Among the Sunan of the fitrah (primordial human nature) he writes in his marginal note: “The ḥadiths that command the circumcision of women are weak; none of them is authentic.”
I say: This is not an absolute judgment, for an authentic report exists in which the Prophet ﷺ said to one of the female circumcisers of Madinah: “Trim, but do not overdo it, for that makes the face brighter and is more pleasing to the husband.” Abū Dāwūd, al-Bazzār, al-Ṭabarānī, and others transmitted it, and it possesses several routes and supporting narrations from a number of Companions. I traced them in full in al-Ṣaḥīḥah 2/353–358, with a level of detail rarely found elsewhere, and demonstrated there that female circumcision was known to the early generations, contrary to the view of those unfamiliar with the transmitted reports.
Further corroboration comes from the well-known ḥadith: “When the two circumcised parts meet, a ritual bath becomes obligatory,” cited in Irwāʾ, no. 80. Imām Aḥmad (may Allah have mercy on him) said, “This proves that women were indeed circumcised.” See Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd fī Aḥkām al-Mawlūd, p. 64 (Indian edition).
He then remarks concerning circumcision: “No specific time has been prescribed for it, nor anything that shows it to be obligatory.”
I reply: With respect to timing, two ḥadiths have been reported.
- From Jābir: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ offered the ʿaqīqah for al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn and circumcised them on the seventh day. Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it in al-Muʿjam al-Ṣaghīr, p. 185, with a chain whose transmitters are trustworthy, though it includes Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Sarī al-ʿAsqalānī—whose retention has been critiqued—and al-Walīd ibn… [text continues].