Islam is NOT compatible with European anti-FGM values

[Anthea]

French doubt Islam is compatible with values of the Republic, claims prime minister

A majority of French people see Islam as incompatible with the values of the Republic, Manuel Valls, the French prime minister, controversially claimed on Wednesday, while backing a Muslim headscarf ban in universities.

In an interview with Libération newspaper, Mr Valls said: “I would like us to be able to demonstrate that Islam, a great world religion and the second religion of France, is fundamentally compatible with the Republic, democracy, our values and equality between men and women."

Asked if he was suggesting that Islam had not to date proved to be compatible with French society and values, he said: “Certain people don’t want to believe it, a majority of French citizens doubt it, but I’m convinced that it’s possible.”

Mr Valls' comments came as the authoritarian prime minister's popularity ratings have dropped to a record low amid controversial labour reforms and a string of street protests - including nightly gatherings in Paris' Place de la République called "Nuit Debout" (Rise Up At Night).

They came days after he warned that radical Salafists were“winning the ideological and cultural battle” in France, despite only representing "one per cent" of Muslims in the country.

Abdallah Zekri, head of the Observatory on Islamophobia and a member of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, expressed exasperation at his latest comments.

“We’re fed up of being stigmatised ... [and] of this populist discourse which is worse than the far-right,” he told BFM TV.

Mr Valls then caused uproar within his own ranks over another question on whether headscarves should be banned by law from universities.

He replied: “It should be done,” even if would be difficult given the constitution.

His comments irked fellow Socialist ministers, with Thierry Mandon, the higher education minister saying: “There is no need for a law on the headscarf at university." Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, the education minister, said she saw no reason for such a ban, as students were adults with “freedom of conscience and religious liberty”.

“Our universities also have a lot of foreign students. Are we going to ban them access because in their culture there’s a certain type of clothing?” she said.

There have been previous calls to ban headscarves from higher education, but these have from Right-wingers such as Nicolas Sarkozy.

University heads have pointed out that such a ban would be discriminatory and illegal.

France has introduced a raft of legislation to deal with conspicuous signs of religion in public, starting with a 2004 ban on headscarves for girls in state schools, along with other visible symbols of faith.

In 2011, the Sarkozy administration controversially banned the full face Muslim veil from all public places. State workers in the public service are forbidden from showing any sign of religious belief due to their duty to remain neutral.

But in December last year, the French national consulting body, the Observatory of Secularism, found it would be “neither useful, nor appropriate” to legislate on the wearing of religious symbols, including headscarves, at universities.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04 ... ublic-cla/

[Anthea]

France has introduced a raft of legislation to deal with conspicuous signs of religion in public, starting with a 2004 ban on headscarves for girls in state schools, along with other visible symbols of faith.

In 2011, the Sarkozy administration controversially banned the full face Muslim veil from all public places. State workers in the public service are forbidden from showing any sign of religious belief due to their duty to remain neutral.

Given that the majority of current conflicts and wars throughout the world, are actually religion based, I would ban them both scarves and burkas

People should be allowed to practise their religious beliefs within their own homes and places of worship, save that it hurt none

I am strongly against the religious indoctrination of parental religious values on innocent children

I believe it to be against a child's human rights to be brainwashed and browbeaten into following religions that are archaic and often barbaric by nature

I especially include those religions which encourage the practise Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Male Circumcision on innocent children

In some areas of Africa and the Middle-East, both girls and boys who have not been circumcised are considered unclean

What sort of sick twisted mind must a person have, to believe their innocent child is unclean if it has not undergone male or female mutilation/circumcision. These are barbaric religious practises and should be totally banned

In some parts of Africa an estimated 10-30% of unfortunate girls who undergo FGM may die from it, either directly because shock, haemorrhage or infection, or from further complications when giving birth

I have yet to find corresponding figures regarding male circumcision, but there have been horrendous instances of boys penises being severely damaged and unable to function properly in maturity. Even cases where penises have been so severely damaged that they have been removed. Boys are also prone to infection due to this mutilation

I find it unbelievable that it this day and age anyone could think it acceptable to mutilate an innocent child

[Anthea]

In the UK FGM problems found 'every hour' by GPs

A case of female genital mutilation (FGM) is either discovered or treated at a medical appointment in England every hour, a charity has said.

Plan International UK said statistics showed there were 8,656 times when a girl or woman was assessed at a doctor's surgery or hospital.

Charity boss Tanya Barron said: "These figures are once again a reminder of the global prevalence of FGM."

An estimated 200 million women and girls worldwide are affected.

Protection orders

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) the practice of FGM includes "the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons".

The NHS figures analysed were between April 2015 and March 2016. They show a patient was assessed on average every 61 minutes. Among those who attended, a case of FGM is newly recorded every 92 minutes on average.

This means a woman or girl has their case recorded by the NHS for the first time, although in many cases they will have been cut some years before but it has not come to the attention of doctors sooner, the charity said.

Avon and Somerset Police has led use of FGM protection orders (FGMPO) nationally. The orders were brought in to protect potential victims. It has applied for 10 FGMPOs since July 2015, when legislation was brought in.

Det Ch Insp Leanne Pook said: "Each application is carefully considered and brought only in cases where they are deemed to be at risk.

Support families

"We have one active FGM investigation ongoing at the moment, but the majority of our work in this area focuses on safeguarding referrals.

"This means working in partnership with our colleagues in local authorities, health and education to share information and visit and support families with children deemed to be at risk of FGM."

There have been 97 applications and 79 orders made in England and Wales up to the end of September 2016

The figures come as the world marks the international day of zero tolerance to FGM - a UN-sponsored event to raise awareness of the issue.

It has been illegal to carry out FGM in the UK since 1985, but there has not been a single successful prosecution. This failure has been branded a "national scandal" by the Home Affairs Select Committee.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: "FGM is a devastating act of violence that no woman or girl should ever have to suffer and the criminals who perpetrate it should be brought to justice."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38878298

[Piling]

FGM is NOT an Islamic prescription. It has NEVER been. Some Islamic societies promote it, and some mullahs tolerate it, because it is not forbidden by the Coran but in another way the Coran tells to not operate "entirely, it is better for women".

FGM is a cultural fact : spread in Africa, among Muslims as Christians as well. Coptic Christians in Egypt practice it. Some old Christian communities in Iraq practiced it some centuries ago. Many (most of) Muslim countries don't mutilate girls nowadays.

In Kurdistan, FGM is a Southern custom, mainly in Suleymanieh and Germiyan-Kirkuk areas, less in Erbil, unknown in Duhok as unknown in Northern Kurdistan, Western Kurdistan.

I guess that in Iran, there is the same border North / South for FGM.

KRG has launched a campaign against FGM and obliged mullahs and Ulemas to forbid it. It was not a religious revolution. FGM is not an Islamic characteristic.

In fact, FGM is a women's practice, promoted by mothers for their own daughters. If you ask to a Kurdish man what is FGM I doubt that 80% of Kurds know exactly what is a clitoris and where it is and what is its use.

FGM is predominant in poor uneducated areas. When the level of wealth and education is raising, it disappears.

[Anthea]

In the UK I have come across a large number of ladies who have suffered such mutilation and all of them have been African Muslims - admittedly, I have spent a lot of time with assorted African communities