Sooooooooooo, everyone seems to be on vacation. Except for this OPNO. Who has no computer to call her own.
I just read a post on Shy Rebellious Arab Girl [the blog, book coming soon], that struck a chord with me.
I posted before on female circumcision in Oman. I wanted people to know through that post, that Islam forbids FGM, which is, removing the entire female clitoris from the vagina. So people tend to call the practice of pricking or cutting a very little of the tip of this part of a girl's body, "ISLAMIC FEMALE CIRCUMCISION".
Fact is though, and PLEASE READ THIS MISINFORMED WOMEN OF OMAN (and elsewhere), that there is no such thing as "Islamic female circumcision."
My proof for that statement that contradicts whatever the women of your village or tribe believe ignorantly:
1.) The Qu'ran does not require women to be circumcised.
2.) The Prophet Mohamed never told anyone to circumcise their daughters.
3.) The Prophet Mohamed never had his own daughters circumcised.
4.) The Prophet Mohamed never PRAISED anyone for having their daughter circumcised.
5.) The Prophet Mohamed never praised or required his wives to be circumcised.
Hmmmm, well, if the act of doing do so, were a good thing, wouldn't the Prophet Mohamed have told us to do it, or, well, God/Allah in the Qu'ran??????????????????????
He didn't, so it isn't a "sunnah".
Non-muslim readers and Islamically ignorant Omanis: the definitions of what a sunnah is as follows.
A sunnah is something the Prophet Mohamed told us to do, or something he did, or some action he praised.
Female circumcision is NONE OF THESE THINGS!!!!!!!! Islam mentions no benefits of the act at ALL.
But it does say that FGM, the act of cutting the whole clitoris up and out, and stitching the vagina back up, is haraam, i.e forbidden and sinful.
While the Prophet Mohamed never accursed female circumcision, just FGM, he never praised or encouraged it.
That means that Islamically FGM is haraam.
Female circumcision is merely a halal cultural practice, but certainly not a sunnah.
Any one who calls something a Sunnah does an act of shirk, claiming something that God did not, so be careful when you excuse your cultural behaviours and sully the clear commands of God with your own whims and traditions.
Why does this strike a chord with me?
Because my 3 year old step-daughter had this done to her, because someone told my husband and his family it was a sunnah in Islam, when it is not. They had no other justification to take away her future sexual pleasure, and my in-laws aren't educated enough to know the difference between culture and religion. Nor my husband in women's issues. Ask him about prayer and fasting and zakat charity and he has you covered, but in women's issues he's clueless, as are most men in Oman.
It breaks me heart. And it will never be done to another child in the family even if I have to make war with the whole tribe and the mothers of these girls. Honestly, I don't care.
I am not the most liked person in the world anyways so I don't really care.
To me it is a shirk to call something a sunnah that is not.
That's why ya'll Ibadhi from our village bad mouth the Shia you barely know anyways right? I am sunni, and Sunni Dhofari girls are told FGM is a sunnah too. Educate yourselves and stop being hypocrites, O my Muslim Ummah!
Arggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
On to happier rantings,
I went to Nakhl on the weekend and climbed a mountain over the village that had a crumbled watchtower on it. Great veiw of the hot spring, the village, and the Fort.
Lots of goat poop though, and not an easy trek. Especially not when you are wearing an Omani "lael".
And then I hiked up the wadi of Ain Al Thawarah hot spring, and found a pool with those fish they have at the Dr. Fish spa at the Bareeq al Shatti mall complex. The ones that nibble the dead skin cells off your feet?
So I had an awesome pedicure for free, as they tickled my toes gently.
The mountains were a pretty purple shade by the time I made it back to the car park. Then I went and had mandhi (Yemeni yummy rice with meat on top and delish sauce) in Barka before heading home.
Yes, goat poop, skin eating fishes, and female genital circumcision, all topics bright and sunny for this OPNO.
