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Letters to the Editor
Primary Care December 2001
CUTTING REMARKS
To the Editor:
I read with great interest your article on female circumcision (The
Female Patient. 2001;26: 23-32). The description of the Islamic
law regarding this procedure was grossly inaccurate, however. The
term Hadith refers to sayings of the Prophet, not revelations that
came to the Prophet. The term Sunnah refers to practices/traditions
of the Prophet. The term Tahara refers to cleansing the body of
bodily secretions (eg, urine, stool, blood, semen) with water. Thus,
I wonder where the authors obtained the information used in their
article.
No Hadith, Sunnah, or verses in the Qur'an (revelations to the
Prophet from God) support female circumcision. No Islamic scholars
or writings of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence accept this practice
as part of Islamic law. Instead, the Hadith and Sunnah report that
the Prophet encouraged sexual relations and happiness between husband
and wife. He preached sexual satisfaction as being equally important
for both spouses to ensure a successful marriage.
Male circumcision (removal of penile foreskin) is required of
all Muslim males for reasons of cleanliness, not to control sexuality.
Female circumcision, an oppressive ritual that predates Islamic
times, has been practiced across all religious and racial boundaries.
As a ritual, it resembles dowry burnings and witch hunts, and has
no religious basis.
I am a Muslim woman who practices internal medicine in Illinois,
as well as an avid reader of THE FEMALE PATIENT®. As such,
I am constantly battling against the negative stereotypes promulgated
by the media regarding my religion and my gender. I did not think
this struggle would be necessary when it came to my medical journals.
Nazneen Ahmed, MD
Alsip, Ill
To the Editor:
A recent article on female circumcision that was published on your
Web site stated that this practice is acceptable in Islam and that
the Prophet supported it. I believe that this claim is false. Please
provide proof of your statement. I believe that you are unjustly
maligning an entire religious group for a practice that they do
not condone or commonly perform. Thank you.
Nejd Alsikafi, MD
Chicago, Ill
Dr Davis responds:
The article in question was written primarily to address the health
consequences of female circumcision. It was not written as, nor
was it intended to be, an authoritative reference on Islamic law,
and it was certainly not written to offend anyone.
We did not mean to imply that all Muslims advocate female circumcision
or that the Hadith or the Prophet sanctioned it. We stated, "This
practice encompasses females of all educational levels and social
classes. Most Muslims of the world do not practice female circumcision;
however, many of those who do practice it consider it to be legitimized
by their religion." We also emphasized that female circumcision
was not a ritual unique to Muslims.
As stated in the article, we used the Arabian definition of Tahara.
We did not state nor do we believe that all Muslims (or even all
Arabian Muslims) accept this definition. In fact, we made every
effort to avoid references to religion because we understand that
universal agreement regarding terminology and beliefs is unlikely
in any major religious group. With regard to the comment on male
circumcision, we did not address this topic at all.
In researching the subject of female circumcision, we were impressed
with the great variation in terminology. To arrive at specific definitions,
we chose to rely on authors who seemed to be more authoritative
or more representative of the majority opinion. We clearly listed
all references in the bibliography section. We sincerely regret
that some readers might have been offended by our choices. We also
wish to thank the readers who kindly provided us with additional
information that has greatly increased our understanding not only
of female circumcision but also of Islam.
Gary D. Davis, MD
Tacoma, Wash
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