6.85 Circumcision The 'covenant' between God and Abraham (A Quranic perspective)

Circumcision
The 'covenant' between God and Abraham
(A Quranic perspective)

By: A. Muhammad

The aim of this article is not to discuss the advantages or disadvantages of circumcision. Nor is the aim of this article to advocate or discourage any reader from following such a ritual or from abstaining from it. The purpose of this article is merely to verify the truth of the Biblical "Covenant of Circumcision" which is said to have been taken by God from Abraham from a Quranic perspective, as well as examine the origins of this ritual.

⁹ And God said to Abraham: "As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰ This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; ¹¹ and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹² He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. ¹³ He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant." - (Genesis 17:9-14, New King James Version)

The ritual of circumcision is not mentioned in the Quran. Therefore, it is neither an obligation on the followers of the Quran nor a prohibited act. This article aims to determine whether the Quran confirms that such a covenant did actually take place between God and Abraham, or was this covenant an addition that encroached on the Scripture? To verify this matter we need to look into the feasibility, legality, merits and origin of this ritual.

FIRST: The Concept

When we review the covenants and pledges mentioned in the Quran, which God took from various people, we note that they are all related to worshipping God alone, renouncing sin, guarding against Satan, and so on. The following are some examples:

Did I not take a pledge from you, O Children of Adam, that you shall not worship the devil for he is your clear enemy. 36:60

And when We took a covenant from you that you shall not spill one another's blood nor drive one another from your homes; you agreed and bore witness. 2:84

Your Lord brought forth from the Children of Adam, from their backs, their descendants and had them bear witness over themselves, "Am I not your Lord?" They said, "Yes. We bear witness." Thus, you cannot say on the Day of Resurrection, "We were unaware of this." 7:172

Successors came after them who inherited the Scripture. They opted for the material gains of this lower life saying, "It will be forgiven for us." If similar material gains came their way, again they would take it. Was the covenant of the Book not taken from them that they would not say about God except the truth, and they studied what was in it? The abode of the Hereafter is far better for the reverent. Can you not reason? 7:169

All the above covenants and pledges God took from man are all closely connected to the principle reason for which God brought us to this life on earth; that of worshipping God alone:

I have not created the jinn and the humans except to worship Me. 51:56

There has not been any Quranic covenant in which God commanded the human being to cut off part of his flesh/body, which God created in the first place! The 'Circumcision Covenant' thus stands out as an odd one that is not in harmony with the other covenants which are all related to the worship of God.

SECOND: Covenants with the Children of Israel

Besides the covenants mentioned in 36:60, 7:172 which apply to all mankind, God mentions in the Quran covenants which He took specifically from the Children of Israel:

And We took the covenant from the Children of Israel: "You shall not worship except God and treat your parents kindly, as well as the relatives, the orphans and the needy, and speak kindly to the people, and observe the Salat and give the Zakat." But you turned away in aversion, except a few of you. 2:283

God took a covenant from those who received the Scripture: "You shall make it clear to the people, and not conceal it." However, they cast it behind their backs, and traded it away for a cheap price. Miserable indeed was their trade. 3:187

God has taken a covenant from the Children of Israel, and We raised among them twelve chieftains, and God said, "I am with you, so long as you observe the Salat, give the Zakat, believe in My messengers and support them, and lend God a good loan; I will then wipe out your bad deeds and admit you into Gardens with rivers flowing beneath. Anyone among you who disbelieves after this has strayed off the right path." 5:12

We do not see among these covenants which God took from the Children of Israel one that relates to circumcision.

Some may say that some covenants which God took from the Children of Israel do not apply to the receivers of the Quran, thus they do not need to be mentioned in the Quran.

In reply, the Quran tells us about a covenant which God took from the Children of Israel and which does not apply to the receivers of the Quran, yet it is still mentioned in the Quran:

And We raised the mount above them in accordance with their covenant, and We said to them, "Enter the gate in submission," and We said to them, "Do not violate the Sabbath." We took from them a strict covenant. 4:154

THIRD: The Wording

Let us consider the wording of the Biblical covenant in Genesis closely.
The first set of words we need to look at are: "you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations."

These words indicate that the covenant was taken from Abraham and was meant to be kept by Abraham's descendants across all generations to come.

The early Arabs of Arabia, the receivers of the Quran, are the descendants of Abraham through his son Ishmael. Thus, by virtue of the words of the covenant in Genesis, which makes the covenant mandatory on all Abraham's descendants, the receivers of the Quran would also be obliged to keep the same covenant of circumcision.

However, if circumcision is a religious duty on the followers of the Quran, why is this ritual not stated in the Quran? After all, God confirms that the Quran is fully detailed (6:114), and that nothing has been left out of the Book (6:38). If God did indeed take this covenant from Abraham and all his "descendants throughout their generations", it should have also been mentioned in the Quran.

Next we need to look at the following words "the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people".

These words do not seem just or even probable to be from God, the Best Judge and the Most Merciful!

How can an "uncircumcised male child" be held accountable and thus be cut off from his people?

The covenant in Genesis requires every male child who is "eight days old" to be circumcised. This implies that any uncircumcised child who is older than eight days would have broken the covenant, albeit not due to any fault of his, and thus he would be cut off from his people!

Since an infant cannot make a conscious decision, who exactly is the one who fulfils the covenant, the father or the child? If it is the father, why would the uncircumcised child be punished by being cut off from his people? If it is the infant, how can an infant be responsible or accountable to what happens to him when he was 8 days old?

Bearing in mind that the words do not speak of an uncircumcised adult male, who may refuse to be circumcised, but of an uncircumcised "child", this seems without doubt an addition to the Scripture, for God would never cut off a "child" from his people for no fault of his, see 53:39 below.

Such words in the wording of the covenant, which can be seen as slip-ups from whoever added this Covenant to the Scripture, contain strong indications that these words could not be from God.

FOURTH: The Merits

Purpose
Any command from God to man has some wisdom behind in. What would be the wisdom behind the covenant of circumcision?

The immediate question that arises is: How does cutting off part of our flesh increase a man's righteousness or purifies his worship of God? How would a child, eight days old, show his allegiance to God through an act he has no say or awareness of?

As we have seen above, all covenants taken from believers were closely connected to purifying their worship of God.

In addition, what can be the rationale of God creating the human being, then commanding him to cut off part of the body which God Himself created?

Why half the human race only?

If this covenant was for the purpose of showing piety, allegiance and devotion to God, why did God require it only from men and not women? Are only men required to show their piety and sincere worship of God by keeping His covenant, while women are exempt from doing the same?

Accountability and the divine law
When we analyse the merits of the Covenant from the point of view of accountability, once again we meet with irrationality. As we have seen, the wording of the covenant in Genesis states that an uncircumcised child above the age of 8 days would have broken the covenant with God, albeit not due to his own fault, and thus would be cut off from his people.

If God was to cut off this child from his people, as the words state, how would that tie up with the divine law stated in all Scriptures that every man is accountable only to his own work? What is the fault of the child?

Old Testament: 
Also to you O Lord belongs mercy; for you render to each one according to his own work. (Psalms 62:12)

New Testament:
Each one will receive his own reward according to his own labour. (1 Corinthians 3:8)

Quran:The human being will benefit from nothing other than his own work. 53:39

FIFTH: The Origin

According to the Bible, Abraham was the first person to be circumcised; however, hundreds of years before the time of Abraham, the ancient Egyptians were practicing circumcision as a part of their initiation into religious mysteries. The ancient Egyptians were the first known practitioners of circumcision in recorded history. Egyptian gods even performed self-circumcision according to the Egyptian 'Book of the Dead'. Circumcision thus has its origins in paganism.

The custom of circumcision among ancient Egyptians is found on wall carvings, and it seems to have its origin in snake worship, Apep being the ancient Egyptian snake god. The ancient Egyptians believed that when the snake shed its skin, and emerged shiny and new again, it was undergoing rebirth. They reasoned that if, by shedding skin, the snake could become apparently immortal, then humans should follow suit. As a result, they devised the simple equation: snakeskin = foreskin, and the operation began. From there it spread to many Semitic peoples, both Arabs and Jews adopting it and converting it into an act of religious purity. As the centuries passed, it became popular in other regions of the world, sometimes for moral, medical, or hygienic reasons. The origin of the ritual is nevertheless pagan.

SIXTH: Conclusion

From the above analysis, it emerges that the custom of circumcision was an encroachment that somehow filtered into the Old Testament, and that originally had pagan origins. The reasons why this ritual could not be from God far outweighs any considerations for its authenticity.

It can be said that the Jews who practice this custom may be genuinely thinking they are obeying the commands of God in their Scripture. However, no such mitigation can be accepted from Muslims since this custom is totally non existent in the Quran.

The ritual of circumcision is not a one off custom observed by people that has no Scriptural reference, and which has pagan origins. Other religious traditions are observed today by various people, when they have no Scriptural reference.

As an example, is the ritual of Christening/Baptising.

In concept, baptising a child with 'holy water' renders the child to be in acceptance of Jesus as his/her Saviour and grants the child a personal and public identification with Jesus.

Once again we run onto difficulties similar to the ritual of circumcision.

Infants cannot make a conscious decision! Therefore, to baptise a child defeats the whole purpose of the ceremony!

In addition, infant baptism is never taught in the Scriptures.

It turns out that the doctrine of infant baptism is also of pagan origin and has its origins in the Babylonian mysteries. The European pagans either sprinkled their newborns or immersed them, and to this day the 'holy water' used for baptism in some circles is prepared according to the pagan custom of plunging a torch from the altar into the water.