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By Amadou Jadama
A vocal defender of female circumcision, Imam Abdoulie Fatty, has called for a social and economic boycott of all those campaigning against the practice.
Delivering the sermon at the Friday congregational prayers at Masjid Zubair in New Jeshwang, Fatty said Gambians who are concerned about the purity of their faith should stop dealing with anti-FGM campaigners in the villages and settlements across the country.
He called on his supporters to stop patronising their businesses, attending their weddings, naming ceremonies, and funerals.
He ranted: “Anyone who denies what is recommended and accepted in Islam, is a kafirr (disbeliever) and campaign group Gamcotrap are kafirrs. They are turning our Muslim children including ourselves into disbelievers going against Allah and His Prophet…”
The Saudi-trained cleric claimed prominent Islamic scholars like Imam Malik, Imam Ahmad, Imam Hanifa decreed that female circumcision is Islamic. He also named countries that accepted that FGM is Islamic.
Fatty said the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America and the National Centre of Islamic Affairs of Malaysia among others have declared that female circumcision is obligatory on Muslim women
The imam challenged Gamcotrap to release a list of girls who died after being circumcised.
He called on Muslim youths associations in the country to launch a petition campaign for the repeal of the 2015 Women’s Act that criminalised FGM.
Imam Fatty has been engaged in a public spar with anti-FGM campaigners over the past fortnight after his association paid the fines of three women sentenced for carrying out FGM in Niani Bakadagi in Central River Region.
