A Bangladeshi-born psychiatrist has slammed Muslims and the left for denying the link between female genital mutilation and Islam.

Tanveer Ahmed, a Muslim who runs a practice in Sydney's northwest, has castigated people from the progressive side of politics who downplay a barbaric and life-threatening practice performed on girls in Muslim-majority nations from Africa to Asia.

He took aim at controversial Australian feminist author Germaine Greer, who last month likened depriving girls of future sexual pleasure with vaginal cosmetic surgery procedures.

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Sydney psychiatrist Tanveer Ahmed has criticised the political left for sanitising Islam

Feminist Germaine Greer likened female circumcision with vaginal plastic surgery procedures

'Muslims and progressives keep pushing the line that female circumcision is only about culture,' Dr Ahmed told Rebel Media this week.

'Iconic feminist and Australian Germaine Greer even equated modern labioplastic procedures as a moral equivalent.

'It’s commonly referred to as an African practice. For example, in countries like Somalia the prevalence is 90 per cent.’

Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali campaigns against this practice as a Somali-born writer who speaks from personal experience.

During her controversial appearance on the ABC's Q&A program in April, Ms Greer downplayed the practice of child brides and bizarrely likened removing the clitoris of girls with vaginal cosmetic surgery.

'It’s the sort of caricature of Islam that we keep promulgating. All of this is weird,' she said.

'I mean, one of the commonest operations in the United States is reduction of the labia minora.'

Ms Greer also compared the barbaric practice, commonly performed on girls in Muslim-majority, with male circumcision, which is common in the United States.

'Well, I class circumcision as genital mutilation. Sorry, guys. If you’re going to really deal with this question of genital mutilation, start paying attention,' she said.

During that appearance, left-wing Guardian Australia columnist Van Badham denied that female genital mutilation was 'endemic to Islam', even though the World Health Organisation lists 30 mainly Muslim-majority nations in African, the Middle East and Asia, including Indonesia, where the atrocity is concentrated.

'Again, FGM is not endemic to Islam but specific to national/community cultures like in Eritrea, which is a majority Christian nation,' she tweeted.

Ms Badham failed to mention how Eritrea, a Christian majority nation in Africa, outlawed female genital mutilation in 2007.

Left-wing Guardian Australia columnist downplayed link between Islam and female genital mutilation and singled out Eritrea, which actually banned the practice in 2007

Dr Ahmed said that while female genital mutilation wasn't mentioned in the holy Koran, it was specified in the Hadith, texts linked to the Prophet Mohammad, which meant the practice was related to Islam.

‘Islam has a way of freezing outdated cultural practices as divine truth,' he said.

The father of two daughters also criticised so-called moderate Muslims for sanitising Islamic practices but accusing terrorist extremists of hijacking their faith.

'It's outright denial. Muslims attach their identity too close to Islam and then debating the ideas is taken too personally. It leads to defensiveness,' Dr Ahmed said.

'The public has a right to be confused and even more so, suspicious.'