She decried what she called “assumptions about what our value basis might be because of where we might come from, and who we pray to.”
That’s all very well, and Omar did support a bill in the Minnesota House making female genital mutilation a felony. But in light of that, how hard would it have been for her to say “Certainly I condemn it”? The questioner was not some “Islamophobe,” but the president of a group called Muslims for Progressive Values. The questioner’s point was correct, that FGM is a big problem in the Detroit area, and so to have a Muslim Representative come out strongly against it could well make a difference.
Questions also arise about Omar’s stand on this because she obviously adheres to Sharia, as is evidenced by her hijab, and FGM is mandated in Islamic law: “Circumcision is obligatory (for every male and female) (by cutting off the piece of skin on the glans of the penis of the male, but circumcision of the female is by cutting out the bazr ‘clitoris’ [this is called khufaadh ‘female circumcision’]).” — Umdat al-Salik e4.3, translated by Mark Durie, The Third Choice, p. 64
Why is it obligatory? Because Muhammad is held to have said so: “Abu al- Malih ibn Usama’s father relates that the Prophet said: ‘Circumcision is a law for men and a preservation of honour for women.’” — Ahmad Ibn Hanbal 5:75
“Narrated Umm Atiyyah al-Ansariyyah: A woman used to perform circumcision in Medina. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to her: ‘Do not cut severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband.’” — Abu Dawud 41:5251
That hadith is classified as weak, but this one is classified as sahih (reliable): “Aishah narrated: ‘When the circumcised meets the circumcised, then indeed Ghusl is required. Myself and Allah’s Messenger did that, so we performed Ghusl.’” — Jami` at-Tirmidhi 108
If Muhammad had the genitals of his favorite wife, Aisha, mutilated, that is a strong endorsement of the practice from the man who is an “excellent example” (Qur’an 33:21) for Muslims.
Why does it matter whether or not FGM is Islamic? Because the practice will never be eradicated if its root causes are not confronted. As long as those Muslims continue to believe that Allah and Muhammad want it done, for some that will override all other considerations.
“Rep. Omar Berates Questioner for Asking Her to Condemn Female Genital Mutilation,” by Patrick Goodenough, CNS News, July 24, 2019:
(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) became agitated when asked at an event in D.C. this week if she and fellow Muslim congresswoman Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) would condemn female genital mutilation.
She decried what she called “assumptions about what our value basis might be because of where we might come from, and who we pray to.”
Awkwardly, the question came from Ani Zonneveld, president of Muslims for Progressive Values and also a featured speaker on the Muslim Caucus Collective for Equitable Democracy event, where the exchange took place.
Zonneveld drew attention to a Detroit judge’s ruling last November that a 22-year-old federal law making female genital mutilation (FGM) a crime was unconstitutional. As a result, charges against nine people accused of subjecting nine young girls to FGM were dismissed.
“Would you be able to make a statement against FGM because that’s an issue in Detroit,” Zonneveld asked Omar. “And it would be really powerful if the two Muslim congresswomen, yourself and Rashida, would make a statement on this issue.”
Omar described the question as “appalling.”
“Because I always feel like there are bills that we vote on, bills we sponsor, many statements we put out, and then we’re in a panel like this and the question is posed, ‘Could you and Rashida do this?’”
Omar went on to ask whether she needs to “make a schedule” to ensure she makes statements regularly condemning al-Qaeda, condemning FGM, or condemning Hamas.
“It’s a very frustrating question,” she continued. “It comes up – you can look at my record. I voted for bills doing exactly what you’re asking me to do.”
“And so I am, I think, quite disgusted – really to be honest – that as Muslim legislators we are constantly being asked to waste our time speaking to issues that other people are not asked to speak to, because the assumption exists that we somehow support, and are for – right? No, there is an assumption.”
Omar said what she was looking for was that people did not have “assumptions about what our value basis might be because of where we might come from, and who we pray to.”
Omar was born in Somalia, a country that according to the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF has the highest rates of FGM in the world – an estimated 98 percent prevalence.
FGM, which involves the partial or entire removal of the female genitalia, is a practice that experts say predates Islam, but is most prevalent today in Islamic countries.
After Somalia, the next countries identified by UNICEF with high prevalence levels are Guinea (96 percent), Djibouti (93 percent), Egypt (91 percent), Eritrea (89 percent), Mali (89 percent), Sierra Leone (88 percent), and Sudan (88 percent). Except for Eritrea, those are all Muslim-majority countries.
(The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the bloc of Muslim-majority states, has rejected claims of a link between Islam and FGM. During a U.N. Commission on the Status of Women session in 2013, the OIC called FGM a “cultural” practice that is “disguised as part of religious tradition.”)
Voting record
In her remarks on Tuesday, Omar referred to her past votes on measures opposing FGM:
Before she was elected to Congress, Omar was a member of the Minnesota House when in 2017 it considered a bill authored by a Republican, Rep. Mary Franson, seeking to make it a felony for parents to subject their daughters to FGM.
When the state’s House voted on the bill, Omar joined the bipartisan majority in supporting it, and it passed by 124-4 votes.
Prior to the vote, however, Omar suggested that the bill’s proponents may be seeking media attention.
“What I don’t want us to do is to try to create laws because we want to be able to get in the media,” Omar said during committee consideration of the legislation….