ختان
Khitān
Male circumcision is a practice that most Muslim jurists treat as required or strongly recommended; the Quran does not mention it, and female cutting is not required.
What it means
A hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari lists circumcision among the acts of fiṭra, the natural way. The schools differ: the Shafi’is and Hanbalis call it obligatory for men, the Hanafis and Malikis a tradition. Jews and Muslims share the practice, which goes back to Abraham.
Often misunderstood as
That Islam requires female genital mutilation.
What the sources say
The Quran says nothing of female cutting. A report supporting it in Abu Dawud is graded weak, and the practice is cultural: it is found among some Muslim and Christian communities in Africa and not in most of the Muslim world. Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta and Al-Azhar scholars issued rulings in 2007 that it is forbidden, because it harms women, and many other scholars have followed.