If a Muslim marries a woman from the People of the Book and she becomes pregnant with his child, and then the woman dies after the pregnancy reaches five months, is she buried in the Muslim cemeteries?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
His Eminence the Father, this is a Muslim man who married a woman from the People of the Book and she became pregnant with his child. When the pregnancy reached five months, this woman died.
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : This woman died, so where is she buried?
The Shaykh : His question says: If a Muslim man marries a woman from the People of the Book, meaning a Jewish or Christian woman, and she becomes pregnant with his child, and then she dies after the soul has been breathed into the fetus, he asks where she is buried?
And we also ask whether the funeral prayer is performed for her, or for the fetus in her womb, and where she is buried? The answer is that the funeral prayer is performed for the fetus in her womb, and the barrier between us and this fetus does not harm the prayer, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed over the grave, and the earth was a barrier between him and the deceased, so the prayer is performed for the fetus in her womb, and she is buried with us, meaning with the Muslims, but her face is turned away from the qiblah and her back is toward the qiblah. Why?
Because the fetus, by the wisdom of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), has its back toward its mother’s belly and its face toward its mother’s back. The wisdom behind this is that if its face is toward the mother’s back, the back serves as protection for it, and if its back is toward the mother’s belly, its back serves as protection for it, because the mother’s belly is thin and everything affects the fetus, but what is adjacent to the belly is the back, which is strong and can withstand it. This is from the wisdom of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Accordingly, we bury her in the Muslim cemeteries, but we place her back toward the rear of the qiblah so that the face of the fetus is toward the qiblah.
His Eminence the Father, this is a Muslim man who married a woman from the People of the Book and she became pregnant with his child. When the pregnancy reached five months, this woman died.
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : This woman died, so where is she buried?
The Shaykh : His question says: If a Muslim man marries a woman from the People of the Book, meaning a Jewish or Christian woman, and she becomes pregnant with his child, and then she dies after the soul has been breathed into the fetus, he asks where she is buried?
And we also ask whether the funeral prayer is performed for her, or for the fetus in her womb, and where she is buried? The answer is that the funeral prayer is performed for the fetus in her womb, and the barrier between us and this fetus does not harm the prayer, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed over the grave, and the earth was a barrier between him and the deceased, so the prayer is performed for the fetus in her womb, and she is buried with us, meaning with the Muslims, but her face is turned away from the qiblah and her back is toward the qiblah. Why?
Because the fetus, by the wisdom of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), has its back toward its mother’s belly and its face toward its mother’s back. The wisdom behind this is that if its face is toward the mother’s back, the back serves as protection for it, and if its back is toward the mother’s belly, its back serves as protection for it, because the mother’s belly is thin and everything affects the fetus, but what is adjacent to the belly is the back, which is strong and can withstand it. This is from the wisdom of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Accordingly, we bury her in the Muslim cemeteries, but we place her back toward the rear of the qiblah so that the face of the fetus is toward the qiblah.