Is Female Circumcision only a bad old Arabic Tradition?

Not at all, following Shariah...it is obligatory

Muslims often assert that CIRCUMCISION is not at all anchored into Islam, and that it survives only because of bad old tribal traditions.

Besides the fact that we are told from Muslims that Islam is so perfect to pervade all aspects of life, they have to expalin us how such traditions could survive if they were so much at odds with Islam.

Moreover, Islam is part (and corroborates) Arabic culture, so of course, circumcision must be at least more or less in line with Islam.

Let's give a look how far it is anchored into the divine Islamic law.

The practice of male or female circumcision comes from the Hadith, Shariahh and the consensus of Islamic communities.

The Hadith
Narrated Umm Atiyyah al-Ansariyyah: A woman used to perform circumcision in Medina. The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said to her: Do not cut severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband. (Sunan Abu-Dawud: book 41, number 5251, Hasan)

The Shariahh
The following reference to Shariahh comes from Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, Reliance of the Traveller - A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law (the shafi school of jurisprudence, one of the four accepted).. This book comes with the approval al-Azhar University.

As translated in the book:
Circumcision is obligatory (O: for both men and women. For men is consists of removing the prepuce from the penis, and for women, removing the prepuce (Ar. bazr) of the clitoris (n: not the clitoris itself, as some mistakenly assert). (A: Hanbalis hold that circumcision of women is not obligatory but sunna, while Hanafis consider it a mere courtesy to the husband.) (p. 59)

What the Arabic actually says:
Circumcision is obligatory (for every male and female) by cutting off the piece of skin on the glans of the penis of the male, but circumcision of the female is by cutting out the clitoris (this is called khufaad).

It is interesting to notice how this translator has softened the Arabic to make it more acceptable to a Western reader. However, the fact remains that female circumcision is Shariahh law for several of the main Sunni schools.Female circumcision is practiced in many Islamic countries, for example, Egpyt, Sudan, Iraq and Somalia.

FURTHER READING
The Place of Women in Pure Islam by P. Newton.

REFERENCES
Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, Reliance of the Traveller - A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law (Translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller) Maryland, U.S.A.: Amana Publications, 1994.

IHS