About the Topic of Circumcision of Muslim Males in the Parliament of Iceland

Published in April 4, 2018

Translated by: Ahmed Fathy

Introduction:

1- We have received a message, via email, with the request that we write a letter to theParliament of Iceland asserting that Islam (i.e., the Quran) does not contain any legislation that requires male circumcision; this issue is debated there, and many are in favor of banning this cruel practice that violates the human body. 

2- This is part of the message we have received: (... The members of the Parliament of Iceland are ready to vote about issuing a law banning the circumcision of male babies and children; within such critical times, we need Muslim voices of enlightenment, like yours, to support the ban of such bad practice of male circumcision, which has nothing to do with Islam; we need your view to face those among the Muslim minority here who insist that banning circumcision of their male babies and children is a violation of their 'right' and their faith or religious freedom ... Could you kindly write a letter addressed to the members of the Parliament of Iceland to explain the fact that circumcision has nothing to do with Islam and that they must vote to pass this law banning it? I think you should talk about the real stance of Islam regarding this violation of the male human body? ... Thank you ...). Of course, we agreed to address a message to the Parliament of Iceland about this topic.

3- This is the second message that we have received from the same sender of the first one: (... Thank you for accepting to support us; please send to me your letter containing your view and explanation as soon as possible ... The deadline set by the Parliament of Iceland to receive letters about this topic was 28^th of March, 2018; yet, as per the request of activists like myself, the Parliament of Iceland agreed to postpone the deadline for another week. Thus, the time left is very limited, as you see. I hope that a brief, eloquent message from you, as a Muslim reformist thinker whose name is known in the Arab/Muslim world, will have a great influence on the members of the Parliament of Iceland ... Because the world is a global village now, other countries will follow the example of Iceland in banning such cruel, useless practice to protect male babies and children worldwide ... Please include within your letter a summary about your career and reformist endeavors as a Muslim thinker, so as to let the members of the Parliament of Iceland know who is addressing them ... Please write your letter in English; if this is not possible, send it to me in Arabic and I will have it translated into English; I will send you the translation so that you send it yourself via your email to that of the Parliament of Iceland ... Please accept my respect, gratitude, and sincere appreciation ... Thank you again ...).

4- We have written the following letter to the members of the Parliament of Iceland about the fact that Islam has nothing to do with male circumcision and female circumcision, a.k.a. female genital mutilation (FGM).

Introduction:

1- The religion of Islam is something and Muslims are something else which is totally different; this is proven sufficiently by the fact that God has sent Prophet Muhammad with the Quranic message  to be as a mercy to the humankind (see the Quran 21:107), and yet, some Muslims of today have made their religion as a tool to terrorize the humankind and to kill people indiscriminately. This is because of the fact that Muslims have introduced and applied man-made religious legislations which have nothing to do with the Quranic legislations of Islam; chief among such false legislations is to circumcise male and female children. This myth called circumcision is never to be found in the Quranic text; the Quran is the only source of Islam and its religious legislations. 

2- Let us tackle this topic in the form of twelve questions and answers.

Question No. 1: Has God created human beings with any defects in their bodies that would entail cutting off foreskins and clitorises?

Answer: Of course not; God has created male and female human beings in the best and most perfect shape. God says in the Quran: "We created man in the best design." (95:4); "He who perfected everything He created..." (32:7); "O man! What deluded you concerning your Lord, the Most Generous? He Who created you, and formed you, and proportioned you? In whatever shape He willed, He assembled you." (82:6-8).

Question No. 2: Does the real Islamic sharia (i.e., found only in the Quran) allow shedding the blood of human beings by wounding them, especially babies and small children?

Answer: Of course not; this is a crime that entails retribution in Islam; God says in the Quran: "...and an equal wound for a wound..." (5:45).

Question No. 3: Is it OK to invent sharia laws or Islamic legislations never mentioned in the Quran? Is it OK to fabricate 'proofs' to support them?

Answer: Of course not; it is absolutely prohibited and forbidden in Islam to invent lies and fabricate falsehoods and then to ascribe them to God and His religion. God says in the Quran: "Say, "My Lord has forbidden immoralities - both open and secret - and sin, and unjustified aggression, and that you associate with God within polytheism anything for which He revealed no authorization, and that you say about God what you do not know."" (7:33). This Quranic verse includes all of prohibited items in Islam: polytheism and ascribing to God and His religions things never authorized by Him in the Quran. Hence, it is a grave sin to introduce or to add religious legislations to the Quran; hence, circumcision legislations invented by clergymen and scholars of the Middle-Ages are never part of Islam (i.e., the Quran).    

Question No. 4: What is the origin of the sin of circumcising male babies and children?

Answer: Male circumcision was practiced in Ancient Egypt during the Pharaonic Era; the Jews who lived in Egypt at the time were influenced by this practice and deemed it as a divine command or a law of God; this is why they have mentioned it in the Old Testament's Book of Genesis within the story of Abraham. Such fake story about Abraham has influenced some Arab Christians and some non-Arab  Christians in Asia and Africa who still practice male circumcision.    

Question No. 5: How have Muslims introduced male circumcision into their fabricated religious legislations?

Answer: After the Arab conquests that formed an Arab empire, the non-Arab people of the conquered nations embraced 'Islam' while introducing their own ancient heritage and traditions as well as their previous religious legislations by inventing hadiths/narratives which they have ascribed falsely to Muhammad two centuries after his death. Hence, real Islam (i.e., the Quran) has been rejected and forgotten ever since.   

Question No. 6: What about their narratives about male circumcision?

Answer: They have invented an unbelievable, laughter-inducing, false hadith about Abraham cutting off his foreskin when he was 80 years old, using a chisel! It is impossible that any man would do that to himself.

Question No. 7: Had Muhammad been circumcised?

Answer: This is never mentioned in the Quran. This is never mentioned even in the fake biographies written about Muhammad. The very first fabricated biography of Muhammad was written by M. Ibn Ishaq during the Abbasid Era, more than 150 year after the death of Muhammad; Ibn Ishaq never mentioned that Muhammad had been circumcised. Other fake biographies by other authors never mention anything about Muhammad being circumcised at all.  

Question No. 8: Is the Arabic term for circumcision (i.e., khetan) mentioned in the Quranic text?

Answer: Not at all. The derivations of the Arabic root (kh/t/n) is used in the Quran to denote betrayal and treachery; e.g., see 2:187 and 4:107.

Question No. 9: What about female circumcision or FMG?

Answer: Islam contains no legislations or commands to circumcise males or females; if foreskins are not to be chopped off, the same applies to the clitorises; it is a crime to violate male and female bodies of children and adults by cutting any of their body parts.

Question No. 10: How come that Muslims have included circumcision in their sharia legislations and religious laws, then?

Answer: By fabricating lies and falsehoods known as hadiths/narratives (to impose circumcision of males and females) which they have ascribed to Muhammad two centuries after his death. 

Question No. 11: What has been their aim behind FGM?

Answer: In their fabricated Sunnite hadiths, they assume that clitoris-less women will please their husbands; thus, they have deprived wives from the right to feel sexual pleasure while asserting this right for husbands only. The extremist Sunnite Hanbali scholar Ibn Taymiyya wrote about cutting off the upper part of the clitoris, as he assumed that this will lessen the sexual appetite/lust of women; he assumed that uncircumcised females would be sexually excited all the time like women of the Mongols and the European women of his era; he mentioned that Arab/Muslim women must never imitate such non-Muslim and non-Arab women! Thus, Sunnite Hanbali fiqh laws aim to deprive wives from enjoying conjugal sex with their husbands while asserting the right of husbands to enjoy sex; thus, FGM was deemed at the time as pleasing for men and it supposedly heightened the intensity of their sexual pleasure! This is why the misogynist Sunnite Hanbali fiqh scholars urged the circumcision of females or FGM; they hated women so much and they prohibited anything that would please them.     

Question No. 12: Are there any Muslim reformist scholars who refuse the crime of circumcision?

Answer: Yes; the late head of Al-Azhar institution, sheikh Mahmoud Shaltout (1893 - 1963) was asked frequently about the legitimacy of circumcising females (i.e., FGM), and he issued a fatwa in one of his books that circumcision has nothing to do with Islam and that it is a practice that predates the revelation of the Quran; he mentioned in his fatwa that the origin of this practice was unknown to him and that there are no authentic religious text about it; he mentioned that scholars of the Middle-Ages are divided about this practice as per their own views and whims; therefore, there is no legislations in Islam to allow it; sheikh Shaltout said frankly that he refused to believe in hadiths ascribed to Muhammad about circumcision.  

 This is the reply we have received from the sender of the previous two messages: (... Thank you very much, Dr. Mansour ... But I beg you to accept my suggestion: please remove the mention of female circumcision (or FGM) from your letter, as FGM is banned already in Europe. I suggest that your letter, which I will have it translated into English, should be briefer and more concise; it should tackle only encouraging the ban regarding male circumcision. Besides, I suggest removing the part about views of the late sheikh Shaltout; quoting a clergyman might open the door for others who are against the ban to quote other clergymen of Al-Azhar who have been in favor of male circumcision. By the way, some might argue that Shaltout was talking only about FGM and not about male circumcision, as banning FGM was the issue raised in Egypt at the time ...).

 We agreed to make the needed changes and revised our letter to the Parliament of Iceland as required, and we ended it by encouraging the members of the Parliament of Iceland to ban and criminalize male circumcision. We sent our translated letter to them and we wait eagerly for their decision to vote for issuing a law banning the crime of male circumcision.