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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Female Circumcision in Singapore |
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| Anonymous |
| 10/25/02 at 18:47:26 |
| Asalaamualaikum, Just thought you might find it interesting your website was given as source for further information on an AP article (it's a sorta weird topic, but nonetheless): http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20021024/ap_wo_en_fe/fea_singapore_female_circumcision&e=2 Symbolic female circumcision embraced by majority of Singapore's Muslims Thu Oct 24, 3:19 AM ET By GILLIAN WEE, Associated Press Writer SINGAPORE - Ratna Damayanti considers herself a modern Muslim woman. Like many of her peers in this wealthy island nation, she counts coffee shops and jazz bars among her favorite haunts and watches "Friends" every week. Damayanti also thinks of herself as more modern than her more conservative Muslim girlfriends who wear the Islamic headscarf. But the extroverted college student does have one thing in common with them. They were all circumcised as babies. And she says she would have no qualms about putting her daughters through the same procedure. "I would allow my children to go through it," she says. "It's not like they are removing everything." In Singapore's small Muslim community, female circumcision involves making a small nick in the prepuce, the skin covering the clitoris. It is markedly different from the practices of some Muslim communities in Africa and the Middle East that are decried by human rights activists as female genital mutilation. In those cases, a young girl's clitoris is clipped and burned. In a few communities, all the external genitals are cut off and the remnant tissue is sewn up to leave only a small opening. Those practices originated 1,400 years ago, before the birth of Islam's Prophet Mohammed, said Noor Aisha Binte Abdul Rahman, a Malay studies professor at the National University of Singapore. Singapore's milder form is viewed as symbolic of this tradition. But the tradition has no religious basis and there are no guidelines — except that it should not bring harm to believers, said Zhulkeflee Haji Ismail, manager of Singapore's Islamic Scholars and Religious Teachers Association. "Some people just follow customs without knowing what they're about," the scholar said. "Traditions die hard." Yaacob Ibrahim, the government minister in charge of Muslim affairs in this city-state, said he does not plan to circumcise his daughter since it is not a religiously required practice. He said there are no laws regulating the practice in Singapore, whose predominantly Chinese population of 4 million includes 300,000 Muslims, most of whom are ethnic Malays. Circumcisions in Singapore are done by female doctors at a handful of Muslim clinics. It's another contrast to areas that practice the harsher circumcisions, which are often done by non-medical practitioners in unsanitary conditions. Dr. Masayu Zainab Masagos Mohamed, who circumcises five to six patients a day at a Singapore clinic, said the procedure is usually carried out on babies or prepubescent children. But it has been done on women of all ages. The procedure involves "a small nick" on the skin covering the clitoris with a pair of small, stainless steel scissors, Zainab said. No anesthesia is used because the injection would be more painful than the cut itself, she said, and she prescribes an antibiotic cream for the punctured skin. The procedure costs about 30 Singapore dollars (US$17) and is not covered by insurance. Zainab, who wears a headscarf, said there is no specific medical rationale for the practice, although many Muslim women think there is. In the past, Singapore females were circumcised at home by traditional Malay midwives, Zainab said. Not all Singaporean Muslims embrace the practice. Some, like 27-year-old housewife Nur Naadiya Chia, said it is "outdated and inhumane." "I don't think I'd let my daughters be circumcised," said Chia, who converted to Islam at 18. "It's not compulsory and there's no reason why I should do it." But most Muslim women go along with the practice. They say it does not affect their sexuality nor cause them any discomfort. "The procedure is like having your ears pierced," said Zaileen Mohammed Zain Tahar, a mother of two sons and a daughter. "It's nothing." |
| Re: Female Circumcision in Singapore |
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| theOriginal |
| 11/08/02 at 13:24:23 |
| [slm] A question... The article repeatedly says that female circumsion is not compulsory in Islam....... I have also heard that it has been prohibited in Islam... Whatever the answer is, could someone provide me with some authenticated daleel for it? Wasalaam. SF. |
| Re: Female Circumcision in Singapore |
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| jannah |
| 11/08/02 at 13:42:20 |
| [slm] check www.jannah.org/genderequity it has a good treatment of this topic |
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