Abortion: Shi'ite Perspective Publisher



Bagheri A¹
Source: Abortion: Global Positions and Practices# Religious and Legal Perspectives Published:2021

Abstract

Since the ninth century, Islamic scholars have been traditionally affiliated with one of two major denominations: Shi'ite (known as Ja'fari school) or Sunni (with its four schools of thought: Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali). The leading authority in Shi'ite tradition was Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (d. 748). This chapter presents the Shi'ite perspectives on abortion. In Islamic jurisprudence, there are issues which have not been dealt with explicitly in the primary sources of Islamic Shari'a. Those issues therefore fall within the domain of legal discretion (ijtihad). In the Shi'ite school of thought, in order to deal with issues which have not been mentioned in the Qur'an or Sunna, the Reason (aql) and Consensus (ijma) among the companions of the Prophet or Islamic scholars (at this time) are considered as juridical resources. Several Qur'anic verses emphasize on the sanctity of human life. Other verses prohibit and condemn homicide and killing of human beings and children. However, the issue of abortion has not been mentioned in the Qur'an explicitly; therefore, rulings on abortion mostly reference the Tradition (Sunna), the narrated opinions (hadith) from the Prophet, his companions, or Imams (in Shi'ite school). As a general rule, in the Shi'ite school, abortion is not permitted, unless the mother's life is in danger and the fetus is in the pre-ensoulment stage. However, there is a minority opinion among Shi'ite jurists that permits abortion after ensoulment in very restricted cases based on a legitimate defense theory. This chapter reviews juridical rulings on abortion in the Shi'ite school of thought. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021.