Many Muslims in modern times try to disaccotiate Islam from the practice of Female Genital Mutilation, usually by insisting it is primarily an African cultural practice.
However, the following endorsement of the practice by Muhammads wife Aisha severely dents the idea that FGM has nothing to do with Islam or that it is forbidden.
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Al-Adab al-Mufrad 1247:
Ch.598: Amusement for a circumcision.
Narrated Umm Alqama: The daughters of Aishas brother were circumcised. It was said to Aisha: “shall we not call someone to amuse them?” She said, “yes”. Adiyy was sent for and he came to them. As Aisha passed through the house, she saw him singing and swaying his head with the music, and he had much hair. She said: “Oof. A Shaytan! Get him out! Get him out! [1]
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This is an authentic narration attributed to Aisha. Al-Albani in his Al-Sisilah Al-sahihah deemed it Hasan [2] , while Ibn Rajab deemed it Sahih in his Nuzhut al-Asma [3] . In my view, a Sahih rating is correct for this narration because the reason for Al-Albani not classing this narration as Sahih is because of Umm Alqama, which is odd seeing as she was deemed thiqah by scholars like Ibn Hibban.
The contents of the hadith are also interesting. It appears that the hadith takes the fact that girls were circumcised for granted, implying a norm for girls to be circumcised amongst the companions of Mohammad.
Rather it seems to be more focused on the fact that there was singing and music going on at the time of the circumcision. This does make sense as music was emphatically hated by Muhammad and the Sahaba including Ibn Abbas and Ibn Masud, both of known agreed that the Quran banned singing and music. [4] The circumcision was only mentioned to provide context for the real issue here. Another interesting point is that no one in the time period ever spoke against FGM
Lastly, the type of mutilation is never revealed, however it is generally agreed that the prepuce of the clitoris should be sliced off and nothing more. This is considered FGM by the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and the UNFPA who deemed it as type 1a: “the removal of the clitoral hood or prepuce only” [5]
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Sources:
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Note: the translation I have used varies slightly from the darussalam translation linked here as I wanted the hadith to have the best translation.
[2]
http://shamela.ws/browse.php/book-1341/page-449
[3]
Nuzhut al-Asma, Pg. 55
[4]
https://theislamissue.wordpress.com/2019/06/13/top-quranic-authorities-ban-singing/
[5]
https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/fgm/overview/en/
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