia minora or clitoris of another person” under the age of 18 shall be fined or imprisoned for up to five years, or both.
Prosecutors argue Nagarwala did exactly that — with the help of the Attars — when she cut the genitals of two 7-year-old Minnesota girls who were tricked into the procedure in 2017 by their mothers and cried and bled afterward. Though prosecutors cite six victims in the indictment, including four Michigan girls, they allege Nagarwala may have subjected up to 100 girls to the procedure over a 12-year period.
Nagarwala has maintained she committed no crime, but that she engaged in a religious ritual that involved only a “shaving” or a “nick” of the genitals.
Moreover, she now claims she’s being prosecuted under a law that “Congress lacked authority to enact … thus the female genital mutilation charges must be dismissed.”
“The law was never debated on the floor of either chamber of Congress nor was there ever any legislative hearing addressing the justification or need for the federal law. Instead, all that exists is the criminal statute itself,” defense lawyers wrote in the July 27 filing, claiming the driving force behind the legislation was one lawmaker’s belief that the prohibited conduct was ‘repulsive and cruel.’ “…
Nagarwala, the Attars and the other five defendants are all members of a small Indian Muslim sect known as the Dawoodi Bohra, which has a mosque in Farmington Hills. The sect practices female circumcision and believes it is a religious rite of passage that involves only a minor “nick.”…