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Is Abortion Permissable in Islam ?
Sayyid Mohammed Rizvi
Islam allows the preventing of pregnancy, but does not
allow its termination. However, the problem arises
in defining the beginning of pregnancy from the shari'ah point of view.
Before we look at various methods of birth control, we must first define
the beginning of pregnancy; and only then will we be able to say which
method is permissible and which is not. My research has failed to find
a discussion in the classical fiqhi books on the shariah definition of
pregnancy. Even the present Mujt-tahids have not discussed it. I intend,
by putting my trust in Allah, to briefly study the issue in the light of
scientific explanations and try to achieve at a shari'a definition of pregnancy.
Before I proceed further, it is necessary to explain the criteria
of defining various things and issues in Islamic laws. There are three
possible criteria for definitions of things and concepts in fiqh: Shari,
Urfi and Ilmi.
(1) If something is clearly defined in the shariah, then it
is known as the shari definition; for example,
the definition of the word salat as the ritual prayer consisting of specific
actions and recitations.
(2) Urfi means conventional, common tradition. Urfi definition means
a definition acceptable to the common people
without any scientific or shari precision.
(3) Ilmi definition means a definition presented by science; for
example, the definition of pure water as
H2O, a liquid compound consisting of 2 part of hydrogen and 16 of oxygen,
or the definition of the beginning of day
as the astronomical twilight.
If the shariah defines something, then we must follow the shared
definition. But if it is silent on definition of certain things, then should
we follow the Ilmi definition or the Urfi definition? Anyone who is familiar
with the shariah will agree with me that in absence of a shari definition,
one has to follow the Urfi definition. One has to go by the common perception
of things, not the scientific perception. For example, when the shariah
says that the water for ritual ablution must be pure (natlaq), does it
mean scientifically pure? Certainly not! Otherwise, the running water in
this part of the world is not scientifically
pure, it has some purifying chemicals in it, for example, flouride.
The shariah says that such water will still be classified as pure unless
the common people can sense (without the help of a scientific lab) the
difference in its colour, taste or smell. However, there is one case where
the Ilmi definition will prevail: in cases where the common people have
no way of defining the issue. So in cases where the shariah is silent and
the Urf has no opinion, one has no choice but to follow the Ilmi (scientific)
definition. The definition of the beginning of pregnancy is one of such
cases where The Ilmi definition would prevail; this is so because the shariah
is silent, and it is beyond the common people to define when pregnancy
begins. Therefore, in this case, we will first see how science describes
the beginning of pregnancy and then attempt to find secondary proofs from
shariah sources to arrive at a conclusion.
The process of conception and pregnancy according to modern science
is as follows: After the semen is ejaculated into the vagina, the sperms
move into the uterus, cross the uterus and enter the fallopian tube. The
woman's ovum is in the fallopian tube. The sperms travel into the fallopian
tube in search of the ovum. When the sperms reach the ovum, normally only
one of them succeeds in penetrating the ovum. This coming together of man's
sperm and woman's ovum is known as fertilization. After fertilization,
the ovum starts to travel towards the uterus; and after coming into the
uterus, it gets implanted on to the wall of the uterus. This process is
known as implantation of the fertilized ovum in the womb.
To determine the sharia pregnancy, one has to answer the following
question. From the shariah's point of view, does pregnancy begin
(1) with the entering of semen into the
uterus or
(2) with the fertilization of an ovum by
a sperm in the fallopian tube or
(3) with the implantation of a fertilized
ovum in the uterus?
It is my contention that the combination of three things form the
shari pregnancy: the sperm the ovum and the uterus. If any two of these
things combine without the thing then it is not a shari pregnancy. As I
shall prove below, the shari pregnancy begins when the fertilized ovum
implants itself onto the wall of the uterus. In my search for a shari definition,
the only closest issue I could come to was the discussion under the indemnity
for abortion. In Shiah fiqh, the indemnity for abortion differs according
to the various stages of pregnancy. However, what is relevant to our discussion
is the indemnity for the first four months of pregnancy. During these four
months, the child in its mother's womb is known as jinin. The jinin (embryo)
itself goes through five stages gradually with distinctive names:
nutfah, when it is a sperm; alaqah, when it is a blood-like
clot; muzgah, when it is a lump of flesh; azm, when it is a lump
of bones; yaksu lahman, when it is dothed with
flesh This is based on the Qur'an, see 23:12 14
The first stage is very crucial in our search for the beginning
of pregnancy. Most ahadith simply say that the lowest indemnity is for
aborting "a nufta sperm". At the first look it would seem that according
to these ahadith, pregnancy starts as soon as the sperm enters into the
uterus. This would mean that preventing the semen from entering into the
uterus is allowed but once it has entered the uterus, then it is forbidden
to abort it. But this is not so. This would have been correct if the word
"nutfah" is taken only in its literal sense in which it means "a sperm".
However, in fiqh and hadith, the word "nutfah" is used both for a sperm
as well as for a fertilized ovum. Fortunately this extended meaning of
the word "nutfah" has been clarified in the following hadith by Imam Zainul
- Abidin (as). Saidd bin al-Musayyab asked Imam 'Ali Zainul- 'Abidin about
a person who hits a pregnant woman with his leg and, as a result, she lost
what she had in her womb. The Imam said, "If it is a (nutfah) sperm, then
he must pay her 20 dinars." Sa'id asked, "What is the definition of nutfah"
The Imam said, "It is a substance which, when placed in the womb, settles
down in it for forty days. The Imam has used two words to describe the
nutfah:
(1) "wuzi'at fi 'r r-rahm" - it is placed
in the uterus,
(2) "fastaqarrat fihi - it settles down
in it.
and It seems the Imam is emphasizing that the earliest stage of
abortion is not when the sperm enters the uterus for the first time and
just passes through it, rather when it settles down in it. Obviously, the
"settling down of the sperm in the uterus "and"implantation of a fertilized
ovum in the uterus" are one and the same thing. It is needless to say that
the distinction between the entrance of sperm into the womb, then the fertilization
of ovum in the fallopian tube and finally its implantation was not clearly
known to the scholars of fiqh and the scientists till a century ago. But
the word "istiqrar = setting down" shows that our 'ulama' were not completely
unaware of the fact that the sperm goes through various stages before settling
down" in the uterus. If they had been completely unaware, then they would
not have used the word istiqrar, instead they would have said "the entering
of the sperm into the uterus." This difference becomes more clear in the
writing of the Ulama' of post seventh Islamic century. Before the seventh
century, we find the expression such as "ilqa'u n-nutfah (the entering
of the sperm into the uterus). But after the seventh century, the Ulama
consistently began using the expression of "istiqraru 'n-nutfa" (the settling
down of the sperm in the uterus). Even the present mujtahids describe the
earliest stage of abortion as follows: "aborting a sperm after its settling
down in the womb (ba'd istiqraru 'n-nutfah fi 'r-rahm)."
Moreover, the Qur'an has always used the word "haml" to describe
pregnancy. "Haml" means to carry, and it is obvious that a woman carries
the child in her uterus and not in her fallopian tube. And haml starts
with implantation and not before it.
In conclusion, I can say that the beginning of pregnancy from the
shi'ah point of view is the stage when the fertilized ovum is implanted
(istiqrar) onto the lining of the uterus. And, therefore, whatever prevents
implantation is allowed but whatever aborts an implanted ovum is haram.
A year after reaching my decision in 1986, I wrote to Ayatullah al-Khui
asking for his opinion on this issue.
"From medical point of view, after the sperm enters the vagina,
it crosses the uterus and enters the fallopian tube. In this tube, the
sperm joins the ovum. Then the fertilized ovum enters the uterus and implants
itself onto its wall. (Apparently, the expression 'istiqraru 'n-nutfa fi
'r-rahm' in the writings of Islamic jurists refers to this implantation
of the fertilized ovum onto the wall of the uterus.)
"By keeping in mind what has been said above, is it permissible
to use a medicine or a device which prevents the fertilized ovum from implanting
itself onto the wall of the uterus?"
Ayatollah al-Khu'i replied that "What is forbidden is to abort the
sperm after its settling down, whereas to prevent pregnancy before that
is alright. However, to specify the minor and major premises of both these
issues is upon the individual himself."' I think the answer of the Ayatullah
needs some explanation for those not familiar with the fuqahas style. In
the first part of his answer, the Ayatullah agreed that what is forbidden
in relation to birth control is the act of aborting the sperm after it
had settled down in the womb. In the second part of his answer, he declined
to take it upon himself to specify when does "the settling down of the
sperm" occur soon after the sperm enters into the uterus or after its return
from the fallopian tube? He further says that classifying any particular
contraceptive method (whether it prevents fertilization or implantation)
is also upon the individual.
Based on the scientific explanation given earlier and the use of
the word istiqrar in the hadith in relation to the nutfah and the writings
of our 'ulama' on the earliest stage of abortion, I consider the implantation
of a fertilized ovum onto the wall of the uterus as the beginning of pregnancy
from the shi'ah point of view. Once this is settled, it becomes easy to
decide which method of birth control is allowed and which is not allowed.
Any method that prevents pregnancy before the implantation of the fertilized
ovum is allowed, and any method that terminates pregnancy after the implantation
is not allowed and will be considered as abortion. It is in the light of
this criterion that we should look at the various methods of birth control
that are presently available.
It was interesting to know that two years after I reached my conclusion
on the shariah basis, Dr.Clifford Grobstein, a leading embryologist of
America, published the same conclusion on basis
of his scientific research. Dr. Grobstein, whose even handed approach
has won him places on the ethics committees of both the American Fertility
Society and the Catholic Health Association, published his Science and
the Unborn in 1988. He writes,
"In the last several decades, chiefly as the result of extensive
studies of mouse development, it has become clear that in the earliest
stages of each new generation, mammals (including humans) go through a
preliminary preembryonic phase before they become embryos in the usual
scientific sense In mammalian development, which normally occurs within
the body of the mother (internal gestation), it is now evident that the
early changes undergone by the zygote first establish multicellularity,
and second, preparation for penetration into the maternal uterine wall,
or implantation. The second step,as we have noted, is the true beginning
of gestation or pregnancy.
