Dr. Muḥammad ʿAlī al-Bār states: “The normal period of gestation is 280 days; it should not extend more than one month beyond its due date—otherwise the fetus would die in its mother’s womb. Students of jurisprudence must therefore recognize that the notion of a pregnancy lasting several years is impossible.”

Second: Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ruled that it is permissible to expel the nutfa (fertilised ovum) by means of a lawful medicine. Al-Insāf records: “It is permissible to drink a medication in order to expel the nutfa.”

Al-Furūʿ adds that, according to the apparent sense of Ibn ʿAqīl’s words, terminating the pregnancy is allowed before the soul is breathed into the fetus.

Ibn Rajab said: “A group of jurists granted the woman a dispensation to abort what is in her womb so long as the soul has not yet been breathed into it, but this is a weak view.” End of Ibn Rajab’s statement.

The pronouncements of the Ḥanbalī authorities clearly indicate the permissibility of expelling the nutfa.

Third: Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn (Ibn Taymiyyah) said: “If a woman takes a medicine to stop her menses or to prolong the period of ritual purity, that period counts as purity.”

Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm likewise stated: “It is permissible to use contraceptive pills to space pregnancies for family or health reasons, but if the intention is to prevent pregnancy altogether, that is not permissible.”

Decision of the Islamic Fiqh Council on the abortion of a congenitally deformed fetus:

Praise belongs to Allah alone, and blessings and peace be upon the Prophet after whom there is no other, our master Muḥammad, and upon his family and Companions.

To proceed:

The Council of the Islamic Fiqh Academy of the Muslim World League, in its twelfth session held in Mecca from Saturday 15 Rajab 1410 AH (10 February 1990 CE) to Saturday 22 Rajab 1410 AH,