Cleric’s remarks on female ‘hypersexuality’ spur imam to resign
An imam from one of the nation’s largest mosques has resigned over a controversy that erupted over another imam’s endorsement of female circumcision, highlighting divisions between Muslim leaders in the U.S.
Johari Abdul-Malik, outreach coordinator at Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque in Falls Church, Va., announced his resignation Friday. He cited “the lack of decisive leadership” from the mosque’s board and “many reprehensible statements” by the mosque’s senior imam, Shaker Elsayed.
Elsayed’s comments that appeared to endorse female genital mutilation during a lecture on child rearing and family life last month was circulated by a rightwing watchdog group. In his lecture, Elsayed spoke of cutting “the tip of the sexually sensitive part of the girl so that she is not hypersexually active.”
Abdul-Malik and 20 other Muslim leaders, including prominent activist Linda Sarsour, released a statement Monday calling on the board to fire Elsayed.
“We cannot and will not stand for any Imam or Muslim leader who endorses human rights abuses antithetical to our beautiful faith,” they said.
Calls to Abdul-Malik were not immediately returned Friday. Calls to Elsayed were also not returned.
Earlier this week, the mosque’s board of directors condemned Elsayed’s comments, saying his comments broke both U.S. and Islamic law.
FGM is a common practice among some Muslim and Christian populations in Africa and in Asia. The specifics of the procedure can vary.
The World Health Organization considers FGM a human rights violation, saying it can lead to infections, hemorrhaging, childbirth complications and death. It is a federal crime in the U.S., and a federal case recently sparked calls for stricter penalties.
In his lecture, Elsayed warned about the dangers of more serious forms of the procedure but advised congregants to seek the advice of a Muslim gynecologist to see whether minimal action was necessary. He also warned that “in societies where circumcision of girls is completely prohibited, hypersexuality takes over the entire society, and a woman is not satisfied with one person or two or three.”
The mosque’s board of directors said that it rejected Elsayed’s opinion, and that FGM is “prohibited in Islam as well as the laws of the land.” The statement also included a retraction from Elsayed saying he regretted his comments on “hypersexuality.” However, Abdul-Malik wrote Friday that the board was proceeding in a direction he disapproves of.
Abdul-Malik was brought in to help with the image of the mosque, which has about 3,000 regular congregants and came under scrutiny after the 9/11 attacks. The mosque was then receiving a lot of attention because two Sept. 11 hijackers once worshiped there.
The Virginia mosque congregation felt it needed a Muslim who grew up in the United States and who spoke English, so they brought in Abdul-Malik.
He grew up in Brooklyn, where he and his family worshiped in Episcopal churches. He converted to Islam as a graduate student at Howard University in the early 1980s and served as Howard’s first volunteer Muslim chaplain.