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Is expiation incumbent upon one who overexerted herself with work during her pregnancy, which led to the death of her daughter after birth?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The pregnant woman bears no responsibility for what happened. She should immediately resume her normal activities, as this is more beneficial for her. The default is that she is innocent of any wrongdoing. A woman is only liable if trustworthy doctors determine that the death resulted from an action on her part. However, with the presence of possibility or doubt, she is not liable for anything. Ibn Hazm stated that if someone died near her but not from her action, she is not liable. If she is in doubt, there is no blood money (diyah) or expiation (kaffarah), because the original presumption is her innocence. Therefore, she should ward off these intrusive thoughts, consider her daughter's death as a trial from Allah, and praise Allah. For the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "When the child of a servant dies, Allah says to His angels: 'You have taken the child of My servant,' and they say: 'Yes.' He says: 'You have taken the fruit of his heart,' and they say: 'Yes.' He says: 'What did My servant say?' They say: 'He praised You and said: 'Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return.' So Allah says: 'Build for My servant a house in Paradise and call it the House of Praise.'"

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

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