The strongest view in Islamic scholarship is that female circumcision is mustahab, and if done properly it is certainly beneficial. So why do adherents of humanism lose their heads about it? There are two main issues here: individualism and materialism.

Individualism

Extremism in individualism leads humanists to focus on individual rights to the point of blinding themselves to communal benefit and the eventual dividends that communal benefits can provide to individuals. For humanists, the idea of reducing a woman’s sexual stimulation and desire appears to be a violation of her individual right to pleasure, which in their worldview is the purpose of life. For them, the state and heavy industry have filled the role of the state, so the integrity of the family has little to no meaning or value for them.

They can’t understand the value of the family, because most of the progenitors of the ideology of humanism come from societies where families, and extended families in particular, have been sacrificed in exchange for material things. The importance of protecting the family is not even “on the radar” for them.

Does reduced sexual desire on the part of women protect the integrity of families? Yes. Can there be any doubt that adultery will be less prevalent in a society that practices female circumcision? In almost all instances in the book of Allah, when Allah mentions men and women together He mentions men first, except in the case of zina.

عَنْ أُسَامَةَ بْنِ زَيْدٍ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمَا عَنْ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ مَا تَرَكْتُ بَعْدِي فِتْنَةً أَضَرَّ عَلَى الرِّجَالِ مِنْ النِّسَاءِ

Usama bin Zaid reported that the Prophet ﷺ said “I have not left a trial after me more harmful to men than women”

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4808

There is no question that the Christians went to extremes in their handling of women’s sexuality. Martin Luther, in writing on women’s sexual pleasure, described it as a disease associated with the act of procreation, akin to epilepsy.

This extremism is the real root of feminism. After centuries of cruel and excessive repression, Western civilization has recoiled against these excesses by going to the other extreme, conceiving the pursuit of individual pleasure the entire purpose of their existence, and trying to maximize pleasure in any way possible.

Materialism

This search for pleasure points to the other critical problem with humanism; materialism. Christian theology also plays a role here. Christians imagine the afterlife as a purely spiritual affair characterized by bliss and ecstasy— but without a body, and without sex.

As such, on a subconscious level, there is a cultural belief embedded into Christendom that this life is their only chance to enjoy sexual pleasure. A Muslim, on the other hand, knows that the pleasure of this life is but little in comparison to the pleasure of the akhira, which includes sexual pleasure.

Christians have long criticized Muslims for our sensual vision of paradise, with delicious food, beautiful houses and beautiful women. Many Christians regarded these as “carnal” pleasures, or pleasures of the flesh, and cast a negative light on pleasure of this nature. This highly negative view of “carnal” pleasures resulted in excessively austere lifestyles, which eventually drove Western culture to recoil and embrace materialistic hedonism.

Ulterior Motives

When it comes to the modern attacks on female circumcision, there are also ulterior motives. For political reasons, the West has to claim that their way of life is superior. They can then use imposition of their individualistic and materialistic values on other cultures as a justification for imperialism.

By dwelling on this very intimate issue, they can point to the inferiority of other cultures (according to their worldview) and prove that they need to intervene and spread their way of life to “save” misguided Muslims. This helps stir up support for their war effort, lending a moral legitimacy to their aggression against the Muslims.

In the process of oppressing and exploiting Muslim countries under these false pretexts, they gain access to resources, cheap labor, and export markets for their products and services.

The Reality

Female circumcision, if done properly, represents a middle way between extremes. By removing the clitoral hood, the rubbing on the clitoris when a woman moves is reduced, which means she is less stimulated in her daily life, and consequently has less sexual desire. In the actual act of intercourse, however, the barrier of the clitoral hood is removed which means she can receive more stimulation from her husband. In short, this means that overall sexual desire outside of the marital relationship is reduced, while sexual stimulation within the marital relationship is increased.

So the bond of the family is strengthened, and a barrier is put in place on one of the avenues that could threaten the integrity of the family. This perspective enables reconciling two different narrations from the Prophet ﷺ . In one hadith, he recommended female circumcision because it “brightens the face” of the woman, but in another, he said that it is a protection for her honor. Additionally, female circumcision makes hygiene easier and improves vaginal odor.

A number of non-Muslim tribes in Africa, and some ignorant Muslims, practice an extreme form of female circumcision which involves removing the clitoris and sometimes labia completely. This represents the opposite extreme from the humanists. These tribes are willing to sacrifice the sexual pleasure of individual women to a large extent for the communal interests, just as Western humanists are willing to sacrifice communal interests to a large extent for the sake of individual pleasure.

While traveling in Africa, it was very clear to me that the societies with extremism in this regard had much stronger family and tribal bonds than the West. This highly communal approach of African tribes, like Western individualism, has certain advantages and disadvantages. Islam represents a balance between these extremes.