(News articles and photos
direct from The CLARION PROJECT site.)
Backyard FGM of a very young girl. |
But many Muslim communities in both US and UK have been brutally cutting the genitals off their young females and infant girls against the law and acceptable culture in a western democracy.
Following two articles are from the Clarion Project’s internet site of that widespread practice of Female Genital Mutilation in United States of America the land of the free and advanced liberal democracy.
Hatem Elthagaly, the paediatrician. |
The barbaric practice has no health benefits to women. On the contrary, in addition to the emotional and psychological trauma of the procedure, mutilation of female genitals can cause severe bleeding, urinary problems, painful menstruation, cysts, complication in childbirth, sterility and death.
In a statement released announcing Elhagaly's dismissal, the Mayo Clinic wrote, "Dr. Elhagaly is no longer employed or caring for patients at Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea. We are working with his patients to transition their care to another physician. Because this is a personnel issue, we cannot comment further on Dr. Elhagaly's employment status.
Female circumcision in children, referred to as female genital mutilation in U.S. legal statutes, is a felony-level child abuse crime. Mayo Clinic strongly opposes the procedure and it has never been performed at any Mayo Clinic facility."
Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit medical
practice and medical research group based in Rochester, Minnesota. It is the
first and largest integrated not-for-profit medical group practice in the
world, employing more than 3,800 physicians and scientists and 50,900 allied
health staff.
Severely-mutilated female genitals (Before and after FGM). |
Hatem Elhagaly (aka) "Hatem Al Haj" worked as a doctor in Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Albert Lea, MN. His special interests are in child development. He is also a proponent of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
In an Arabic-language paper entitled "Circumcision of Girls: Jurisprudence and Medicine" Elhagaly repeatedly points to the idea that FGM is "an honor" for women, ignoring FGM's extremely detrimental effects on women's health and the barbarity of the practice.
He attempts to justify his ideas by referencing scholars from several schools of Islamic thought and also the words of Muhammad, including the idea that FGM is desirable "because it is more beautiful to behold and better for her husband."
Dr. Hatem Elhagaly was taking care of young girls in Albert Lea, MN.
A fact sheet prepared by the Department of Health and Human Services is blatantly false and misleading.
Tools for FGM. |
Yet, Christopher Holton, Vice President of the Center for Security Policy, reports that a fact sheet produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is blatantly false and misleading about the relationship of FGM to Islam.
Fact sheet states: “Although many people believe that FGC is associated with Islam, it is not. FGC is not supported by any religion and is condemned by many religious leaders,” and “No religious text requires or even supports cutting female genitals. In fact, Islamic Shari'a protects children and protects their rights.”
“Despite what the HHS claims, FGM is in fact associated with Islam, is supported in contemporary interpretation of Islamic scripture and has been endorsed by Islamic religious leaders,” Holton writes.
“Sharia law manuals require and support the practice. Muslims in America still practice FGM. At least some Muslims justify it based on religious freedom and, in at least one state in which anti-FGM legislation is currently working its way through the legislative process, one legislator reports receiving a phone call from a Muslim constituent urging her to oppose the legislation as ‘a conspiracy against the Muslim community.’”
Holton cites one of the most widely read sharia law texts, Reliance of the Traveler: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law, as proof that Islam endorses this practice. The book, available in English, has been endorsed by the president of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and the president of the Fiqh Council of North America, as well as Al Azhar Research Academy in Cairo, Egypt, the Sunni Islamic world’s foremost educational institution.
Consider the following passage from Reliance (page 59): “Circumcision is obligatory for both men and women. For men it consists of removing the prepuce from the penis, and for women, removing the prepuce of the clitoris or the clitoris itself.
Holton also reports the opinion of Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Sunni Islamic world’s foremost sharia scholar, head of the International Association of Muslim Scholars and European Council for Fatwa and Research, and chairman of the board of trustees of Islamic American University. Qaradawi is also considered the Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual and ideological leader.
Qaradawi issued a fatwa asserting that "circumcision is better for a woman's health and it enhances her conjugal relation with her husband" and that, "whoever finds it serving the interest of his daughters should do it, and I personally support this under the current circumstances in the modern world.”
Brutally graphic and disturbing is above video depicting the practice that Qaradawi endorses as “serving the interest of his daughters.” Note that the video is about how this practice is carried out in Great Britain.
Holton also quotes Sami A. Aldeeb Abu Sahlieh, a Palestinian-Swiss sharia scholar, who quotes the origins of this practice in Islam from a hadith (a saying, story or tradition of the life of Mohammed), where Mohammed says in reply to a question if this practice is allowed: "Yes, it is allowed. Come closer so I can teach you: if you cut, do not overdo it, because it brings more radiance to the face, and it is more pleasant for the husband."