It is vitally important the UK uses its influence and clout to lead a global campaign that seeks to rid the world of FGM.
Ghaffar Hussain is head of research at counter-extremism think tank Quilliam
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a gross human rights violation that should not be tolerated anywhere in the world.
Despite FGM being illegal in the UK since 1985, there have been no prosecutions to date and a culture of secrecy within communities in which it occurs, combined with misplaced cultural sensitivities, has allowed this practice to thrive.
However, increased awareness and campaigning around the issue has meant there is now more will to enforce existing laws in much more rigorous way.
In spite of the tide swinging in the right way in the UK, the picture is not so good in other countries. Of particular concern is the Maldives. Dr. Mohamed Iyaz Abdul Latheef, vice president of the influential Fiqh Academy of the Maldives, who is also a candidate for the Muslim Brotherhood-inspired Adhaalath Party, has issued a fatwa for FGM stating that it is justified on theological grounds.
Due to Dr. Latheef prominent position in Fiqh Academy, which was established by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, there is concern about the influence these calls could have on Maldivian society.
The call for FGM in the Maldives is based on highly literalist and austere interpretations of Islam that have been imported into the country in recent years. These calls are part of a wider lurch towards an archaic form of religious conservatism that is currently taking place and backed by social conservatives in other parts of the world.
My colleague Dr Usama Hasan has challenged the religious justification for FGM, stating:
“FGM has no Islamic sanction – there are just two traditions on the subject, both of which are strongly disputed, with many jurists throughout history discounting them as having nothing to do with the Prophet of Islam, but, like the blasphemy and apostasy laws of medieval Islam, FGM became a theoretical juristic position even though it was rarely practiced. Contemporary Muslim scholars are increasingly opposed to and dismissive of FGM.”
We at Quilliam have welcomed the recent shift towards a tougher approach to the enforcement of existing anti-FGM laws in the UK, and commend the campaign of the young British Somali woman from Bristol, Leyla Hussein, in this regard.
Last Saturday, on International Women’s Day, development minister Lynne Featherstone stated that it was the aim of her department to reduce FGM in Africa by 30 per cent within the next five years. Others, such as Michael Gove, have also made a commitment to stamping out this evil practise.
With this much-welcomed cultural transformation taking place in the UK, it is vitally important that we now use our global influence and clout to lead a global campaign that seeks to rid the world of FGM.
57 Responses to “Calls for the introduction of FGM in the Maldives should worry all of us”
OrtegaSeason
As in the previous thread you’re not actually responding to
any points I’ve made.
Of course, this human-butterfly collector isn’t
adverse to telling Somalis like Mohammed that they’re not reliable witnesses on Somali practices.
The forms of FGM carried out in the Horn are documented as
being more extreme than those practiced in the Gulf and SouthEast Asia. If you have evidence to the contrary please
present it.
Usama Hasan is not Pakistani… he’s British.
Really? Doesn’t he count as a non-European like the members of the grooming gangs?
And one who’s had real and credible threats made
against him for his expressed views.
Which has what to do with his stance on FGM?
Plus that Pakistani Islam might be liberal and
tolerant and female-friendly is a new one on me.
Where do you get this stuff from?
Alec
You weren’t paying attention during the stramash about UUK/NUS proposed gender segregation were you 😉
Alec
I responded to all of them. Not interested anymore in responding to you as the rational actor which you’re not, once bitten and all that.
As if you care about that either.
British =/= European.
Creep.
Creep ^ 2
ThisIsTheEnd
I’m sure that if he was around in the ’70s he’d be defending PIE/ paedophilia. Heck he probably defends it now.
OrtegaSeason
Go on, give us your twat. I won’t scour it like in
Somalia… just a snip like in Indonesia.
Just a snip? You mean like….. male circumcision?
As if you care about that either.
No I don’t care about whether people are white or not. You
do.