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Non-therapeutic circumcision is seen as a rite of passage in many African tribal traditions.<refname="Schloss 1988">{{REFbook |last=Schloss, |first=Marc R. '' |init=MR |title=The Hatchet’s Blood: Separation, Power, and Gender in Ehing Social Life.'' |location=Tucson: |publisher={{UNI|University of Arizona|UArizona}} Press, |year=1988. |pages=76-77}}</ref><refname="Heald 1989">{{REFbook |last=Heald, |first=Suzette. '' |init=S |title=Controlling Anger: The Sociology of Gisu Violence.'' |location=Manchester: |publisher={{UNI|Manchester University|UOM}} Press, |year=1989. |page=60}}</ref><ref>{{REFbook |last=Bloch, |first=Maurice. '' |init=M |title=From Blessing to Violence: History and Ideology in the Circumcision Ritual of the Merina of Madagascar.'' |location=Cambridge: |publisher={{UNI|Cambridge University|UCam}} Press, |year=1986.}}</ref><ref>{{REFbook |last=Beidelman, T. O. |init=TO |title=The Cool Knife: Imagery of Gender, Sexuality, and Moral Education in Kaguru Initiation Ritual. |location=Washington, D.C.: {{USSC|DC}} |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press, |year=1997.}}</ref><ref>{{REFbook |last=Turner, |first=Victor. " |init=V |chapter=Mukanda: The Rite of Circumcision." ''In |title=The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual.'' |location=Ithaca: |publisher={{UNI|Cornell University|CU}} Press, |year=1967.}}</ref> In some African societies, a man who has not been circumcised is seen as a child, and unfit to take on the duties of a "man" (IE, someone who has been circumcised), such as positions of office and authority.

Boys and men are circumcised at different ages depending on the African society. Practices obviously vary. Among the Ehing of Senegal, the major idea of the ritual is to "spill sexual blood," and with the very young just the tip of the [[skin]] is considered sufficient for them to have entered the initiation. Children whose wounds have closed too completely were subjected to repeat operations, with the second cutting being much more extensive.<ref>name="Schloss, Marc R. The Hatchet’s Blood: Separation, Power, and Gender in Ehing Social Life. Tucson: {{UNI|University of Arizona|UArizona}} Press, 1988. pp. 76-77.<"/ref> Among the Gisu of Uganda, only youths aged eighteen to twenty-four are eligible for circumcision, which is perceived as a crucial test of masculine bravery and endurance. The youth must stand absolutely still while first their foreskins are being cut and then stripped from around the glans penis. They are required to display total fortitude under the knife, betraying no signs of fear, not even involuntary twitching or blinking. The Gisu describe the pain as "fierce, bitter, and terrifying."<ref>name="Heald, Suzette. Controlling Anger: The Sociology of Gisu Violence. Manchester: {{UNI|Manchester University|UOM}} Press, 1989. pp. 60.<"/ref>

Subincision is practiced by native Australians. This involves slitting open the underside of the penis, revealing the [[urethra]]. The wound may be reopened and extended to cause renewed bloodletting, making this possibly the most dramatic of all male genital mutilations.<ref>{{REFbook |last=Gould, |first=Richard A. '' |init=RA |title=Yiwara: Foragers of the Australian Desert.'' |location=New York: |publisher=Scribner’s, |year=1969.}}</ref><ref>{{REFbook |last=Ro´heim, |first=Ge´za. '' |init=G |title=The Eternal Ones of the Dream: A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of Australian Myth and Ritual.'' |location=New York: |publisher=International Universities Press, |year=1945.}}</ref> The incidence of circumcision in [[Australia]] has declined to about 4 percent of newborn boys. Intact males have been in the ever-increasing majority for many years.

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Of all of the commandments in Judaism, the [[Brit Milah| brit milah]] (literally, [[Abrahamic covenant| Covenant of Circumcision]]) is probably the one most universally observed. It is commonly referred to as a bris (covenant, using the Ashkenazic pronunciation). Even the most secular of Jews, who observe no other part of Judaism, almost always observes this tradition.<ref>[{{REFweb |url=http://www.jewfaq.org/birth.htm |title=Jew FAQ "Birth"]}}</ref>

Halacha provides for the ceremony of hatifat dam berit (shedding of a token drop of blood) for babies who can not be circumcised due to health reasons. This is deemed to be completely valid in marking the Covenant. <ref name="Britshalom">[{{REFweb |url=http://www.jewsagainstcircumcision.org/ |title=Jews Against Circumcision, Brit Shalom]}}</ref>

The Christian Fathers considered the question of circumcision at the [[Council at Jerusalem]] in 49 A. D. Guided by the Holy Spirit, they omitted circumcision from the list of requirements to be Christian.<ref>[{{REFweb |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+15%3A1-30&version=NASB |title=Acts 13:1-30]}}</ref>

The prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) is not circumcised in the Qur'an, or if he is, no mention is ever made in the 67 times that his name is written. A covenant sealed with circumcision is also never mentioned.<ref name="QuaranicPath">[{{REFweb |url=http://www.quranicpath.com/misconceptions/circumcision.html |website=QuaranicPath " |title=Circumcision - Does the Qur'an Approve it?"]}}</ref> Despite never being mentioned in the Qur'an, it is still widely practiced among followers of Islam in the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia, who interpret it as an Islamic ceremony.<ref>{{REFbook |last=Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh, |first=Sami A. "Chapter |chapter=3: Circumcision among Muslims." '' |title=Male and Female Circumcision: Among Jews, Christians, and Muslims''. |location=Warren Center, Pa.: {{USSC|PA}} |publisher=Shangri-La, |year=2001.}}</ref> The Muslim code of religious law (AKA Shariah) recommends performance of circumcision at the age of seven days. In practice, however, Muslim boys are circumcised at varying ages before puberty.<ref>{{REFbook |last=Morgenstern, |first=Julian. '' |init=J |title=Rites of Birth, Marriage, Death and Kindred Occasions among the Semites.'' |location=Chicago: |publisher=Quadrangle Books, |year=1966. pp. |pages=48-66 " |quote=...in modern Moslem practice the rite is performed generally between the ages of two and seven years... as late as the thirteenth year.’’}}</ref><ref>{{REFbook |last=Mehta, |first=Depak. " |chapter=Circumcision, Body, Masculinity." ''In |title=Violence and Subjectivity'', ed. |editors=Veena Das, Arthur Kleinman, et al. |location=Berkeley: |publisher={{UNI|University of California|UCBE}} Press, |year=2000. pp. |page=82 " |quote=...two to six years."}}</ref><ref>{{REFbook |last=Peletz, |first=Michael G. |title=Reason and Passion: Representations of Gender in a Malay Society. |location=Berkeley: |publisher={{UNI|University of California|UCBE}} Press, |year=1996. pp. |page=240 " |quote=[Among Muslims in Negeri Sembilan, West Malaysia, boys] are usually circumcised when they are about twelve years old."}}</ref><ref>{{REFbook |last=Crapanzano, |first=Vincent. ‘‘Rite |init=V |chapter=Rite of Return: Circumcision in Morocco.’’ In |title=Hermes’ Dilemma and Hamlet’s Desire: On the Epistemology of Interpretation. |location=Cambridge, Mass.: {{USSC|MA}} |publisher={{UNI|Harvard University|HU}} Press, |year=1992.}}</ref> According to Genesis 17, Abraham circumcised Ishmael, who is supposed to be the the ancestor of Arab peoples, at the age thirteen, which is why this age is generally taken as the latest acceptable date.