When all else fails, blame past cultures <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www. youtube.com/embe d/yQHNoxZnraM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> The topic of female genital mutilation is one which arouses a negative reflex in the West. When confronted, Muslim apologists will claim that FGM was in practice in pre-Islamic cultures and, since the Q'ran does not specifically mention it, FGM is not “Islamic” and is purely “cultural”. The Pre-Islamic debate. Islamic apologist hardliners will often point to an unidentifiable past to blame such things as child-adult marriage. When confronted with the marriage of Aisha to Muhammad, for example, some will excuse it by saying it was commonly done in his day (the 7 th century). Yet there is scant, if any, anthropological, let alone, archaeological support for such a claim. Indeed, we find NO societies in which there was a “norm” or common practice of inter-generational wedlock between per-pubescent girls and mature males. This same approach is often used with FGM. The claim being that the practice of female circumcision was “common” during the time of Muhammad, and common amongst all the local cultures, simply isn't a founded argument. Likewise, there is no significant historical support for the supposition that FGM pre-dated Islam. A website dedicated to the topic of circumcision stated it thusly: “Unlike male circumcision, which was familiar from Jewish practice, female circumcision was an exotic custom about which Europeans knew very little until the explorations of the eighteenth century. Because the phenomenon was first studied by sceptical anthropologists and naturalists who had little regard for religion, there was no attempt to explain female circumcision in religious terms as a divine command or a ritual requirement; on the contrary, from the very first, explanations for such a bizarre and horrific mutilation were sought in materialist terms, particularly in relation to some possible advantage to human health in peculiar physical environments.” Apparently there's no western supports, historically speaking, for the allegation that FGM pre-dated Islam nor was common at the time of Muhammad simply because it had not been observed by any other outside explorations. However, historical documentation does exist which points back to the forerunner nation of Egypt and the commonality of the practice there, which does pre-date Islam. References which make it clear that the practice was not commonly done throughout any existing society of the day. The Cultural Debate. The literature on FGM often points out, and rightly so, that the
