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1994-1995 Third World Legal Stud. 73 (1994-1995)
Islamic Law and the Issue of Male and Female Circumcision

handle is hein.journals/twls1994 and id is 91 raw text is: ISLAMIC LAW AND THE ISSUE OF MALE AND FEMALE CIRCUMCISION Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh* Chapter I. Definitions and Erroneous Distinctions I. Male and Female Circumcision Female circumcision has triggered a passionate public debate in the West, with many national, non-governmental, and international organizations showing their concern. This debate has found somewhat of an echo in the Arab world. Feminist circles demand its abolition, while simultaneously the Muslim religious circles continue to justify female circumcision, only in the form called sunnah, which means the one conforming to the tradition (sunnah) of Muhammad (see chapter II, paragraph I). Unlike female circumcision, male circumcision does not really interest anyone. The debate on the topic is still taboo. During the UN Seminar in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), the majority of participants agreed that the justifications for female circumcision must be assimilated to superstition and denounced as such since neither the Bible, nor the Koran recommend that women be circumcised. ' They recommended that male circumcision and female circumcision be dissociated; the former is a procedure for hygienic purposes, the latter, a serious form of assault on women's physical integrity.2 This reasoning is groundless and extremely dangerous. If one has to apply all that is said in the Bible and the Koran, we might end up legitimizing the application of many inappropriate norms such as the law of retaliation. And suppose that female circumcision was in the Bible or the Koran, would it be allowed no matter what? *Staff Legal Advisor on Arab and Islamic Law, Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, Lausanne. 'Report of the United Nations Seminar related to Traditional Practices affecting the Health of Women and Children, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, April 29-May 3, 1991, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1991/48, Jun.12, 1991, p. 9. 'Ibid.

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