Maryga

The question on FGM/FGC was posed by Begbie on the �Islam for non-Muslims� forum so I suppose that Begbie is a non-Muslim (please forgive me if I am wrong). For the sake of Begbie and any others I wish to give my perspective on this issue and explain why I believe this practice is unIslamic and wrong.

1. First of all, a Muslim should believe in the Quran in its entirety and should obey the Apostle of God � Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) � who was sent us a mercy to mankind. Regarding the Quran Allah has said that:

003.007 �He it is Who has sent down to thee the Book: In it are verses basic or fundamental (of established meaning); they are the foundation of the Book: others are allegorical. But those in whose hearts is perversity follow the part thereof that is allegorical, seeking discord, and searching for its hidden meanings, but no one knows its hidden meanings except Allah. And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say: "We believe in the Book; the whole of it is from our Lord:" and none will grasp the Message except men of understanding.�.

From the above it is clear that we are not to look for the meaning of the words that are allegorical and whose meaning is hidden and to follow what has been made plain to us.

015.001
YUSUFALI: A. L. R. These are the Ayats of Revelation, of a Qur'an that makes things clear.

018.001: Praise be to Allah, Who hath sent to His Servant the Book, and hath allowed therein no Crookedness:

018.002 (He hath made it) Straight (and Clear) in order that He may warn (the godless) of a terrible Punishment from Him, and that He may give Glad Tidings to the Believers who work righteous deeds, that they shall have a goodly Reward,

Everything that a Muslim needs to know in order to lead a life of righteousness has been made plain to him in the Quran and there is no crookedness therefore we need not go searching for something hidden as all that we need to know has been made clear.

019.097: So have We made the (Qur'an) easy in thine own tongue, that with it thou mayest give Glad Tidings to the righteous, and warnings to people given to contention.

054.017: And We have indeed made the Qur'an easy to understand and remember: then is there any that will receive admonition?

047.024: Do they not then earnestly seek to understand the Qur'an, or are their hearts locked up by them?

From the above it is clear that Allah has made the Quran easy to understand and those who earnestly seek to understand it will find guidance in it.

022.078
YUSUFALI: And strive in His cause as ye ought to strive, (with sincerity and under discipline). He has chosen you, and has imposed no difficulties on you in religion; it is the cult of your father Abraham. It is He Who has named you Muslims, both before and in this (Revelation); that the Messenger may be a witness for you, and ye be witnesses for mankind! So establish regular Prayer, give regular Charity, and hold fast to Allah! He is your Protector - the Best to protect and the Best to help!

007.028

YUSUFALI: When they do aught that is shameful, they say: "We found our fathers doing so"; and "Allah commanded us thus": Say: "Nay, Allah never commands what is shameful: do ye say of Allah what ye know not?"

Note the above two verses carefully. Not only has Allah made it easy for us to follow our religion but has also commanded us not to follow what is shameful and those acts that were done in the days of ignorance prior to Islam.

In addition to the above Allah has also commanded the Muslims to obey the Apostle. All that Allah has commanded in the Quran has been put into practise by the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and this has been recorded through narrations of those who were closest to him. These records are known as the �Hadith� and of these we Muslims go mainly for the most authentic that have been recorded by Muslim & Bukhari and the 40 authentic hadith known as Qudsi.

2. Even after repeatedly reading the Quran many times and having read many of the authentic hadith I have nowhere come across the command to perform female circumcision.

Everything that Allah has permitted us and forbidden us from in the Quran is for our benefit. For example with regards to intoxicating drinks we have been told that there is more harm in it than good. Clearly from most of the posts on the FGM thread the performing of this hideous act can cause mutilation, infections and God knows whatelse. I do not know what advantage there is to it but clearly there is more harm. So I cannot understand why anyone would even say that it is �optional�. On the other hand there is clear evidence even from the medical point of view that the male practise is done for the sake of personal hygiene and to prevent disease. It is just as removing unwanted hair from the body for the sake of hygiene and there is no harm from it. When a person argues as has been the case that if it is done on the male why not on the female, my question is the female gives birth, do you also give birth? No the two are not the same!

My �madhab� is mainstream Islam and I do not divide and attach myself to any sect giving it special recognition. As Muslims we are commanded to accept only the Quran without questioning and everything else is open to question, enquiry and criticism. Even the great caliph Umar (RA) openly accepted criticism and said that those who criticised him were his friends as they saved him from the hell fire by allowing him to correct himself.

3. Elsewhere on the forum you have asked why Muslims flock to the so called scholars?

This is because some people like to take the shortcut. Instead of reading and understanding the Quran, they flock to scholars and in some cases it is impossible to reason with them. The value they place on the words of the scholars is unfortunately extremely high and because they do not seek to understand the meaning of the Quran there is a lot of ignorance. It is the same as in Christianity. Some churches have accepted homosexuality and some have gone to the extent of the ordinations of gay priests. But the Christians who have read the Bible and know that God forbids these acts have simply moved away from that Church, whilst others believe whatever the priests say.

4. On another thread someone has asked why many non-Muslims think all Muslims are terrorists?

Sometime  back I too would have defended myself when anything negative is told about Muslims. Allah has told us in the Quran to ponder upon His signs. Whilst many Muslims have died since S11 because of the attacks of the coalition in Iraq, Afghanistan etc, many many more have also died in the Tsunami, the floods and the earthquakes. The number of people killed in Turkey, Iran, Aceh, Pakistan etc, make me reflect. Allah has said in the Quran that whatever wrath befalls us we bring it upon ourselves.

Islam and Muslims are two different issues. While Islam is beautiful and perfect unfortunately many of those who are born into it take it for granted and believe they are the chosen people. They live in the west yet are very quick at hurling criticism at western practises. In fact the laws of the western nations are more in line with Islam than many so called Islamic countries. The leaders of many of these nations are more humble than Muslim leaders. We have too many Saddams. Give a person some authority and he behaves like a dictator. Muslim countries abound in corruption and arrogance and suppression is common. Iniquity is common. Though we have received the Book, we do not follow it as it should be followed. Allah has promised that if we did not He would replace us by a people who would follow. And that is exactly what is happening today. Many non-Muslims are becoming Muslims after reading and fully understanding Islam. Many are even taking the steps of spreading the truth to other Muslims by teaching them the difference between right and wrong. Yes, I am one of those dejected by the natural disasters that Muslims have brought upon themselves today and pray that they seek His guidance which is the Only Guidance.