The Lawfulness of Seeking Treatment and Taking Means for the Recurrent Death of Children

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The first message we received was from Mayyub Hassan Saif Ali from Taiz in the Yemen Arab Republic. He says in his message: I am a young man who performs the obligatory prayers and I am careful to maintain them, praise be to Allah. But I married a woman and she bore me three children, and none of the children I had lived more than two years before dying. So I heard from people who claim to be Sufis—meaning fortune-tellers—and the people of the village insisted that I go to them and buy offspring from them—this is according to their claim. I refused to do that, and I say: It is Allah who gives life and death, and He grants offspring to whom He wills. Please give us a ruling, may Allah reward you?
Answer: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may the prayers and peace be upon our Prophet, our Imam, and our Master Muhammad ibn Abdullah, and upon his family and his Companions, and whoever follows his path and is guided by his guidance until the Day of Judgment.
As for what follows: Going to fortune-tellers, diviners, and soothsayers is a reprehensible matter in the Islamic Shari'ah. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) warned against that, and he said (peace and blessings be upon him):

He who visits a diviner ('Arraf) and asks him about anything, his prayers extending to forty nights will not be accepted.

من أتى عرافاً فسأله عن شيء لم تقبل له صلاة أربعين يوماً

Sahih Muslim 2230

Muslim recorded it in his Sahih. And he said (peace and blessings be upon him):

or who goes to a fortuneteller and believes what he says, he has disbelieved in that which was revealed to Muhammad.

من أتى كاهناً فصدقه بما يقول فقد كفر بما أنزل على محمد ﷺ

Sunan Ibn Majah 639Hasan (Darussalam)

So going to soothsayers, diviners, and fortune-tellers is a reprehensible matter that is not permissible in the Shari'ah. You did well in refusing to go to these fortune-tellers, for they have no knowledge of this. Indeed, the matter of offspring is with Allah He grants to whom He wills what He wills . There may be internal diseases in the woman's womb that can be presented to specialized doctors and female specialists, and perhaps they will find the causes of what befalls the children after birth. There may be causes in the womb and internal diseases that come out with them and remain with them until they die. And it may be due to another matter that no one knows except Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). There is no harm in trying another woman or more; you may marry a second or third woman seeking offspring, and perhaps Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) will grant you good offspring who will live. There is no need to restrict yourself to one, for Allah has made it broad—praise be to Allah—and facilitated and permitted for a man to marry out of need, and permitted him to take two, three, or four wives. So you, my brother, can take the means and marry another woman, perhaps Allah will grant you offspring from her who will live, praise be to Allah. And you should say: "Indeed, to Allah we belong and to Him we return. Allah has decreed it and He does what He wills." And Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) said:

but give good tidings to the patient, ⁽¹⁵⁶⁾ Who, when disaster strikes them, say, "Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return." ⁽¹⁵⁷⁾ Those are the ones upon whom are blessings from their Lord and mercy. And it is those who are the [rightly] guided.

وَبَشِّرِ الصَّابِرِينَ ۝ الَّذِينَ إِذَا أَصَابَتْهُمْ مُصِيبَةٌ قَالُوا إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ ۝ أُوْلَئِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَلَوَاتٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ وَرَحْمَةٌ وَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُهْتَدُونَ

[al-Baqarah: 155-157]. And it is authentic from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said:

If any servant (of Allah) who suffers a calamity says:" We belong to Allah and to Him shall we return; O Allah, reward me for my affliction and give me something better than it in exchange for it," ' Allah will give him reward for affliction, and would give him something better than it in exchange.

ما من عبد يصاب بمصيبة فيقول: إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون، اللهم آجرني في مصيبتي وأخلفني خيراً منها إلا آجره الله في مصيبته وأخلفه خيراً منها

Sahih Muslim 918b

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Then, my brother: Offspring, in reality, are those who are sent ahead. These are the offspring. For this reason, it is authentic from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said:

"What do you consider to be the barren one among you?" They said: "The one who is not born to." He said: "But the barren one is the one who has not sent ahead anything of his children"

ما تعدون الرقوب فيكم؟ قالوا: من لا يولد له، قال: لكن الرقوب هو الذي لم يقدم من ولده شيئاً

, and it is authentic from him (peace be upon him) that he said:

Whoever has three children who die before reaching the age of accountability, they will be a shield for him from the Fire

من مات له ثلاثة أفراط لم يبلغوا الحنث كن له حجاباً من النار

So you are, praise be to Allah, in a good state, if Allah wills, with patience and seeking reward. But this does not prevent taking the means; you must take the means and present the woman to good female doctors and specialized doctors if there is no good female specialist in this matter, perhaps Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) will facilitate a beneficial cure that results in healing from this disease. You can also marry a second and third woman until the desired offspring who will live is facilitated for you, if Allah wills. Yes...
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.

Source binbaz.org.sa

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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