Why Islam Permitted Abortion in Critical Situation Fatwa No: 83814
- Fatwa Date:20-2-2002
I asked you about abortion in Islam now my question is what is the wisdom behind allowing “Abortion” in case the pregnancy threatens the mother’s life? According to the texts of the Qur’an and the Sunnah.
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.
It is lawful to cause to have an abortion if a mother's life becomes in a critical state. This lawfulness is based on the following:
1) When a mother's life is in a critical state, her fetus' life will be so; i.e., in most cases the mother's death results in the fetus' death.
2) This legality assuredly saves the mother while it is not sure that fetus will stay alive after confinement. So, it is better to give preference to what is certain over what is uncertain.
3) Islam gives precedence to the origin over a descendant. In other words, the mother represents the origin of the fetus' life, but the fetus represents the descendant. So, in accordance with Islam, it is not possible to sacrifice the origin for the sake of descendant.
Thereupon, what we have mentioned is exactly what the texts of the Quran and Sunnah demand. In simple words, this follows the ruling of doing the lesser of the two evils.
Allah knows best.