Islam severely condemned the practice of the pagans who...

Islam severely condemned the practice of the pagans who killed their children for poverty or for the shame of a girl’s birth. Unfortunately we see that today millions of abortions take place every year. Most of these abortions take place because the “liberated” people of our age would like to enjoy the life of sexual freedom. When does the prohibition of abortion apply?

The general Islamic view is that, although there is some form of life after conception, full human life begins only after the ensoulment of the fetus. Most Muslim scholars including the Shi‘a believe that ensoulment occurs at about 120 days after conception (10)[^6]. There is a minority who hold that it occurs at about 40 days after conception. Of course, as soon as the zygote settles inside a woman's body, it deserves a unanimously recognized degree of respect and it cannot be aborted.

The Qur'an uses the word "Haml" to describe pregnancy[^7]. In Arabic, the term "Haml" means to carry, and this starts when the zygote is implanted in the uterus and not before it. The late Ayatollah Khu’i said: “The criterion in applying the [word] 'pregnant' for a woman is correct only after settling down (Istiqrar) the zygote in her womb because just entering the sperm in her womb does not make her pregnant” (15).

Thus, from the very beginning of the pregnancy its termination is prohibited and the zygote must be protected. The showed respect to the zygote at this early stage does not necessarily mean that it is a real or actual human being.[^8] After starting pregnancy, the zygote is in a state of active potentiality to become a human being with the full genetic code of the human race in general and of the particular individual.

As we can see above in the verse 23:13, implantation of the ovum in the uterus constitutes the first stage of the creation of man. According to a Hadith, Ishaq Bin ‘Ammar asked Imam Al-Kazim whether it is permissible for a woman who fear pregnancy to drink some liquid to abort what is in her uterus or not. Imam replied: “No.” Ishaq said: “That is the zygote (Nutfah).” Imam replied: “Verily the first thing to be created is the zygote” (18).

However, after creating the spirit, it becomes a real human being. For this reason, the Shi‘a jurists like late Ayatollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khamenei, Ayatollah Lankarani and Ayatollah Sistani declare that it is allowed to abort fetus to save the mother’s life before the ensoulment.