From: jamal@z.eecs.umich.edu (Jamal Mubarak)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Re: The practical side of Islam
Date: 14 Apr 92 04:42:54 GMT
Organization: University of Michigan EECS Dept., Ann Arbor


In article <701876182@macbeth.cs.duke.edu> bc994@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Naseer M. Khan) writes:
>
>Assalamu alaikum

Wa alaikum salaam,

>In the particular case in point , the question of abortion and muslim
>activism in this area,  we have a very clear path.  Abortion is illegal
>in Islam, plain and simple.  There are mitigating circumstances
>concerning the safety of the mother, etc.  But they are not as
>permissive as some people would like.  And we should speak out against
>the PRO-CHOICE movement whenever we can and take part in these public

Islam is more pro-choice than pro-life.  Of course the matter is not
as simple as that.  I was myself surprised to find this.  Rather than
say it all myself, I will simply quote.  My own comments are in curly
brackets.

>Fi Aman Illah,

Wassalaam,

>      |      |                        Signed:  Naseer Khan

Jamal Mubarak

----------------------------------------------------------------------

>From "Islam and Biological Futures--Ethics, Gender, and Technology" by 
Munawar Ahmed Anees.  This is part of the "Islamic Futures and
Policy Studies" with the series editor being Ziauddin Sardar.  The book
is published in London and New York.  The London address is:

Mansell Publishing Limited
Artillery House, 
Artillery Row,
London SW1P 1RT, 
England

Chapter "The Inscrutable: an Excursus", page 164 onwards.  Excerpts
follow.  My own comments are in curly brackets.


"In the Muslim world abortion is not an issue, because there is little
partisan gain to be achieved.  One notable exception was the campaign
led by Jama'at Islami in the mid-1960's against the Muhammad Ayub Khan 
regime's forced sterilization programme in Pakistan."

"Given these circumstances, it may be said without fear of philosophical
squabble that Islam permits abortion.  The question for Muslim women of
constitutional right to an abortion is an impertinence.  The approval of
abortion in accordance with the commands of the shari'ah makes any political
bargaining over procured abortion redundant.  The timely availability of 
proper medical attention notwithstanding, this reproductive freedom enjoy-
ed by Muslim women may come as a big shock to radical feminists who hold
'legalized' abortion as one of their prime achievements."

"There is unanimous prohibition of abortion after the completion of the 
fourth month of pregnancy.  Prior to the prescribed period, however,
fuqaha hold different views."

"'Classical views, as expressed by scholars of the four Sunni (orthodox)
schools and the dissident Shi'ite and Kharijite sects, on abortion before
the end of the the first four months of pregancy, fall into four basic
categories: unqualified allowance without need of an excuse; permissibility
if there is an excuse and disfavour if there is not; unqualified disfavour
in all cases; prohibition in all cases.'"

[Zayid, "Family Planning in Islam," p.9]

"According to a survey of Muslim jurists on the subject, Muhammad Salam
Madkur has observed that Hanafi scholars, such as Haskafi and Ibn Wahban,
have ruled that a woman is allowed to abort before the completion of four
months of pregnancy even without her husband's consent, although she should
have reason.  One reason often used is the existence of a nursing infant."

"The position of the Maliki school is not as lax as that of the Hanafi.
They hold that abortion should be prohibited even during the first forty
days of pregnancy, and they are unanimous in prohibiting it after ensoul-
ment.  Nonetheless, abortion at the preimplantation stage is permissible.
Al-Qurtubi, a Maliki scholar, indicates (al-Jami' li Ahkam al-Qur'an) that
it is admissible to dispose of the fertilized ovum while it is still in the
uterine tube and before it definitely assumes the form of a gastrula.  A 
woman can get rid of it as long as it has not yet settled in the uterus.
He says: 'The sperm is not subject to any legal provision if it is discard-
ed by the woman after it settles in the womb.  At this stage it is as though
it were still part of the man in his loins.'

{I think there is a mistake here, it should be before rather than after.}

"Basim Mussallam {in "Sex and Society in Islam"} believes that most Maliki
jurists disapproved of abortion absolutely.  They sided with those who held
the view that the foetus is not a human being before ensoulment, but asserted
that since the predestination of the sperm, once it lodges in the uterus, is
ensoulment, it should not be trifled with: 'When the womb has retained the
semen it is not permitted for the husband and wife, or one of the them, or
the master [of the slave wife] to induce an abortion.  After ensoulment,
however, abortion is prohibited absolutely and is akin to murder.'

[See Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Juzaiy al-Kalbi (d. 740/1340), "Kitab al-Qawanin
al-Fiqhiyyah," Fez, Matba'at an-Nahda, 1935, p.212; vide Musallam, "Sex and
Society in Islam," pp.57-8.]

"Among Shafi'i scholars, opinions differ about the nature of the fertilized
ovum before the end of the forty days of pregnancy.  Some argue that the zygote,
if eliminated, is not to be regarded as having been aborted or suffered infanti-
cide, while others considered it forbidden.  Abu Bakr ibn Abi Sa'id al-Qurafi
is willing to allow forced birth in between zygote and the clot i.e., before
either of them begins to take shape as a gastrula.

"The verdict of Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali ..." {Did not type this
one in.  Basically, it is that all abortions are like shades of grey.  The
sin becomes greater and greater as the pregnancy progresses.}

"Generally, the Shafi'i belief is that prohibition is inapplicable to the
pre-ensoulment period or before the end of forty days following conception.

"The Hanbali scholar, Muwaffaq ad-Din ibn Qudama al-Maqdisi (d. 620/1223),
is of the view that if a person bangs the abdomen of a pregnant woman and
causes her to abort, that person must compensate for the action.  Similarly,
a pregnant woman who aborts after using an abortive drug, must compensate for
her deed.  If abortion occurs during the gastrula phase and is attested by
the accoucheuse that it has a faint bearing of human form, then the repara-
tion would be in the form of a ghurra (indemnity).  Hanbali authors are
quite plain in cases where compensation must be made.  The Blessed Prophet
is reported to have granted a ghurra in the case of the fetus of a woman
from the clan of Hudhail.

"Commenting on the Shafi'i and the Hanbali juridical opinion on the subject,
Mussalam has observed that 'they agreed with Hanafis in their tolerance of
the practice, some putting an upper limit of 40 days for legal abortion,
others eighty days or 120 days.  The variety of legal regulations blurred
the exact religious attitude towards abortion.  Not only that, but given
the nature of Islamic Law, both Hanafi opinion [permission] and Maliki opinion
[prohibition] were deemed legitimate by all orthodox Muslims.'"