Impregnated a Girl, Wants to Marry Her but Her Father Refuses
Fatwa No: 384679

Question

i know some one who is really eager to find out if its a sin to abort the baby after being pregnant. This young man got his girl friend pregnant from zina and if their parents find out about being pregnant before marriage they will kick both of them out of their houses and cut family ties with them. That is why they believe they have no other option cause it wont help them running away to keep the baby . Both their parents know each other very well because they went to the girls house and spoke of marriage but the girls father insists of waiting for another 2 years because she has another sister 1 year older. So as you can see the girls father cares about his reputation so if they come to know of this pregnancy it will put his reputation down .so what shall the boy and girl do ? They are both 20 years old and they work . They had ideas of running away and get married but then again you need your parents to witness you getting married. That is why they want to abort the baby because it seems the easiest route to take for they see no other way out. Can you explain what shall they do cause they are confused . Keep the baby or not cause if they do keep it they will be forced out the house and then how can they marry with out their parents witnessing the marriage . Jaza kallah

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

It is obligatory for that young man and that girl to sincerely repent to Allah, and avoid all that can lead them to commit Zina (fornication) again, such as sinful relationships, being in forbidden seclusion (together), and so on. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 86527.

The jurists agreed that abortion is forbidden after the soul is breathed into the fetus except for necessity, such as fearing for the life of his mother.

However, they differed in opinion about abortion before the soul is breathed into the fetus; some permitted it before forty days, and some permitted it before the soul is breathed into the fetus.

The view we adopt here in Islamweb is that it is not permissible at all, because doing so is a destruction of the progeny and corruption in the land, and Allah does not love corruption. Additionally, it is an unjust aggression and transgression on a created soul.

Pregnancy which results from Zina (fornication or adultery) is absolutely not a justification to undergo abortion, regardless of the psychological and social obstacles that may result of it. This conduct (abortion) does not remove the crime of Zina, but it rather adds another crime.

The child (born out of illicit relationship) is attributed to his mother and not to the fornicator according to the view of the majority of the scholars. However, some scholars are of the view that the child may be traced back to the adulterer/fornicator is he accepts tracing the child back to him.

If they both repent to Allah, then that young man may marry that girl, and her guardian is not permitted to prevent her from marrying him without a legitimate reason. If he does so [i.e. if he prevents her], then she may take her case to the competent authorities specialized dealing with the matters of Muslims in non-Muslim countries, so that they would remove harm off her and marry her off to a suitable man, in case her guardian insists on preventing her without a legitimate justification.

Finally, we draw your attention to the seriousness of the stubbornness of the guardian and his insistence not to marry off the girl under his guardianship for baseless reasons, such as what is mentioned in the question that that girl has an older sister who is not yet married. The consequences of such stubbornness are evil, and what happened to that girl is a proof of that.

For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 95615, 314959, 131279, 86903, and 81160.

Allah knows best.

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