By Arret Jatta
The Islamic Enlightenment Society (IES) Tuesday urged National Assembly Members to repeal the law on FGM.
The society made the call as it appeared before the Joint Committee of Health, Gender, Children and Social Welfare to present their position paper on the Women’s Amendment Bill 2015 which seeks to repeal the law on FGM.
Oustas Ma Binta Ceesay, from the Islamic Enlightenment Society, stressed that anti FGM advocates should invest their financial resources in ensuring that the circumcisers are trained adequately to be able to do the practice well.
According to her, people should not be hindered from practicing their religious and traditional rights.
“We should be allowed to practice what we believe in, the law should be repealed and allow anyone that wants to practice it to do so, and those against it not to do it,” she emphasized.
She further stated that female circumcision is considered legitimate and legal in Islam, based on several established hadiths on the authority of the Prophet (S.A.W), adding that Muslim jurists have different opinions on whether it is obligatory or a recommended act of Sunnah.
“It was not reported by any of the reliable Muslim scholars denying the legality of female circumcision in the manner prescribed by the Messenger of Allah; peace be upon him,” she said.
She urges all those who are against the ban to ensure that they engage their National Assembly members and convince them to vote for the amendment bill.
“You should not take this as a joke because if you allow them to get away with this bill, they will come with new bills to paralyze Islam in this country,” she added.
Commenting on the health aspect of FGM, Ceesay argued that Islam only allows female circumcision and not female genital mutilation.
“Many women went through it and they have no complication”, she concluded.