Is Circumcision Obligatory for Women?

Yesterday we began the topic of circumcision. And we mentioned that the correct opinion with respect to the ruling on circumcision. Meaning it is wajib, mustahab, mubah, makruh, haram. The question is with respect to males and females, what is the final ruling we arrived at yesterday in our research with respect to circumcision? Does anyone remember? Obligatory for men. And then mustahab for females. Okay. And we mentioned that the author gave us an evidence and his opinion was that it is obligatory for male and female. And that is going based on a principle. An original principle. What is that original principle? The original principle tells us that as the prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, he's the one who taught us this principle. It is an-nisa'u shaqa'iq ar-rijal. That women are the second half of men. So whatever men are commanded with, women are commanded with. But the commandments of the Quran and Sunnah are most usually directed to men. Why? Because they are most usually the ones who are intended primarily, and second of all, because they are in charge of the women. They are the ones that direct the women. And so, anything that a man is commanded with, a woman is commanded with, unless there is an evidence to exempt either of the two genders. Right? An example. Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala commands the believers with hijab. Does this apply to men and women? it applies to women. So, we have an evidence to exempt men. Vice versa. Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala makes it permissible for a person to the believers to marry one, two, three, or four. Is this specific to men or for both men and women? Is this specific to men? So, you get the idea here. However, Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala says that he commands the believers to be obedient to their parents. Is this specific to men or is this men and women? Both. Why? Because the original nature of all commandments is it's for men and women, unless we have something that exempts one or the other. So, the author goes based on that. He goes based on that original principle, that whatever whatever men are commanded with, women are commanded with, as well. And he uses generalized evidences in that sense. However, we mentioned that this is a weaker opinion for a number of reasons. Number one, the evidence is that Ibrahim was the one who circumcised himself and it has no mention of either his wife or his concubine being circumcised. Number two, this was something that did take place in the time of the prophet and the companions. They did circumcision for males and females. However, the evidences for circumcision of females are far less and far more obscure than the evidences for males. A third thing is that the purpose of circumcision for men and women are very different. They serve very different purposes. Okay? For men, circumcision is for hygiene. Primarily for hygiene. Because the male appendage has that additional skin that goes off and it becomes a harborer for urine and infection and all kinds of things. And so, removing that becomes part of the sunan of in order that a person not be plagued with those kinds of things. However, for females, there is no such hygienic purpose for the circumcision. Circumcision on females is not done on even the same anatomy. It is done on critically different anatomy. For females, it is just a tiny portion of the clitoris is removed, just just barely nicked as the prophet sal.

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Time, just just barely nicked. And the purpose that this serves is to help the circumcised to curb ex- excessive sexual drive. It is not to be completely removed. It is to be completely left or to be barely.

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Wasallam, he says, khudi minhu walatunhiki. There was a woman that was that circumcised in the time in his time, the females, and he said, "Take a bit, but do not take entirely." Walatunhiki. This is prohibited. Not only is this prohibited, but it is positively haram for this to be done. There is a type of very primitive, very aggressive, and very oppressive circumcision that is done in parts of northern Africa, in parts of Egypt, which is referred to as a pharaoh circumcision on females. And that is that they completely remove the clitoris entirely, all the way to the to the base, and then it is sewn up in its place. This is positively haram and can be counted as a major sin and is not permissible to do or to practice. And so, because of that, because these two circumcisions, they serve very different purposes, very different places are being circumcised. The genitals are very different. And third of all, the evidence is it becomes very difficult to use the evidences for the obligatory circumcision of men to extrapolate that to be obligatory for women. It just it just is a very weak type of evidence in that sense. There are critical and fundamental differences between the two practices. Therefore, we mentioned that it is wajib for males, mustahab for females, or mubah. Some scholars have mentioned mubah and that is the majority of the fuqaha of Islam are of the view that for men men, it is obligatory, for females, it is either mustahab or mubah. The author says, "And it is preferable that circumcision take place on the seventh day of the child's birth.".

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Due to the narration which was collected by Al-Tiyalisi rahimahullah in his Musannaf. he narrates that Jabir said that the messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wasallam he did the aqiqah or he slaughtered for Al-Hasan for the occasion of Al-Hasan's birth and also for Al-Husayn's birth and he also circumcised both of them on the seventh day of their births respectively. Now, Al-Husayn is the younger brother of Al-Hasan. So, these are two separate instance incidents. So, we see from that that this is a pattern. This is a sunnah, right? one time could have been, you know, open to suggestion, but being that twice this occurred on two separate pregnancies, two separate births, this means that this is intended. He intended to slaughter and to perform the circumcision for both of them on the seventh day. Now, there are narrations speaking about the circumcision of the Prophet Muhammad himself sallallahu alayhi wasallam. There's a number of narrations. Some narrations mention that he was born circumcised. That he was born circumcised. And that this is, you know, usually passed off as a kind of miracle and a miraculous part of his birth. All of the narrations regarding him being born circumcised are fabricated narrations, all of them. They're all extremely weak or fabricated. Kuluha mawdu'at. Other narrations mention that he circumcised himself when he became a prophet. All of these narrations are either weak or fabricated as well. Rather, the opinion that the majority of the scholars are upon and historians and Ibn al-Qayyim mentions it in his book Zad al-Ma'ad and his book Tuhfat al-Mawdud is that the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam was circumcised by his grandfather Abdul Muttalib as was customary in the time of his birth. And we have historic evidences that he was circumcised by his grandfather as was customary for the children of his time, especially someone of his position and of his status as being born into such a such an esteemed tribe, such a reputable tribe. And so the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam carried this tradition on and he circumcised his grandchildren al-Hasan and he circumcised al-Husayn because this is something that people know how to do, so they do it. You take your child to a barber, correct? And you have their hair get cut. And if you know how to cut hair yourself then you do what? You you pull them into the bathroom and cut their hair right there in the bathroom, right? And the same thing with circumcision. You take your child to the circumciser, the village circumciser, if not, then you do it yourself if you're able to do that. And this was what was customary in his time, a tradition carried on in the time of Islam. So, we will finish this next following portion where the prophet says seven things are part of the sunnah when a child is born. Seven things, seven rights are done when a child is born, are part of the sunnah. We'll deal with this narration in reading it and explaining it tomorrow inshallah.

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Tomorrow Fajr will be at 4:15.

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