The word Sharia is an Arabic word. In English it translates to; A Path to a Watering hole.
Instantly I think, we don’t need Sharia, we have indoor plumbing.
Sharia laws are used in all 57 Islamic countries but not all have the same path to the watering hole.
Sharia is a set of religious guidelines and laws which all religions have and they came from an ancient group of maniacs, war lords and sex fools that we call prophets.
The idea behind all paths to a watering hole is to control every moment of your life. Prayers, food, who to marry, when to marry, why you marry, sex, babies and all things domestic. Every religion has laws to deal with these issues.
And all paths to a watering hole have rules on war, when you can have one, who you can kill, who becomes a slave, how do you treat the ones who submit, war booty, weapons and all the funs stuff that goes along with wars.
And there are rules on how to conduct business, money, banking, civil laws, dress codes, holidays and other societal matters.
And just like all the paths to a watering hole not all of the laws are workable today, like those of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. But in lands where tribal laws are the rule, if you shut them out you won’t shut them down. We have to look at the reality, the intent of the laws just as other religions have had to do. It’s called reform.
One ancient tribal law is that of Female Genital Mutilation. This practice predates Judaism, Christianity and Islam. No one really knows where it originated, though some believe it started in ancient Egypt.
FMG was pretty much an unknown practice to most westerners, unless they watched the 1990’s CNN documentary. It wasn’t until after 9-11 that it became attached solely to Islam. This attention has brought about much needed changes in laws to prevent this barbaric mutilation of young girls. But there’s still much work to be done. And it doesn’t begin and end with just one path to a watering hole.
But let’s start with Islam. Was FMG invented by Muhammad? After reading well over 500,000 Hadith there is only one that speaks of FGM. This Hadith is considered weak by scholars. Yet most Muslims know of this Hadith.
Narrated Umm Atiyyah al-Ansariyyah: "A woman used to perform circumcision in Medina. The Prophet said to her: Do not cut severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband.”
That’s it. FGM was being practiced in Medina, formally known as Yathrib, before the arrival of Muhammad. Those who know the history of Medina also known as ‘the radiant city, know that it was a well known oasis. Jewish tribes, Yemini Arab tribes, Egyptians and the assorted pagans from everywhere. It was here in Medina where the woman was performing female circumcisions. Muhammad was not shocked and that tells me that it was probably common practice and probably often severe.
The advice was not to cut severely.
But there is no evidence that any of Muhammad’s wives or daughters were circumcised. Considering there are so many Hadith, you’d think there would be more evidence that Muhammad or even his companions believed that FMG was a religious ritual. There is no mention of FMG in the Quran. In fact, you’re forbidden to mutilate yourself. So how did this Hadith survive? My bet is that there were many Africans and Egyptians that still followed this practice and the reason was...
“In most FGM societies one important belief is that this procedure will reduce a women's desire for sex and in doing so will reduce the chance of sex outside the marriage. This is vital to this society as her honor for the family is depended on her not to be opened up prior to marriage.
Some view the clitoris and the labia as male parts on a female body, thus removal of these parts enhances the femininity of the girl.
It is also believed that unless a female has undergone this procedure she is unclean and will not be allowed to handle food or water.
Some groups believe that if the clitoris touches a man's penis the man will die. As well as the belief that if a baby's head touches the clitoris that the baby will die or the breast milk will be poisonous.
The belief that an unmutilated female can not conceive, therefore the female should be militated in order to become fertile.
Bad genital odors can only be eliminated by removing the clitoris and labia minora.
Prevents vaginal cancer.
An unmodified clitoris can lead to masturbation or lesbianism.
Prevents nervousness from developing in girls and women.
Prevents the face from turning yellow.
Makes a women's face more beautiful.
Older men may not be able to match their wives sex drive.
Intact clitoris will generate sexual arousal and in women if repressed can cause nervousness.
Pretty freaking bizarre theories but back in the day, superstition ruled.
http://wolvesdreams.tripod.com/FGM.html
http://wolvesdreams.tripod.com/FGM.html
Some people think only Muslims practice FGM but that’s not true. Look at Kenya…
The vast majority of Kenyans are Christian (83%), with 47.7% regarding themselves as Protestant and 23.5% as Roman Catholic. Muslim 11.2%. Sizeable minorities of other faiths do exist.
http://www.womensenews.org/story/genital-mutilation/050208/fgm-in-kenya-outlawed-not-eradicated
“Although many people believe that FGC is associated with Islam, it is not. FGC is not supported by any religion and is condemned by many religious leaders. The practice crosses religious barriers. Muslims, Christians, and Jews have been known to support FGC on their girls.
No religious text requires or even supports cutting female genitals. From a Christian perspective, FGC has no religious grounds either. In fact, research shows that the relationship between religion and FGC is inconsistent at best.
However, even though religious texts don’t support FGC, some people still think the two are linked and claim religious teachings support FGC.
In six of the countries where FGC is practiced — Ethiopia, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, Senegal, Benin, and Ghana — Muslim population groups are more likely to practice FGC than Christian groups. In Nigeria, Tanzania, and Niger, though, the prevalence is greater among Christian groups.
http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/female-genital-cutting.cfm#d
http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/female-genital-cutting.cfm#d
Now isn’t that surprising?....and totally sick?
Nigeria is roughly half Muslim and half Christian. FMG of the worst kind is still practiced in this country.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Nigeria
“This problem is prevalent in Africa and some parts of Asia countries. In Africa according to a pamphlet issued by the Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria it is more prevalent in Djibouti, Egypt, Somalia, Mali, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and the Gambia. The Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda has the lowest rate. It is also practiced widely among some religions of Asian origin. It is very minimal in Europe.”
http://www.fgmnetwork.org/countries/nigeria.htm
So many horrible stories….
“And in Kurdistan TUZ KHURMATU, Iraq Sheelan Anwar Omer, a shy 7-year-old Kurdish girl, bounded into her neighbor's house with an ear-to-ear smile, looking for the party her mother had promised.
The practice of female circumcision is extremely rare in the Arab parts of Iraq, according to women's groups. They say it is not clear why the practice common in some parts of Africa and the Middle East became popular with Iraqi Kurds but not Iraqi Arabs”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/12/28/AR2008122802005.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2009010702598
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/12/28/AR2008122802005.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2009010702598
FGM does predate Islam, but most Muslims do not practice this. FGM was also practice by Falasha (Ethiopian Jews). The remaining FGM society's follow traditional Animist religions.
“Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting and female circumcision, is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons."
FGM is typically carried out on girls from a few days old to puberty. It may take place in a hospital, but is usually performed, without anaesthesia, by a traditional circumciser using a knife, razor, or scissors. According to the WHO, it is practised in 28 countries in western, eastern, and north-eastern Africa, in parts of Asia and the Middle East, and within some immigrant communities in Europe, North America, and Australasia. The WHO estimates that 100–140 million women and girls around the world have experienced the procedure, including 92 million in Africa.
According to Amnesty, in certain societies women who have not had the procedure are regarded as too unclean to handle food and water, and there is a belief that a woman's genitals might continue to grow without FGM, until they dangle between her legs. Some groups see the clitoris as dangerous, capable of killing a man if his penis touches it, or a baby if the head comes into contact with it during birth, though Amnesty cautions that ideas about the power of the clitoris can be found elsewhere.
Gynecologists in England and the United States would remove it during the 19th century to "cure" insanity, masturbation, and nymphomania. The first reported clitoridectomy in the West was carried out in 1822 by a surgeon in Berlin on a teenage girl regarded as an "imbecile" who was masturbating. Isaac Baker Brown (1812–1873), an English gynecologist who was president of the Medical Society of London in 1865, believed that the "unnatural irritation" of the clitoris caused epilepsy, hysteria, and mania, and would remove it "whenever he had the opportunity of doing so," according to an obituary. Peter Lewis Allen writes that his views caused outrage—or, rather, his public expression of them did—and Brown died penniless after being expelled from the Obstetrical Society.”
Damn fool.
You can read more on this at the wiki link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_genital_mutilation#Practicing_countries
“The practice is nearly universal in Egypt. A government survey released last year found that 96 percent of Egyptian women who've been married have undergone some sort of genital mutilation and that nearly 70 percent of schoolgirls expected to be cut by the time they turn 18.
Those numbers encompass women across Egypt, from illiterate villagers to urban Cairenes and across religious lines.
Researchers found, for example, that nearly all Coptic Christian women undergo female genital mutilation, with church figures waging their own battles against it.”
“Zaineb's best friend, Sara Hassan, 13, has helped in the campaign against the practice, also known as female circumcision, and underwent the procedure herself. But she's still not sure they're doing the right thing.
"I'm not fully convinced," she said. "I didn't suffer afterwards at all."
“While the practice is widespread, there seems to be no religious endorsement for it, and most religious organizations in Egypt, including the highly influential Muslim Brotherhood, have ruled that Islam doesn't require it.”
http://www.wluml.org/node/3472
The truly sad part of all this, is that it is the women who insist on the procedure. The other sad part is the silence of the men.
We have many silly people in the west who actually believe that FMG will become part of their culture. I have absolutely no fear that FMG will ever become part of any civilized culture. As you’ve read, most countries have taken steps to ban it altogether. While it might take another generation to remove it from the tribes, I have faith that it will be abolished completely as knowledge through technology reaches all areas throughout the planet.
It seems that many only want to eradicate FGM in Islamic countries ---as if it’s acceptable in other countries and that’s pretty stupid.
If you’ve read all the links you know that FGM has absolutely no religious basis and that it seems to have originated in cultures that are long gone.
“..circumcised females have been found among Egyptian mummies, and that Herodotus (c. 484 BCE – c. 425 BCE) referred to the practice when he visited Egypt. There is reference on a Greek papyrus from 163 BCE to the procedure being conducted on girls in Memphis, the ancient Egyptian capital, and Strabo (c. 64 BCE – c. 23 CE), the Greek geographer, reported it when he visited Egypt in 25 BCE.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_genital_cutting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_genital_cutting
Hard to believe that we were all so stupidly superstitious as we were on our path to a watering hole, isn’t it?
Now if you want to do something about it, click on the link
http://www.desertflowerfoundation.org/en/
Az Zaqqum Islamic Scholar for the Infidel