A practice rooted in religion and tradition

The institution of circumcision dating from the time of Abraham [Hazrat Ibrahim, pbuh]; according to Fatwa i Alamgiri, is recommended to be performed upon a Muslim boy under specified age varying between seven days after his birth and seven to twelve years of his age. It was enjoined in the Torah, on all male Hebrews on the eighth day after birth. It is widespread in Muslim world as it is practised by all the Muslims on all male children.

In olden days in Indian subcontinent, the barbers were employed by the parents for performing operation of circumcision on their little boys. As the years passed, the job of circumcising boys began to be performed by skilled experts of medical field. With introduction of modern healthcare system from late nineteenth century, followed by its progression in second half of the twentieth century in the valley, the professional surgeons and paramedical staff took the job of performing circumcision of Muslim boys which dispensed with traditional method of barbers’ circumcising the Muslim male boys. The business of removing foreskin of the head of the penis of a boy is called Khitanat or Khattani and the operation is called Khutna. Khutna has Arabic-Persian root. In Arabic, circumcision is called Khitan or Khitanah or Khatnah . In the Indian subcontinent, ‘usually in the seventh year, a Muslim child was circumcised and the occasion was celebrated with great rejoicings and entertainments, according to the means of a family’.

Among Kashmiris, circumcision is Khutneh and the procedure of doing it is called Khutneh Karun or Khatanhal, that is, to circumcise a boy.  In rural Kashmir, it was also called Sonat Karun, to follow the Prophetic Sunnah, and Beh’navun, that is, to make the little boy sit, calm down, on a seat for the operation of circumcision, Khutna. Till the recent past, the ceremony of circumcision was celebrated like a mini-wedding in Kashmiri Muslim homes. It was customary to make preparations for the occasion by sweeping the rooms and smearing or whitewashing the walls of the house with mixture of water and Huir-Mitch ( a special light green clay found in hills) with a Livan-Hur ( a piece of cloth used like a painter's swob or brush). After consulting family Pir, a local barber, Naid in Kashmiri, was called to home for the procedure of circumcision. Till the start of second half of the last century, barber was an important social character in Kashmirian society who discharged several functions - head-shaver, beard-dresser, matrimonial-middleman, verbal-news-carrier, leech-applier, Mahlam e Gor, preparing and selling plaster or ointments, called mahlam, for dressing of wounds, and he also shaved and dressed the bridegrooms on the occasion of weddings. Kashmiri Naid was originally a sort of mobile socio-cultural business who visited the customers’ homes for the services but from the twentieth century, the barbers began setting up their permanent shops in the city and some towns of the valley and began to be called hair-dressers and salons.  ‘Hajams’ came to be also called as “Hakeem” and “Khalifa”. It is said that in 1960s, the association of the barbers of the city was named “Anjuman i Khalifas’.

A convivial meeting of relatives and neighbours was held at the boy’s parental home where the little boy was garlanded and dressed like a bridegroom in Kurta Shalwar with kid’s turban or headgear, and he was made to sit on an upside down willow-basket [phut] under which a rooster was kept. The barber with his traditional tools would then perform the operation. The barber was given a good Bakhshish [remuneration] for the service. The boy who cried during the operation was quietened by the parents and the relatives by fondling and caressing his  hands and putting candy in his mouth. Before circumcision, it is said, that the boy was taken in a little procession on a horseback by the relatives and neighbours to a nearby masjid. If the boy was a sniveling, too much crying toddler, his maternal uncle or elder brother would hold him in his lap on the horseback. In Kashmiri, the circumcise boy is called Sonat-maharaze, following the Prophetic Precept, and Khatan-hoj-maharaze, literally bridegroom of circumcision ceremony. The Khatan-hoj-maharaze was also taken to a local shrine in rural Kashmir on a horseback by the kith and kin of the family where the Molvi Sahab would receive them and recite some Kalimat. After circumcision, the boy was made to sit on a soft decorated Masnad, cushion seat. A great feast [ saal] was served to the guests by the parents of the boy. The ladies would sing traditional folk songs, Wanwun. The boy was the hero of the circumcision ceremony on whom circumcision was performed. According to financial position, the parents of the circumcised boy celebrated the occasion of Khutna or Khatanhal  of the boy with the same fervour and gaiety which was seen on the wedding ceremonies in Kashmiri families. A feast was served to the guests on the Khutna ceremony by the boy’s parents. There may not be such fervour seen anymore now on the occasions of Khutna or Khatanhal ceremonies in Kashmirian community but the ceremony is definitely performed till date being an essential part of Islamic traditions.

Some quacks till recent years also performed circumcision without proper training and surgical techniques which gave birth to circumcision mishaps only but by now the practice by quacks does not seem to exist, anymore in the valley. Khutna is performed by skilled paramedical and medical staff in all towns, tehsils and the districts. In Kashmir, the name of Late [Ghulam] Mohammad Sheikh who had worked as ‘Helper’ with renowned medical doctors in particular Dr. Pishin , at erstwhile National Hospital [presently Sheikh ul Alam Hospital], Karan Nagar Srinagar, was a famous Khattan of his time. Mohammad Sheikh of Kani Kadal Srinagar was a household name in the city and beyond who must have circumcised countless boys in his life time from second half of the last century till his death, as reported to this author by the neighbours of the locality and elders.

 Idiom:

There is a well known Kashmiri idiom in which the term Beh’navun is used to describe the level where jealousy drives men. It goes like this:  Pitir Hasde Chak Kor Beh’navmich. Literally, it connotes that out of jealousy, a paternal uncle’s family has made their daughter sit on the masnad of Khatan-hoj-maharaze. Its background is that in olden times, there were two brothers. To the wife of the one, a daughter was born while to the second brother’s wife, a son was born. The boy was circumcised with celebrations in the family. The family of the other brother did not feel happy about it. They too had aspired for birth of a boy but were gifted with a girl. Feeling extreme jealousy, they imitated the circumcision ceremony at their home. Daughters are the real gifts of God but due to the educational and religious backwardness among the masses, on the birth of girls many in the families would get furrows on their foreheads. Holy Prophet [s a w] has said: ‘beware of Hasad [jealousy] because it consumes your deeds as fire consumes the wood’.

M J Aslam, Historian and Author