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February 7, 2012
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ABORTION IN ISLAM
ABORTION IN ISLAM:
In principle, the Quran condemns the killing of humans (except in the case of defense or as capital punishment), but it does not explicitly mention abortion. This leads Islamic theologians to take up different viewpoints: while the majority of early Islamic theologians permitted abortion up to day 40 of pregnancy or even up to day 120, many countries today interpret these precepts protecting unborn children more conservatively. Although there is no actual approval of abortion in the world of Islam, there is no strict, unanimous ban on it, either. Islam has not given any precise directions with regard to the issue of abortion. Hence it is not a matter, which has been clearly stated in the Shariah (Islamic Law) but rather an issue pertaining to the application of our knowledge of the Shariah. Such application may vary in conclusion with a difference in the basic premises of one’s arguments.
The Quran clearly disapproves of killing other humans: “Take not life which Allah has made sacred” (6:151; see also 4:29. “If a man kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, to abide therein (for ever)” (4:93). Allah (SWT) went even further, making unlawful killing of a single individual human being equal to mass murder of the whole of mankind:
“Because of that, We ordained for the children of Israel that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation for murder or for spreading mischief on earth, it would be as if he killed all mankind. And who saved a life, it would be as if he saved all mankind.” (Al-Maidah, 5:32)
As to whether abortion is a form of killing a human, the Quran does not make any explicit statements. Only Surah 17:31 warns believers in general: “Kill not your children for fear of want. We shall provide sustenance for them as well as for you. Verily the killing of them is a great sin.”
There are those in Islam who oppose all abortions. A favored text to support this is: “Do not kill your children for fear of poverty for it is We who shall provide sustenance for you as well as for them.” (Surah, Al-An’ am, 6:151). This Quranic reference is to killing already born children–usually girls. The text was condemning this custom. The Arabic word for killing used in this text “means not only slaying with a weapon, blow or poison, but also humiliating or degrading or depriving children of proper upbringing and education.” The text doesn’t explicitly address the abortion and therefore doesn’t close the argument on it.
The Quran says:
We created man from an essence of clay: then placed him, a living germ,
In a secure enclosure. The germ we made a leech; and the leech a lump of
Flesh; and this we fashioned into bones, then clothed the bones with flesh;
Then we develop it into another creation. (Surah Al-Mu’minoon, 23: 12-14)
This verse reveals how the fetus is formed and transforms into a complete human being.
The elaborate process of the development of the first human being is given in the Quran as follows:
He who has made everything which He has created most good. He
began the creation of man with(nothing more than) clay, and made
his progeny from a quintessence of the nature of a fluid despised.
Then He fashioned him in due proportion and breathed into him some-
thing of His Ruh(Life-Energy). And (with this) He gave you (the faculties
of ) hearing and sight and understanding. (Surah Al-Sajadah, 32:7-9).
During the development of fetus, the body received the Divine Ruh (Life-energy) and subsequently the human faculties of hearing, sight and understanding were developed.
There is no agreement among legal scholars – including those of the founders of the four schools of religious law of the early Islamic period – as to the exact point in time this happens, however.
Abortion
Islam’s approach to the issue of birth control and abortion is very balanced. It allows women to prevent pregnancy but forbids them to terminate it. In case of rape the woman should use the morning after pill or RU486 immediately after the sexual assault in order to prevent the possible implantation of a fertilized ovum. Modern technology (like ultra sound scan) has made it possible to know whether or not a child has a defect long before he is born. Some people justify the abortion of a defective fetus.
The Shari’ah allows abortion only when doctors declare with reasonable certainty that the continuation of pregnancy will endanger the woman’s life. This permission is based on the principle of the lesser of the two evils known in Islamic legal terminology as the principle of al-ahamm wa ‘l-muhimm (the more important and the less important). The Prophet said, “When two forbidden things come [upon a person] together, then the lesser will be sacrificed for the greater.” In the present case, one is faced with two forbidden things: either abort the unborn child or let a living woman die. Obviously, the latter is greater than the former; therefore, abortion is allowed to save the live person.
Permissibility of Abortion
“And do not kill your children for fear of poverty: We give them sustenance and yourselves (too): surely to kill them is a great wrong.” (17:31)
The abortion of a fetus from the mother’s womb is a different issue, since the sperm and egg have already met and fertilized what could become a human being. The scholars all agree that abortion is forbidden after the first four months of pregnancy, since by that time the soul has entered the embryo but it would allow the use of RU486 (the “morning-after pill”), as long as it could be reasonably assumed that the fertilized egg has not become implanted on the wall of the uterus. Most scholars say that abortion is legal under Islamic Shari’ah (law), when done for valid reasons and when completed before the soul enters the embryo. To abort a baby for such vain reasons as wanting to keep a woman’s youthful figure, are not valid.
“…And do not slay your children for (fear of) poverty — We provide for you and for them — and do not draw nigh to indecencies, those of them which are apparent and those which are concealed, and do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden except for the requirements of justice: this He has enjoined you with that you may understand.” (6:151)
Qur’anic verses misinterpreted
There are, however, some Qur’anic verses which prohibit infanticide:
“And do not kill your children for fear of poverty: We give them sustenance and yourselves (too): surely to kill them is a great wrong.” (17:31)
These verses in fact were revealed to forbid the pre-Islamic Arab practice of killing or burying alive a newborn child (particularly a girl) on account of the parents’ poverty or to refrain from having a female child. Perhaps in those days, people did not know safe methods of contraception and early abortion.
Embryonic development was central to the Muslim arguments on abortion. According to Muslim scholars, it is lawful to have an abortion during the first 120 days, but after the stage of ensoulment (after the soul enters into the fetus), abortion is prohibited completely except where it is imperative to save the mother’s life. After ensoulment, however, abortion is prohibited absolutely and is akin to murder.
The Hanafi scholars, who comprised the majority of orthodox Muslims in later centuries, permitted abortion until the end of the four months. According to them, a pregnant woman could have an abortion without her husband’s permission, but she should have reasonable grounds for this act. One reason, which was mentioned frequently, was the presence of a nursing infant. A new pregnancy put an upper limit on lactation, and the jurists believed that if the mother could not be replaced by a wet-nurse, the infant would die.
Abortion in Islam
Some Muslims argue that abortion is permissible if the fetus is younger than four months (120 days). They quote a statement from the Prophet (s) that refers to a human being starting as a fertilized ovum in the uterus of the mother for forty days, then it grows into a clot for the same period, then into a morsel of flesh for the same period, then an angel is sent to that fetus to blow the Ruh into it and to write down its age, deeds, sustenance, and whether it is destined to be happy or sad.
Assuming the Hadith to be authentic, scholars explain that the error comes from understanding that before the Ruh is blown into the fetus at 120 days, the fetus is not a living entity, and therefore aborting it does not amount to killing it. It therefore becomes clear that aborting a fetus before 120 days is still killing a living entity, let alone abortion after that presumed period.
Some Muslims argue that the only case when aborting a fetus, before or after 120 days, is allowed in Islam, is when a medical situation threatens the life of the mother, leaving only two options, to let either the other or the fetus survive, but not both. Scholars argue that such a case can only be determined by a specialist, trusted and committed Muslim doctor. They argue that the mother can have other children, whereas the child cannot make up for losing the mother.
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Al Arabiya to telecast ’Inside Islam’
Al Arabiya satellite channel
Al Arabiya satellite channel will broadcast tonight at 10:00 p.m. a new documentary film titled “Inside Islam†in cooperation with the Coexist Foundation established by Mohammed Jameel, president of Abdul Latif Jameel Company. The film is one of the latest productions based on Gallup’s research and studies, which are conducted under the title “What a Billion Muslims Really Think.â€
The Coexist Foundation (www.coexistfoundation.net) has developed a not-for-profit relationship with The Gallup Organization, in which the Coexist Foundation has agreed to support Gallup in order to transform world thinking based on a set of facts — the collective views of the world’s Muslims and Western populations.
“Inside Islam†is the latest documentary produced based on such studies and research work. A private reception prior to the world premiere of “Inside Islam†was conducted for approximately 180 officials from the US Department of State, including top officials such as the assistant deputy of the secretary of state and officials responsible for the Middle East in the department.
Speakers included Farah Bandith, the special envoy of the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to Muslim communities, Dalia Mogahed, senior analyst and executive director, the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, and Alex Kronemer, co-founder and executive producer of the Unity Productions Foundations (UPF), the organization that supervised the film production. (more…)
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Behind the veil: Why Islam’s most visible symbol is spreading
It liberates. It represses. It is a prayer. It is a prison. It protects. It obliterates.
Rarely in human history has a piece of cloth been assigned so many roles. Been embroiled in so much controversy. Been so misjudged, misunderstood, and manipulated.
This bit, or in some cases bolt, of fabric is the Islamic veil.
For non-Muslims, it is perhaps the most visible, and often most controversial, symbol of Islam. From Texas to Paris, it has gained new prominence and been at the center of workplace misunderstandings, court rulings, and, in Europe, parliamentary debates about whether it should be banned.
The veil’s higher profile stems from several factors, including greater awareness and curiosity about Islam since 9/11, US military interventions in Muslim countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, and the rising visibility of Muslim immigrant communities in the United States and Europe.
It has also become a magnet for trouble in times of distress, as Illinois resident Amal Abusumayah discovered when a woman upset about the Fort Hood, Texas, killing spree tugged Ms. Abusumayah’s head scarf in a grocery store.
“The veil has become a clichéd symbol for what the West perceives as Muslim oppression, tyranny, and zealotry – all of which have little to do with the real reasons why Muslim women veil,” says Jennifer Heath, editor of the 2008 book “The Veil: Women Writers on Its History, Lore, and Politics.”
All this attention on the veil brings immense chagrin to Muslims because their faith means so much more to them than what women wear on their heads. But the veil – in its many manifestations – also gives rise to disagreement among Muslims. And their contemporary debate about it, while not yet widespread, raises fundamental questions relating to free will, women’s status in society, and even how to interpret Islam’s holy book, the Koran.
IN ITS BROADEST SENSE, the “Islamic veil” refers to a large variety of coverings. The most widely worn is the head scarf. Covering hair and neck, it can be black and simple, or colorful and sweeping, as in Cairo, where scarves are tightly wound around women’s heads and then cascade luxuriously to their waists.
The head scarf is often referred to as hijab or hejab, an Arabic word meaning a covering or a screen. Mujahabat means “women who are covered.”
There is sweeping consensus among Islamic religious scholars around the world that Muslim women are required to, or at least should, cover their hair. So the head scarf, or some type of head covering, is widely viewed as mandatory in Islam.
Other coverings worn by Muslim women also fall within the category of “veil.” Depending on the country, these outfits can be regarded as either optional or compulsory. Often they are said to be required on either religious or cultural grounds – categories that overlap in most Muslim countries.
Iran’s traditional covering, for example, is the chador, an ample black cloth that fits over the head and reaches to the ground. Women often hold part of it over their face in mixed company. The more modern Iranian cover is a head scarf accompanied by a longish, coat-type garment.
Women in Saudi Arabia wear an oblong black scarf flipped twice over their heads, along with the abaya, a loose black robe. Many add the niqab, a square piece of cloth that covers the mouth and nose, or sometimes hides the entire face with only a slit for the eyes.
The most restrictive covering by far is the burqa of Afghanistan, a long billowy smock that totally covers a woman from head to toe, including her face. She sees the world only through a small square of cloth webbing.
NON-MUSLIMS TEND TO REGARD VEILING as a sign of women’s repression. That is true in highly patriarchal societies like Iran and Saudi Arabia, where women have second-class status and are required to cover both head and body when outside the home.
But most Muslim women, including most in the US, voluntarily opt to wear the head scarf out of religious commitment. They believe they are following God’s wish, and reject suggestions that their head covering means they have less autonomy at home or on the job.
“It’s something that you love to do because it makes you feel that you are closer to Allah, that you’re doing the right thing,” says Reem Ossama, an Egyptian mother of three who covers her head when she leaves her home here. “Allah ordered us to wear the scarf … to protect our dignity, to protect women, [so we would] not be looked at just as a beautiful body, a beautiful face, [so others would] look at our minds and our personalities.” (more…)
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Do you want to send online gifts to pakistan
HI,
THIS IS FOR ALL MY PAKISTANI FELLOWS WHO ARE NOT LIVING IN PAKISTAN.
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THANKS!
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Expats enjoy Eid too!
It’s that time of the year again: Eidul Fitr. For many of us this will mean our Rooh Afza bottles will gather dust until next Ramadan and the smells of samosa, pakora and jalebi will be all too infrequent in the ensuing months. Our fitness and nutrition goals, understandably put on hold, will have to endure a prolonged hiatus as we indulge in Eid festivities.
For Muslims in the diaspora, Eid is just as much of a joyous occasion as for those back home; unless you have midterm exams or didn’t even realise it was Ramadan already. Much like in Pakistan, here too people meet with friends and relatives, throw huge dinners where pot-bellied uncles try to out-brag each other based on their kids’ achievements. Those who still don’t feel like its Eid have a variety of melas and concerts to choose from, which, upon visiting, will magically create a more homely atmosphere.
This year, the Muslim community in Toronto was set to have quite a bash. After all, mummy and daddy didn’t have to go back to work after Eid namaz nor did uncles and aunties get a convenient excuse for denying kids their Eidi. Yes, indeed, Eid coincided with the holiest of holy’s: the North American weekend. Eid may be celebrated on Monday in Pakistan, but here church bells and azaans united to make for a divine cacophony in the wee hours of Sunday morning, awakening unassuming sinners from their drunken stupors from the previous night out. (more…)
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Ginger adds a world of flavour to dishes
Ginger root three ways: fresh; dried and ground; and crystalized
On a flavour-to-cost ratio, ginger is one heck of a deal. It’s inexpensive, depending on the form, and just a small amount can add a world of flavour to all sorts of dishes, both savoury and sweet.
Ginger is the tan-coloured, knobby rhizome of a perennial herb officially known as Zingiber officinale. The plant can grow more than a metre tall and when the leaves die, the rhizome, the ginger, is harvested. How the ginger is, or is not, processed determines what form you get.
Fresh ginger
When the rhizomes are harvested and sold as is, you have fresh ginger. When purchasing, look for firm pieces of ginger with fairly smooth skin. If the ginger appears shrivelled or has spongy spots, it’s old or was improperly stored and should be avoided. It will be difficult to peel, cut or grate.
Unpeeled fresh ginger, if placed in a tightly sealed plastic bag, can be kept in your refrigerator crisper for up to three weeks, depending on how fresh it was when purchased. For the freshest ginger taste, though, buy only what you can use in a reasonable length of time.
If, for some reason, you’ve purchased a pile of fresh ginger, it could be placed in a tightly sealed plastic bag and frozen for up to two months.
Another option for longer-term storage is to peel and slice the ginger, place it in a jar, top it with dry sherry or vodka, tightly screw on the lid and place it in the refrigerator, where it will keep for a month or more. If you do store ginger in alcohol or freeze it, keep in mind that both processes will alter its flavour.
Fresh ginger can be used in all sort of recipes; today I’ve mixed it into cranberry sauce and yam stew.
Ground ginger
To make a spice called ground ginger, the rhizome is dried and ground into a powder that has a pleasingly pungent aroma and concentrated ginger taste.
This spice is prone to clumping if improperly stored and exposed to moisture. So keep ground ginger in an airtight container in a cool, dry place and always use a dry measuring spoon when getting some. If properly stored, ground ginger will maintain its lively taste for up to six months.
After that, its flavour will begin to diminish.
Ground ginger can be used in a variety of ways, such as being added to spice blends, stirred into preserves or beaten into cookies. The New Food Lover’s Companion says the flavour of dried, ground ginger is very different from that of its fresh form and is not an appropriate substitute in dishes specifying fresh ginger. I don’t totally agree with that, because when I’m making a stir- fry and am out of fresh ginger, I have sprinkled in some ground ginger and the results were good.
If you do try to substitute ground ginger for fresh, the website of the spice and herb company McCormick (mccormick.com), says a quarter teaspoon of ground ginger equals one teaspoon of grated fresh ginger.
Crystallized ginger
To make this form of ginger, sometimes called candied ginger, the fresh root is peeled, cut into pieces or slices, cooked in syrup and dried. You can make a simple but sweet and spicy holiday confection by dipping and coating pieces, slices or strips of crystallized ginger in melted chocolate and letting it set. Sliced or chopped crystallized ginger can also be used in a variety of other sweet ways, such as cookies, steamed puddings and fruitcake. I’ve also used modest amounts of chopped or sliced crystallized ginger to impart a sweet and spicy taste to savoury dishes, such as soups and curries.
Store crystallized ginger in a tight-sealing jar in a cool, dry place. It will keep for many months.
Cranberry Sauce With Apricots, Ginger and Currants (more…)
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Halal Diet and Pregnancy
We are what we eat. Today we complain our children are disobedient towards us, but why the surprise? If we feed our children haram (even while in the womb) then the thoughts that will be bred in their minds (later in life) will be haram. Understand well, halal foods breed halal thoughts and halal actions whilst haram food breeds haram thoughts and haram actions.
Shaykh Ashraf Ali Thanwi narrates, ‘If before birth of the child, parents were to reform themselves and adopt piety, then there is no reason why the child born too should not be pious. The actions of parents during pregnancy have a profound effect on the unborn child. Accordingly, the son of a saint was quite mischievous. Somebody queried the saint; ‘It is indeed strange; you are so pious yet your son so naughty?’ The saint replied, ‘ One evening I was invited to meals by a rich person (whose income was doubtful). After eating, my nafs became excited and I made love to my wife who became pregnant. This child is the affect of the doubtful food.’
Therefore, during pregnancy (especially) it is of the utmost importance to eat a varied halal diet brought from halal income. If in doubt regarding ingredients, leave it out.
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How Many Camels Do You See?
This photo reminds me of a Shafiq-ur-Rehman joke. To count animals, a student first counts their legs and then divide the number by 4. One can use the same formula here to find out how many camels are shown.
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Imran Khan from playboy to politician
'My mission is to cure my country of endemic corruption'
I drive to meet Imran Khan through the white silence of Richmond Park in the snow. Deer loom out of the dusk, antlers like reindeer. “I love nature,” says Khan when we meet. “I am an outdoors man. I love coming here because I can play outside with my children.”
On the day we meet, Khan has just stepped off the plane from Islamabad, and his sons, Sulemain, 13, and Kasim, 10, have been playing in the park. When they come in they hurl themselves at him, pink-cheeked from the cold. Khan has not been in England since having surgery for his near-fatal twisted appendix in November and his boys have come from their mother Jemima’s house in Fulham, south-west London, to have tea with him. All three are excited at the reunion.
His stop-over point when he is in London is Ormley Lodge, the home of his former mother-in-law, Lady Annabel Goldsmith, and in the bitter January landscape, the warmth of her house is inviting. While tea is prepared in “the big house” he paces up and down the small chintzy sitting room above what used to be stables, his home here since he married – and divorced – Jemima. There is a running machine in the next room.
“I am lucky,” he says, his Bollywood looks belying the fact that he is nearly 60. “This is still my family.”
Khan’s life has changed radically. Few could have predicted that the former playboy cricketer, who bowed out from the international party scene when he married the heiress Jemima Goldsmith in 1995, would have become a political animal of the most zealous kind. Politics may have cost him his marriage. It has certainly taken over his life. “My mission,” he says, “is to cure my country of endemic corruption.”
Since 1997 Khan has been the leader of Pakistan’s Movement for Justice Party. His parents, from different tribes, married and settled in Lahore, where he first took his new bride Jemima. Since their separation in 2004 he has lived alone in a small farm they designed together outside Islamabad, and now he acknowledges that sometimes he feels glad his wife and children are no longer exposed to the chaos and danger of Pakistan.
“It’s not as bad as it looks out there, it’s worse,” he tells me. “The boys used to go to school in Islamabad, now every day there is a bomb, an explosion, suicide bombers, someone is killed or a bomb murders dozens of innocent people. Bombs don’t have eyes. The Pakistani Army is being told to murder its own people. Although I miss my children very much, I know I would worry about them all the time if they were still out there.
“But if you are in Pakistan, watching this political mafia sucking the blood of the country, how can you stand by?” (more…)
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