the womb and attached to it, and the formation of a human being has begun. Thus, there is a difference between the two. According to this view, aborting it is prohibited. Hence, the stronger view is that aborting the sperm-drop is either disliked or prohibited. But if there is a need for it—for example, if the mother is ill and there is fear for her—then the dislike or prohibition is lifted.

The second case: if it has become a clinging clot, then according to the school it may not be aborted, because the clinging clot is blood, and blood is the substance of life. It has now moved, transformed, and changed from the fluid, which has no value, into blood, which is the beginning of human formation. This is why, if a person bleeds, he dies. They therefore say: once it reaches this stage, it may not be aborted.

Some scholars, however, say that it may be aborted because it is blood, and blood has no value. Allah has forbidden us to eat carrion, blood, and the flesh of swine; thus, it has no value, nor is it a human being whose life is inviolable such that we would say it may not be aborted.

As for after the soul has been breathed into it, it may not be aborted, and there are two cases:

The first is that it is delivered at a stage when it can survive, such as when the woman has completed the ninth month and experiences difficulty in delivery. It may then be delivered on condition that doing so poses no danger to its life or to the life of its mother. If there is danger, then it is prohibited.

The second is that it is delivered before its proper time, such as when it is delivered at five or six months. This is prohibited, because it will most likely not survive—unless the mother dies while it is still alive, and there is hope that it will survive if removed. In that case, there is no harm in doing so; rather, it may be obligatory, because this saves the life of the fetus. If someone were to say, “But this mutilates the mother who has died,” the response is that there is no mutilation in