Why is there no sectarian divide in the transgender community?

Women Expose Secret Genital Cutting Rite

"It was a dark and dingy room, where an elderly woman asked me to take off my panties, made me sit on a low wooden stool with my legs parted and then did something…I screamed out in pain," recalls Alefia Mustansir, 40, of her childhood experience.

Her friend, Sakina Haider, remembers "putting up a good fight" before she succumbed. "I was told by my grandmother that I was being taken to the doctor to address burning in the genital area when soap went there while bathing!"

Both Haider and Mustansir have refused to have their daughters undergo circumcision or female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), the Dawoodi Bohras’ best-kept secret until young women from the community first began to speak up against it a few years ago.

Bohras, a sub-sect of Ismaili Shia Muslims, are a tight-knit community, with a majority residing in India and Pakistan, and estimated to number two million the world over.

An article in the Dec. 12 issue of the popular Indian weekly ‘Outlook’ says: "Khatna (circumcision) is a tradition the Bohras trace back to their origins in (north) Africa, one they continue with because they see this as an attempt to stay true to their faith."

The Outlook article goes on to say that "most Bohra women and men even today would rather keep this practice a secret rather than question a custom that is now universally seen as a gross violation of a woman’s body."

The World Health Organisation defines FGM/C as a procedure that "intentionally alters or injures female genital organs for non-medical reasons." FGM/C, as practiced in some African countries, may involve removal of the entire clitoris and labia.

The practice persists in 28 African countries, as well as in some Middle Eastern countries with varying degrees of cutting or mutilation. African countries that have banned it include Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Togo, Uganda, Kenya and Egypt.

Bohras insist that their practice is not harmful since it is done with care and moderation. Many justify it as a means to curb a woman’s sexual drive and keep her chaste.

Haider finds that argument "highly problematic" and sees it as a way of controlling women.

Dr. Nighat Shah, former president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in Pakistan, finds it hard to believe that a community as "progressive and educated" as the Bohras carries out this practice.

"Medically speaking," she explained, "a little snip or clip (of the clitoris) may not affect childbirth, but it may rob the woman of sexual pleasure. It is a very sensitive tissue."

Another gynaecologist and obstetrician, Dr. Shershah Syed, finds no medical benefit to support female circumcision. "I am no religious scholar, so if a community believes it is an Islamic injunction, I’d suggest the girls should at least be old enough to understand the reason so that they can make an informed decision."

"Why do women’s sexual drives have to be curbed?" Haider asks. "Women who are not circumcised are not necessarily promiscuous!" she says.

A young Indian girl belonging to this Muslim sect, who goes by the name of Tasleem, has now found the courage to initiate an online petition asking the community’s high priest, Dr. Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin, to have this "cruel, inhuman and undemocratic ritual" stopped.

The petition addressed to the 96-year-old prelate, who is based in the western Indian city of Mumbai, states: "Such a barbaric ritual has no place in a progressive community like the Bohras. So we pray to His Holiness to stop this misogynist ritual." Mustansir and Haider are in a minority among Bohra women who refuse to accept the practice. Most still get their daughters circumcised because it is an order from the community’s high priest.

"I have blind faith in my leader. I believe there must be some goodness in this that there is so much insistence," said Zahabia Mohammad, 38, mother of three circumcised daughters.

Mohammad conceded that her own experience was "gross" and "barbaric", but justifies its continuation because "it is done in a very safe manner today by doctors."

She was present for all of her daughters’ circumcisions. "It takes less than five minutes and the procedure is done under local anaesthesia. Just a very minute bit of the clitoris is clipped off," she said.

She acknowledged she had little information on the rite except what was told her by an aunt "that the foreskin of the clitoris is unclean and circumcision is for the benefit of the women."

She also concedes that today, with a deluge of information circulating against this practice, it is imperative to equip the community with information to enable them to make informed decisions.

"Not everyone will accept this blindly, not the next generation. They will question and prod, so it is important to prepare them," she says of a rite that is kept secret from male members of the sect.

Tasleem told Outlook that genital cutting happens in all strata of Bohra society. "I’d say 90 percent practise it."

Arwa Mohammad, who is in her 20s, signed the petition because "it’s archaic and nonsensical." She was circumcised when she was seven by her grandmother’s doctor friend. "Just goes to show how this ritual perpetuates without anyone questioning!"

Married a year back, Mohammad was "not traumatised" for life for getting circumcised, but cannot comprehend the reason still. "I have friends who have been circumcised like me but have a high sex drive. On the other hand, she admits to "frigidity" in bed.

"The thought of snipping off a bit of a young child’s clitoris gives me the goosebumps," said 37-year-old uncircumcised Amena Ali. She refuses to put her two daughters, aged six and eight - considered the right age band for circumcision - under the blade.

The petition, put up last October, has opened an animated forum for discussion on both sides of the border, perhaps for the very first time, within the community on a subject that was taboo.

"Initially, only the non-Bohras were signing, but once the media got into the act, many women from the community openly began talking about their painful experience," Tasleem told IPS in an email exchange from India.

So far, Tasleem has been able to collect 1,059 signatures. "I will keep this going till Dr. Syedna bans it. Raising awareness is the first step towards solving the problem."

"Whether the ritual will be abolished by this petition, only time will tell," says Zainab Hussain, 49, but she feels the petition will make a difference. "They (community leaders) may eventually break their silence and give a plausible answer."
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Bohra women go online to fight circumcision trauma

Even after 17 years, Nasreen (name changed) vividly remembers the dilapidated room in Bhendi Bazaar’s Bohri Mohalla where she was made to lie down while her mother and aunt held her arms and legs. A local mullani, an aged woman from the community, pulled out a blade and performed the
‘khatna’ or female circumcision on Nasreen, who was then seven years old. The practice is considered a rite of passage for Bohra women, who are made to undergo the genital mutilation even today.

“I still remember the searing pain that lasted for several days,” said Nasreen, 24, who is now a housewife. “I was so angry with my mother for letting this happen to me but she was convinced it was the right thing to do.”

Nasreen said she would not put her daughter through the trauma and has signed an online petition launched by Mumbai-based activist Tasleem (last name withheld) to stop khatna. (link)

Tasleem plans to submit the petition to the Bohra high priest Dr Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin.

The petition has so far received 318 signatures and has sparked a debate in the close-knit community. “I have gone through the horror and every time I read an article about it, it brings back terrible memories of the day. Female circumcision is wrong and a very inhuman ritual,” writes Zarine Lakdawala on the web page.

Despite sending seven emails, several text messages and calls, and visiting Badri Mahal, administrative wing of the Bohra community, community officials refused to comment. “We refuse to comment on this issue,” said Sheik Abdeali Bhanpurawala, who is part of Badri Mahal’s public relation office.

Tasleem said “About 90% of the women in the community are made to undergo this brutal cut.”

Several Bohra women spoke to HT recounting the horror. For Farzana (name changed), 22, who was circumcised at the age of nine, the 30-second act left a grave scar. “It took me more than three months to urinate without having tears in my eyes. Even today, the pain erupts during menstruation,” said Farzana, a Lokhandwala resident.

According to community women, the ritual is carried out during the summer vacation as the wound usually takes a month to heal.

In the case of Razia (name changed), 27, her parents vehemently opposed the practice, angering relatives. “While on the one hand, the community is progressive because it allows women to study and work, on the other, such barbaric acts continue to persist,” said Razia.

According to Asghar Ali Engineer, a Bohra reformist and activist, “The custom has African roots and no other Muslim sect permits it.”

The practice has its supporters too. “As per the Bohra Shariat (law), female circumcision is mandatory. We do not want to question the Syedna’s preaching. We believe in his interpretation of the Quran,” said Mustafa Attarwala, a Dawoodi Bohra scholar. “We are not really concerned about online campaigns to ban the practice. It will not affect the community’s beliefs,” he added.

Nasreen Pardiwalas wrote on the online petition web page that it was “unfair” to question the Syedna’s words. “There is a big difference between modernity and rebellion. People assume that standing up against age-old community rituals is a sign of being modern,” said Pardiwala.

“Personally, I have been through the process. I will even make my daughters undergo it. The pain is tolerable and has strengthened my relationship with my husband,” she wrote.

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Sectarian hostility lies beneath hajj spirit, pilgrims say

As more than a billion Muslims around the world celebrated Eid today, the millions who had made the trip to Saudi Arabia continued with their hajj rituals, throwing pebbles at vast pillars, shaving their heads and sacrificing animals. But the festival's display of unity masks divisions inIslam, including hostility to t he Shia Muslim minority who undertake the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Shia Muslims number 200 million and are the second largest denomination in the faith. Many perform the hajj, and they also travel to Iran, Iraq and beyond to visit holy sites.

In Mina, Saudi Arabia, hundreds of Shias have travelled from Britain to perform the hajj. Among them is Mohammed al-Hilli, who says he has "been called a heretic and a nonbeliever" and thinks some of the attitudes stem from Saudi preachers advocating hostility towards Shia Muslims.

He said there have been many incidents where the religious police, the mutaween, have victimised Shias, and said they had disrupted the group's prayer meetings in the Grand Mosque in Mecca.

Another member of his group, Riaz Esmail, is on his ninth hajj. "I would say that attitudes in Mecca towards Shias are better than they are in Medina," he said. "There are a large concentration of Shias in the east of the country and that is a source of tension for the Saudis."

Pilgrims from Britain are required to state which sect they belong to on their visa application. Esmail had no objection to this, as long as it was being used for the right purposes: "If it's being used to single me out then that's quite unfair. Sometimes when the religious police see us they say that what we are doing is bid'ah [an innovation deemed sinful]."

He said that on past visits to Medina, home to Mohammed's grave and another important destination for pilgrims, he had been spat on. "It is very sad that Muslims should treat each other this way."

Shia Muslims believe Muhammad's family and certain individuals among his descendants, known as imams, have spiritual and political authority over the community. They also hold that Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, was the first of these leaders and therefore Muhammad's rightful successor. Questions of leadership and different religious practices are the main sources of friction between the two denominations.

Al-Hilli said he had not encountered outright hostility or prejudice in Mecca, but was alarmed about the situation in Medina, which is home to the graves of four out of 12 Shia imams.

In the past, some Shia Muslims have felt unable to visit the graves of the imams, saying the mutaween stood guard to discourage them. Last year the government cordoned off the area entirely. Now it is open twice a day – to men only.

Al-Hilli said: "Women feel disadvantaged. It is very sad and brings tears to my eyes. No other place on earth has the graves of so many revered individuals from our tradition. I do not feel I can go there comfortably, there is always tension, pressure and harassment."

Many Shia, when performing prayers during the hajj, will follow Sunni practices rather than their own, which include a different call to prayer, a different form of ablution, and combining prayers, worshipping three times a day instead of five. Despite the reported divisions, yesterday the customs of hajj continued. Shaving the head, or halq, is a fundamental act for all male pilgrims.

The slaughter of an animal – qurbani – marks Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael at Allah's command. Saudi Arabia's ministry of Hajj proudly announced earlier this month that more than 100,000 Somali sheep were on hand to cover the high demand for sacrificial animals, adding to the 400,000 waiting in Jeddah and the extra million already being imported.

The casting of stones sees pilgrims re-enact Abraham's rejection of the devil. According to Islamic tradition Abraham was on his way to sacrifice his son Ishmael at Allah's request when he was tempted by the devil on three occasions. Each time the prophet threw stones to drive him away.

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