Is Circumcision Essential for Conversion to Islam? Hi. As a person who is starting out on the road of conversion to Islam I have come up on a stumbling block. It is to do with circumcision, as a child I was never circumcised and thus to this day am not. What I would like to know is do I have to have a circumcision performed as the prospect of it is more than a little scary to me. Thanks for your time and help. Yours faithfully, James Walker, England Reply According to the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh), every Muslim male child should be circumcised. Thus, it has been a consistent tradition among the Muslims to circumcise their male offspring. As far as the circumcision of a grown up convert to Islam is concerned, it is not obligatory. A person may, by his own will, get himself circumcised to earn the pleasure of God and His reward in the hereafter, but such circumcision is not essential. Ibn Abd al-Burr, in his book Al-Tamheed has written: It has been narrated from Hasan that he allowed old converts to Islam relaxation in getting themselves circumcised. He did not see any harm in their being uncircumcised. He did not see anything wrong with their being called as witnesses or their slaughtering animals or their going for a pilgrimage [of Ka`bah ] or their offering prayers [1] . The general Muslim scholars are also of the same opinion. They do not see anything wrong with their slaughters. The above citation should evidence the fact that, generally, Muslim scholars do not hold the circumcision of a grown up convert Muslim to be obligatory. Regards, Moiz Amjad [1] i.e. he considered them to be complete Muslims even if they were not circumcised.