The Ruling on Aborting a Fetus and Evading Pregnancy

The questioner:
I am a young woman recently married to a man who is about fifteen years older than me. This young man, or rather this husband, does not want to have children at the moment and insists on this. Therefore, I have been using birth control pills. However, when I became pregnant by the will of Allah on one occasion, and a period of time had passed, my aforementioned husband insisted on aborting it, or rather on aborting the pregnancy. He took me to the hospital, and the fetus was aborted, even though I felt guilty, as this involved the taking of a soul without sin. What increased my anxiety was what one of my colleagues told me: that a woman had previously become pregnant and aborted the fetus, so Allah punished her by depriving her of offspring for a long time. After much hardship, a deformed and sickly child was born to them. My colleague told me that one should be content with what Allah has decreed regarding pregnancy and not abort it, because it is a good and a blessing from Allah. She said that there are many people who are deprived of children and wish for them but do not find them. My question is: What is the ruling on my action and my husband’s action in aborting the fetus on the pretext that we do not want children now, so that we can enjoy our youth, as my husband, who is thirty-eight years old, claims? I ask for clarification and advice. May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh:
What the questioner mentioned regarding evading pregnancy is a great error. Perhaps this husband was influenced by false advertisements that discourage childbirth and discourage pregnancy and offspring. It is obligatory for him to repent to Allah the Exalted and Glorious, for children are a blessing from Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and there is good in them for their parents and for the Muslim community if Allah rectifies them. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) encouraged seeking children and encouraged marriage for the sake of seeking offspring. He said to marry a woman who is fertile and gives birth. All of this is a request and an encouragement to obtain offspring. So what you did by taking pills to delay pregnancy is a great error. As for aborting the pregnancy, this is a major crime. Aborting the pregnancy after it has settled and been established—aborting it because of a lack of desire for pregnancy—is a major crime. Evading an existing pregnancy is more severe than taking pills initially to prevent pregnancy altogether, even though that is also prohibited and not permissible. But aborting it after it has settled and been found is a greater sin; because the motive is the lack of desire for a child, and the matter is not from the perspective of treatment or from the perspective of... it had another consideration. But this, as the questioner mentioned, is a lack of desire for pregnancy. A person does not act upon himself or others except by the permission of the Shari'ah, and by asking the people of knowledge before proceeding with something. So what you did is from the category of a great error. If this pregnancy had reached four months and the soul had been breathed into it, and you aborted it after that, then this is considered a crime against the fetus. This obligates the blood money (diyah), which is the slave (ghurrah) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) obligated, and it is one-tenth of the mother's blood money, one-tenth of the mother's blood money. It also obligates the expiation (kaffarah), which is the expiation for killing according to some scholars, due to the generality of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "And whoever kills a believer by mistake, then the freeing of a believing slave..." up to His saying: "So whoever does not find [a slave], then [he must observe] two consecutive months of fasting." So the result is that this is an erroneous action, and it is not permissible for Muslims to evade pregnancy unless there are health harms resulting from the pregnancy, such as if a woman is harmed in her body's health when she becomes pregnant, and there is fear for her, fear that she will perish. In this case, it is permissible to take what delays the pregnancy, not what cuts it off, but what delays it until the removal of this excuse. But if health is complete and suitable for pregnancy, then it is not permissible to evade that. Yes.

The presenter:
May Allah reward you. In fact, in the message of the sister questioner, there are indications of her colleague's words regarding the story of the woman who prevented pregnancy, then Allah followed it up with the cessation of pregnancy for a period, then the coming of a deformed child.

The questioner:
Do you not ask, Your Eminence, for a comment on phenomena, for example, or on such phenomena?

The Shaykh:
It is not far-fetched that a woman is punished if she aborts a pregnancy without a valid reason or evades it without a valid reason, that she is punished by being deprived of pregnancy or punished by what the questioner mentioned, the coming of a child who is not healthy and not normal. Punishments are not excluded from Allah the Exalted and Glorious. So this is a matter to be feared. And what befalls fetuses now in terms of the abundance of deformities and the abundance of changes, it is not far-fetched that this is a punishment from Allah for people who have come to make these bad actions toward pregnancy, evading it and aborting it. Indeed, Allah has punished them with this phenomenon, which is the abundance of the existence of deformed fetuses, which has become difficult for doctors now, and they have come to search for a solution to get out of this crisis. Yes.

The presenter:
May Allah bless you.

The questioner:
Regarding, Honorable Shaykh, the view that this husband and others like him, from some people who give desires a greater size than they are, in the statement that we want to enjoy our youth. What is the relation of this to the scrupulousness (wara') and piety of the Muslim?

The Shaykh:
The Muslim does not proceed with this action and evade pregnancy on the pretext that he wants to enjoy his youth, because pregnancy does not prevent enjoyment, and praise be to Allah, it does not prevent enjoyment and does not prevent satisfying desire, and in it is an increase of good, which is the obtaining of offspring. But as I mentioned in the previous answer, perhaps this husband is among those who were influenced by these advertisements, and the Muslim is not influenced by false advertisements, but rather he looks at the ruling of the Shari'ah and at the benefits that Allah the Exalted and Glorious has established upon the existence of offspring. Yes.

The presenter:
May Allah bless you.