Sudanese Liberals Discuss Feminism and Female Genital Mutilation

Sudan TV hosted a debate on women's rights in which participated Chairman of the Islamic Educational Association Muhammad Al-Ghabshawi and Nazer Muhammad 'Othman who runs an internet forum. The following are excerpts:

Muhammad Al-Ghabshawi Chairman, Islamic Educational Association:This movement [feminism] was greatly influenced by Jewish concepts. For instance, the concept of "me and the gentiles." The Jews emphasize that they are different from other human beings. The perception of modern femininity is in line with this concept. I mean, it is the secular manifestation of the distorted Jewish religious conceptions. They see the female as something entirely different from the man. They have nothing in common. This movement wants to transcend all human inherent characteristics. For instance, encouraging women to lesbianism. I hope the viewers forgive me for bringing up the subject of relationships between women. This is not done for the sake of lesbianism per se. Yes, it is one of the goals. But the basic aim is that women reach complete liberation from man's control. This is according to their concepts.

This movement even attacked the language. For instance, they say that the English word "history," is biased toward men because it begins with "his." They want to create a parallel term to this and they began saying "herstory." They have become that extreme.

Nazar Muhammad Othman, Internet Forum Manager: The issue of female circumcision has been the subject of much debate, which, in my opinion, doesn't help us. They don't differentiate between the Sunni circumcision, which is permitted by hadiths and by Islamic schools of thought, and it has not been proved that it causes any damage whatsoever. They don't differentiate between this circumcision and the Pharaohnic circumcision. They want to ban it altogether. This cannot be a solution. You cannot keep me away from my faith and say that this is the solution.