Re: Fitra

[Hajj abujamal]

Salaam!

DKleinecke wrote:

> Do Muslims today "pluck the hair under the armpits" or "shave the
> pubes"?

We generally shave both.

> Do they prefer the tooth-stick to a modern toothbrush?

Absolutely. The root of the 'araq tree contains within its fibers
a natural dentrifice that is not abrasive, kills bacteria, and does
not degrade the enamel of the teeth; and fresh root is spicy.

> The rest seem to be matters of personal taste and I have no pesonal
> interest in them.

Or perhaps you simply do not know what manner of personal interest
you might have in them ...

was-salaam,
abujamal
--
astaghfirullahal-ladhee laa ilaha illa
howal-hayyul-qayyoom wa 'atoobu 'ilaihi

Rejoice, muslims, in martyrdom without fighting,
a Mercy for us. Be like the better son of Adam.

[DKleinecke]

I was reading Sahih Muslim (translation of Abdul Hamid Siddiqui) and
encountered the part of his second book which covers "fitra". It
appears that "fitra", as used by Muslim, means personal care.

The strongest statement Muslim reports is number 502 in Siddiqui's
translation. Here is the entire matn of the hadith:

"Ten are the acts according to fitra: clipping the moustache, letting
the beard grow, using the tooth-stick, snuffing water in the nose,
cutting the nails, washing the finger joints, plucking the hair under
the armpits, shaving the pubes and cleaning one's private parts with
water. The narrator said: I have forgotten the tenth, but it may have
been rinsing the mouth."

At least one of these is quite uncontroversial - cutting the nails.
Lately letting the beard grow has become politically fraught. I am
curious about some of the others:

Do Muslims today "pluck the hair under the armpits" or "shave the

pubes"? Do they prefer the tooth-stick to a modern toothbrush? The

rest seem to be matters of personal taste and I have no pesonal
interest in them.

A couple of the other versions of this mention circumcision. I know
female circumcision is a very controversial subject, but what I do not
know is whether male circumcision is practiced everywhere in Islam.
Is it? Male circumcision is, of course, widely practiced outside Islam
so this is not a very important question.