Khitan (circumcision)

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Khitan (Arabic: ختان‎) or Khatna (Arabic: ختنة‎) is the Islamic term for circumcision,^[1][2] carried out as a recommended practice of Islamic culture by Muslims.^[3] Male circumcision is widespread in the Muslim world,^[3] and accepted as an established practice by all Islamic schools of jurisprudence.^[2][4][5] It is considered a sign of belonging to the wider Muslim community.^[6]

Islamic male circumcision is analogous but not identical to Jewish circumcision.^[2] Muslims are currently the largest single religious group in which the practice is widespread,^[3][6] although circumcision is never mentioned in the Quran itself but is mentioned in hadith literature and the sunnah.^[1][4][2][7] Whether or not it should be carried out after converting to Islam is debated among Islamic scholars.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Religious sources[]

Circumcision being performed in central Asia (probably Turkestan), c. 1865–1872. Restored albumen print.

The Quran itself does not mention circumcision explicitly in any verse.^[1][4][2][7] In the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, both male and female circumcision were carried out by Pagan Arabian tribes,^[1][2][7] and male circumcision by the Jewish tribes of Arabia for religious reasons.^[2][12] This has also been attested by the Muslim scholar al-Jahiz,^[7][13] as well as by the Roman Jewish historian Flavius Josephus.^[2][7][14]

According to some hadiths, Muhammad was born without a foreskin (aposthetic),^[1][2][7] while others maintain that his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, circumcised him when he was seven days old.^[6][15] Many of his early disciples were circumcised to symbolize their inclusion within the emerging Islamic community.^{[citation needed]} Some hadiths report that Heraclius, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, had referred to Muhammad as "the king of the circumcised".^[1][16]

Some hadiths mention circumcision in a list of practices known as fitra^[1] (acts considered to be of a refined person). Abu Hurayra, one of the companions of Muhammad, was quoted saying: "five things are fitra: circumcision, shaving pubic hair with a razor, trimming the mustache, paring one's nails and plucking the hair from one's armpits" (reported in the hadiths of Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim).^[1] So, despite its absence from the Quran, it has been a religious custom from the beginning of Islam.^{[citation needed]} However, there are other hadiths which do not name circumcision as part of the characteristics of fitra,^[2][17] and yet another hadith which names ten characteristics, again without naming circumcision;^[2] in Sahih Muslim, Aisha, one of Muhammad's wives, is quoted with saying: "The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: Ten are the acts according to fitra: clipping the mustache, letting the beard grow, using toothpicks, snuffing water in the nose, cutting the nails, washing the finger joints, plucking the hair under the armpits, shaving pubic hair and cleaning one's private parts with water. The narrator said: I have forgotten the tenth, but it may have been rinsing the mouth."^[18] Hence, the different hadiths do not agree on whether circumcision is part of fitra or not.^[2]

Muhammad's wife Aisha supposedly quoted Muhammad as saying that "if the two circumcised parts have been in touch with one another, ghusl is necessary".^{[1][7][19][20]} According to some hadiths, Muhammad supposedly circumcised his grandsons, Hasan and Husayn, on the seventh day after their birth.^[21] Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim also quote from Muhammad that Prophet Abraham performed his own circumcision at the age of eighty.^[2][22] It is also reported by Abu Dawud and Ahmad Ibn Hanbal that Muhammad stated that circumcision was a "law for men and a preservation of honor for women".^[1][23]

Circumcision was introduced to many lands for the first time through Islam itself following the early Muslim conquests under the Rashidun, who were the companions and contemporaries of Muhammad. An example are the Persians, which practiced neither male nor female circumcision before the advent of Islam.^[7] Post-Islamic converts such as Afshin were found guilty in trials of remaining uncircumcised;^[7][24] this further indicates that the practice was deemed compulsory by the early Muslims.^{[citation needed]}

Despite its common practice in Muslim-majority nations, circumcision is considered sunnah (tradition) and not required for a life directed by Allah. Just one of the four schools of Islamic faith ‘Shafeie’ enacted a legal requirement for male circumcision. According to some religious scholars, the Islamic tradition of circumcision was derived from pre-Islamic, pagan Arabia, and not mentioned in the Quran. Shiite traditions, however, such as those practised in Iran, have the most stringent requirements for male circumcision, since it is seen as a ritual of purification akin to Christian baptism rather than an initiation to adulthood.^[25]

Sunni Islam[]

The four schools of Islamic law have different opinions and attitudes towards circumcision:^[1] some state that it's recommendable,^[2] others that it's permissible but not binding,^[2] while others regard it as a legal obligation.^[2][26] Amongst Ulema (Muslim legal scholars), there are differing opinions about the compulsory or non-obligatory status of circumcision in accordance with Sharia (Islamic law).^[4][2] Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the founder of the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence, Imam Abū Ḥanīfa, founder of the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence, and Imam Malik ibn Anas, founder of the Maliki school, maintain that circumcision is not obligatory. The Shafi‘i school regard it as binding on all Muslims, both males and females.^[1][2] According to Shafi‘i and Hanbali jurists both male and female circumcision are legally obligatory for Muslims,^[1][2] while Hanafi jurists consider circumcision to be recommendable exclusively for Muslim males on the seventh day after birth.^[2] The Salafi^[27] website IslamQA.info, founded by the Saudi Arabian Salafi scholar Muhammad Al-Munajjid, has quoted some hadith to argue that the requirement of circumcision in Islam is based on the covenant with Abraham, that male circumcision is obligatory for Muslim men in order to provide ritual cleanliness while the purpose of female circumcision for Muslim women is to "regulate" and reduce their sexual desires.^[26]

Shia Islam[]

Most Shia traditions regard the practice as obligatory. They rely on sayings that come from classical Shia authors.^[28] In one narration Muhammad was asked if an uncircumcised man could go to pilgrimage. He answered "not as long as he is not circumcised". They quote Ali as saying: "If a man becomes Muslim, he must submit to circumcision even if he is 80 years old."^[29] Another narration from Al-Sadiq says: "Circumcise your sons when they are seven days old as it is cleaner (athar) and the flesh grows faster and because the earth hates the urine of the uncircumcised."^[30] It is also believed that the urine of the uncircumcised is impure, while if one prays with unclean genitals their prayer may not be considered as acceptable, even of those who have been circumcised, meaning that it may have to be repeated again at a time when the believer has purified themselves and removed the impurity. Another hadith of Muhammad states: "the earth cries out to God in anguish because of the urine of the uncircumcised", and that "the earth becomes defiled from the urine of the uncircumcised for forty days".^[31]

Time for circumcision[]

Traditional procession after circumcision of a child in Dutch East Indies, 1915–1918.

Islamic sources do not fix a particular time for circumcision.^[2][3][4][7] Therefore, there is a wide variation in practice among Muslim communities, with children often being circumcised in late childhood or early adolescence.^[3] It depends on family, region, and country.^[3] The preferred age is usually seven days although some Muslims are circumcised as early as on the seventh day after birth and as late as at the commencement of puberty.^[2][4][6]

Procedure[]

Whereas Jewish circumcision is closely bound by ritual timing and tradition, in Islam there is no fixed age for circumcision.^[2][3][4][7] The age when boys get circumcised, and the procedures used, tend to change across countries, cultures, families, and time.^[3] In some Muslim-majority countries, circumcision is performed on Muslim boys after they have learned to recite the whole Quran from start to finish.^[6] In Malaysia and other regions, the boy usually undergoes the procedure between the ages of ten and twelve, and is thus a puberty rite, serving to introduce him into the new status of an adult. The procedure is sometimes semi-public, accompanied with music, special foods, and much festivity.

There is no equivalent of a Jewish mohel in Islam. Circumcisions are usually carried out in health facilities or hospitals, and performed by trained medical practitioners.^[3] The circumciser can be either male or female,^[3] and is not required to be a Muslim.^[6] The position of the scar is usually neither fully "low" nor fully "high".^{[citation needed]} The only requirement is to have the glans fully exposed at all times and enough of the skin removed to ensure that there are no folds that allow accumulation of body fluids (urine).^{[citation needed]} This is required to ensure the hygiene requirements for the salat (daily prayers).^{[citation needed]} However, due to a relatively secular approach to circumcision in Islam, the "styles" of the circumcision of a Muslim vary on every individual, and change in the light of new medical knowledge.^{[citation needed]}

Earlier, instead of being carried out in hospitals, they would be carried out in local clinics and at homes by visiting practitioners.^{[citation needed]}

Celebrations[]

In Indonesia, after a child circumcised, there is a feast called Perayaan Sunatan, but some ulemas in Indonesia say this is bidah whereas most of them say it is not.^{[citation needed]} Also widely celebrated in Turkey and called "Sünnet Töreni", which marks the child's transition to adulthood. The custom is also done in Muslim areas in the Balkans where the celebration is called "Synet".^[32]

Female genital mutilation[]

Khafḍ refers to female genital mutilation (FGM).^{[2][4][5][33]} FGM is sometimes referred to as khitan.^{[a][5][33][35]} In many communities, khafd is a rite of passage and refers to excision of the female genital organs.^[36] According to UNICEF, over 200 million women in Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, and Southeast Asia have been subjected to the practice and are living with FGM.^[37] Although not mentioned in the Quran,^{[38]: 1004–1005} it is praised in a few daʻīf (weak) hadith as noble but not required,^[39][b] and is regarded as obligatory by the Shafi'i and Hanbali schools of Sunni Islam.^[1][2][40] In 2007, the Al-Azhar Supreme Council of Islamic Research in Cairo ruled that FGM had "no basis in core Islamic law or any of its partial provisions".^[41][c]

See also[]

• Brit milah
• Circumcision controversies
• History of male circumcision

References[]

Informational notes

Citations

External links[]

• Islamic ruling on male and female circumcision. EMRO Publications. Cairo, Egypt: World Health Organization-Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean. 1996. pp. 1–42. ISBN 92-9021-217-9. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
• "Islam: Circumcision of boys". Religion & ethics—Islam. Bbc.co.uk. 13 August 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
• "Circumcision - Does the Qur'an Approve it?". Quranic Path. 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2020.