Is it permissible for a woman to abort a fetus that is three months old after being exposed to X-rays that will inevitably cause deformity in the fetus?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner: Peace be upon you.
The Shaykh: And upon you peace.
The questioner : The Shaykh Abu 'Abd al-Rahman:
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : Welcome.
The questioner : If you please, a question?
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
The questioner : A woman is pregnant in her third month.
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner : A woman is pregnant in her third month.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : She fell ill and went to the doctor, and he told her: X-rays are necessary. So when the X-rays were taken, we forgot to inform the doctor that she was pregnant. After the doctors learned that she was pregnant, they told her: The fetus must be deformed or it will contract cancer, and this is scientifically proven, of course, due to the radiation. So she went to have an abortion performed by the doctors, but they refused and said to her: We cannot do it because the fetus is alive. She went to a woman who performed an abortion for her. What is the ruling on that?
The Shaykh : How old is the fetus?
The questioner : Three months.
The Shaykh : Three?
The questioner : Yes, and it was alive.
The Shaykh : Three months and alive do not coexist.
The questioner : Yes?
The Shaykh : Three months and alive do not coexist!
The questioner : I do not know; that is what the doctors said!
The Shaykh : Life is only breathed in, by the Shari'ah, after the fourth month!
The questioner : That was what the doctors said; I do not know what they based it on!
The Shaykh : In any case, the doctors know something other than what the Shari'ah discusses. You know, for example, the *huwin*, which is the cause of the fetus's formation due to its meeting with the woman's egg.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : This *huwin* has life in it.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes, so there is life that arises due to the meeting, but the life that is the breathing of the soul is what the Lawgiver spoke of, and the doctors do not revolve around this. The important point is that abortion, by the Shari'ah, regarding the life of the fetus or before the life of the fetus, its Shari'ah limit is four months. So if the soul is breathed into it after the four months, abortion becomes forbidden.
The questioner : Is it considered killing a soul?
The Shaykh : Yes, but it is not like killing a soul that has entered the bounds of worldly life.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : As for abortion before that, it does not have this status, and although we prohibit any abortion, whether before the breathing of the soul by the Shari'ah or after it, except for a dire necessity, the deformity that the doctors claim through machines and diagnostic X-rays sometimes hits the mark and sometimes misses, and we have received news that some women were told to abort because the fetus was deformed, and then when...
The questioner: Peace be upon you.
The Shaykh: And upon you peace.
The questioner : The Shaykh Abu 'Abd al-Rahman:
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : Welcome.
The questioner : If you please, a question?
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
The questioner : A woman is pregnant in her third month.
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner : A woman is pregnant in her third month.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : She fell ill and went to the doctor, and he told her: X-rays are necessary. So when the X-rays were taken, we forgot to inform the doctor that she was pregnant. After the doctors learned that she was pregnant, they told her: The fetus must be deformed or it will contract cancer, and this is scientifically proven, of course, due to the radiation. So she went to have an abortion performed by the doctors, but they refused and said to her: We cannot do it because the fetus is alive. She went to a woman who performed an abortion for her. What is the ruling on that?
The Shaykh : How old is the fetus?
The questioner : Three months.
The Shaykh : Three?
The questioner : Yes, and it was alive.
The Shaykh : Three months and alive do not coexist.
The questioner : Yes?
The Shaykh : Three months and alive do not coexist!
The questioner : I do not know; that is what the doctors said!
The Shaykh : Life is only breathed in, by the Shari'ah, after the fourth month!
The questioner : That was what the doctors said; I do not know what they based it on!
The Shaykh : In any case, the doctors know something other than what the Shari'ah discusses. You know, for example, the *huwin*, which is the cause of the fetus's formation due to its meeting with the woman's egg.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : This *huwin* has life in it.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes, so there is life that arises due to the meeting, but the life that is the breathing of the soul is what the Lawgiver spoke of, and the doctors do not revolve around this. The important point is that abortion, by the Shari'ah, regarding the life of the fetus or before the life of the fetus, its Shari'ah limit is four months. So if the soul is breathed into it after the four months, abortion becomes forbidden.
The questioner : Is it considered killing a soul?
The Shaykh : Yes, but it is not like killing a soul that has entered the bounds of worldly life.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : As for abortion before that, it does not have this status, and although we prohibit any abortion, whether before the breathing of the soul by the Shari'ah or after it, except for a dire necessity, the deformity that the doctors claim through machines and diagnostic X-rays sometimes hits the mark and sometimes misses, and we have received news that some women were told to abort because the fetus was deformed, and then when...
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.