23.7.2014. (ANSAmed) – BEIRUT – An unverified decree dated Monday in the Islamic State (IS), which extends from Aleppo in Syria to Mosul in Iraq, states that all women in the territory must undergo infibulation, or female genital mutilation.
The decree was allegedly made by the territory’s self-proclaimed “Caliph” Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. The decree bears the insignia of the IS in Aleppo, in the region of Azaz, north of the northern Syrian city.
The text contains a number of typographical errors, and is based on sayings attributed to the Prophet Mohammed.
However, the sources used are not those usually cited to support the prophetic validity of the tradition.
It states that “to protect the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, and in the fear that sin and vice propagate between men and women in our Islamic society, our lord and prince of the faithful Abu Bakr al Baghdadi has decided that in all regions of the Islamic State women must be sewn”.
Earlier this week a woman charged with adultery was reportedly stoned to death in the Syrian city of Raqqa.
A women’s rights summit against female genital mutilation promoted by UNICEF took place Tuesday in London.
The phenomenon, which involves the removal or partial removal of outer parts of female genitalia, is widespread in Egypt and other parts of Africa. It is rooted in conservative traditions but has no basis in Islamic doctrine, according to the highest Sunni theological authority, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar. (ANSAmed).