IS fatwa on FGM

[Fernando]

Not, as you might hope, against FGM: the fatwa is to make it mandatory in Mosul.

Concrete data is not yet available for the number of FGM cases in many countries outside Africa. But the total figure may possibly dwarf the number found on that continent. The reason is the practice’s link to Islam. In Africa, FGM is not exclusively a Muslim practice. Outside Africa, however, those who practice it are invariably Muslims, although not all Islamic sects condone the cutting.

FGM predates Islam and is not mentioned in the Quran but practitioners cite a hadith or purported saying of the Prophet Mohammed to justify this tradition. In country after country, interviewees also mentioned a requirement to contain the sexual urges of women to rationalise the need for them to be cut.

This particularly matters now as it has been reported that Islamic State issued a fatwa mandating FGM in their conquered city of Mosul. Some have claimed the ruling issued last year is a hoax but, whether fake or not, those of us working in this field have to take such threats seriously, not least because anecdotal evidence indicates that many in Mosul believe the fatwa to be real.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/reports-say-isis-have-issued-a-fatwa-introducing-female-genital-mutilation-in-mosul-but-fgm-in-the-a6689836.html

[Ibn Rushd]

I thought they already did it there. 97% of women in Kurdistan have it done.