Muslim clerics in Egypt not in favour of female circumcision

Anjishnu , Kolkata: Nov 28 2006

Egypt’s leading Muslim clerics have endeavored to dissociate Islam from the custom of female genital mutilation, saying the religion does not require it.

The chief of the al-Azhar mosque, Sunni Islam’s highest authority, told a recent meeting in Cairo that the custom, also recognized as female circumcision, was not mandatory.

Egypt’s principal official cleric, Ali Gomaa, said the Prophet Mohammad had not circumcised his daughters.

Female genital disfigurement is extensive in parts of Africa and the Middle East.

The custom, which characteristically entails surgically cutting off the clitoris of a young girl, has been disapproved of as a violation on the rights of women and a menace to their health.

Parents who back the procedure claim that it assists in thwarting licentious behavior in their daughters.

Genital mutilation or female circumcision frequently deprives women of feeling in their sexual organs.

Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, the principal scholar at Cairo’s al-Azhar mosque, told the meeting that from a religious viewpoint, he does not have possession of any concrete backing that asserts that circumcision is a must for women.