Why Circumcision Matters in Islamic Practice

Continuing in Al-Wajiz in the chapter in the book of purification yesterday and the day before we discussed sunan al-fitra, the ways of al-fitra with respect to personal hygiene. Now, the author is going to he mentioned the narrations that listed those things in quick succession. So, he mentions the narration of five things are from the fitra. He then mentions the narration of 10 things are of the fitra. And now he will go into each of them individually, right? And give some narrations and context with respect to each of them individually. The first of these things that he mentions is al-khitan. Al-khitan. Now, before we begin this, I want to mention something and that is if you were around in the '90s if you were around in the '90s and the early 2000s, you'll remember when the Muslimin went in the Western media from being mujahideen freedom fighters to terrorists, if you remember that, right? In the '80s during the expansion of the communist It was Russia, but at that time, you know, in the early '80s, it was still the you know, the Soviet Union. And so, they were expanding into parts of Asia, and they had tried to invade Afghanistan. And obviously, the Western countries, the capitalist and socialist countries, didn't that very much. And so, the Muslimin there were used in a proxy war. and they themselves fought to protect their own country. And so, they were mujaheddin. And things were normal. As a matter of fact, in the late '80s and early '90s, there were places in America here where you could go in New York City, or you could actually go and sign up, right, to be sent over to Afghanistan to fight with the mujaheddin. It was totally normal. And then, whoever survived and lived from amongst our brothers and sisters were put they became the next enemy. And they went from mujaheddin to terrorists, right? And they were pursued. And part of that pursuit, and part of a lot of that a lot of that propaganda revolved around going to very poor, very war-torn Muslim places, not even countries, places, where the people there are either being governed by extremists like out of innately extreme or cults or warlords and had little to do with Islam. And filming them and taking this as a representation of Islam and Islamic scholarship. Why am I mentioning this now? Well, part of that, if you remember, was the circumcision. The circumcision of girls in Somalia at the time. It was the circumcision of girls in Somalia and parts of Africa where it was like you know, these these terrible people, they are mutilating the genitals of their daughters and so on and so forth. And so, many Muslims are unaware that circumcision is not just for men, not just for boys. It is for girls as well. However, there's a right way for it to be done and there's a wrong way. Just as circumcision for a boy, there is a right way for it to be done and there is a wrong way. And circumcision for women or for girls is very different than it is for boys. It's for different reasons and it's a different part of the genitalia. But both are part of the Sunnah. Both have been narrated from the prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam in spite of a lot of this propaganda. So, let us let.

[Arabic recitation]

The author tells us, he says, "And circumcision is obligatory for both male and female, men and women." And this is the opinion that the author has chosen. the scholars have differed, the scholars have differed greatly on this. And this is the opinion that many of the scholars of Hadith and the Muhaddithin have held. However, it is not as strong as an opinion. And the correct opinion and the stronger opinion, it is obligatory for men and it is preferable for women. And the evidences that he cites, we will discuss why that is, inshallah. He says, "And the reason that it is obligatory is that it is part of the rights of Islam." Meaning, it's one of the defining characteristics, defining practices of Islam. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was narrated to have said to a man who accepted Islam, "Go and remove the hair of disbelief from upon your body and get circumcised and circumcise yourself." So, the hair of disbelief, meaning to the armpits, the the private parts, the pubic hair, and to cut or even trim entirely the head. He didn't say this to every person that accepted Islam. He said it to this man. So, it's very possible that this man had hair that was very long or very similar to a type of hair that only Kuffar have. In our common day, we could liken this to something akin to dreadlocks. If a person had dreadlocks, this is something which is specific to non-Muslims. As a matter of fact, it is a religious right of certain fringe groups. And so, he said to him, "Go and remove the hair of disbelief from your body and become circumcised." This was narrated by Abu Dawud and Al-Bayhaqi. Now, notice that he is going to mention for us the first evidence that Al-Khitān circumcision is obligatory for men and women. Let's debate this this Let us debate this opinion.

[Silence]

He says, "On the authority of Abu Hurayrah, the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said that Ibrahim, the beloved of Rahman, Khalil Rahman circumcised himself after the age of 80 years old. Right? Why did he wait so long? Because that was when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commanded him to do it. He was commanded at that age, and so he circumcised himself alaihis salatu wasallam. Now, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then says to his prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam, "Then we revealed to you that you should follow the religion of Ibrahim." And that is a general rule. Anything that is narrated to be of the actions or practices of Ibrahim alaihis salaam, as long as it doesn't clash with something that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam has commanded, then it is automatically part of our sunnah as well, because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in a number of verses, but in this particular verse that he cites, verse 123, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the closing verses of Surat An-Nahl, which translate to "And we then sent revelation to you, O Muhammad, commanding you to follow the way and the path of Ibrahim." So, anything that Ibrahim did, our prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam did. And that is why we are upon the millah of Ibrahim. So, what is the connection here? Well, anything that our prophet tells us Ibrahim did, Ibrahim said, Ibrahim would do, Ibrahim wouldn't do, automatically falls into the generality of Ibrahim. Follow the way of Ibrahim. Unless otherwise stated, unless the prophet was selling says or does something to the contrary. So, part of that is circumcision. This isn't just a story that the prophet tells us that Ibrahim circumcised himself after the age of 80. This is a command, right? However, is this a strong enough evidence that women are obligated to be circumcised as well? What do you think? Why?

[Silence]

Okay. You wanted to say something?

[Arabic recitation]

More or less that is correct. So, the narration tells us that Ibrahim circumcised himself after the age of 80. Now, this is a bit difficult for someone who's that old and to do it himself, right? So, we know that this is obligatory because something that is not obligatory and that is that difficult would not be commanded in that way. So, it's obligatory. But he had a wife, too, right? And he also had a concubine. And there's no mention of them being circumcised, correct? So, we can almost be positive that his wife and his concubine, especially that they were from two different places, that they were not circumcised. So, where is the evidence for his wife or his concubine being circumcised? The answer is it it is not there. And for this to be a strong enough evidence for men and women, we would have to find Ibrahim and his wife both were circumcised at the age of 80. Okay, that that would be a clear evidence. But when it's just Ibrahim alayhis salaam, and so we go back to what the majority of the scholars mention, and that is that circumcision for men is obligatory, circumcision for women is preferable, mustahab. Right? For men, it is obligatory. For women, it is what? Mustahab. And not only are we drawing that from the evidences, but we're also drawing that from the reason or the purpose that circumcision that circumcision is for, the purpose that it is done for for men and women. Circumcision for men is for hygiene. Circumcision for women is for is to help curb sexual drive. And we will discuss this tomorrow, inshallah ta'ala. So, they are fundamentally at their core two very different things and so for this reason we cannot give them the exact same ruling and we will discuss this in more detail tomorrow in sha'a Allah.