eval Islamicate cities also helped to meet this
need. In the absence of water, Islamic law allows
for the performance of “dry ablution” with sand
or a similar substance. Only the hands and face
are cleansed if this is the case. Failure to perform
the proper ablution prohibits a person from per-
forming prayer, entering a mosque, touching the
qUran, or visiting the kaaba in mecca.
See also FUnerary ritUals.
Further reading: Laleh Bakhtiyar, Encyclopedia of
Islamic Law: A Compendium of the Major Schools (Chi-
cago: ABC International Group, 1996), 20–61; Marion
Holmes Katz, Body of Text: The Emergence of the Sunni
Law of Ritual Purity (Albany: State University of New
York Press, 2002); Arthur Jeffrey, Reader on Islam (The
Hague: Mouton & Company, 1962), 464–470.
abortion
Abortion is a human intervention to end a preg-
nancy prior to birth. Although people living
in many different societies throughout history
have practiced it, abortion has caused consider-
able reflection and debate about its ethical, legal,
religious, social, economic, as well as medical
implications. Decisions about abortion involve
interrelationships between the woman and her
fetus, the woman and her mate or husband, and
the wider society—including religious, legal, and
medical authorities. At the center of the debate
are life and death questions that no individual or
society takes lightly.
Muslim religious and legal experts have been
involved in discussions about abortion since the
11th century, and they have expressed different
points of view on the subject. They often turn
to teachings found in the qUran and hadith that
emphasize the sacredness of human life, such as
those that deal with man’s creation with a soul
(ruh) from God (Q 15:29, 32:9), the development
of the fetus (Q 23:12-14), and condemnations of
murder and the killing of one’s own offspring (Q
17:33, 6:151, 81:8-9). Most schools of Islamic law
make a distinction between the first 120 days,
when abortion is allowed for a valid reason (for
example, to save the life of the mother or a nurs-
ing child), and the remainder of the pregnancy,
when it is believed that the fetus has received
its soul and gains legal status as a person. Abor-
tion thereafter is generally prohibited, unless the
mother’s health is threatened, since her welfare
has precedence over that of the fetus. This is espe-
cially true for those who follow the recommenda-
tions of the hanaFi legal school. On the other
hand, most jurists of the maliki legal school
believe that ensoulment occurs at the moment of
conception, and they tend to forbid abortion at
any point, which puts this school’s position closer
to that of the Roman Catholic Church. The other
schools hold intermediate positions. The penalty
prescribed for an illegal abortion varies according
to the particular circumstances involved. Accord-
ing to the sharia, it should be limited to a fine
that is paid to the father or heirs of the fetus.
According to Islamic theology, there may also be
punishment in the aFterliFe.
There are no accurate statistics concerning
actual abortion rates among Muslims. Most Mus-
lim countries, which often have high birth rates,
fall among the group of developing nations, where
an estimated 78 percent of the world’s abortions
are performed. The Muslim countries with the
most liberal abortion laws for women are iran,
Tunisia, and tUrkey. In accordance with the sharia,
it is allowed in special circumstances in most other
Muslim countries, especially when the health of
the mother or a nursing child is involved.
See also adam and eve; birth control and
Family planning; children; soUl and spirit.Further reading: Jonathan E. Brockopp, ed., Islamic
Ethics of Life: Abortion, War, and Euthanasia (Columbia:
University of South Carolina Press, 2003); especially
the chapters by Marion Holmes Katz, Donna Lee
Bowen, and Vardit Rispler-Chaim; Basim F. Musallam,
Sex and Society in Islam (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 1983).abortion 7 J