A LEADING MUSLIM organisation in Ireland has expressed concern that “female circumcision” will be banned under prospective legislation.
“We have to differentiate between female circumcision and female mutilation,” said Ali Selim of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland.
Selim said that the centre is “against” female genital “mutilation” but added that both male and female circumcision are “part of the religion [Islam] and no-one can deny [that fact]”.
Referring to a saying of the Prophet Muhammad, Selim said female circumcision was “optionable” under Islam and involved a woman having “a bit” of her clitoris removed, once deemed safe by a medical professional. The cutting “should not be too much”, he said.
“We support circumcision once it is approved by experts,” continued Selim, adding that a ban “is not the right way”.
Asked if Muslim women in Ireland undergo the procedure, he said: “I don’t think this service is very available.”
Meanwhile, the Muslim Public Affairs Council Ireland (MPACIE), which describes itself as “an online presence” with 300,000 website hits a month, has issued a press release saying “female circumcision” is no different from vaginal reconstruction surgery or clitoral hood piercings.
However, according to Irish Muslim convert Liam Egan – thought to be the main presence behind MPACIE – the process of female circumcision involves removal of “only part of the skin surrounding the clitoris... not the clitoris itself.”
He added that he and his organisation “see no difference” between this and the “vaginal reconstruction surgery that non-Muslim women engage in for purely cosmetic purposes”.
Egan said “a distinction between the legitimate sunnah [practice] and non-consensual FGM” should be made when drafting imminent legislation outlawing female genital mutilation (FGM), otherwise it “could be harmful to continued community relations between non-Muslims and their Muslim counterparts”.
According to the website IslamOnline.net, founded by highly controversial cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who heads the European Council on Fatwa and Research at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland: “Whoever finds it serving the interest of his daughters should do it, and I personally support this under the current circumstances in the modern world.”
On that website, al-Qaradawi appears to support the part removal of the clitoris: “It is reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to a midwife: ‘Reduce the size of the clitoris but do not exceed the limit, for that is better for her health and is preferred by husbands’.”
He continues: “The hadith indicates that circumcision is better for a woman’s health and it enhances her conjugal relation with her husband. It’s noteworthy that the Prophet’s saying ‘do not exceed the limit’ means do not totally remove the clitoris.”
It was recently announced that Health Minister Mary Harney would introduce a bill to ban FGM within the next three months. Close observers also expect the legislation to criminalise the act of sending girls to parental countries for the practice.
