This Sunday, February 6th, is International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation - please reblog to bring awareness that this barbaric practice still happens.
I’m offended that this is promoted as a Muslim issue, when in fact, it is a cultural phenomenon, and not related to religion. Go look at Africa.
It is a bit naive to separate culture and religion entirely. True, this is an Arab tradition which pre-dates Islam, but Islam reenforces it.
“People blame me for not drawing a distinction between religion and culture. Female circumcision, they say, has nothing to do with Islam, because this cruel ritual does not take place in all Islamic societies. But Islam demands that you enter marriage as a virgin. The virginity dogma is safeguarded by locking girls up in their homes and sewing their outer labia together.” — Ayaan Hirsi Ali
This is a Muslim issue, even if it is not an exclusively Muslim issue (and many other issues, such as domestic violence, fall into this category). To say, “This problem isn’t limited to just Muslims!” is an immature deflection.
Yes, it is a Muslim issue, as in it occurs in Muslim countries, but a lot of people think this issue is a result of Islam. That is false. In fact, a lot of Arabic countries in the Middle East do not have any female circumcision. Far from it, it is banned in Islam. It hasn’t happened in Syria, Jordan, or Lebanon. Hasn’t happened in Egypt, Iraq or Kuwait. Hasn’t happened in the USA or Saudi Arabia. The only few occasions it has occurred is because of expats from different cultures bring their traditions to the countries. Then one has to look at the origin of Islam, where it came from (what is now Saudi Arabia) to which one can deduce that Islam did NOT promote this kind of activity. A lot of African tribes still practice female circumcision, even though they have their own religious beliefs.
Anyway, point being, this is still a horrible act, and needs to be raised to the world so a legislation can be passed on banning it.
(Source: facebook.com)
