2. Satan’s promise - Changing God’s creation

 

And I will misguide them and make them desire, and I will command them so that they will mark the ears of the livestock, and I will command them so they will make change to the creation of God.” Whoever takes the devil as a supporter other than God, then he has indeed lost a great loss. 4:119

 

This verse records a chilling promise made by Satan: to incite humans into altering God's creation. What changes might he be referring to? When people alter the human body as part of a ritual, are they fulfilling divine instructions or someone else's prophecy?

 

 

3. No alteration in God’s creation

 

So set your face to the system of monotheism. It is the inclination that God has nurtured the people on. There is no changing in the creation of God. Such is the pure system, but most of the people do not know. 30:30

 

This verse is often quoted for its clarity: God's design is not to be changed. But when permanent physical alterations are performed on infants, without consent, where does that fall? Are we living this verse, or contradicting it?

4. The Quran: Fully detailed - Did God forget something?

 

Shall I seek other than God as a judge when He has sent down to you the Book fully detailed? 6:114

 

And the word of your Lord is completed with truth and justice; there is no changing His words. 6:115

 

And We have come to them with a Book which We have detailed with knowledge; a guidance and a mercy to those who believe. 7:52

 

Today I have perfected your system for you, and completed My blessings upon you, and I have approved submission as the system for you. 5:3

 

 

 Is it likely that God perfected our system, detailed every key element for life and worship, and yet forgot to mention a ritual that affects every male from birth?

 

 

5. The Words: Khitan and Tahur 

 

It’s worth looking closely at the language. The Arabic word for circumcision is [khitan / ختان]. Despite the significance attributed to it in many cultures, this word does not appear anywhere in the Quran. Not once.

 

Then there’s [tahur / طهور ]. In many cultures; such as Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, Somalia, and parts of North Africa, this word has come to be colloquially associated with circumcision.

But in the Quran, [taharah /طهرة] always refers to spiritual or ritual cleanliness, not the physical alteration of the human body.

 

How did a word used by God to describe inner and ritual purity get redefined into a physical cutting? Should a linguistic shift by human hands override the divine use of language?

6. Who has the right to legislate?

 

What you serve besides Him are nothing except names which you have created, both you and your fathers, God has not sent down any authority for such. The judgment is for none except God. He has ordered that none be served except He. That is the true system, but most of the people do not know.” 12:40

 

Or do they have partners who decree for them a system which has not been authorized by God? And if it were not for the word already given, they would have been judged immediately. Indeed, the transgressors will have a painful retribution. 42:21

 

 

When laws are made without Quranic foundation and enforced as divine, who is truly being followed? What happens when a religious command is attributed to God without any evidence from His Book? Whose words are we obeying?

 

7. Covenants in the Quran - But which ones?

 

Did I not pledge to you, O Children of Adam, that you should not serve the devil for he is your most ardent enemy?” 36:60

 

And We have taken a covenant with you: “You shall not spill the blood of each other, nor drive each other out from your homes.” And you agreed to this while bearing witness. 2:84

 

Then, a generation came after them who inherited the Book, but they take superficiality from it, and they say: “We are going to be forgiven.” And if they are given something that appears similar to it, they take it! Was not the covenant of the Book taken upon them that they would only say the truth about God; and they did study what was in it. And the abode of the Hereafter is better for those who are aware. Do you not comprehend? 7:169

 

And God took the covenant of those who were given the Book: “You will make it clear to the people and not conceal it.” But they placed it behind their backs and purchased with it a cheap price. Miserable indeed is what they have purchased. 3:187

 

And God has taken the covenant of the Children of Israel, and We raised from them twelve representatives. And God said: “I am with you if you hold the Connection, and contribute towards purification, and believe in My messengers, and support them, and lend God a loan of righteousness; then I will cancel your sins and admit you into estates with rivers flowing beneath them. Whoever rejects after this from you, then he has strayed from the path.”5:12

 

 

The Quran mentions several covenants; moral, spiritual, existential. But where is the covenant of circumcision? Despite being a central ritual in many traditions, the Quran is silent on it. Could it be that we’ve inherited a covenant that God never made?

 

8. No Compulsion in Religion - Where is the Choice?

 

There is no compulsion in the system; the proper way has been clarified from the wrong way. Whoever rejects evil, and believes in God, indeed he has taken grasp of the strongest hold that will never break. God is Hearer, Knower. 2:256

 

Religious compulsion is clearly condemned. Yet infant circumcision is performed without consent, under the assumption that it is a religious duty. Where is the choice? Where is the clear path when a child is altered before he can even speak?

 

9. Hadith - And what does the Quran say about following them?

 

Unlike the Quran, which never mentions circumcision, hadith literature includes several references:

 

Narrated Abu Huraira:

I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) saying. "Five practices are characteristics of the Fitra: circumcision, shaving the pubic hair, cutting the moustaches short, clipping the nails, and depilating the hair of the armpits."

Sahih al-Bukhari 5891

 

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Five are the acts quite akin to the Fitra, or five are the acts of Fitra: circumcision, shaving the pubes, cutting the nails, plucking the hair under the armpits and clipping the moustache.

Sahih Muslim 257a

 

These hadiths mention circumcision, but the Quran never does. Nor does it command us to seek a second source of law beside it. Instead, the Quran repeatedly warns against following unauthenticated sayings:

 

These are the revelations of God, We recite them to you with the truth. So, in which narrative [hadith] after God and His revelations do they believe? 45:6

 

Follow what was sent down to you from your Lord, and do not follow besides Him any supporters. Little do you remember! 7:3

 

So in what narrative, after it, will they believe? 77:50

 

 

So why seek rulings outside the Quran? Why follow texts compiled generations later, contradicting the Quran’s clarity? Should sacred rituals be built on hearsay or the unaltered Word of God?