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Resolutions of Iftaa' Board

Resolution No.(152): "Ruling on Tubal Ligation and Aborting some Embryos to Save others"

Date Added : 02-11-2015

 

Resolution No.(152) (17/2010)  by the Board of Iftaa`, Research and Islamic Studies:

"Ruling on Tubal Ligation and Aborting some Embryos to Save others"

Date: 2/9/1431 AH, corresponding to 12/8/2010 AD.

 

 

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of The Worlds; and may his peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.

During its ninth session held on the above given date, the Board reviewed the following medical questions:

Question No.(1): A thirty-two-year old female patient, who has two kids, underwent endometrial resection due to recurrent bleeding. Although it is a contraceptive procedure, there is a possibility that a part of the endometrium could remain untouched. Therefore, if an ovum gets stuck in that part, it will lead to many complications, such as the placenta accrete. Thus, is it permissible to carry out tubal ligation for this patient as a contraceptive measure and to prevent the aforementioned complications?

Answer: The Sharia principle established by the evidences from the Noble Quran and the Prophetic Sunnah is that it is forbidden to use any permanent contraceptives that lead to ending one`s offspring. It has been reported by Bukhari and Muslim that the Prophet (PBUH) forbade self castration; therefore, the same rule applies to every means that stops giving birth completely or removes desire, even under the pretext of poverty or unwillingness to have children.

Urgent cases are exempted from the aforementioned rule (forbiddance); therefore, once it has been established by doctors that the pregnancy of a certain woman will jeopardize her life or inflict great damage to her health-only then-there is no harm in conducting tubal ligation.

Accordingly, conducting tubal ligation in the above mentioned case is permissible in order to rescue that woman from an imminent danger in case she became pregnant, as determined by trustworthy doctors.

Question (2): A forty-two-year old female patient who has three boys and two girls, and is thirty three weeks pregnant. She, along with her husband, is willing to undergo tubal ligation while giving birth in case the fetus remained in breech position and can be delivered only through a caesarean. It is worth mentioning that the fetus is inflicted with a congenital condition, which is the smallness of the left ventricle. It is a kind of deformation that usually leads to the death of the fetus after its delivery. She also suffers from general fatigue and high blood pressure. 

Answer: In this case, tubal ligation is impermissible because the pregnancy doesn`t jeopardize  the mother`s life and there are other methods of birth control which are easier, more available and don`t have complications that could lead to ending birth giving, according to the opinion of specialized doctors.

Question (3): A woman got pregnant by undergoing (IVF), or (test-tube-baby). After three months, it turned out that she was pregnant with seven embryos. Is it permissible to abort some of them by a lethal injection so as for others to be saved and delivered naturally?

Answer: If this large number of embryos causes serious complications to the mother or endangers her life or-mostly- aborts all the embryos, then there is no harm in aborting some of them to ward off these dangers. And Allah Knows Best.

 

 

Head of the Iftaa` Board, The Grand Mufti of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, His Grace Sheikh Abdulkareem Al-Khasawneh

Vice Head of the Iftaa` Board, Dr. Ahmad Hilayel

Dr. Yahia Al-Botoosh/ Member

His Eminence, Sheikh Sa`ied Hijjawi/ Member

Dr. Mohammad Khair Al-Essa

Judge Sarrie Attieh

Dr. Abdulrahman Ibbdah/ Member

Dr. Mohammad Oklah/ Member

Dr. Abduln`nassir Abu Al Bass`al/ Member

Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalayleh/ Member

Dr. Mohammad Al-Gharaibeh/ Member

Executive Secretary of the Iftaa` board, Dr. Ahmad Al-Has`sanat

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Summarized Fatawaa

Is it incumbent on the fiancée to obey her fiancé?

When the woman settles in her husband`s house, it is incumbent on him to provide for her and it is incumbent on her to obey him. Before that, and if the marriage contract had been concluded, then she is lawfully his wife and thus she should abide by custom in treating him, but if the marriage contract hadn`t been concluded, then she should treat him as a non-Mahram (Marriageable).

Is a woman sinful if she fasts out of shyness from her family while menstruating or in postnatal bleeding?

It is forbidden for a woman who is menstruating or in postnatal bleeding to abstain from food and drink with the intention of fasting. If she fasts out of shyness, she is sinful, as her fast is not valid.
However, if she refrains from eating and drinking without intending to fast, it is not forbidden, but she unnecessarily burdens herself without need.

What is the ruling on swearing an oath by the Prophet ﷺ, and does such an oath take effect according to Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, requiring expiation upon its breach?

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
Swearing an oath by a created being is disliked (makrūh) in our Shāfiʿī school. Shaykh al-Islām Imām al-Nawawī, may Allah have mercy upon him, states: "Swearing by a created being is disliked — such as swearing by the Prophet, the Kaʿbah, Jibrīl, the Companions, or the Prophet's family. Al-Shāfiʿī, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: 'I fear that swearing by other than Allah the Almighty may constitute an act of disobedience.' The scholars of the school explained this to mean: that is, something forbidden and sinful — indicating that he had some hesitation in the matter. Al-Imām stated: the established position of the school is that it is categorically not forbidden, but rather disliked. Furthermore, whoever swears by a created being, his oath does not take effect and no expiation (kaffārah) is required if he breaks it." [Rawḍat al-Ṭālibīn wa ʿUmdat al-Muftīn, Vol. 11/P.6]
According to the Ḥanbalī school, however, expiation becomes obligatory upon one who swears by our master the Prophet ﷺ and then breaks his oath. Imām al-Bahūtī al-Ḥanbalī, may Allah have mercy upon him, states: "No expiation is required for swearing by other than Allah the Almighty, even if the oath is broken — because expiation was made obligatory for swearing by Allah and His attributes, out of reverence for His names, and nothing else is equal to Him in this regard... except in the case of swearing by our Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, for expiation becomes obligatory when one swears by him and then breaks the oath. This was explicitly stated in the narration of Abū Ṭālib, because he is one of the two conditions of the two testimonies of faith by which a disbeliever becomes a Muslim. Ibn ʿAqīl held the view that swearing by any of the other prophets, peace and blessings be upon them all, carries the same ruling." [Sharḥ Muntahā al-Irādāt, Vol. 3/P.441]. And Allah the Almighty knows best.

What is the ruling on making up missed prayers during prohibited times?

 

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our Master, the Messenger of Allah.
 
It is permissible to make up (qada’) missed prayers at any time, even during the periods when prayer is generally prohibited. The prayers that are forbidden and considered invalid during these times are 'absolute voluntary prayers' (nafl mutlaq)—which have no specific cause—and voluntary prayers whose cause follows the prayer itself, such as the Sunnah of entering Ihram or the Sunnah of the Istikharah prayer. Furthermore, no prayer is considered disliked (makruh) during these prohibited times when performed within the Meccan Sanctuary (Makkah al-Mukarramah).
 
It is stated in Bushra al-Karim (Vol.1/P.181), one of the Shafi’i texts: 'It is not forbidden to perform prayers that have a cause that is not delayed (i.e., the cause is preceding), such as making up a missed prayer (fa’itah)—even if it was a voluntary one—and the funeral prayer (janazah); or a cause that is simultaneous, such as the prayer for rain (istisqa’) or the eclipse prayer (kusuf)... and the Sunnah of wudu, the greeting of the mosque (tahiyyat al-masjid), the Sunnah of circumambulation (tawaf), the Sunnah of arrival, and the prostrations of recitation (tilawah) or thankfulness (shukr). These mentioned prayers and their like are not forbidden provided that one does not specifically intend (ta'ammud) to perform them during the disliked time because it is a disliked time. If one does so intentionally, it becomes forbidden, even if it is a mandatory makeup prayer that is due immediately; because in that case, one is acting in defiance of the Sharia. This is in contrast to when one does not specifically seek out that time, even if the prayer happens to fall within it, or if one seeks it for another purpose—such as delaying a funeral prayer to that time so that a larger number of people may pray over the deceased; in such cases, it is permissible and valid... And it is forbidden to perform prayers with no cause at all, like absolute nafl, or those with a delayed cause, such as the Istikharah prayer, the prayer for Ihram, the prayer for a need (hajah), the prayer before leaving the house, or the prayer before execution; because their causes occur after the prayer itself.' And Allah the Exalted knows best."

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