Disclaimer: this is NOT an official fatwa or religious ruling article. only dedicated to the Curios RED ;) refer original article here

after doing a small research through the net, i found out that Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) includes 3 forms:
  1. clitorodectomy (partial and/or complete) [potong buang biji k******t]
  2. infibulation [jahit lubang kemaluan]
  3. circumcision [buang kulub]
the one in RED's blog is the 3rd one.

the custom is actually not from the Islamic rule and originated from northern Africa. it is a pre-Islamic practice adopted by the arabs during the Prophet's time.

now to answer the kampung people's allegations.

1. According to the villagers, female circumcision is a must due to religious purposes. Although in Malaysia the majority of muslims are of the Syafiee tribe (there are 4 tribes in Islam: Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki, and Syafiee), they are also muslims who are from the other tribes in Islam, that do not practice female circumcision. Only the Syafiee tribe does it and regard it as compulsory.

my answer: female circumcision is not a must but only recommended. click here. do note that i'm not an authority to rule down legal issues [find your local imam, mullah, alim or ustaz] but i'm merely explaining the issue. and RED, kindly correct, the Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki and Syafie are not refered as 'tribes'. they are the 4 schools of Sunni Islamic jurisdiction. not 'tribes' like the Hutus, Tutsis, Zulus or Masais in Africa.

2. The villagers strongly said that if you do not undergo circumcision, be it male or female, then you are not a muslim...If you are a Syafiee and you don’t undergo the circumcision process, you are not accepted as a muslim.

my answer: no. while being circumsized is a Muslim identity [as with the Jews], newly-converts are only required to circumsize when they are comfortable to do it. see here. you got it right when you said there was no ruling about circumcision in the Holy Quran. circumcision is prescribed by the Prophet as a fitrah and a continuation of the sunnah of Ibrahim.

3. The other reason that it is done is because the villagers believe if circumcision is not done on females, the part that is supposed to be cut off (a piece of hanging skin right above the urethral opening) will grow into a big piece of hanging skin that will not allow or make it difficult for penetration during sexual intercourse, in other words, will decrease the libido of that person.

my answer: this one, i honestly don't know.

regarding the malay tradition and culture, i think you have made a good job in documenting them. malays even have a working sanitary method resulting in no post-op infection. maybe you can research on that also :) hope you are satisfied.

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