First, we have to recognize that female circumcision was not originally a religious issue, but rather, it was a medical issue that depended on the advice of doctors. It is related that the inherited customs and traditions which spread among the countries sharing the Nile River Basin, like the ancient Egyptians and other Nile countries, included circumcising females. This tradition also spread among the Arabs in Madinah; however, it did not spread to Makkah. For this reason, when the Messenger of God [pbuh] went to Madinah and found that it was being practiced he [pbuh] recommended that those people who circumcised women should not cut them severely, as in the Hadith of Umm ‘Attiyah, ‘A woman who practiced circumcision in Madinah was told by the Prophet [pbuh], ‘‘Do not cut severely, as that is better for a woman and more desirable for her husband.’ [Abu Dawud]

According to doctors, circumcision nowadays has four purposes: first, there is plastic surgery which is recommended by doctors when necessary. This is similar to the Islamic concept of circumcision. Although the other three reasons are defined by doctors as circumcision, they are actually considered an act of aggression towards women in Islamic law, and it is aggression against one of the most sensitive parts of the body. According to the Shari’ah, this type of aggression is punishable and demands full blood money [financial compensation] if the organ is damaged.

However, there is no narration that mentions that the Messenger [pbuh] circumcised any of his daughters, even though this was a common practice in Madinah at that time. Moreover, there is no authentic legal text commanding Muslims to circumcise their daughters, even in the first type of circumcision which is recommended by doctors in some cases. This tradition continues to be narrated in order to prevent women from being seriously injured. If the woman suffers serious injuries in the other three types of circumcision, which may even lead to death according to the statements of some doctors, then it is absolutely prohibited. The occurrence of such damage could be due to the change of time, food, and air, or due to other reasons. Muslims have dealt this new reality with a civilized understanding of circumcision, which agrees with the legal and ethical guidelines of their system.

By examining the legislative and legal development that took place in Egypt in particular, we find that the first law issued in regards to female circumcision was the ministerial decree no. 74 of 1959. The first article of this decree includes the list of names of fifteen members representing a committee of Islamic scholars and doctors. Among them was the deputy of the health minister, Mustafa Abdul-Khaliq, the Mufti of Egypt, Sheikh Hasan Ma’mun, and the former Mufti of Egypt, Hasanein Muhammad Makhluf. The second article indicates what the committee approved:

• A medical doctor is the only one who is permitted to carry out the operation involved in performing a circumcision; and it shall be carried out partially, not wholly for those who wish.
• It is prohibited to be done in the facilities of the Health Ministry, for health, social and psychological reasons.
• Authorized midwives are not allowed to carry out surgical operations, including female circumcision.
• The circumcisions that are typically performed these days [in Egypt] cause psychological and physical damage to women, both before and after marriage.

After the cases of circumcision increased and caused severe damage to the health of women, on 8/7/1996 the Egyptian Health Minister of that time, issued a ministerial resolution [no. 261 of 1996]. According to the resolution, female circumcision is not allowed, regardless of whether it takes place in hospitals or public or private clinics. It is only allowed in the case of medical emergencies, such as certain types of diseases, which need to be confirmed by the head of the department of obstetrics in the hospital.’

Some narrow-minded Muslims thought that this resolution contradicted the Shari’ah and hence, contradicted the Egyptian constitution. They also challenged the resolution in the administrative court, but the court stated that the Shari’ah does not contain a text that explicitly obligates or prohibits female circumcision, which means that all the rulings in these respects are hypothetical and therefore constitutional. Moreover, there is no medical consensus in this area of concern. Some think that female circumcision achieves a medical interest while others think that it causes severe physical and psychological damage to women. Besides, a woman’s guardian has to manage these matters when no explicit text is present in the Qur’an or in the Sunnah. Furthermore, there is no consensus about this and these controversial issues have no unified juristic decision. In general, all these matters involve issues where independent reasoning is permissible and the decision of the jurist is not absolute. It must aim to achieve whatever is in the best public interest or to remove harm from people in accordance with the legal texts of Islam and the conclusive decisions of the scholars.’

In 1997, the administrative court did not consider the minister’s decision unconstitutional. The court stated, ‘As long as the circumcision procedure is a surgical operation which the Shari‘ah does not require, it must only be carried out for the purpose of bringing about a medical cure.’ These types of surgical operations should not be carried out unnecessarily. Performing surgery on the body unnecessarily is against the aims of the Shari’ah whose purpose is protecting the body against any form of harm.’

The above pertains to Egypt, but most other Islamic countries do not practice female circumcision, like Saudi Arabia.