Introduction

It is a well-known fact that the Quran outlines the ethical and practical principles that were designed to be followed in 7th-century Arabia. At the same time, Islam as a global religion aims to translate a universally applicable worldview that, at least theoretically, should work in every situation and age. This fact produces an obvious issue of the 7th-century concepts and the scientific knowledge of the later ages, especially since the two may come in conflict. The issue of abortion in Islam is certainly an example of such a contrast. Although the Quran unequivocally forbids infanticide, the later scholarly interpretations of the issue have highlighted the difference between varying schools in terms of when a fetus may be considered a person. While the Maliki school posits that the fetus is destined for ensoulment from the moment of conception and, thus, cannot be violated, the Hanafi school generally allows abortion prior to 120 days of pregnancy. While each side roots their arguments in a long and esteemed tradition of Islamic thought, the modern scientific data on fetal brain development makes the Hanafi approach more applicable in contemporary society.

Abortion in the Quran and Hadiths

The Quran does not refer to abortion in the sense that is commonly understood under the term in contemporary society – the deliberate premature termination of pregnancy that results in the death of the fetus. However, it still provides ample reference data for Muslim scholars to begin formulating their position on the matter based on that. For once, the Quran unequivocally upholds the sanctity of human life (McAuliffe, 2001). Apart from that, it contains explicit provisions against the killing of infants and female infants in particular (McAuliffe, 2001). Thus, it holds that taking human life, except for certain cases, is unlawful and should not be undertaken, which constitutes the basis for Islamic discussion of the issue. The main question to answer, though, is whether an unborn fetus may be considered a full-fledged human being and, consequently, whether it enjoys the same protection as any human after birth.

Another part of the Quran that has immediate relevance to the issue of abortion is the Islamic perspective on the development of life and, in particular, human fetal development. According to the Quran, the creation of a human being includes several consecutive steps. The first one, which is forming a human out of clay, only applies to Adam as the progenitor of humankind, but the other ones are universally applied (McAuliffe, 2001). The nucleus of human life is formed by the male semen, which, after being inserted into a womb, creates a clot of blood around it (McAuliffe, 2001). After that, when the clot reaches a certain degree of density, it begins the formation of tissues, such as bones, muscles, etcetera (McAuliffe, 2001). Muslim scholars generally agree that the fetus does not possess the soul from the very moment of its inception, and it happens at some point between inception and birth (McAuliffe, 2001). Regardless, it is important that the Quran depicts human development as a gradual process and makes a distinction between a fetus and a full-fledged human, which becomes a separate being with one’s own soul.

Speaking of hadiths, one prophetic hadith is of particular importance to the issue of abortion. It refers to the case of an induced miscarriage when someone hits a pregnant woman’s belly, resulting in the delivery of a dead embryo. The due to be paid is established at 50 dinars, but different schools of Islamic legal thought derive different implications from this commandment. Maliki school posits that the fine should be understood as one-tenth of 500 dinars to be paid for the death of the mother as an adult female slave (Eich, 2009). In other words, the Maliki school interprets the value of a miscarried infant based on the value of a mother. Yet, according to the Hanafi school, this reasoning is wrong because it does not consider whether the child could have grown to become a more expensive male slave or a less expensive female slave. Thus, according to the Hanafi school, the real meaning of this hadith is not deriving the fine for a dead embryo from a mother’s worth. Rather, it means that even a prematurely delivered dead infant should be considered a separate being from their mother.

Maliki and Hanafi Schools: Basic Differences

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Even as thorough and multifaceted as the Quran is, it cannot cover every