Salaam, Muslims and Muslimahs

Salaam, my Muslims and Muslimahs

My name is Hassan. I am 38. I am originally from Saudi Arabia. I have been a Muslim from birth. As a Muslim, I have been exposed to circumcision my entire life and I was circumcised myself. I am not condemning those who choose to circumcise themselves but I would like to point out some facts about circumcision in Islam.

Circumcision is not mentioned in the Qu'ran. It is mentioned in a Hadith. It is called a fitrah but there is no compulsion to circumcise males or females. Islam is a religion that puts a lot of importance on personal hygiene and in the time of the Prophet (PBUH), we Muslims were living in a desert climate with little water to waste on cleaning foreskin. Unlike circumcision in Judaism, circumcision is not about a pact with Allah. It's purely for cleanliness purposes. However, because we now have running water and soap, it is just as clean to keep a foreskin and thanks to science, we know that having a foreskin can improve our sex lives with our wives, preserve sensitivity and protect our organ from exposure to the elements.

I believe circumcision can impact the view of sex in an unholy way. The media promotes circumcision as a way to decrease the chances of getting an STDs, leading many young people including Muslims to believe if they are circumcised, they may have sex with whoever they'd like. It is like giving your teen son a box of condoms or putting your teen daughter on birth control pills. It's for the assumption that they are going to have sex and probably with multiple partners. It makes people believe that circumcision will elimate consquences for their actions. Just like condoms and birth control pills do not always work, circumcision does not always work but many people are unaware of that. Remember that if you are following Allah's laws and only having sex within your marriage, you will not have to worry about disease.

Peace be upon you,
Hassan