Violating a Woman right in the name of Culture or Religion?

Certain violations of Muslim women rights are cultural practices and not religious say UK based social service agencies

With a large African and Asian community that practice FGM and forced marriages, the uneducated practices are evident in Europe.

Forced marriage and honour killings are evident in the Muslim community but, director of London-based Asian Family Counselling Services, Kulbir Randhawa said: “It is not the faith but culture.”

Mrs. Randhawa said: “Sometimes they have had threats from their parents because the fact you don’t want to get married to whom ever. They [the parents] think that you must have a boyfriend even if you might not have one.”

Asian Family Counselling Services say that the average age of Asian girls threatened are between the ages of 17 to 23.

Often they have to deal with individual cases and work hand in hand with the Home office in training police officers.

“However we haven’t done much with the mosque,” said Mrs. Randhawa

Forward UK has urged the London Central Mosque to issue a Fatwa about FGM in order to stir Muslims from practising Female Genital Mutilation.

A practice confined largely to Sub-Saharan Africa and is practiced in dominant Islamic cultures such as Somali and Sudanese.

“It is a wrong interpretation of the Hadith of Umm Atiyyah,” said Community developer officer of Forward UK, Khalda El Hafiz

Patriarchy is a common thread amongst such communities however Forward work to bring awareness to the practising communities.

Mrs. El Hafiz said: “They keep silent [African men] because they think it is a women’s issue and don’t want to interfere. At the same I guess it is a way of controlling their sexuality”

According to Central London Mosque, FGM predates Christianity, Judaism and Islam and is not required in the faith.