Khitan (circumcision)

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Khitān (Arabic: ختان‎) or Khatna (Arabic: ختنة‎) is the term for male circumcision carried out as an Islamic rite. It is considered by some as a sign of belonging or introduction to the wider Islamic community. It is also referred to by the term Taharah, "purity".

Islamic circumcision is analogous to Jewish circumcision, although there are a number of key differences with Muslims currently being the largest single religious group where the practice is widespread. Circumcision is not mentioned in the Qur'an, but rather in the hadith and whether or not it should be carried out after converting to Islam is debated among Islamic scholars.

Religious sources

Circumcision being performed in central Asia (probably Turkestan), c. 1865–1872. Restored albumen print.

The Qur'an itself does not mention circumcision. The ritual dates back to the time of the Prophet Muhammad. In the time of Muhammad, circumcision was carried out by most Arabian tribes, among them pagan Arabs as well as Jews and Christians for religious reasons. According to tradition Muhammad was born without a foreskin (aposthetic). Many of his early disciples were circumcised to symbolise their inclusion within the emerging Islamic community. These facts are mentioned several times in the hadith. Some accounts report that Heraclius, Emperor of Byzantium, had referred to Muhammad as the "leader of the circumcised people". The most common hadith attributed to Muhammad mentions circumcision in a list of practices known as fitra (acts considered to be of a refined person). Abu Hurayra a companion of the Prophet quotes him saying, "Five things are fitrah: circumcision, shaving pubic hair with a razor, trimming the moustache, paring one's nails and plucking the hair from one's armpits" (reported in the hadiths of Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim). So, despite its absence from the Qur'an, it has been a religious norm from the beginning of Islam. However, there is another version of the hadith which does not name circumcision as one of the characteristics of fitra and yet another hadith which names ten characteristics, again without naming circumcision. According to some hadith (Abdullah Ibn Jabir and Aisha), Muhammad circumcised his grandsons on the seventh day after their birth. This opinion is popular amongst the hadith and Islamic jurists. Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim also quotes from Muhammad that Prophet Abraham performed his own circumcision at the age of eighty. It is also reported by Abu Dawud and Ahmad Ibn Hanbal that Muhammad stated that circumcision was a "law for men and a preservation of honour for women".

Sunni Islam

Amongst Ulema (Muslim legal scholars), there are differing opinions about the compulsion of circumcision in Sharia (Islamic law). Imams Abū Ḥanīfa, founder of the Hanafi school of Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), and Malik ibn Anas, maintain that circumcision is a Sunnah Mu'akkadah—not obligatory but highly recommended. The Shafi`i and Hanbali schools see it as binding on all Muslims.

Shia Islam

Most Shia traditions regard the practice as obligatory. They rely on sayings that come from classical Shia authors. In one narration Muhammad was asked if an uncircumcised man could go to pilgrimage. He answered "not as long as he is not circumcised". They quote Ali as saying: "If a man becomes Muslim, he must submit to circumcision even if he is 80 years old". Another narration from Al-Sadiq says: "Circumcise your sons when they are seven days old as it is cleaner (athar) and the flesh grows faster and because the earth hates the urine of the uncircumcised". It is also believed that the urine of the uncircumcised is impure, and if one prays with unclean genitals their prayer will not be heard. Another hadith of Muhammad states: "the earth cries out to God in anguish because of the urine of the uncircumcised", and that "the earth becomes defiled from the urine of the uncircumcised for forty days".

Quranists

There is a Quran alone movement within Islam that rejects making male circumcision a religious requirement due to the fact it is not mentioned in the Qur'an. Advocates of this view point to several Qur'anic verses that indicate the perfection of creation (Quran 32:7, 82:7–8, 95:4), as well as common perceptions that circumcision is necessary for reasons of hygiene. Muslim activists include Canadian Dr. Arif Bhimji, Libyan judge Mustafa Kamal al-Mahdawi, and the Egyptian feminist Dr. Nawal El Saadawi, who links it with her own struggle against female genital mutilation. Some Quranists claim circumcision is haram, claiming that suras such as 4:119 forbids altering one's body, and suras such as 95:4 which says man was created perfectly.

Time for circumcision

Traditional procession after circumcision of a child in Dutch East Indies, 1915–1918.

Islamic sources do not fix a particular time for circumcision. It depends on family, region and country. A majority of Ulema however take the view that parents should get their child circumcised before the age of ten. The preferred age is usually seven although some Muslims are circumcised as early as on the seventh day after birth and as late as at the commencement of puberty.

Procedure

Whereas Jewish circumcision is closely bound by ritual timing and tradition, Islamic circumcision does not have a strictly mandated procedure or form of circumcision. These tend to change across cultures, families, and time. In some Islamic countries, circumcision is performed after Muslim boys have learned to recite the whole Qur'an from start to finish. In Malaysia and other regions, the boy usually undergoes the operation between the ages of ten and twelve, and is thus a puberty rite, serving to introduce him into the new status of an adult. The procedure is sometimes semi-public, accompanied with music, special foods, and much festivity.

Traditional circumcisions however are steadily becoming rarer throughout the Islamic world, with many Muslim families preferring to have their sons circumcised at birth, or if it is done at an older age it is normally done by a doctor under local anesthetic. There is no equivalent of a Jewish mohel in Islam. Circumcisions are usually carried out in a clinic or hospital. The circumciser is not required to be a Muslim. The "styles" of the Islamic circumcision vary in the light of new medical knowledge. "Low and tight" along with "High and loose" seem to be the most frequently performed styles of circumcision in the Muslim world. Nevertheless, the tightness of the shaft skin along with the place of the scar may be different on every person. Also the frenulum is either intact, or removed.

Celebrations

In Indonesia, after a child is circumcised, there is a feast called Perayaan Sunatan, but some ulemas in Indonesia say this is bid'ah whereas most of them say it is not.

See also

• History of male circumcision
• Circumcision
• Foreskin
• Brit milah

External links

• Mission Islam: Male Circumcision
• Traditional Muslim Male Circumcision—Performed by Arabs, Turkish, Malaysian and Others of This Faith
• Male Circumcision: A Muslim Perspective
• To Mutilate in the Name of Allah or Jehovah
• Qur'an against circumcision