Tag Archives: FGM

UK: The Crisis of Female Genital Mutilation

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???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????by Soeren Kern:

Despite these laws, no one has ever been prosecuted for performing FGM. Victims are often afraid to speak out for fear of physical abuse or death threats, some involving paid hitmen.

British authorities are redoubling their fight against the spiraling problem of female genital mutilation (FGM) after a weekly primetime television show broadcast by the BBC forced the previously “taboo” subject into mainstream debate.

FGM is endemic in Muslim-majority countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Three million girls between infancy and age 15 are subject to FGM every year, and it is believed that 140 million women worldwide are suffering from the lifelong consequences of the practice.

FGM has emerged as a major problem in Europe due to mass immigration. The European Parliament estimates that 500,000 girls and women in the European Union are living with FGM, and every year another 180,000 girls in Europe are at risk of being “cut.”

Britain has the highest levels of FGM in Europe. According to a government-funded study published in 2007, at least 66,000 women and girls in Britain have had the procedure performed on them, and more than 20,000 girls under the age of 15 are currently at risk.

These figures, however, may be only the tip of the iceberg. A 2011 Department of Health policy paper warns that “it is possible that, due to population growth and immigration from practicing countries…FGM is significantly more prevalent than these figures suggest.”

FGM is thought to be common in Britain among immigrant groups from Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Kurdistan, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Northern Sudan, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Yemen.

The Times of London has reported that circumcisers — also known as “house doctors” because they conduct the procedure in private homes — are often flown to Britain from Africa and the Middle East to carry out the mutilations.

Alternatively, families who have immigrated to Britain from countries where FGM is practiced may send their daughters back to those countries to undergo FGM there, ostensibly under the guise of visiting relatives.

According to The Guardian, the six-week-long school summer holiday in Britain is the most dangerous time of the year for these girls. It is a convenient time to carry out the procedure because the girls need several weeks to heal before returning to school.

Sometimes immigrants living in other European countries even send their daughters to Britain to have them mutilated there. In an interview with the BBC, Isabelle Gillette-Faye, an anti-FGM activist in France, recounts the story of two little girls about to board a train for London.

Gillette-Faye says: “It was a Friday. We heard just in time. They had tickets for Saturday. A family member tipped us off. We told the police and they were stopped from making the journey.” The parents were warned that if they would go ahead with the mutilations and be found out, they would be imprisoned for up to 13 years.

“In England,” she added, “you are very respectful of your immigrants. It is very different in France. They have to integrate and they have to obey our laws. We simply will not tolerate this practice.”

In Bristol, a city in southwest England with a sizeable immigrant community, it is believed that some 2,000 girls are at risk of “FGM parties.” According to the BBC, “They cut them all together, as a group, because it is cheaper and quicker that way. At first the girls are all excited because it’s a party, until they realize what is going to happen, and then they get frightened. It’s done by the elder women, or the Imam, whoever is expert at cutting.”

FGM has been a crime in Britain for more than 25 years. It was made a criminal offense by the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985. That Act was superseded by the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 and (in Scotland) by the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005, both of which also introduce extraterritoriality. Taking a British citizen or permanent resident abroad for the purpose of FGM is a criminal offense whether or not it is lawful in the country to which the girl is taken.

Despite these laws — which carry a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison for anyone convicted of carrying out FGM or helping it to take place — no one in Britain has ever been prosecuted for performing it.

Read more at Gatestone Institute

 

Amnesty Int’l: Don’t Call Female Genital Mutilation “Barbaric”

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281851582_221142755001_100723FGM-3622281By Abigail Esman:

Recently, I penned an article about  an Amnesty International initiative: an art project for which the organization had commissioned artists and designers to address the devastating problem of female genital mutilation, or FGM – using 8,000 paper rose petals.  The petals had been gathered as part of a petition action to bring attention to – and to end – the practice of FGM, and were each signed by a member of the public who participated in the petition.  It was a laudable project, and I said so.

Amnesty responded with great appreciation for my story – but took exception to one detail.  I had  called FGM “barbaric,” and, said an Amnesty official, “we try not to use this word.”  In an e-mail, she explained, “The use of the word ‘barbaric’ suggests that the people who do this are less than human, which isn’t so because they are being led by social pressure which is what needs to be fought. So we avoid using this word to not judge the people.”

Overlooking the fact that “barbaric,” which means simply “uncultured,” “uncivilized,” or “uneducated,” does not quite suggest “less than human,” I could not help but wonder about the “not to judge them” part.  After all, if you set out to change a thing – a behavior, a place, a custom  (and especially if you set out to end it) – haven’t you already implicitly expressed a judgment?  And how is calling a custom, a practice, “barbaric,” conferring a judgment on the people who perform it?

This is the question that occurred to me soon after this exchange as I read about a similar situation in Canada, where, once again, the term “barbaric,” used to describe FGM – as well as honor killings – came under fire.  According to a report in Front Page, “Jinny Sims, the immigration critic of the opposition New Democratic Party of Canada, suggested the word ‘barbaric’ might ‘stigmatize some cultures.’”

Now, perhaps it’s just me, but I can’t think of many things moreundemocratic than censorship of language; but that, apparently, is precisely what the Canadian “New Democratic Party” seeks.

Hearing of Ms. Sims’ remarks, I was reminded of the words of another, wiser politician: former British Home Secretary Michael Howard, who, in defense of artistic freedom, once remarked, “We are uniquely fortunate in these  islands to have the English language. It is no accident that we have had and do have such a profusion of brilliant poets, playwrights, novelist and songwriters.

We must never allow the richness of that language to be diluted by bending the knee to the tyranny of political correctness.”  [Emphasis added, A.E.]

What wonderful words.

Read more at The Clarion Project

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Female Genital Mutilation on Rise in U.S.

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images (6)by:  Clare Lopez:

e4.3 Circumcision is obligatory (O: for both men and women). For men it consists of removing the prepuce from the penis, and for women, removing the prepuce.(Ar. Bazr) of the clitoris (n: not the clitoris itself, as some mistakenly assert). (A: Hanbalis hold that circumcision of women is not obligatory but sunna, while Hanafis consider it a mere courtesy to the husband.) – Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law

As the population of immigrants to the United States increases from countries where Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is practiced, so does the practice of cutting. This is the finding of a new study published by the New York-based non-profit organization,Sanctuary for Families, which specializes in gender-based violence.

The study, “Female Genital Mutilation in the United States: Protecting Girls and Women in the U.S. From FGM and Vacation Cutting,” relied on statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and data from the 2000 U.S. census.

Both CDC and the census appear to have arrived at their conclusions by extrapolating from the numbers of immigrants who come from countries documented by the World Health Organization as places where FGM is common, in order to arrive at a number of women and girls in the U.S. deemed “at risk” for FGM, either in the U.S. itself or while on “vacations” to home countries of origin.

Read more at RadicalIslam.org

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Shocking Facts on Female Genital Mutilation

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fgmby: Abigail R. Esman:

Last fall, Mohamed Kandeel, a physician and member of the Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research – a partner of the World Health Organization (WHO) – published an article in which he argued for the legalization of the procedure widely called “female genital mutilation” (FGM).

His reasoning?  Because it is practiced by Muslim cultures throughout Africa and much of the Middle East, and the Muslim community, he noted, “is the second largest in the world.”

Kandeel’s ideas may be all wrong, but his facts are shockingly correct: The WHO estimates that between 100-140 million women and girls have undergone FGM, with millions more likely to be victimized, and the overwhelming majority of these women and girls are Muslim.  (FGM does take place in non-Muslim cultures in Africa and among Coptic Christians in Egypt, but it is by no measure as widespread.)

Read more at Radical Islam

Abigail R. Esman, an award-winning writer based in New York and the Netherlands, is the author, most recently, of Radical State: How Jihad Is Winning Over Democracy in the West

 

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Bulletin of the Oppression of Women March 29 – May 26, 2012

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March 29, 2012 UK (h/t to IslaminEurope)     A five-year-old girl is thought to have become the UK’s youngest victim of forced   marriage. She was one of 400 children to receive assistance from the government’s   Forced Marriage Unit in the last year.   The figures have emerged as the public consultation into criminalising forced   marriage in England, Wales and Northern Ireland comes to an end. Amy Cumming,   joint head of the Forced Marriage Unit, said 29% of the cases it dealt with   last year involved minors.

Turkey     A judge ruled to release two suspects arrested on suspicion of raping a 15-year-old   girl and allegedly scolded the girl’s mother for not watching her closely enough.
The Izmir 2nd High Criminal Court last week ruled for the release of two suspects   who were arrested two years ago on charges of raping H.S., who was 15 at the   time. Prosecutors had demanded 18 years in prison for the two suspects.

March 30,2 012 Italy   (h/t JihadWatch)   The Italian Supreme Court on Friday upheld a sentence for abuse and aggravated   assault by a Moroccan father against his 12-year-old daughter. Defense lawyers   maintained that the father, who allegedly beat his daughter with a broom handle   for “corrective” purposes after she could not properly recite the   Koran, did so because of “cultural” reasons and should be given a   lighter sentence accordingly.

Turkey   (h/t to thereligionofpeace )   Realising a decades-old objective amid protest from the secular opposition,   Turkey’s moderate Islamic premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pushed through a   reform today that favours the Koranic institutions, introduces an hour of Muslim   religious instruction and exposes girls to danger of being kept at home away   from school.

March 31, 2012 Afghanistan   (h/t thereligionofpeace)   A 12-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy have been killed in an acid attack   in Afghanistan, an official said Saturday, with witnesses claiming it was because   of their friendship in what is an ultra-conservative country.

UK   (h/t to thereligionofpeace)   38 girls may have been involved in a child prostitution ring, it emerged yesterday.   Detectives had originally identified 24 girls, but Simon Heptonstall, prosecuting,   told Amersham Court Court yesterday that police investigations were now focussing   on 38 girls, aged between 11 and 16. Eleven have so far been interviewed by   detectives.
Six men – Zeshan Ahmed, Akhtar Dogar, Anjun Dogar, Kamar Jamil, Bassan Karrar   and Mohammed Karrar – were appearing for a preliminary crown court hearing.

April 19, 2012 Saudi   Arabia   Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al al-Sheikh, has approved marriage   for girls as young as 10 years-old and criticized the notion of raising the   age to 25 years-old according to various news reports. According to The World   Observer, he went on to say a girl becomes ready for marriage at 10 or 12 according   to Islam and stressed that Islamic law is not by any means oppressive to women,   the London-based al-Hayat reported Wednesday.
April 21, 2012 Pakistan   (h/t thereligionofpeace)   Police foiled a plan to marry a 5 year old girl to a 18 year old.

The families were informed that marriage of underage girls is illegal and they   were shocked,” a policeman, who was part of the raid, told The Express   Tribune. “They said we’re illiterate and do not know about the law.”   The girl’s parents have been arrested.

UK   As many as 100,000 women in Britain have undergone female genital mutilations   (FGM) with medics in the UK offering to carry out the illegal procedure on girls   as young as 10, it has been reported.

April 23, 2012 India   Women’s anger against FGM grows in India.

UK   Two Pakistani students rape a woman who fell asleep on a bus and missed her   stop. The students persuaded her to get off with them, saying they would call   a taxi for her.

April 27, 2012 USA   (h/t JihadWatch)   Dr. al-Haj, a medical doctor and fellow at the American Academy of Pediatrics,   ignores FGM’s detrimental effects on women’s health, and instead argues that   it is ‘an honor’ for women. He justifies this position by referring repeatedly   to the words of classical Islamic scholars from the four schools of mainstream   Sunni Islamic thought, all of which attest to FGM’s legitimacy under Islam.   He also refers to the words of the Prophet Muhammad himself, who reportedly   counselled people in his day on how to perform FGM in a way that would be “more   beautiful to behold and better for [the woman's] husband.”
Dr. al-Haj lost his position at the Mayo Clinic. UPDATE   from AtlasShrugs.

April 29, 2012 Chechnya   (h/t JihadWatch)   Chechnya’s government is openly approving of families that kill female relatives   who violate their sense of honor, as this Russian republic embraces a fundamentalist   interpretation of Islam after decades of religious suppression under Soviet   rule.
May 2, 2012 Kuwait   (h/t JihadWatch)   Dianne Wilton, the wife of a former British ambassador has been left with third-degree   burns after a pot of boiling water was hurled at her in an suspected Islamist   attack. She was dining with friends and a member of the Kuwaiti royal family   in a restaurant when a woman attacked her table.

May 3, 2012 Morocco   (h/t to AtlasShrugs)   The widespread practice of marrying minors continues to be one of the most incendiary   legal and political issues in Morocco today, causing open confrontations between   hard-line Islamists and moderates throughout the country.

May 6, 2012 Pakistan   A former lawmaker and cleric from Kohistan district, Maulana Abdul Haleem, termed   formal education for women un-Islamic and asked parents to pluck their daughters   from school, or else they would be ‘doomed’

May 8, 2012 Tunsia (h/t JihadWatch)     The French finance ministry froze the assets of a radical imam from Tunisia   who is under the threat of expulsion for anti-Semitism, an official announcement   said. Mohammed Hammami, 76, has lived in France for decades and was accused   in January by Interior Minister Claude Geant of making “violently anti-Semitic   remarks” as well as calling for women to be “whipped to death”   for adultery.

May 9, 2012 Australia   (h/t AtlasShrugs)   Ismail Belghar, 36, yesterday pleaded guilty to detaining and assaulting his   sister-in-law after she “dared” to take his wife to the beach without   his permission. The court heard, because of his religious beliefs and because   he thought he had absolute authority over her, Belghar felt it “abhorrent”   that his wife, Hanife Kokden, had been to the beach where she “displayed   her body”.
The Moroccan immigrant had originally been charged with the attempted murder   of his wife’s younger sister, Canan Kokden, 25.

UK   (h/t AtlasShrugs)   Nine Muslim men were found guilty of running a sex-ring for years, grooming   and forcing young at-risk British girls to participate. More HERE.

UK   (h/t therelilgionofpeace)   One of the guilty Muslim men in the British child-sex ring, Adbul Rauf, was   an Islamic preacher.

May 10, 2012 India   (h/t thereligionofpeace)   A senior Indian police officer has been recorded suggesting that the father   of a missing girl should murder her in an honour killing.

May 11, 2012 Indonesia   No fewer than six major Islamic organisations have formally objected to the   equality bill on the ground that some of its articles go against Islamic values   in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation where 80 percent of its   238 million people are followers of the faith.

May 12, 2012 India   A 24-year-old woman hailing from Charthawal village created quite a sensation   at the office of SP City, Muzaffarnagar, on last Thursday, when she accused   her father-in-law, Mohammad Jabir, of repeatedly raping her. An obviously pregnant   Sabina (name changed) was covered in a ‘burkha’ and appeared nervous, as she   sought police intervention in the presence of local mediapersons.

Sabina claimed that her husband, Wasul, a small-time cloth merchant was mostly   out of town, which had only emboldened the old man. However, hardly 24 hours   after the drama, Sabina has gone missing and no one, including the police, has   any clue on her whereabouts.

May 13, 2012 Morocco   A young woman, whose name and age remains undisclosed, was said to have been   beaten and stoned for wearing a “short dress” at a market place in   the city of Rabat, reported North African news website Magharebia. It was not   known when the incident had happened.
The assault was reportedly carried out by Salafists, an extremist group who   in recent years are believed to have a link with Al-Qaeda. The attack reportedly   came on the heels of an announcement made by Quran reciter Abu Zeid, who called   for a particular day to be consigned to “chastity and modesty”, the   report said.

May 17, 2012 Pakistan   (h/t thereligionofpeace)   A twelve year old Christian girl who was raped over a year ago receives threats,   not justice.

May 21, 2012 Sudan   Intisar Sharif Abdalla, believed to be between 15 and 17 years of age (although   prison authorities claim she is 20) was sentenced to death in accordance with   Article 146 of the Sudanese criminal law albeit without legal representation.
The judgment was made on May 13, 2012 after just one hearing and came after   an “admission of guilt” plea following torture and brutal beatings   by Sharif’s brother who instigated the case. Her co-accused however remains   un-convicted and walks freely.

May 23, 2012 Afghanistan   (ht/ thereligionofpeace)   Afghan officials say more than 120 schoolgirls and three teachers have been   poisoned at a school in the northern Takhar Province. The attack was blamed   on fundamentalist radicals who used an unidentified toxic powder to contaminate   the air at the school.

Many victims reportedly lost consciousness and were hospitalized. One of the   children, Samera, told Reuters they originally thought the school’s water had   been poisoned. More HERE.

May 26, 2012 Afghanistan   (h/t to Jaye)   A brain drain of bright young women is already taking place in Afghanistan before   the 2014 handover that many fear will mean a reversal of advances in women’s   rights.

The lack of commitment by the Afghan government to equality and to tackling   the high rates of ill-treatment of women in the home and in the workplace is   raising real fears they will be at the bottom of the political agenda in the   push for power after Nato forces leave the country.
Produced by Politicalislam.com   Publisher: Bill Warner; Editor: Asma Marwan

Misinformation from U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services about Islam & FGM

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by Christopher Holton, FSM:

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), sometimes referred to euphemistically as Female Genital Cutting (FGC) or Female Circumcision, is one of the most barbaric practices in the world today. It is prohibited by law in the USA and many Western countries. Moreover, several US states have outlawed FGM, while legislation is pending in some others.

Not enough is known about FGM in the USA and our federal government has clouded the issue by spreading false information about the practice.

A “Fact Sheet” produced by the US Department of Health and Human Services contains the following passages:

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.

No religious text requires or even supports cutting female genitals. In fact, Islamic Shari’a protects children and protects their rights.

http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/female-genital-cutting.cfm#e 

This information is false and had it been produced in a privately produced document it would be considered outright fraud. 

Despite what the HHS claims, FGM is in fact associated with Islam, is supported in contemporary interpretation of Islamic scripture and has been endorsed by Islamic religious leaders. Shariah law manuals require and support the practice.

Muslims in America still practice FGM. At least some Muslims justify it based on religious freedom and, in at least one state in which anti-FGM legislation is currently working its way through the legislative process, one legislator reports receiving a phone call from a Muslim constituent urging her to oppose the legislation as “a conspiracy against the Muslim community.”

One of the most widely read Shariah law texts is Reliance of the Traveler: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law.

This book was translated into English in 1991. It has been endorsed by the President of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and the President of the Fiqh Council of North America, as well as Al Azhar Research Academy in Cairo, Egypt, the Sunni Islamic world’s foremost educational institution.

On page 59 of Reliance one finds this passage:

e4.3    Circumcision is obligatory (O: for both men and women. For men it consists of removing the prepuce from the penis, and for women, removing the prepuce (Ar. Bazr) of the clitoris (n: not the clitoris itself, as some mistakenly assert). (A: Hanbalis hold that circumcision of women is not obligatory but sunna, while Hanafis consider it a mere courtesy to the husband.)

As an explanation, there are several schools of Shariah jurisprudence, known as “fiqhs.” As the passage above explains, for some female “circumcision” is “obligatory.” For another it is considered “sunna.” For those who are not familiar with the term, sunna in the context of Shariah means a custom or norm established by practice, example, decision or tradition of the prophet Mohammed. As a source of Islamic law, the sunna of the prophet Mohammed is second in importance only to the Quran itself.

And of course, under another Shariah school of jurisprudence, female “circumcision” is seen as a “courtesy to the husband,” whatever that means.

So, despite what the US government’s Department of Health and Human Services says, Shariah texts DO require and support FGM.

But FGM’s grounding in Islam does not end there.

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi is the Sunni Islamic world’s foremost Shariah scholar. He is the head of the International Association of Muslim Scholars and European Council for Fatwa and Research. He is also chairman of the board of trustees of Islamic American University. Qaradawi, who has been described as the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual and ideological leader, issued a fatwa asserting that “circumcision is better for a woman’s health and it enhances her conjugal relation with her husband” and that, “whoever finds it serving the interest of his daughters should do it, and I personally support this under the current circumstances in the modern world.”

The video below depicts in horrible detail this barbaric practice that Qaradawi endorses as “serving the interest of his daughters.” Note that this video is about how the barbaric practice is carried out in GREAT BRITAIN.

WARNING: GRAPHIC AND DISTURBING

 

There is more…with videos

Christopher Holton is a Vice President with the Center for Security Policy and the Director of its Divest Terror Initiative. Chris Holton is a past president and marketing director of Blanchard & Co. and editor-in-chief of the Blanchard Economic Research Unit from 1990 to 2003. As chief of the Blanchard Economic Research Unit in 2000, he conceived and commissioned the Center for Security Policy special report Clinton’s Legacy: The Dangerous Decade. Holton is a member of the Board of Advisers of WorldTribune.com.
 
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Female Circumcision in the Maldives, the Islamic Movement and Islamophobia

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By Mark Durie:

 I was struck today by a comment from a Maldives women’s rights activist about the direction her nation is taking.  In a report published the Melbourne Age, which discussed female circumcision and the local practice of flogging female adulterers, Shadiya Ibrahim remarked:

“Being a woman is harder now. The religious Wahhabist scholars preach more forcefully than anyone else can. They have this backing of religion as a tool.”
“No one can make the argument to have a more liberal, a more positive attitude towards women. Day by day, it is becoming harder for women to live in this country.”

When Shaidya Ibrahim says that ‘no one can make the argument’ for a more positive attitude towards women I take it that she means is that no one can mount a persuasive argument on behalf of women on religious grounds. This is because the Islamic canon — the Qur’an and the Sunna (the example and teaching of Muhammad) — are heavily stacked against women.  Consequently, Islam itself does not provide persuasive doctrinal support for a more ‘positive attitude’, wishful thinking notwithstanding. 

This is why pious religious leaders in the Maldives are winning the argument for reducing women’s rights: in a society which Islam trumps all other considerations — it is illegal for a citizen of the Maldives not to be a Muslim — no-one is able to counter their arguments. The increasing limitations on women’s rights has ‘the backing of religion’, as Shadiya Ibrahim puts it.

What does this mean in practice?  Consider the example of female circumcision.  The Shafa’i school of Islam, which is followed in the Maldives, is the only one of the four Sunni schools which makes circumcizing females a compulsory religious obligation.  Other Sunni schools of sharia regard female circumcision as recommended or preferred (sunnat).  Ironically, if only the Maldives followed Hanbali jurisprudence (the school mainly followed by Wahhabis), they might practice female circumcision less.  (In Saudi Arabia it is the minority Shafa’i areas where female circumcision is most prevalent.)

The reference in the article to ‘Wahhabist’ influence does not refer to strict adherence to Wahhabi teachings, but to a newly empowered and very self-confident revivalist approach to Islam, often backed by Saudi finance — which insists on the application of pure religious teachings, especially the authority of Muhammad’s example, giving it priority over all other considerations, including medical evidence.  As this argument becomes more compelling, on religious grounds, it empowers the traditional teachings of Shafa’i Islamic jurisprudence, including the obligation of female circumcision.  Thus the women of the Maldives are called to bear the marks of Islamic revivalism on their very bodies. 

The world is in the midst of global Islamic revival.  This is actually a “reformation” in the sense that many of the world’s Muslims are returning to Islam’s roots.  According to many Islamic activists, it is a matter of Muslim pride that global Islam is on a reform path to become more authentic, returning to its origins in Muhammad’s life and teaching.  This movement has been building momentum for over a century and it is far from exhausted. 

Muslim women are among those (along with non-Muslims and Muslim dissenters) who bear the brunt of Islam’s progress in the modern era.  For example, see here for a recent discussion by a Muslim writer, Veli Sirin, of how the Islamic Movement is impacting women’s rights in Turkey.  

Mary Robinson, in an infamous speech given to the UN Human Rights Commission way back March 15 2002, stated:

“No one can deny, from a historical perspective, the revolutionary force that is Islam, which bestowed rights upon women and children long before similar recognition was afforded in other civilizations. … And no one can deny the acceptance of the universality of human rights by Islamic States.”

If Robinson’s thesis were correct, states which make it illegal for their citizens not to be a Muslim (such as the Maldive or Saudi Arabia) and which officially give priority to Islam above all other values ought to be world leaders in protecting the rights of women (and one might add, the rights of girls).  Sadly, the opposite is the case. 

The UN official media reported Robinson’s speech as “UN’s top human rights official urges action to combat ‘Islamaphobia’”.  This is a prime example of how anti-Islamophobia rhetoric can be used — albeit at times unwittingly — to gloss over and provide a cover of denial for human rights abuses. 

Robinson argued that “Islamic communities need to become more active in countering ignorance through offering positive information on Islam and Islamic beliefs,” yet of course this is exactly the recipe being followed in the Maldives, where Muslim leaders are teaching ‘forcefully’ with the ‘backing of religion’ as they counter ‘ignorance’ by providing what they consider to be ‘positive information’ about Islam, such ‘positive information’ including the great value of circumcising girls and stoning adulterers.

The proven principle, lamented by moderate Muslims all over the globe, which should by now be clear to all, is that the more Islamic a state, the worse the plight of its female citizens becomes.  This is because of, not in spite of Muslim leaders ‘countering ignorance through offering positive information on Islam’, as Robinson put it.  It is a grotesque, Orwellian distortion to call naming such truth ‘Islamophobia’, and the first — but not the last — victims of this lie are Muslims.

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