Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

On abortion, Muslims say Islam is ‘on the side of mercy’

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Actually, it’s right about where you’d expect a religion whose holy book says three times to “kill them wherever you find them” (Qur’an 2:191, 4:89, cf. 9:5) to be.

“On abortion, Muslim Americans say Islamic history is ‘on the side of mercy,’” by Alejandra Molina, Religion News Service, June 24, 2022 (thanks to David):

(RNS) — To Eman Abdelhadi, getting an abortion was the most sensible thing to do. She was six weeks pregnant and a graduate student who wasn’t financially ready to have a child. She felt no shame or guilt going through with it.

“I had no qualms about it. I grew up in an environment and a religious tradition that sees my life as the most important thing,” said Abdelhadi, a professor at the University of Chicago who was raised in a Muslim household. “It felt very clear to me. There was never anything like, ‘You did something unethical.’”

Abdelhadi, whose mother was a gynecologist in Egypt, grew up with the idea that abortion was a “nonsensical thing to legislate” and that legalizing it was necessary to prevent people from seeking other, potentially dangerous means of terminating pregnancies.

Islamic law is flexible, Abdelhadi said, and when it comes to making a decision about abortion, “people will consult with their families, their religious leaders, and then they’ll ultimately make a decision for themselves.”

“You’ll do what feels right,” she said….

“There’s been a sort of confused silence as [Muslim] folks try to figure out what they believe about this, or what Islam tells them about this,” said Abdelhadi, now a sociologist who studies Muslims in America. “I think what happens in a Christian-dominated space is that sometimes, even among Muslims, we don’t know what we believe.”

Recent passage of antiabortion legislation in Texas and other red states has led many to make comparisons to the Taliban’s iron-fisted control of women in Muslim-majority Afghanistan. Such comparisons are inaccurate and perpetuate Islamophobia, experts say, adding that this rationale minimizes the role of Christianity and other U.S. systems that led to Texas’ six-week abortion ban.

The American Muslim Bar Association and HEART Women and Girls in April released an 11-page statement, dubbed “The Islamic Principle of Rahma: A Call for Reproductive Justice,” declaring that as a religious minority, Muslim Americans “are uniquely positioned to condemn abortion bans and their attack on every person’s constitutional right to religious liberty.”

“Muslims are not a monolith and we don’t have a systemized and global authority that mirrors the papal system in Catholicism. We also don’t hold a uniform view on when life begins,” the statement read….

Cited are scriptural pieces from the Quran and the prophet Muhammad that address developmental stages of a fetus and that give “descriptions of how creation came to be,” Ayubi said.

The discussion of when life begins varies from 40 days, the point at which the prophet Muhammad says everyone is “constituted in the womb,” to 120 days, when the soul is believed to enter the fetus.

Among Muslim authorities, the most conservative opinion would say abortion is permitted as early as possible and only for health reasons before 120 days, Ayubi said. Contemporary Muslim jurists have universally said abortion is permissible even beyond 120 days “if there is mortal danger to the mother,” Ayubi added.

But even defining what constitutes mortal danger “is a nebulous kind of concept,” Ayubi said. This can include mental health concerns that, Ayubi said, “might lead to suicidal ideation.”

The Islamic tradition, Ayubi said, “is forgiving and on the side of mercy.”…

Comments

  1. “mercy” schmercy. there is no “mercy’ in that filthy belief system. It’s whatever will further the rule of lawlessness, rape, kidnapping, , threats, lies. intimidation, whining…as long as infidels are forced to bow to them, as long as the threat of murder hangs over the populace, ethics, honesty, and other virtues, including the unknown elements, such as mercy, are nonexistent.

    All these toads who have to come out with their personal accounts of the baby-slaughter in which they took part, bragging about it. and making their attempts to *justify* the murder, are abhorrent. What they have sown, they will also reap. they can count on it, and also those of us who see what filth they are can count on seeing Justice prevail.

    Snakes like this murderer….and proud of it….make me want to puke.

  2. It depends on who is to receive the mercy. Wouldn’t letting a child develop and be born be more merciful than not letting it be born? Also, I don’t understand how the 40 days or the 120 days were decided. I don’t see the reasoning behind that.

    • Many women…mothers in waiting, so to speak, have risked death rather than have their unborn baby murdered. Many with cancer and needing treatment, or with another medical condition needing drugs that would harm the baby, have foregone treatment until after the baby is born.

      the “women” who claim health concerns as a reason to murder the child, are just selfish monsters. and the wishy-washy claims about when the child is a child are just more attempts to make excuses for murder.

      It’s amazing how easy it is for humans to lie, and to make excuses for doing the wrong thing. and then so many pretend that what they did was a good thing, a just thing, a merciful thing, when it was really evil.

      • I remember seeing a woman testifying about abortion before a Congressional committee and she talked about how getting an abortion was the best thing she had ever done and that it was an act of love for herself. Yes, I would say it is not really an act of mercy but rather the ultimate act of self love.

        • So for a woman to love her self is monstrous, and to want to preserve her own life instead of die in childbirth is as well? You Jesus’-cock-sucking son of a bitch please keep your penis in your pants from now on. You disgust me. You would stand by the bedside of your wife, daughter, sister or any other woman and with a smirk scold her for wanting to live.

          PLEASE BLOCK ME FROM THIS HYPOCRITICAL WOMAN-HATING SITE FULL OF CRAVEN, GROVELING MYSTICS. I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF YOU ANY LONGER.

          YOU DISGUST ME. I used to think you were decent men, but you turn out to be as bad as any jihadist, imam or sheikh. Drop dead, ALL of you.

        • I recall that too. And the one above didn’t wish to be bothered with taking care of a baby because she wasn’t ready to give up anything about her own selfish pursuits. this is the way of the majority of them…selfish beasts. Have their fun and then don’t have to pay for it. Like going out to dinner and having the guy pay for all the food, the innocent baby pays for the woman’s…and the male’s …fun. No mercy in that.

        • I didn’t know anyone was being forced to come to this site and read the comments. And I certainly do not hate women. If anyone responds to my comments in a civil manner I always try my best to reply in a civil manner. I enjoy the discussions. Sorry that some people do not.

        • Neither did I know anyone was forced to visit this site and read. I know that no one forces me,; except by my own choice do I come.

        • Neither will I. and I never can stomach reading such stuff, so I pass over it when I realize.

        • revereridesagain, I don’t think the issue is about women loving themselves–it is whether killing your baby is indicative of loving yourself.

          Many of us do not believe this–you can, of course, disagree.

          *Very few* women have abortions because they are in danger of dying in childbirth, and every state has exceptions for the life and health of the mother, in any case.

          And you do not need to be banned–no one wants to ban you. If you do not wish to comment here, you are not being forced to do so. I’m sorry that you believe this to be the case.

          And there are a range of views here on abortion–there is no litmus test for posting here.

          Then, the idea that opposing Jihad terror makes you as bad as Jihadists is *very* odd–how does that work? And wanting Anti-Jihadists to drop dead is not exactly merciful…

          Finally, your idea that everyone who comments here is a man is mistaken. I am a woman, and so is Somehistory, and so are many others who comment and contribute here.

        • Revereridesagain.

          “and to want to preserve her own life instead of die in childbirth is as well?”

          If it was a 100 percent guarantee a woman would die giving childbirth, then yes I can understand your argument to some degree. But who’s blood is redder.

          The vast majority of woman who get abortions do so because they don’t want the baby, not because they think they will die. Haha

          Everybody knows it’s murdering an innocent baby. I can understand why people don’t want to admit it. Mental health issues and the like.

          If it’s not.s human baby. What is it? A caterpillar? Maybe a raccoon?

          I feel bad because pro abortionists are so driven by emotions for their viewpoint on the issue they can’t logically think about it. They don’t want to.

        • Revere, you’re overreacting. It takes time for people to process new ideas/info. So flipping out isn’t really helping your cause.

          Make good coherent arguments grounded in facts and truth and you might get through to some people.

          Most people have no idea they are brainwashed into an ideology or belief system. It’s only the ones who begin to question their own slanted views, will come to realize they were misinformed and had their heads filled with crazy ideas.

          Some people will never change their minds, but at least you’ve ‘planted the seed.’ Getting frustrated and lashing out solves nothing and puts you in a bad light.

    • “Wouldn’t letting a child develop and be born be more merciful than not letting it be born?”

      I think you’re asking that question (rhetorically) not because you want to hear solutions, but because you’re trying to persuade people to have babies that they don’t want.

      Sadly I’ve learned only truly open-minded people are amenable to reason. Most people, once brainwashed from childbirth, no matter how crazy, insane, dangerous and wrong those views are, will see it as “the truth” and will refuse to listen to opposing arguments.

      Firstly just as an egg is not a chicken, a fetus is not a baby. This is a fundamental mistake theists/pro-lifers know they’re making, but they don’t value science or reason so they don’t care. If they did, there would be no “abortion debate” the matter would’ve been settled decades ago and abortion would be fully legal.

      But theists only value dogma and think these ancient desert fables come from the Creator of the universe and not some illiterate goat-herders from the Bronze Age. Another huge mistake made by believers.

      It’s the same with Muslims, they are convinced that we are ‘Infidels’ and they have a ‘God-given’ right to rape, torture, enslave or kill us if we don’t convert to Islam. Some reasonable Muslims can be convinced they were misinformed, but the vast majority of them believe Islam is true and everything else is false. So ofc this is how we get religious wars.

      This is the one time that Muslims have got it ‘right’ and are on the side of science, reason, and also the up to 70% of the population (based on polls) that believes in keeping abortion legal.

      I wonder if that gives Christians any pause, even for a microsecond in their brain to think that maybe they’re the ones in the wrong and the vast majority have it right?

      Unfortunately not. So just as religion pushed against a spherical Earth (vs a flat one) and heliocentric (vs geocentric) theory for centuries, they continue to push against abortion, euthanasia and LGBT.

      So I’m sure the ‘church’ given a few more centuries will admit they were wrong about abortion as they were wrong about a million other things. Or when all the believers die off and their religions become mythologies like the Greeks and Romans.

      I don’t expect to make any breakthroughs here….most people once they hit adulthood are already set in their ways…but this is for the ones who are a bit more enlightened and open-minded.

      So to answer your question, it is a far greater mercy to terminate a fetus than to give it a bad life and cause suffering for its mother, including facing devastating health problems and even death.

      Imagine a worst case scenario, the child is given up for adoption or left in an orphanage with no brothers or sisters or parents to guide them. Only uncaring staff that abuse them physically and sexually, perhaps even torture them.

      They they grow up hating the world and become mass murderers and psychopaths, destroying other people’s lives. Is that better than aborting them?

      This is not just a hypothetical, this is based on real life stories of what happens to these abandoned kids.

      Speaking personally for a moment, I couldn’t have the life I did today without my family and friends being there for me and helping me in a million different ways and I’ve contributed to their life also.

      It seems these Theists “high-minded ideals’ seem to come from some elitist mentality by people who are in a higher socioeconomic income and have never had need for anything.

      If you have suffered, truly suffered and faced enormous hardships that were in the end pointless, only then you would realize for billions of people, life really sucks. There are 4 billion people who don’t have adequate drinking water…probably as many who don’t have electricity.

      What kind of world is that to bring a child into? I would rather be dead or inexistent than to live in desperate poverty, facing disease, misery, crime, death.

      All that “pro-lifers” are doing is adding to that suffering. Then the child, born into a bad life, will try to find a way to end it. Each year a million people try to kill themselves and 800k succeed.

      Would could be a greater sign that people hate living than to try to end their lives and finally do? Why does none of this evidence make pro-lifers ever see reason and common sense?

      There’s a lot more I can say, but if you rip people’s rights away, by packing the courts with people who share your dogmatic views, is it any surprise they’d react negatively? Not that I condone their behavior but the facts speak for themselves.

      Life is overrated, if you’re rich, healthy, etc. you’ll have a great life. If you’re broke, unhealthy, mentally ill and you bring kids into the world, they’ll have a horrible existence. This isn’t rocket science…but sometimes people refuse to accept the obvious.

      • You are entitled to your opinion in this matter just as I am mine. No rights were taken away from anyone. In fact, the Supreme Court returned the rights of the individual states with regard to the laws they want to pass concerning abortion. If you don’t like the laws I encourage you to work through your state and federal representatives to get the laws changed. I am willing to abide by the the laws of the land when those laws are passed in accordance with the will of the people. And I am not pushing my religious beliefs off on anybody. You may not like my beliefs and you may not like what I say but I have the right to speak my mind. I respect your right to speak your also. I welcome hearing from you in the future.

  3. Mercy to the girl or woman does not, of course, count. After all, I’m sure you Good Christian Gentlemen know that a woman who is Not The Virgin Mary is worth much less than an unformed fetus.

    I would expect better of most of you than this unabashed hatred of women and girls once your “seed” has found fertile ground and “I’m Gonna Have A SON!!!” Please at least have the “mercy” to keep your pants zipped when you know your field will bear fruit if tilthed and does not wish to do so.

    With your attitudes it’s a gross hypocrisy to complain of Islam’s treatment of women.

    • revereridesagain, your idea–along with this pious Muslim in the story above–that abortion is a mercy is odd.

      Just statistically, half of the fetuses aborted are female.

      You wrote:

      After all, I’m sure you Good Christian Gentlemen know that a woman who is Not The Virgin Mary is worth much less than an unformed fetus.

      I would expect better of most of you than this unabashed hatred of women and girls once your “seed” has found fertile ground and “I’m Gonna Have A SON!!!” Please at least have the “mercy” to keep your pants zipped when you know your field will bear fruit if tilthed and does not wish to do so.
      …………………………………………..

      The claim that are all men are would be rapists is simply calumny, revereridesagain. You must know this.

      Then, the implication that Christians only welcome male children is completely baseless. In fact, the population of the US is slightly higher in women than in men. Now, part of this is due to women overall living longer, but that is not the only factor. Generally girls and boys born in the US are roughly equal in number.

      Where this is *not* the case, in fact, is often in terms of abortion, where female children are aborted at a higher rate than are boys. Not all those who are pro-abortion do this, but it is not that uncommon. It is in fact China and Muslim countries where this is most pronounced, so the idea that abortion is always a mercy to females is mistaken.

      And referring to women as “tilth” is of course *Islamic*, *not* Christian.

      • I’m going make a guess and say that revereridesagain is a woman and she must have had something tragic happen to her in the past. I have no animosity towards her despite what she may think of me. I wish her well.

        • I wish them well, as well. And prayed to the God of Israel to help comfort them. Not much else you can do

    • I’d like to see a real study of sexual bias in Muslim abortion.

      Muhammad was quite proud that his religion stopped the burying of female newborns in the sand. The defining of how many days past the conception represented a human with a soul would have ended sexually biased “terminations”.

      Now, modern medicine can visualize the fetus sex and discover it even earlier through DNA analysis of placental fluid. Are Muslims continuing with sexually unbiased abortion or is it tending toward a bias for males? (A friend named Muhammad who has many, many, friends named Muhammad would also like to know)

      • Good questions, Westman.

        Yes, Islam does ban the burying of female infants–a good thing, indeed, the *only* specifically good tenet I can find in Islam. (Never mind that Judaism and Christianity already banned infanticide centuries before).

        But the normal percentage of the sexes in a civilized society is pretty even, with just slightly more women than men because women tend to live longer.

        But what countries have significantly more men than women? This list of the “top ten” should not surprise:

        Qatar
        United Arab Emirates
        Oman
        Bahrain
        Maldives
        Kuwait
        Saudi Arabia
        Equatorial Guinea
        Bhutan
        Djibouti

        Only two of these are not majority Muslim.

        Others in the top 25 include Pakistan, Malaysia, Afghanistan, and Albania, or have large minority Muslim populations like India.

        In a very few cases like the Gulf States immigration for work may be a factor–but in most cases not.

        What percentage of these imbalances is due to selective abortion? In the top seven this is likely a major factor.

  4. That first sentence by Robert Spencer says it all. islam’s play book, the Koran, has those three calls to go out, like vicious psychopaths, and kill non-believers. I’m sure that no other religion has such vile, downright evil content. Yeah, islam is just so merciful. islam wouldn’t recognise mercy if it came up and bit it on the bum. Sometimes the lies that Muslims tell are way beyond belief and a Muslim saying how merciful islam is (never was, and never will be) fits that category of extreme bullshit. To me, islam always seesm like the opposite of mercy – all those honour killings over trivial offences, those child brides, those Muslim rape gangs, and so on. Islam and mercy, what a fucking joke that is.

    • It’s kind of funny, tim, but after reading this article, I thought they wouldn’t recognize mercy if it rose up and bit them on the ugly snout. Either way, yours or mine, they wouldn’t know it. they certainly never show it.

      • somehistory, I do like that saying that such and such wouldn’t recognise this and that if it came and bit them on the bum and the ugly snout works well too. Islam and mercy!! It would be laughable if the lack of mercy that islam constantly displays was not so serious and didn’t harm and kill so many people day after day.

        • Yes, Tim, I would very much like to laugh a little more often. Laughter is good for the soul, and the heart and should be engaged in daily. But, the truth is, the cult of death and destruction gives no reason for mirth.

  5. The God of Islam condones violence, the God of Christianity doesn’t .
    Abortion is an act of violence against the innocent.

  6. On abortion, Muslims say Islam is ‘on the side of mercy’
    ……………………….

    I have noted this many times. The idea that Islam is opposed to abortion is actually mistaken.

  7. The 13-page statement – as touched upon by Ayubi – seems very similar to the abortion middle ground most Westerners have been able to live with (though not necessarily accepting it for themselves – e.g. three months). We’ve also generally accepted the choice of the female’s own life over the fetus should such decision become necessary at any point.

    And so the notable difference (described indirectly via this article) is the “perfume ‘ being excessively wafted over their “dodge the ball” ruminations. Ayubi proudly conveys (to our detriment she hopes) the usual self-awarded superiority plus the good adjectives like “flexibility” and “mercy” – but then why should a muslim sweat about following some conscience re a helpless life when ALLAH may not even give a fig for the very, very best of humankind – the obedient slaves! What will be, will be of course (conscience being SUCH a waste!! and muslims being FAR beyond that!)

    If, in the seventh century, they’d been able to determine that a fetus was MALE then likely the mother laying down her life for it would have been SANCTIFIED. With female fetuses it probably would have been neither here nor there on the scale of things.

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