https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_genital_mutilation
Religion
Further information: Religious views on female genital mutilation
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Keur Simbara, Senegal, abandoned FGM in 1998 after a three-year programme by Tostan.[131]
Surveys have shown a widespread belief, particularly in Mali, Mauritania, Guinea and Egypt, that FGM is a religious requirement.[132] Gruenbaum has argued that practitioners may not distinguish between religion, tradition and chastity, making it difficult to interpret the data.[133]
FGM's origins in northeastern Africa are pre-Islamic, but the practice became associated with Islam because of that religion's focus on female chastity and seclusion.[p] There is no mention of it in the Quran. It is praised in several hadith (sayings attributed to Muhammad) as noble but not required.[q][136] In 2007 the Al-Azhar Supreme Council of Islamic Research in Cairo ruled that FGM had "no basis in core Islamic law or any of its partial provisions".[137][r]
There is no mention of FGM in the Bible.[139] Christian missionaries in Africa were among the first to object to FGM,[140] but Christian communities in Africa do practise it. A 2013 UNICEF report identified 17 African countries in which at least 10 percent of Christian women and girls aged 15 to 49 had undergone FGM; in Niger 55 percent of Christian women and girls had experienced it, compared with two percent of their Muslim counterparts.[141] The only Jewish group known to have practised it are the Beta Israel of Ethiopia. Judaism requires male circumcision, but does not allow FGM.[142] FGM is also practised by animist groups, particularly in Guinea and Mali.
http://www.unfpa.org/resources/female-genital-mutilation-fgm-frequently-asked-questions
Is FGM required by certain religions?
No religion promotes or condones FGM. Still, more than half of girls and women in four out of 14 countries where data is available saw FGM as a religious requirement. And although FGM is often perceived as being connected to Islam, perhaps because it is practiced among many Muslim groups, not all Islamic groups practice FGM, and many non-Islamic groups do, including some Christians, Ethiopian Jews, and followers of certain traditional African religions.
FGM is thus a cultural rather than a religious practice. In fact, many religious leaders have denounced (clip)
What is the link between FGM and ethnicity?
Ethnicity is the most significant factor in FGM prevalence, cutting across socio-economic class and level of education. Members of certain ethnic groups often adhere to the same social norms, including whether or not to practice FGM, regardless of where they live. The FGM prevalence among ethnic Somalis living in Kenya, for example, at 94 per cent, is similar to the prevalence in Somalia, and far higher than the Kenyan national average of 21 per cent, according to the most recent information available.
But there are exceptions. In Senegal, for example, there are major variations in FGM prevalence among Mandingue women, depending on where they live – 55 per cent in urban areas versus 84 per cent in rural areas. Similarly, FGM prevalence among the Poular ranges from 41 per cent in urban areas to 56 per cent in rural areas.
- See more at:
http://www.unfpa.org/resources/female-genital-mutilation-fgm-frequently-asked-questions#sthash.KNuDroeu.dpuf
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