❖ The Islamic Ruling on Abortion (Isqāt Ḥaml) ❖
Source: Fatāwā Ameenpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Ameenpuri
✿ Question:
What is the Islamic ruling regarding abortion?
✿ Answer:
Without a valid Sharʿi excuse, abortion is haram (prohibited). It falls under the category of “hidden infanticide (waʿd khafī)”.
◈ Statement of Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (رحمه الله) (728H):
إِسْقَاطُ الْحَمْلِ حَرَامٌ بِإِجْمَاعِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ وَهُوَ مِنَ الْوَادِ الَّذِي قَالَ اللهُ فِيهِ : ﴿وَإِذَا الْمَوْءُودَةُ سُئِلَتْ، بِأَيِّ ذَنْبٍ قُتِلَتْ﴾ وقد قال: ﴿وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلَادَكُمْ خَشْيَةَ إِمْلَاقٍ﴾
Translation:
Abortion is haram by the consensus of Muslims. It is one of the forms of burying children alive, about which Allah said:
﴿وَإِذَا الْمَوْءُودَةُ سُئِلَتْ، بِأَيِّ ذَنْبٍ قُتِلَتْ﴾ (al-Takwīr 8–9)
“When the girl who was buried alive will be asked, for what sin she was killed.”
And Allah said:
﴿وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلَادَكُمْ خَشْيَةَ إِمْلَاقٍ﴾ (Banī Isrāʾīl 31)
“Do not kill your children for fear of poverty.”
(Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā 34/160)
✅ Conclusion:
Abortion without a valid Sharʿi reason is strictly forbidden (haram), and it is likened to the heinous act of burying children alive, which Islam unequivocally condemns.
