Rethinking the Stage of Ensoulment

At what stage during the creation of the human being does ensoulment occur? Clearly, the Qur’an describes each stage of growth within the womb as one we passed through as a human being: “Surely We created the human being from a quintessence of clay, and then We made him [man] a fertilized egg (nuţfah) in a safe place, and then We made him [man] a clot, and then We made the clot an embryo, and then We made the embryo bones and clothed the bones in flesh, and then We originated another creation” (23:12–14). Commenting on this verse, the eminent Malaysian scholar and metaphysician Syed Naquib al-Attas writes,

From the fusion of the two gametes God created (khalaqa) a new individual organism; and from this organism He created (khalaqa) an embryo; and from the embryo He created (khalaqa) a foetus. Thus we see from this that the whole process in the various stages of the emergence of the animal being into definite shape and construction complete with organs is not something natural; i.e. it is not something due to the workings of nature, but that at every stage it is God’s act of creation setting the created thing in conformity with its constitution in the womb (i.e. its fiţrah). Then from this final foetal stage, God originated (ansha’a) another creature. This refers to the introduction of the spirit (al-rūĥ) that God breathed into the animal being after He had fashioned it in due proportion.52

One of the derivations of the word originate (ansha’a) in Arabic means “to elevate.” It is the introduction of the immaterial aeviternal soul that elevates the new creation to a spiritual human being that exists as body and soul. The partially quoted aforementioned hadith of Ibn Mas¢ūd says, “Verily, the creation of one of you is brought together in the mother’s womb for forty days in the form of a drop (nuţfah), then he becomes a clot (¢alaqah) for a like period, then a lump for a like period, then there is sent an angel who blows the soul into him.”53 Based on this hadith, the majority of scholars in the past claimed ensoulment was on the 120th day after conception.

A second interpretation argued that the words “a like period” (mithla dhālik) refer back to the first forty, and thus all the stages occur during a forty-day period. Another hadith in Imam Muslim’s54 (d. 261/875) collection (Śaĥīĥ Muslim) clarifies the ambiguity of the number of days in the above hadith by saying the angel comes at six weeks.* Scholars have been in agreement that the ensoulment occurs immediately after the “lump” phase, when the fetus takes on a form: modern science has confirmed this occurs around six weeks; the hadith related by both Muslim and Abū Dāwūd55 (d. 275/889) concurs with modern science.

The argument that ensoulment occurs soon after 40 days ultimately proves far stronger than the traditional majority view that it occurs after 120 days, given what we know of embryogenesis today. The basis for 120 days, if taken from the hadith in its standard interpretation, would mean that the hadith contradicts today’s medical views that are based upon unshakeable biological evidence. The well-known criterion among hadith scholars is that a hadith cannot contradict something known by reason with proofs beyond reasonable doubt. Thus, should a hadith contradict agreed-upon factual knowledge, scholars either reject it or, if possible, reinterpret it if the language allows for other possibilities, as can be done in this case. As mentioned earlier, one alternate view among early scholars was that the three 40-day periods are not consequential but concurrent; the three stages occur in the same forty days based upon the ambiguity of the phrase “a like period.” This interpretation, which the Arabic allows for, and given the soundness of its chain, remains the only acceptable one.

Does Human Life Begin Before Ensoulment?

In the view of Imam Mālik b. Anas56 (d. 179/795) and the Mālikī scholars of the Way of Medina, a child (walad) is created at inception, when the exchange of genetic material occurs and the requisites for the formation of a unique human being exist. Were it not so, argue the jurists of this school, the Prophet ﷺ would not have made blood compensation necessary if a person caused a woman to miscarry.

The hadith related by Ibn Mājah57 (d. 273/887) quotes the Prophet ﷺ as saying, “A miscarried fetus will fumble about the door of paradise saying, ‘I won’t enter until my two parents enter.’”58 Khaţīb al-Tabrīzī59 (d. 741/1340) relates a similar version: “Surely the miscarried fetus will dispute with its Lord if its parents end up in Hell, and it will be said, ‘O miscarried one, bring your parents to paradise.’”60 When a woman from the Hudhayl tribe struck another pregnant woman from her clan, causing her to miscarry, the Prophet ﷺ told the woman’s agnates that blood money was owed. When one of her clan members asked, “Do we compensate for what never ate, nor drank, nor sighed, nor cried; can such a one be said to have been killed and died,” the Prophet ﷺ replied, “Are these the rhymes of the days of ignorance? Pay the blood money of the child.”61

The Mālikī scholars point out that the Prophet’s ruling was not based on the stage of the pregnancy. They argue that the embryo is considered a child even at the earliest stages of pregnancy, and blood money would be owed. Moreover, the Prophet ﷺ called the miscarried fetus “a child” (śabiyy), and so the matter falls under the prohibition of the Qur’anic verses that prohibit killing children. Ibn Abī Zayd al-Qayrawānī62 (d. 386/996), an authoritative voice in the Mālikī school and in the Islamic tradition, writes:

Mālik says, “If a pregnant woman is struck, causing her to lose her child, whether still in lump phase (muđghah) or even an imbedded embryo (¢alaqah), and nothing is discernible from its creation—neither eye nor finger nor anything else—if the women who know about such things determine that it was a child [i.e., that she was actually pregnant], then financial compensation is owed….” Ibn Shihāb [d. 124/742] said, “Whether the fetus was formed or not [money is owed]. If there were twins or triplets, each demands compensation.”63

Imam al-Rajrājī64 (d. 633/1236), in his commentary on Imam Mālik’s position on abortion, also concurs, and adds that a fetus at any stage is considered a child.65

The term the Qur’an uses for a life within the womb is janīn, which means what is hidden from the eye or concealed; the greater the concealment, the more applicable the name. Thus, a zygote, embryo, blastocyst, and fetus are all called janīn in Arabic. Rāghib al-Iśfahānī66 (d. 502/1108) defines the janīn as “a child (walad) as long as it is in the womb of its mother.”67 Other Qur’anic verses affirm that God considers all stages of fetal development to be a human life: “Does the human being think he’ll be left for naught? Was he not an embryo from male and female fluid released?” (75:36–37).68 The verse could have said, “Was he not created from an embryo,” but instead it states unambiguously, “Was he not an embryo.” Another verse states, “Surely We created the human being from a quintessence of clay, and then We made him into an embryo in a safe place” (23:12–13). Again, it says clearly that “We made him into an embryo.” The Qur’anic narrative ineluctably defines our creation at each stage of our individual journeys within our respective wombs as a unique human being.

The ensoulment most likely relates to and initiates human brain activity that will eventually develop into the capacity for human thought, which, according to traditional Islamic metaphysics, is immaterial by nature and only occurs through the vehicle of, but is not synonymous with, the brain—hence, our distinction in English between mind and brain, and in Arabic between ¢aql and dimāgh. Michael Gazzaniga,69 a leading researcher in cognitive neuroscience, writes that from the time of fertilization of the human sperm and egg, “the embryo begins its mission: divide and differentiate.” Within hours, it develops layers of cells that then become the endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm, the layers that will give rise to every organ in the human body. Within weeks, the neural tube of the embryo spawns the central nervous system, the ventricles of the brain, and the central canal of the spinal cord. By the fourth week, he explains, the neural tube develops bulges that become the major divisions of the brain. He continues, “Even though the fetus is now developing areas that will become specific sections of the brain, not until the end of week 5 and into week 6 (usually around 40–43 days) does the first electrical brain activity begin to occur.”70

This description of the development of the brain, and the timing of the start of brain activity, correspond quite precisely to the prophetic tradition of ensoulment within six weeks.

Still, the infusion of the soul (nafkh al-rūĥ), its nature, and its exact time remain a mystery. In Imam Muslim’s collection, in a chapter entitled “The Jew’s Question to the Prophet About the Soul (rūĥ),” the Prophet ﷺ was asked by a Jew about the nature of the soul. The Prophet ﷺ was silent, and the narrator said, “I knew something was being revealed to him.” When the revelation came, the Prophet ﷺ replied from the Qur’an, “They ask you about the soul. Say, ‘The soul is from the command of my Lord; and you are given but a little knowledge’” (17:85).71

The Islamic Consensus on Abortion

The position of the scholars of the Way of Medina, that the fetus in all its stages is a living child, continues down to the present day without any dissenting voices. Qāđī Abū Bakr b. al-¢Arabī, a formidable Mālikī mujtahid (one who is capable of independent juridical reasoning, or ijtihād), says in his commentary of Mālik’s Muwaţţa’,

Three states exist concerning child-bearing: the state before conception when coitus interruptus is used to prevent pregnancy, and that is permissible; the second state occurs once semen has been received by the womb, at which point it is impermissible for anyone to attempt to sever the process of procreation as is done by some of the contemptible merchants who sell abortifacients to servant girls when their periods stop; the third situation is after the formation of the fetus and the ensoulment, and this third state is even more severe than the first two in its proscription and prohibition.72

This view is affirmed by other Mālikī scholars, with some minor dissensions. For instance, Qāđī ¢Iyāđ73 (d. 544/1149) says, “Some opined that the embryo has no sanctity for the first forty days nor the legal stature of a child (walad); others argued that it is not permissible to disrupt conception or cause an abortion once conception has occurred in any way whatsoever! However, coitus interruptus differs in that it has not reached the womb.”74 Most Mālikī scholars clearly believed in the sanctity of life from inception onward. Imam al-Khirshī75 (d. 1101/1690) says, “It is not permissible for a woman to do anything that would lead to an abortion causing the fetus to miscarry, nor is it permissible for the husband to do so, even if it is before forty days.”76 Imam Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbī77 (d. 741/1340) says, “If the womb receives the sperm, it is not permissible to attempt to thwart [conception] or harm it. Even worse involves an attempt once conception occurs, or worse yet after ensoulment, which, by consensus, is murder.”78 Finally, in the authoritative collection of legal responsa of the Mālikī school, Imam al-Wansharīsī79 (d. 914/1508) writes, “Our imams have prohibited using any drugs that cause infertility or that remove semen from the womb; this is the opinion of the masters and experts.”80 Then, after quoting the statement above from al-Qabas of Qāđī Abū Bakr, he continues,

If you have contemplated the conclusion of what was presented from the master jurist Qāđī Abū Bakr, you should realize without any doubt that an agreement between the husband and the wife to abort their child or any attempt to do that is absolutely prohibited—forbidden! It is not permitted from any perspective. And if the mother should do so, she owes blood money and should be punished according to the discretion of the judge…. Along the same lines, ¢Izz b. ¢Abd al-Salām81[d. 660/1262] was asked, “Is it permissible to give a woman drugs that would prevent pregnancy?” He replied, “It is not permitted for a woman to use medicine that would eliminate her capacity to become pregnant.”82