´It was narrated that Abu Sa’eed said:` “We asked the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) about the fetus. He said: ‘Eat it if you wish, for it is considered legally slaughtered with the slaughtering of its mother.’”
Related hadith on this topic
Explanation & Benefits
Maulana Ataullah Sajid
Benefits and Issues:
➊
The life and death of a child before birth are dependent upon the life and death of the mother; therefore, to slaughter the mother is, in effect, to slaughter the child.
➋
Some scholars have interpreted this to mean that the child should also be slaughtered in the same manner as its mother. However, the heart is not satisfied with this opinion, because if the child is born alive, there can be no doubt that it must be slaughtered.
Doubt only arises in the case where the child also dies as a result of the mother being slaughtered.
It was regarding this situation that the question was asked, and the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) permitted its consumption.
And Allah knows best.
Source: Commentary on Sunan Ibn Mājah by Mawlānā ‘Atā’ullāh Sājid, Page: 3199
Shaykh Dr. Abdur Rahman Freywai
Explanation:
1:
A child, as long as it remains in the mother's womb, is called a "janin" (fetus).
2:
That is, when an animal is slaughtered and then a (dead) offspring is found in its womb, there is no need to slaughter that offspring,
because the offspring is considered a part of the mother animal's body,
therefore, it will not be slaughtered.
However, if it comes out alive, then it will only be lawful (halal) after being slaughtered.
Note:
(On the basis of corroborating and supporting narrations, this hadith is authentic,
otherwise, its narrator "Mujalid" is weak,
see:
Al-Irwa, no. 2539)
Source: Sunan al-Tirmidhi – Majlis ‘Ilmi Dar al-Da‘wah, New Delhi Edition, Page: 1476