When Joe Rogan platformed Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s claims about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) being an Islamic practice, it repeated a debunked narrative that has been weaponized against Muslims for years. This episode provides a fact-based Muslim response, dismantling the myth with historical evidence, statistics, and a powerful open letter from Muslim women to Ayaan Hirsi Ali herself — a letter that exposes her as someone who profits from an industry built on dehumanizing Muslim women rather than genuinely advocating for their liberation.
FGM Is a Pre-Islamic African Tribal Practice — Not an Islamic One
“FGM began in Sudan or Egypt around 800 BCE — 800 years before Jesus, peace be upon him. Islam came 600 years after Jesus. This is not something Islam introduced. It is a tribal practice, and Christians in Africa are doing it at even higher rates than Muslims.”
The statistics are devastating to the claim that FGM is Islamic. In Eritrea, a majority-Christian country, FGM rates reach 90%. In Ethiopia, another majority-Christian nation, rates are 75%. In Niger, 55% of Christians practice FGM compared to only 2% of Muslims. Christian missionaries in Africa tried to stop the practice by threatening excommunication — and the communities continued it anyway, proving it is a deeply entrenched tribal custom that transcends religion. Meanwhile, the vast majority of the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims — from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia to Syria to Lebanon to Palestine — do not practice FGM at all.
- FGM predates Islam by over 1,400 years — it originated approximately 800 BCE in Northeast Africa
- In Niger, Christian FGM rates are 55% while Muslim rates are only 2% — the opposite of what Islamophobes claim
- There are 49 majority-Muslim countries, and the overwhelming majority have no tradition of FGM whatsoever
- Christian missionaries failed to stop FGM through excommunication, proving it is tribal, not religious
- Ayaan Hirsi Ali has been described as an extremist by globally recognized institutions, with her claims debunked repeatedly by academics worldwide
- Muslim women themselves have publicly rejected her narrative, stating she “collapses our plurality into a single convenient stereotype”
A Challenge to Joe Rogan: Bring Muslim Scholars to the Table
“Muslim women told Ayaan Hirsi Ali: ‘You do not speak for us. Your livelihood depends on pretending our histories don’t exist — that we’re simply faceless, nameless victims too stupid to escape our traditions. This is not intellectual. It’s lazy. This hatred you feed puts us in danger every day.'”
The challenge to Joe Rogan and every media personality is simple: if you are going to discuss Islam, bring knowledgeable Muslims to the conversation. Have someone on the show who can fact-check claims in real time rather than allowing one-sided narratives to go unchallenged. Professional objectivity demands hearing both sides. Islam is not something that needs to be defended by outsiders who profit from its demonization — it speaks powerfully for itself when given a fair hearing. The truth is clear for anyone willing to look at it with sincerity, and Muslims will continue to respond to every distortion with facts, patience, and the confidence that comes from standing on truth.
