Fatwa ID: 02386
Answered by: Moulana Muhammad Imad Ali
Question:
- Is abortion permitted before 4 months and in what cases?
- Is abortion permitted after 4 months and in what cases?
- If a child is conceived through Rape is abortion permitted in both cases?
- Is abortion necessary in case of Rape, can the child be kept?
Answer
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
According to the Shariah, the soul enters the body 120 days (4 Months) from the day the woman is conceived.
It is narrated by Sayyiduna Ibn Masud 
that the Prophet of Allah 
has said: “the seed of one of you remains in the womb of the mother for forty days in the form of a nutfah (sperm). Then it remains like a clot for another forty days and then for a same number of days like a lump of flesh.” (Sahih Bukhari)
Allahmah Ibn Abideen Shami has said that the soul enters the foetus at 120 days. (Raddul Muhtar P.336 V.4)
Regarding your questions:
- To have an abortion prior to 120 days is impermissible and haraam. However in certain extreme circumstances it would be permitted, such as the mother’s life or health is in danger or if the woman has become pregnant as a result of rape etc.
- To have an abortion after 120 days is strictly prohibited. The ruling will still remain the same even though the child might be born with some kind of disability or with some genetic diseases. However, some jurists have given permission to abort the pregnancy where the mother’s life is in absolute danger. In this situation the mother’s life is given preference to that of the child.
- Only if it is prior to 120 days, then abortion will be permitted as mentioned above.
- It is not necessary for woman to abort the child if she became pregnant as a result of rape, however, it is optional to abort the child prior to 120 days and optional for her to keep the child.
Only Allah knows best.
Written by Moulana Muhammad Imad Ali
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
