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A new Muslim who is afraid of circumcision

حديث الإسلام الذي يخاف الختان

A question about a new Muslim who is afraid of circumcision, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that he is not required to be circumcised if a trustworthy doctor says it would harm him, and if it is only fear it may be postponed until he is at ease and not put off Islam, while keeping the area free of impurity. The Department answered that if this person would be harmed by circumcision, based on the opinion of a trustworthy doctor, he is not required to have it. It said that if it is merely fear of the operation, it may be postponed until he feels at ease with it and is not put off Islam, while taking care to remove impurity from the covered area.

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Summary

A question about a new Muslim who is afraid of circumcision, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that he is not required to be circumcised if a trustworthy doctor says it would harm him, and if it is only fear it may be postponed until he is at ease and not put off Islam, while keeping the area free of impurity. 1

The question

The questioner asked about someone who has recently become Muslim and is afraid of having a circumcision. 1

The answer

The Department answered that if this person would be harmed by circumcision, based on the opinion of a trustworthy doctor, he is not required to have it. 1 It said that if it is merely fear of the operation, it may be postponed until he feels at ease with it and is not put off Islam, while taking care to remove impurity from the covered area. 1

About this record

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 4377, dated 30 March 2026. 1 The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.

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Khitan (circumcision)

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Are the practices of natural disposition (sunan al-fitra) five or ten, and what are they?· Khitan (circumcision)

Sources

  1. Jordan's General Iftaa Department (aliftaa.jo) , fatwa 4377

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islam.museum contributors. “A new Muslim who is afraid of circumcision”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/work/fatwa-aliftaa-jo-a-new-muslim-afraid-of-circumcision/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-01.

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Are the practices of natural disposition (sunan al-fitra) five or ten, and what are they?

A question about reconciling Abu Hurayra's hadith that the practices of natural disposition are five with Aisha's hadith that they are ten, and about listing them all with the ruling on each; IslamQA answered that the number in the hadith is not a limit and its implication is not binding, as al-Nawawi and Ibn Daqiq al-Id say; that Aisha's hadith is disputed as to whether it is traced to the Prophet, Ahmad, al-Nasa'i and al-Daraqutni having faulted it so that the preserved version is a saying of Talq ibn Habib, alongside the hadith of Ammar ibn Yasir in Ahmad and Abu Dawud; and that the practices mentioned in the hadiths total fifteen, as Ibn Hajar says: circumcision, shaving the pubic hair, trimming the nails, plucking the armpits, trimming the moustache, letting the beard grow, the tooth-stick, rinsing the mouth, sniffing water into the nose, expelling it, washing the finger joints, shaving the pubes, cleansing after relieving oneself, sprinkling water, and parting the hair. It then set out the ruling on each: circumcision is obligatory for men and an honour for women according to Ibn Qudama and Ibn Uthaymin, lapsing where death is feared; shaving the pubic hair, trimming the nails, plucking the armpits and trimming the moustache are agreed Sunna practices, though Ibn Hazm, Ibn al-Arabi and Ibn al-Qayyim held trimming obligatory; letting the beard grow is obligatory and shaving it forbidden according to the majority; the tooth-stick is Sunna by consensus; washing the finger joints is recommended; rinsing the mouth and sniffing water are obligatory in ablution according to the Hanbalis and Ibn Taymiyya; expelling the water is Sunna; cleansing after relieving oneself is obligatory according to the majority; sprinkling is recommended for one troubled by doubts; parting the hair is Sunna and better than letting it hang according to Ibn Abd al-Barr; and leaving these practices beyond forty days is disliked according to the Shafi'is and Hanbalis and forbidden according to the Hanafis, a view chosen by al-Shawkani and Ibn Baz.