Islam’s holy book the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad’s Sunnah [sayings and traditions] have no evidence on the obligation to circumcise daughters through FGM, Ahmed al-Maliki, an Azhar researcher of Islamic Shaira (law), said Monday. Dar Al-Iftaa said that female genital mutilation had been practiced by some Arab tribes due to certain circumstances that have now been changed, and its negative physical and psychological effects have been detailed by most doctors. Female Genital Mutiliation is “the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for cultural or other nontherapeutic reasons,” as defined by the World Health Organization. Female Genital Mutilation was criminalized in Egypt in 2016. Still, a 2016 survey by the UN Children’s Fund indicates that 87 percent of women and girls aged 15-49 in Egypt have undergone the procedure.

Source: Egypt Independent December 11, 2018 10:40 UTC