US Pediatric Doctor Favors Female Circumcision
Latest update: December 12th, 2012
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Dr. Hatem al-Haj says circumcision is "an honor" for women.
Photo Credit: Screen shot
Dr. Hatem al-Haj, PhD, MD, a senior committee member of the Association of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA), has recently published a 41-page Arabic-language paper titled “Circumcision of Girls: Jurisprudence and Medicine.”
According to the “Translating Jihad” blog, Dr. al-Haj explains why female circumcision is recommended and even “an honor” for women. This is the practice known as female genital mutilation (FGM).
According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), FGM ” has no health benefits for women,” and causes “severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, infertility, as well as complications in childbirth.”
The Translating Jihad blog was established in 2010 to provide translations of Arabic-language news, opinion, and fatwas related to Islamic intolerance, totalitarianism, and jihad.
According to TJ, Dr. al-Haj, a medical doctor and fellow at the American Academy of Pediatrics, justifies his position by referring repeatedly to the words of classical Islamic scholars from the four schools of mainstream Sunni Islamic thought, all of which attest to FGM’s legitimacy under Islam. He also refers to the words of the Prophet Muhammad himself, who reportedly counseled people in his day on how to perform FGM in a way that would be “more beautiful to behold and better for [the woman's] husband.”
tell a friendAbout the Author: JewishPress.com Senior Internet Editor Yori Yanover has been a working journalist since age 17, before he enlisted and worked for Ba'Machane Nachal. Since then he has worked for Israel Shelanu, the US supplement of Yedioth, JCN18.com, USAJewish.com, Lubavitch News Service, Arutz 7 (as DJ on the high seas), and the Grand Street News. He has published two fun books: The Cabalist's Daughter: A Novel of Practical Messianic Redemption, and How Would God REALLY Vote.
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5 Responses to “US Pediatric Doctor Favors Female Circumcision”
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He’s a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics? Well he’ll be right at home then. In 2010, the American Academy of Pediatrics proposed allowing a token, ritual nick of girls’ genitals “much less extensive than neonatal male genital cutting” (their words) lest worse befall, but the proposal was howled down and reversed within a month. The chair of the “Bioethics” committee that proposed it, Dr Douglas Diekema, has never stopped defending it. He is still on the AAP’s taskforce on circumcision. Why are baby boys still fair game for a “much [more] extensive” genital cutting?
To be fair to Dr al-Haj, your last sentence refers to this hadith:
‘Um Atiyyat al-Ansariyyah said: A woman used to perform circumcision in Medina. The Prophet (pbuh) said to her: Do not cut too severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband’. 1,8
In Indonesia and Malaysia, Female Gential Cutting is surgical and much milder than in Africa, and entirely comparable to Male Genital Cutting. It is hard to condemn one without condemning the other.
http://news.yahoo.com/female-circumcision-anger-aired-india-094432311.html “a small Muslim sub-sect known as the Dawoodi Bohra continues to believe that the removal of the clitoris is the will of God.” DAMN, does that ever sound familiar! FGM and MGM are 2 sides of same coin. Wake up people.
Huh. This must be meant to show how “barbaric” female circumcision is, but sorry, it’s no different from male circumcision promoted by so many Jewish, Christian, Muslim, secular etc etc etc doctors. Genital mutilation of non consenting children is WRONG. I don’t care what your religion is or why you do it. It’s barbaric. It needs to stop.
“I don’t care what your religion is or why you do it.”
What if the religion says it’s for the health of the child? And we have evidence like this to support it:
http://www.who.int/hiv/topics/malecircumcision/en/index.html
What do you say then?
“I don’t care what your religion is or why you do it.”
What if the religion says it’s for the health of the person? And we have evidence like this to support it:
http://www.who.int/hiv/topics/malecircumcision/en/index.html
What do you say then?
First of all, what religion says circumcision is “for the health of the child?” Since when does religion have any relevance in medicine?
What if a religion says female circumcision is “for her health” too? What would you say then?
Why does an already healthy child need an operation? Is health simply impossible without it?
I’m afraid you’re seeking a problem for your “solution.” For most other surgery, medicine dictates that there must be a medical necessity where surgery is the only option after other solutions have been tried and failed. Your logic is backwards.
Aman Wardak whether or not there are health benefits is irrelevent. No surgery should be performed on healthy body parts of individuals unable to consent.
Aman Wardak
) :
“What if the religion says it’s for the health of the person?”
What is your basis for saying that RELIGION says it’s for health?
Maimonides about circumcision ( disclamer : the following opinions are Maimonides’ and are in no way endorsed by the author of this message
“one of the reasons for it is, in my opinion, the wish to bring about a decrease in sexual intercourse and a weakening of the organ in question, so that this activity be diminished and the organ be in as quiet a state as possible.”
“It is hard for a woman with whom an uncircumcised man has had sexual intercourse to separate from him. In my opinion this is the strongest of the reasons for circumcision.”
I’m not aware he said anything about hygiene and diseases, but I may be wrong?
Upon reading this article, I didn’t see where it mentioned infants. I think it’s all bad, but if an adult wishes to believe that cutting their genitals is making themselves more beautiful, then that is their right. The problem is when this cutting is done to boys and girls that are not adults and cannot make this decisions on their own.
http://www.who.int/hiv/topics/malecircumcision/en/index.html
Male circumcision for HIV prevention.
Is science yet to discover similar benefits for female circumcision?
ummm…..how about “no”
that’s horrible, bro
what benefits?…..that a woman will not be able to enjoy making love? if the prophet(s) recommended that we are to look at a woman before marrying her, i don’t see him saying “yeah…look at her….and then after you approve of her….after you think she’s beautiful….cut her thingy so she can’t enjoy making love”
@[100001507972665:2048:Michael Davis] how can you be so sure?
the prophet(s) says that we are not allowed to leave our wife after we have been pleased – meaning that we can’t just have an orgasm and then leave her hanging. obviously, she needs her clitoris in order to have such full enjoyment of sex and to reach orgasm. this is why i am sure
@[100001507972665:2048:Michael Davis] Ah, I think I see where we’re not agreeing: in what circumcision means. It’s definitely NOT cutting “her thingy”. The circumcision that the Muslim scholars talk about in no way hinders her ability to make love and enjoy her spouse. It’s been completely twisted to mean FGM in this article which includes various levels of cutting which are un-Islamic.
@[100001507972665:2048:Michael Davis] I agree with you in everything, especially in “she needs her clitoris”. And that’s not what the scholars say circumcision includes.
what does it include?
This is a good clarification on the topic by Dr. Hatem al-Haj himself:
http://www.drhatemalhaj.com/islamic-answers/women-islamic-answers/women-in-islam-female-circumcision/
IT is ghastly and weird that a fellow like this was invited to join the inner circle of the AAP. His involvement in the AAP, along with Edgar Schoen and Douglas Diekema, destroys the AAP’s credibility on the subject of routine infant circumcision.
How is this any different than Jewish doctors and/or rabbis claiming “medical benefits” for male circumcision? Funny how the “medical benefits = not mutilation” equation only works for boys but not girls. Let it be clear; this isn’t about “medical benefits.” There would not be enough “medical benefits” in the world to justify female circumcision. Somehow, circumcision advocates seem to think that the more “studies” and “proof of benefits” they churn out, the more the forced genital cutting of boys is justified. This isn’t about “medicine,” and it’s not about “severity.” It’s about self-serving willful blindness.
It’s about the lowest scum of perverts getting off on it.
truly fascinating place for the article, would be interesting to see if they do a follow up series on the subject
According to Dr Pierre Foldès, the inventor of the restoration of the clitoris, complicatiopns of excision inlcude a 20% DEATH RATE!
Certainly not if it was done in USA by trained surgeons in proper medical setting.
Can you imagine promoters of female circumcision going all “but it’s done by trained professionals, in hygienic conditions, and only take 2 minutes”, like they say about male circ to make it look more acceptable?
coincidentally I just read an article about ‘masculinists’, ie men who profess a need to protect men from gender discrimination. logically they should ally with feminists as opponents of gender discrimination. but they don’t, because theyre not opposed to gender discrimination, theyre opposed to feminism: they are anti-feminists. similarly this article doesn’t appear to be opposed to genital mutilation, just to muslims. no mention is made of the mutilation of children’s genitals outside of the muslim faith. for example, I was under the impression that many US pediatric doctors favour circumcision. but no broader issues are touched upon beyond the opinion of the single american pediatrician quoted in some obscure part of the blogosphere.
As a masculist myself, I say we ARE opposed to all forms of sexism, including sexism against women. However, we cannot ally with feminists because they are not for equality; they are anti-male. Moreover, they get angry when we mention that sexism against men exists, as they deny that it exists. If our big cause is fighting against sexism then how can we align with thise who deny its existence?
Carl Augustsson I was referring just to the masculinists in the article: I wouldnt like to make a sweeping statement about all masculinists, especially since gender discrimination against men is a real and upsetting phenomenon. sorry if it came across that way. but equally, not all feminists are anti-male, and feminism as a system of thought or belief is not an anti-male. neither should be used as a cover term for mysogeny or mysandry (not sure of the spelling of either, or even if the 2nd is the correct term!) and Id like to think that all sensible maculinists and feminists could agree on opposing gender discrimination, tyrannical gender essentialism, inequality, etc
I’ve heard this doctor speak on this issue twice over two years. He’s said repeatedly that he has never performed the procedure, has never seen it done, and is not only NOT advocating it, but he has discouraged every audience he’s ever spoken to on the issue NOT to have it performed because it is illegal in the U.S.
To lump this doctor in with all of the barbarians who practice FGM is irresponsible and a distraction from that issue, which is a huge problem in places where people choose culture over religion out of ignorance or defiance.
Shame on all of you who are so quick to demonize someone with misleading statements and very little information. You could be hurting his career as a respected pediatrician with this because of your haste to burn a door down.
He may be living in the US but he is not an American, not with views like that! Even if stupidly he was granted citizenship!