You mentioned once the topic of circumcision and the difference between men and women

The questioner : In your time, you mentioned the topic of circumcision and the difference between men and women, and you also mentioned that there is a difference between women in hot countries and women in cold countries; do you, may your excellence be preserved, base this on a scientific principle in this matter?

The Shaykh : Of course, we convey what the scholars establish first in the books of Islamic jurisprudence, and the doctors also in their anatomical studies.

The questioner : I mean, by scientific principle, I intended doctors and biologists; is this accurate, or is there a difference between them?

The Shaykh : I—may Allah bless you—think that I have answered your question. First, I said that the jurists mention this, and second, the doctors mention this fact in their anatomical studies. This is a matter that has been studied in the recent era in scientific medical journals in Cairo, including religious journals that transmitted this fact from scientific medical books, which I have clarified. Among them, formerly, was the magazine "Nur al-Islam" (Light of Islam), which was published from al-Azhar, and then it began to be published under the title "Nur al-Islam"; so these are known facts from the scientific medical aspects. And we do not say anything, of course, except with knowledge. But it is not hidden from you that I am not a doctor, and even if I were a doctor, I am not an anatomist. A person may be an internist and know nothing about anatomy, and vice versa. Sciences are specializations, and it is obligatory for every scholar to specialize in a science and then benefit from the specialists in other sciences. My concern here, regarding what I said about distinguishing between women in hot countries in this same topic and women in cold countries, is that I am a transmitter and not a scholar. No one among people, no matter how more complete than me, can be other than like me; that is, any person. A man may have knowledge of grammar but no knowledge of exegesis, no knowledge of hadith, no knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence. So what is his obligation? If he speaks about Islamic jurisprudence, he should say: "I heard such and such a matter." He speaks about hadith in the same way, and so on. Because these are matters of specialization. And Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: . This is my answer. And above every one who has knowledge is the All-Knowing. So if you have something to benefit us in this particular matter, you are welcome and at ease.