The prosecution of Dawoodi Bohra women: some reasonable doubts

Muslim women of the Dawoodi Bohra community have recently been prosecuted because they customarily adhere to a religiously based gender-inclusive version of the Jewish Abrahamic circumcision tradition. In Dawoodi Bohra families it is not only boys but also girls who are circumcised. And it is mothers who typically control and arrange for the circumcision of their daughters. By most accounts the circumcision procedure for girls amounts to a nick, abrasion, piercing or small cut restricted to the female foreskin or prepuce (often referred to as ‘the clitoral hood’ or in some parts of Southeast Asia as the ‘clitoral veil’). From a strictly surgical point of view the custom is less invasive than a typical male circumcision as routinely and legally performed by Jews and Muslims. The question arises: if the practice is legal for the gander why should it be banned for the goose?<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Wherever there is female circumcision there is male circumcision – the custom is gender-inclusive.</li><br /><li>The tradition of gender-inclusive Abrahamic circumcision has broad support among Dawoodi Bohra Muslim women.</li><br /><li>Female circumcision as practised by Dawoodi Bohra women is less invasive than male circumcision as legally practised by Muslims and Jews.</li><br /><li>Why should girls be excluded from the Abrahamic circumcision tradition? If it is legal for boys why shouldn’t it be legal for girls?</li><br /><li>Has the time come to rethink the expression ‘female genital mutilation’? Is it a ‘no brainer’ or has it made us ‘brain dead’?</li></ul>

A Muslim Neonatologist in a Canadian NICU

What is the impact on a Muslim family of having a baby in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)? This chapter is written by a Muslim neonatologist, trained in the United Kingdom and Canada, who now works in a level III NICU in Edmonton, Canada. In addition to describing religious requirements and community traditions, the author suggests ways that these can be incorporated into the care of Muslim babies and families in our high-stress, technology-based NICUs. As a member of the Dawoodi Bohra sect (a subset of the Shi’a Muslim community), the author provides a brief background of the community’s spiritual heritage and their viewpoint on modern medical treatment. The living spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohras, the Da’i, is their source of authoritative decision making. The author explains how and why decision making in situations of critical illness is referred to the Da’i for His trusted advice.