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Momodou
Denmark
11733 Posts |
 Posted - 28 Jun 2007 : 17:22:13
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Culled from Aljazeera
THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 2007
16:43 MECCA TIME, 13:43 GMT
Egypt outlaws female circumcision
Egypt has banned all female circumcision, the widely-practised removal of the clitoris which just days ago cost the life of a 12-year-old girl in the country.
Hatem al-Gabali, the health minister, decided on Thursday to ban every doctor and member of the medical profession, in public or private establishments, from carrying out a clitoridectomy.
Any circumcision "will be viewed as a violation of the law and all contraventions will be punished," a ministry official said.
A survey in 2000 said the practice was carried out on 97 per cent of the country's women.
'Loophole' closed
The health ministry's step cancelled a 1996 provision to the law which had permitted circumcision "in situations of illness" should doctors advise it.
The measure to outlaw the practice entirely came after a girl died while undergoing the procedure at a private medical clinic last week.
Budour Ahmed Shaker died in the southern province of Minya, south of Cairo, after she was given a heavy dose of anaesthetic, security sources said.
She had been taken to the clinic by her mother but died before she could be transferred to a hospital.
The practice, which affects both Muslim and Christian women in Egypt, is believed to have begun in the time of the pharoahs.
Source: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/04A6BE36-A265-475A-B8D1-C8E0A4298A69.htm
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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jambo
3300 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jun 2007 : 17:31:09
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well done egypt, but could someone explain this sentence
"The health ministry's step cancelled a 1996 provision to the law which had permitted circumcision "in situations of illness" should doctors advise it." |
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serenata
Germany
1400 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jun 2007 : 19:13:58
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Yes, well done!
Interesting that Egyptian Christians are practising FGM too. I didn't know that! This, and the fact that animist women in Africa (e.g. the Maasai) also are circumcised and infibulated makes it evident that FGM is a cultural, and not at all a religious practice.
jambo, these so-called 'situations of illness' (except for cancer, which is not really widespread among young girls, I don't know any illness which would require a circumcision, let alone an infibulation) were probably really nothing but a loophole. I think the Egyptian government was in a precarious situation: On the one hand they wanted to be modern, sophisticated and humane, or they were urged by Western governments to ban FGM. On the other they feared the people's protest if they made a popular practise illegal. I am sure that most parents who crippled their daughters claimed that it was necessary because of an 'illness'...
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Alhassan
Sweden
813 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jun 2007 : 10:53:52
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quote:
Originally posted by jambo
well done egypt, but could someone explain this sentence
"The health ministry's step cancelled a 1996 provision to the law which had permitted circumcision "in situations of illness" should doctors advise it."
Jambo,
I am delighted to read and here the news. Now the challange is up to Imam Fatty and his follows to read between the lines from Egypt. Egypt is also a highly religious especially for Muslims.
I would call this debate a day because it has taken a lot of time and we have not been able to convince eachother. Now that an Islamic state has denounced it, I hope the others will follow to stop this hurrible act on our women folks.
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mansasulu
997 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jun 2007 : 14:53:45
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Alhasan, I think we are missing a key point here. Female circumcision is not an islamic issue i.e. it is not explicitly allowed or disallowed by islam. In otherwords, people are free to chose if they engage in it or not. Egypt although has a majority muslim population, is not an islamic state. Like most African societies, Egypt is a Dictatorship/Decidership. The government choose to impose a ban on it, fine, but they cannot issue an islamic justification for it since they are inherently not an islamic state.
For every 100 scholars who denounce the practice, another 100 support it. This is simply a matter of choice. |
"...Verily, in the remembrance of Allâh do hearts find rest..." Sura Al-Rad (Chapter 13, Verse 28)
...Gambian by birth, Muslim by the grace of Allah... |
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Karamba
United Kingdom
3820 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jun 2007 : 18:09:56
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Mansasulu,
You have it right. Those who wish to vent anti-Islamic sentiments can be seen clinging of the lightest straw. If Islam does not condemn female circumcision, it does not imply that Islam prefers it or recommends it. The practice is not also a matter of Black African culture exclusively. This is a clear point of departure. What is now coming out very clear is that Female Circumcision is a matter of choice and not an invention of Islam. That is why some scholars argue that it is not mentioned in the Holy Quran. The logic being that if the practice started before Islam, it is not right to blame it on religious arguments. In all considerations, keeping an open mind helps best. |
Karamba |
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Alhassan
Sweden
813 Posts |
Posted - 02 Jul 2007 : 09:47:31
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SULU,
I remembered for sometime ago some of you on this very forum said it was Islamic. Now most of you will say it is not Islamic. I wonder where you people stand. I as for one condem it because of the harm it does on women. I suggest that this culture is a very bad and inhuman. Ganbians must wakr up and do away with such cultures. There is no educational or medical fact to back it. It is a simple way of controll. |
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mansasulu
997 Posts |
Posted - 02 Jul 2007 : 15:14:12
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| Alhassan, I challenge you to go through my achive of postings and show me where I wrote that female circumcision is ISLAMIC! |
"...Verily, in the remembrance of Allâh do hearts find rest..." Sura Al-Rad (Chapter 13, Verse 28)
...Gambian by birth, Muslim by the grace of Allah... |
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