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Khitan (Arabic: ختان) or Khatna (Arabic: ختنة) is the term for male and female circumcision carried out as an Islamic rite by Muslims. Male circumcision is widespread in Islam and accepted as established practice by all Islamic schools of jurisprudence. It is considered a sign of belonging to the wider Islamic community. Views on female circumcision are very disparate and significantly fewer Muslim schools regard it as a religious requirement. Khitan, in some of parts of the world, including Indonesia and Malaysia, may also refer to the female genital mutilation (properly khafḍ).
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Islamic male circumcision is analogous but not identical to Jewish circumcision. Islam is currently the largest single religious group in which the practice is widespread, and although circumcision is not mentioned in the Qur'an itself, it is mentioned in a hadith and the sunnah. Whether or not it should be carried out after converting to Islam is debated among Islamic scholars.
Time for circumcision
Islamic sources do not fix a particular time for circumcision. It depends on family, region and country. A majority of Ulema however take the view that parents should get their child circumcised before the age of ten. The preferred age is usually seven although some Muslims are circumcised as early as on the seventh day after birth and as late as at the commencement of puberty.
Procedure
Whereas Jewish circumcision is closely bound by ritual timing and tradition, in Islam there is no fixed age for circumcision. The age when boys get circumcised, and the procedures used, tend to change across cultures, families, and time. In some Islamic countries, circumcision is performed on Muslim boys after they have learned to recite the whole Qur'an from start to finish. In Malaysia and other regions, the boy usually undergoes the operation between the ages of ten and twelve, and is thus a puberty rite, serving to introduce him into the new status of an adult. The procedure is sometimes semi-public, accompanied with music, special foods, and much festivity.
There is no equivalent of a Jewish mohel in Islam. Circumcisions are usually carried out in a clinic or hospital. The circumciser is not required to be a Muslim. The position of the scar is usually neither fully "low" nor fully "high", and the skin left is rather loose. However, due to a relatively secular approach to circumcision in the Muslim world, the "styles" of the Islamic circumcision vary on every individual, and change in the light on new medical knowledge.
Celebrations
In Indonesia, after a child is circumcised, there is a feast called Perayaan Sunatan, but some ulemas in Indonesia say this is bid‘ah whereas most of them say it is not. In Turkey also widely celebrated and called "Sunnet Toreni" "Sunnet mevludu".
Female Circumcision
Khafḍ or k̲h̲ifāḍ, is the Arabic word for circumcision usually used for women rather than men. It is also referred to as khitān for both sexes. Today the word is used to mean any of the forms of female genital mutilation from Type 1a to Type 4. In many communities of the world, khafd is a rite of passage and refers to excision of the female genitalia. There are 4 types of FGM that range from the least severe partial removal of the prepuce skin over the clitoris to very severe excision and infibulation procedures. Over 125 million women, primarily in Africa, Middle East and Parts of Southeast Asia and South Asia are currently known to have undergone FGM, with Egypt recording the highest number of khafd women in the world.
Women who have undergone the procedure report serious problems including chronic pain, genital sores, bleeding, as well as fear of intimacy. It is reportedly often carried out in unhygienic conditions and without anesthesia, creating a risk of infection and tetanus, as well as psychological trauma.