Abortion Meets 21st Century Ijtihad

Abortion Meets 21st Century Ijtihad

Written by

LINDA “ILHAM” BARTO

Published on

July 20, 2022

We originated Humanity from a product of mud.

Afterward, We placed him/her as a seed in safe lodging.

Next, We fashioned the seed into a mass of blood,

And then We fashioned the mass into a lump,

[That looked like] something chewed [like chewing gum].

Next, We added bones and clothed the bones with flesh.

We then developed all this as a new creation.

Blessed is Allah, the Best of Creators!

(Inspired by Surah 23: 12-14)

 

When I was pregnant, I was asked, “What are you hoping for?”

I said, “A baby human.”

Of course, she meant whether I hoped for a boy or a girl, but I was more concerned about having a healthy, normal child.

The Qur’ān states that only Allah knows what is in the wombs (Surah 13:8). Some people have thought that this ayat is now obsolete because, with modern technology, gender can be known while the baby is still developing in the womb. Whether a child is male or female, however, is only one small factor within Allah’s knowledge.  Allah (blessed and exalted is He) knows all the talents and qualities of the child as an individual, the potentials and realities the child’s future holds, and what contributions to society the person may bring. Allah does not see only a foetus; He sees a unique human being, and He sees the person’s entire life at a glance – past, present, future, and possible.

When I gather the hens’ eggs, I often put them in my pocket, and sometimes I get busy doing other things and forget about them.  More than once, I have reached into my pocket for my pocketknife and stuck my hand into an ooey-gooey mess of broken eggs. I laughed, dumped the pocket’s scrambled contents, and washed my overalls. If I had planned to put the eggs in the incubator, however, I would have been much more conscientious and careful.  I would have handled the eggs as if they were already alive.

Human embryos are regarded much the same way.  If a baby is wanted, a good mother learns and practises as much as she can in regards to caring for herself and her baby throughout the pregnancy and afterward.  She plays music on her belly, sings to the child in her womb, and even exposes her belly to bright light so that the baby can begin learning to see. If a baby is unwanted, however, it’s a trivial thing in some societies to have an abortion.

Some Islamic scholars claim that abortion is permissible until after the sixteenth week when, they say, a foetus receives his or her soul.  They make this outlandish conclusion based on a statement attributed to the Prophet (peace to him).  The hadeeth explains that a baby begins as a fertilised ovum in the uterus of the mother for forty days, it grows as an embryonic clot for forty days, it grows as a morsel of flesh for forty days, and then an angel is sent to blow the ruh (life energy, spirit, breath, soul) into the body and to record the child’s future to include years of life, deeds to be performed, provisions to be enjoyed, and happiness and sadness to be known.  Some scholars believe that the ruh as ‘soul’ is breathed into the foetus at 120 days of age, until which time the embryonic life is not a living entity, and therefore aborting him or her does not equal killing. Other scholars claim that aborting an embryonic life, even prior to his or her soul being endowed, is destroying life and the potential for life and therefore is a crime.

The term “forty days” is a Scriptural term used for an indefinite amount of time, so, if the hadeeth is authentic, the Prophet (peace!) was not trying to speak with scientific accuracy, but simply with general and common lingo. He made a vague reference to a three-step process in the development of a baby in the womb. If the “forty days” did indicate indefinite periods of time that add up to the sum of nine months of pregnancy, then the hadeeth referred to ruh as the first ‘breath’ that an infant takes upon entry into his/her new environment.

Accepting the term “forty days” as an indefinite amount of time, we cannot conclude that three times forty will give us a timeline as to when the soul enters the body.  It does not matter anyway, because souls are already created in God’s reality, and we cannot use our linear perspective of time to overwhelm God’s reality of time-space continuum in which all that is to exist already exists.

If we do take the sum of 120 days as literal days, this would indicate the sixteenth week of pregnancy, at which time the foetus exhibits quickening, which is foetal movement.  It may be that ruh, in this case, is not the soul, but an awareness of ‘life energy.’ This awareness most certainly comes in tiny measures beginning the sixth week of pregnancy, which begins the embryonic stage. At this time, early brain chambers form, heart tubes fuse, and heart contractions begin. These can be seen on ultrasound.

Life begins with the fertilisation of the ovum, which becomes a developing ball of cells called a zygote. Within a week of fertilisation, the zygote evolves into a blastocyst attaching to the uterine walls. With bracketed expansion, the ayats may be interpreted to mean, “…We placed him [or her] as a seed [a blastocyst, week] in safe lodging [implanted on the uterine cavity].”

The meaning could continue, “Next, We fashioned the seed [the blastocyst] into a mass of blood [the placenta and vascular network, week 4]….”  At week four of pregnancy, three different layers of cells are developing; these are called ‘germ layers.’ The ectoderm layer evolves into the nervous system (including the brain), skin, and hair.  The endoderm layer evolves into the lining of the gastrointestinal tract, the liver, pancreas, and thyroid.  The mesoderm layer evolves into the skeleton, connective tissues, blood system, urogenital system, and muscles.  This evolving process is completed about the end of the tenth week, and then the foetal stage begins, during which the formed structures continue to grow and develop.

The next line could be understood to mean, “…and then We fashioned the mass [of germ layers] into a lump [which is the embryo, week 6, with the embryonic period lasting weeks 6 through 10], [that looked like] something chewed [like chewing gum in which teeth marks resemble somites along the back of the developing embryo].”

“Next, We added bones and clothed the bones with flesh [with the foetal period beginning at the end of week 10.]  We then developed all this as a new creation [a newborn infant].”

All scholars agree that abortion at any time for frivolous reasons (such as, economy, foetal gender, career conflict) is haram.  In an extremely difficult situation, however, some Muslims may consider abortion. Until a family experiences such a situation itself, it cannot know the desperation wrought in a case of rape, mental instability of the pregnant female, grave possibility of birth defects, life-threatening situation of the pregnant female, or other such difficult circumstances. Each local ummah should provide respectful counsel in such matters, and then be supportive of the woman or couple after a decision is made, even if the decision is to have an abortion.

Traditionally, ijtihad (interpreting Qur’ān and Sunnah for their value to contemporary needs and diverse societies) has been left to specially trained scholars called mujtahids.  Today, however, the average Muslim has information at fingertip level with the worldwide web and is finding it necessary to do his or her own research and then to practise ijtihad daily in his or her personal life. In our fast-paced world and diverse Muslim cultures and lifestyles, Muslims cannot wait for the mujtahids to make decisions that may not even relate to one’s specific lifestyle. In the case of abortion, a government’s decision to uphold “the right to choose” places the right to ijtihad in the hands of the individual citizen. The responsibility of such a choice cannot be taken lightly, because liberty without integrity can enslave a people in the corruption of their own self-centred interests.

Some people may be able to justify a hasty abortion before the sixth week, saying that the pregnancy is little more than a mass of dividing cells. A more informed and responsible decision is required after the sixth week in order to justify aborting an entity that has brain chambers and a heartbeat. The decision to abort is extremely more difficult to justify after the tenth week when the germ layers have evolved into definite human shapes.  The mujtahids are behind the times, so average people must arm themselves with the academic knowledge and spiritual integrity required to make responsible, informed decisions.

My soul is an embryo developing

In the womb of Paradise lost.

With hope, I labour toward my birth

Into Your reality, O Lord.

Until I awaken whole and free,

Unencumbered by feet of clay,

Speak to me from wise, old trees,

Sing to me from cheerful birds,

Wash me with white rain,

And hold me with soft grass.

 

I am not yet born.

I fear walls that cage me,

Deceit that lures me,

And hate that crushes me.

I am not yet born.

Save me.