UI – Part 674 – FGM

FGM, or Female Genital Mutilation is a common practice in Muslim majority nations, as well as in Muslim areas in the free world.  It is a horrific practice that denies girls when they become adults of fully enjoying their femininity. 

Egypt is taking steps to eradicate this action and to criminalize the practice.  

From Bloomberg, January 20, 2021:

“Egypt’s cabinet on Wednesday toughened penalties for female genital mutilation, authorizing prison terms of up to 20 years in a bid to curb a practice that has persisted despite religious edicts against it.

“The changes approved by the government include holding doctors and other medical professionals accountable for performing the procedure, as well as barring them from practice for a number of years and shuttering facilities where operations are performed, the cabinet said in a statement.

“Roughly 92% of married Egyptian women between the ages of 15 and 49 have undergone the procedure, according to national figures cited by the United Nations.

“Human rights activists have long advocated against it, but government efforts to end it have met with resistance. Many in the country view it as rooted in Islamic teachings. That notion, however, has been disputed by al-Azhar, the Sunni Muslim world’s most respected religious institution, located in Cairo.

“Under the new guidelines, which must still be approved by parliament, the penalties range from five years in prison with hard labor to 20 years, depending on who performed the procedure and whether it resulted in severe injury or death. Anyone who encouraged or requested the operation also faces jail time.”

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This is a positive step for women subject to the ideological laws born from the tenets of Islam, which include the Quran, the Hadith’s and Muhammad’s words and actions.  It is a demeaning act, by the male dominant Islamic culture.  Certainly this is not what God would do, but then Allah is not God, at least not the biblical God.

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From Ayaan Hirsi Ali:

“As an African who was subjected to FGM, now living in the West, allow me to help bridge that gap by explaining what we’re really talking about beneath the weasel words ‘genital cutting’.

“There are five types of female genital mutilation performed on girls from as young as five years of age. Four of them are unarguably mutilation, and the other is designed to symbolize mutilation. I will start with the mildest.

1. The ‘nick’: The girl is held down, her legs pushed apart and a needle is used to prick her clitoris. The incision is similar to a finger prick test for diabetes, blood comes out and the girl is considered ‘cleansed’. Often there is a ritual with a little party to celebrate the procedure.

2. ‘Female circumcision’: The second method in terms of severity is often compared to male circumcision. The hood of the clitoris is cut off, in some cases the tip of the clitoris is cut off, known as clitoridectomy. In this form, an otherwise normally functioning body part is sliced off and thrown out. Disfiguring a little girl’s genitals in this way cannot rationally be considered anything but mutilation.

3. Intermediate infibulation: In the third form of FGM, as much of the clitoris as possible is dug out and removed. The inner labia are cut off and the outer labia are sewn together leaving two small holes for urination and menstruation. In places where this is done without ‘medical intervention’ girls have been known to bleed to death. After infibulation is done it is imperceptible what has taken place when the girl stands up with her legs together, but in the obstetrician’s position it is clearly visible that parts of her genitals have been removed and sewn up.

Sadly, we are only just past half way and female genital mutilation gets worse. No doubt setting out these practices in detail is disturbing but it is crucial that we speak openly about what is taking place rather than shroud it in euphemism so as not to cause offence.

4. Total infibulation: In the fourth type of FGM the clitoris and inner labia are cut off and the outer labia are cut or scraped off too, then sewn up. When the girl stands, even with her legs closed, her genitals clearly look different.

5. Vaginal fusing: In the fifth type of FGM, which is rarely discussed, all of the fourth type is done and then the inner walls of the vagina are scratched to cause bleeding and the sewing is again done. The girl’s feet are tied together in an effort to fuse the two sides of the vagina with scar tissue to close it up. Children can die undergoing this.

“It is hard for people outside of communities practicing FGM to understand what is taking place. One example that has stayed with me over the years was a woman in the Netherlands that I translated for. I accompanied her to visit an obstetrician as she was having great difficulty with urination and menstruation. She showed the doctor her genitals after being subjected to the fifth and most severe type of FGM with her genitals completely removed. The stunned doctor asked if she had been burned. He could not believe that what had been done to her was deliberate, he assumed it must have been a horrific accident. But, it was no accident.”

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Barbaric practices of Islam are a constant reminder of the evil nature of this ideology.  and reminder if it were not for Apostasy Laws, Islam may not even exist today.  Under Apostasy Laws Muslims who leave the ideology for an alternative are subject to death.  

Grace and Peace.

by Thomas W. Balderston

Author and Blogger.