ABSTRACT
This chapter considers die "closedness" of Islamic northeastern African societies and considers infibulation in this context. Islam, at its inception, and in its evolution, was clearly distinct from the development of the early Christian church and its subsequent evolution. Islam more closely resembled Judaism in that the individual was a "total social personality: one of the 'people'". In Islamic tradition, the entire community carried responsibility for maintaining the cultural tradition. The relation of Islam to women lies in the degree to which all matters relating to women's status have either been directly interpreted from the Koran, or by subsequent legislation. The preservation of family sharaf and karama occurs by means of strict codes of modesty and chastity, the object of which is to protect women from pre- and extramarital sexual intercourse. This protection commences just prior to puberty, when the sexual status and "satr" of women begins.
