MUFTI OFFERS RUSSIAN WOMEN UNIVERSAL
CIRCUMCISION
Report about local custom that provoked
sensation
reaches prosecutor general
by Artur Priimak
Nezavisimaia
Gazeta, 18 August 2016
The chairman of the Coordinating Center
of Muslims of
the northern Caucasus, Mufti Ismail Berdiev, proposed performing
circumcision
on all women in order to reduce depravity on the planet. The
mufti made this
declaration in response to a request to comment on a report by
rights advocates
regarding the practice of ritual operations in several regions
of Dagestan.
Singer Diana Gurtskaia, a member of the Public Chamber of the
Russian
federation, sent to the Office of the Prosecutor General a
request to verify
the authenticity of the report of rights advocates and to adopt
measures.
Yesterday Mufti Ismail Berdiev told
Interfax: "It
is necessary to circumcise all women, so that there will not be
depravity on
the earth." But several hours later Berdiev corrected himself:
"I do
not urge circumcising women. This is not prescribed by Islam and
it is simply
impossible." However the mufti made a statement in defense of
this ritual
practice two days in a row. On Monday he said on a program on
radio station
"Govorit Moskva": "This is simply a Dagestani custom. It is done
in order to lessen female passion a little."
Berdiev's statement was issued in
response to a
request to comment on a report titled "Conduct of mutilation
operations
among girls in Dagestan," where information from interviews by
experts of
the "Legal Initiative of Russia" with female residents of the
mountainous
regions of the republic--Gumbet, Tsumadinsk, Tliarata, Botlikh,
etc.--was
presented. The reporters said that the operations were most
widespread among
Avars and closely related people of western Dagestan, but this
practice is also
found among Aguli and Tabasaran of southern Dagestan and also in
the plains of
the north of the republic. The reporters said that a majority of
girls from 3
to 12 years of age went through this ritual, which existed back
in the soviet
years. In the future, rights advocates say, this is fated to
continue since it
is part of the fabric of the Shafii school of law (madhhab) of
Islam, which 90%
of Dagestanis profess.
Yesterday the chairman of the
Commission for Support
of the Family and Maternity of the Public Chamber of the RF,
singer Diana
Gurtskaia, reported that she asked Russian Prosecutor General
Yury Chaika to
pay attention to information of the report about "Saudi" morals
in
Dagestan: "Civil activists and religious leaders of various
confessions
with whom I managed to talk in these days view the report as an
attempt to
assault the peace and inter-religious stability in the northern
Caucasus. Measures
of urgent prosecutorial
reaction to activities violating the constitutional principle of
protection of motherhood
and childhood are necessary."
"Female circumcision is a very closed
topic in
Dagestan," the head of the sector of the Caucasus Institute of
Eastern
Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir
Bobrovnikov, told NG. "According
to my information, it is in the western regions of Dagestan: in
the Tsumadin
and part of Akhvakh regions and partially in the plain, in the
Tarumov,
Kizilyurt, and other regions, where they mainly go from the
Tsumadin
highlands." Bobrovnikov did not agree with the reporters that
cutting of
private parts is a universal tradition in the republic: "It is
not in
southern Dagestan." By this sentence the scholar cast doubt on
the
conclusions of the report that this custom is among the Aguli
and Tabasaran
peoples of southern Dagestan. Bobrovnikov does not agree with
the reporters in
terms of alleged existence of a direct link of the archaic
custom with
religious canons: "This is not a purely religious but a local
tradition.
The Shafii law school does not prescribe this tradition, but it
does not oppose
it." Among Shafii authorities (as generally among Muslim
authorities)
there is no unified opinion regarding female circumcision. But
many theologians
and experts of Islam consider the Hadith (traditions about the
words and
actions of the Prophet Muhammed) that prescribe female
circumcision to be
inauthentic.
"Both female and male circumcision have
nothing
to do with Islam," Magomed Abdulkhabirov, a Dagestani physician
and public
leader and native of Tsumadin district of Dagestan, told NG.
"The ritual
of circumcision was represented back on the frescos of ancient
Egypt, and
Judaism and Islam later appropriated it for themselves. Male
circumcision is
useful from a medical point of view, but female circumcision is
barbarism. It
is a painful, bloody, and mutilating operation, sometimes with a
fatal outcome
or infection, with terrible painful scars and constriction of
the urinary
tract. Anyone who does this is committing a crime and should be
put in prison
by law." (tr. by PDS, posted 18 August 2016)
MUFTI BERDIEV CALLS HIS WORDS ABOUT FEMALE CIRCUMCISION A JOKE
The head of the Coordinating Center of Muslims of the Northern Caucasus, Mufti Ismail Berdiev, explained his words about female circumcision that evoked a widespread public resonance as a joke.
Earlier the organization "Legal Initiative" published an account according to which, in several residential areas of remote district of Dagestan, the surgical operation including deliberate injury of the genitals of teenage girls is practiced.
On Wednesday, the chairwoman of the Commission for Support of the Family of the Public Chamber, Diana Gurtskaia, asked Prosecutor General Yury Chaika to conduct an examination of this information. Berdiev also commented on the account.
Berdiev said that he merely had in mind that in several regions of Dagestan the practice of circumcising girls has spread, although "this is not in accord with Muslim sharia."
"And then I jokingly added: What if this were everywhere, then perhaps this would serve the cause that there would be less depravity. And then they (journalists) twisted my joke and said that the mufti is for circumcision," he explained to RIA Novosti.
"They took everything to absurdity," he summed up.
In 2008 the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution about the necessity of the total elimination of the mutilating practice of female circumcision. In 2012 a similar resolution was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Such an approach is also taken by Russian health, declared an official representative of the Russian Ministry of Health, Oleg Salagai. (tr. by PDS, posted 18 August 2016)
MUFTI OF MOSCOW ON FEMALE CIRCUMCISION: ISLAM PERMITS BUT DOES NOT REQUIRE
The Islamic religion does not prohibit female circumcision completely, although it permits it in only some circumstances—as a conscious decision of a woman, made without compulsion, Mufti of Moscow and the Central Region Albir Krganov, the head of a working group of the Public Chamber of Russia for Combating Pseudo-religious Extremism, told RIA Novosti.
Previously the organization "Legal Initiative" published an account which explained that in several population points in remote districts of Dagestan the surgical operation is conducted, entailing the deliberate wounding of the genitalia of teenage girls.
On Wednesday, the chairwoman of the Commission for Support of Family, Children, and Maternity of the Russian Public Chamber, Diana Gurtskaia, sent to Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika a request to verify this information.
She emphasized that in the event of confirmation of this information, "urgent measures of prosecutorial response are necessary."
"According to Sharia (the complex of Islamic prescriptions—ed.), female circumcision is permitted. But this does not say that it is obligatory; it is a profoundly individual decision of each person. And this is permitted only in allowable form," Krganov said.
He explained that there are various forms of female circumcision, including, as he said "there are entirely inhumane approaches, which were used back in the pre-Islamic period, as a kind of punishment. . . , leading to the example of so-called 'pharaohnic circumcision,' which removed all external indicators of sex."
"Such actions are completely forbidden by Islam. If there is no necessity of the correction of the organism that the Almighty gave you, it (circumcision) is improper. I consider that such a decision may be made by a woman independently or, if she is a girl, with the consent of her parents, and it is obligatory that a physician be present. This must be a very well-informed decision," the mufti emphasized.
Commenting on the opinion of the chairman of the Coordinating Center of Muslims of Northern Caucasus, Ismail Berdiev, who stated, according to several news media, that "it is necessary to circumcise all women," Albir Krganov noted that "this is his personal opinion."
"But if this topic is discussed in the northern Caucasus, in the regions, I think that the ecclesiastical boards (of Muslims—ed.) could—if this matters to them—initiate a discussion of this topic involving a broad public or even experts from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, and scholars. In the area of an ecclesiastical board, scholars of institutions, or public chambers of the regions, it is possible to discuss this topic among them in order to bring it to an end in order to explain to people what this is," the mufti added. (tr. by PDS, posted 18 August 2016)
MUFTI OF NORTHERN CAUCASUS FAVORS CIRCUMCISION OF ALL WOMEN OF RUSSIA
Interfax-Religiia, 17 August 2016
The chairman of the Coordinating Center of Muslims of Northern Caucasus, Ismail Berdiev, spoke out in favor of the circumcision of women.
"It is necessary to circumcise all women so that there will not be depravity on the earth and so that sexuality will be diminished," declared the mufti on Wednesday to a correspondent of Interfax-Religiia.
He pointed out that circumcision is practiced in several residential areas of Dagestan.
At the same time, I. Berdiev said that Islam does not prescribe circumcision of women.
"But it is necessary to reduce the sexuality of women. If this were applied to all women, that would be very good. The Almighty created woman so that she would give birth to children and raise them. And this (circumcision—IF) has nothing to do with that. Women will not cease to give birth because of it. And then debauchery would be less," the news agency's interlocutor summed up.
Yesterday on the official website of the rights defense foundation "Legal Initiative" a report was published about the practice of female circumcision in Dagestan, evoking sharp discussion on the Internet. The consequences of the operation result in the lowering of sensitivity and sexual desire of women who are subjected to this procedure. The report says that this is confirmed also by the respondents and expert physicians who practice it.
From the materials of the foundation, it follows that female circumcision in the region is practiced mainly in mountain villages in Tsumadin, Botlikh, Tsuntinsk, and Bezhtinsk districts. It is noted that girls aged up to three years are subjected to the operation and in rare cases up to 12 years.
The report notes that these operations are considered a violation of the rights of women and girls on the international level, inasmuch as they represent an extreme form of discrimination and violence. Female circumcision is rarely performed in hospitals, and often after a covert operation inflammation and bleeding occur
However, despite the fact that women who are subjected to circumcision justify this practice and advocate its continuation in new generations, the procedure of the operation itself leaves strong traces in their psyche. Women who are subjected to circumcision remember the pain and stress and many often do not recall why this operation was done to them, the published report says. (tr. by PDS, posted 18 August 2016)
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