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What is the ruling on aborting a four-week-old fetus if its continued presence will lead to the ruin of the home and deprive the father of seeing his children?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

It is impermissible in Islamic law to establish a romantic relationship with a non-mahram woman. You must sincerely repent and immediately sever the relationship. A fetus resulting from zina (unlawful sexual intercourse) is not attributed to you, but to its mother. Abortion is absolutely forbidden at any stage of the fetus's development, although some scholars have permitted abortion before the ensoulment. Your wife does not have the right to give you a choice between abortion and remaining married to her, nor does she have the right to deprive you of your children in the event of a divorce. She does have the right to seek a divorce if the relationship continues. The custody of children after divorce is the mother's right unless she remarries. In the case of relocation for travel, the majority of scholars hold that custody belongs to the father, and the custodian does not have the right to prevent the other parent from seeing the child.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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