Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Date: - 23rd June 2005
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah`s Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
May Allah accept your efforts of providing the guidance related to Islam and deen.

My question is --
People in our sect i.e. ‘jamat’ belief that a pregnant girl / women should not visit

1) A house where a new born baby ( < = 40 days old) is born i.e. the mother is under her 40 days menses period after birth and / or
2) A house where someone has died i.e. maiyat has occurred.

If during her pregnancy she does visit then her foetus (developing child in womb) will cease to develop and thus she will have to undergo a CREATIN (i.e. cleanliness of womb)

Kindly reply as per deen., Hadiths, quran , sunnahs and consultation with Islamic scholars as the belief have been happened to be true in many of the cases of newly married couples in our sect.

If you reply that developing child in the mother’s womb is independent of all such things/beliefs then kindly give correct explanation why does a developing foetus say of 2 or 3 or 4 months old suddenly cease to develop in the mother’s womb.

I expect an explanation as per QURAN , HADITHS , SUNNAHS , DEEN along with a medical reasons if you can ( medical explanation is optional )

Regards
A Muslim Brother

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Restrictions on a pregnant women

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Your Question: My question is --
People in our sect i.e. ‘jamat’ belief that a pregnant girl / women should not visit
1) A house where a new born baby ( < = 40 days old) is born i.e. the mother is under her 40 days menses period after birth and / or
2) A house where someone has died i.e. maiyat has occurred.

If during her pregnancy she does visit then her foetus (developing child in womb) will cease to develop and thus she will have to undergo a CREATIN (i.e. cleanliness of womb)
Kindly reply as per deen., Hadiths, quran , sunnahs and consultation with Islamic scholars as the belief have been happened to be true in many of the cases of newly married couples in our sect.
There is absolutely no restriction on a pregnant woman in Islam if she wishes to visit a house where a birth has taken place, or visit a house where someone has died or do, say, or go anywhere she would have gone if she were not pregnant.

The development of life in a woman’s womb is indeed absolutely independent and unrelated to such beliefs that were she to visit a house where a baby is born or someone has died her fetus will cease to develop or her visit would result in some harm! Such beliefs are no more than superstitions, and superstitions have absolutely no place in the perfect deen of Truth called Al-Islam.

The onus of presenting evidence from the Quran, the Sunnah or even science should be upon the people who hold and propagate such false and superstitious beliefs that visiting the house of a new born or the dead would bring about some harm on a pregnant woman. And if some ‘sect’ in Islam dares to propagate this superstitious belief and tries to declare that Islam discourages or holds it unlawful for a pregnant woman to visit a house where a baby is born or a death has taken place without providing sound evidence from the Quran or the Sunnah, then they would be held guilty in the Court of The Lord Most High for inventing a falsehood and attributing the lie to Him and His Messenger!!!

Allah Subhanah describes and lists in His Glorious Quran many self-invented and superstitious beliefs the pagans of Makkah held and practiced fervently in their ignorance, and attributed those self-invented superstitions and falsehoods to Allah Subhanah!

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 6 Anam verses 138-139:

138 And they (some superstitious pagans) say that such and such cattle and crops are unlawful, and none should eat of them except those whom so they say we wish; further there are cattle forbidden to yoke or burden, and cattle on which (at slaughter) the name of Allah is not pronounced; inventions against Allah's Name: soon will He requite them for their inventions.

139 They say: "What is in the wombs of such and such cattle is especially reserved (for food) for our men and forbidden to our women; but if it is still-born then all have shares therein. For their (false) attribution (of superstitions to Allah): He will soon punish them: for He is full of Wisdom and Knowledge.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 6 Anam verses 142-144:

142 Of the cattle are some for burden and some for meat. Eat what Allah hath provided for you and follow not the footsteps of the Shaytaan: for he is to you an avowed enemy.

143 (Take) eight (head of cattle) in (four) pairs: of sheep a pair and of goats a pair; say hath He forbidden the two males or the two females or (the young) which the wombs of the two females enclose? Tell me with knowledge if ye are truthful.

144 Of camels a pair and of oxen a pair; say hath He forbidden the two males or the two females or the (the young) which the wombs of the two females enclose? Were ye present when Allah ordered you such a thing? But who doth more wrong than one who invents a lie against Allah to lead astray men without knowledge? For Allah guideth not people who do wrong.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 103: It was not Allah Who instituted (superstitions like those of) a slit-ear she-camel or a she-camel let loose for free pasture or idol sacrifices for twin-births in animals or stallion-camels freed from work; it is blasphemers who invent a lie against Allah, but most of them lack wisdom.

The perfect deen of Islam revealed by the All-Knowing, All-Wise Allah Subhanah did away with these and all self-invented superstitious beliefs and guided mankind to the Straight Path of Islam.

Allah is our witness brother, to associate any harm in the ‘unseen’ to a pregnant woman just because she visits a house where a birth has taken place or someone has died, is nothing more than a self-invented superstition and such superstitions have absolutely nothing to do with the guidance of Islam. If some ‘sect’ propagates or believes or attributes these unlawful injunctions to the perfect deen of Islam, they would be held guilty of inventing a falsehood and a lie and attributing it to Allah and His Messenger (saws)!

Your Question: If you reply that developing child in the mother’s womb is independent of all such things/beliefs then kindly give correct explanation why does a developing foetus say of 2 or 3 or 4 months old suddenly cease to develop in the mother’s womb.

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 4.550 Narrated by Anas bin Malik

The Prophet (saws) said, "Allah has appointed an Angel in the womb, and the Angel says, 'O Lord! A drop of discharge (i.e. of semen). O Lord! A clot. O Lord! A piece of flesh.' And then, if Allah Wishes to complete the child's creation, the Angel will say. 'O Lord! A male or a female? O Lord! Wretched or blessed (in religion)? What will his livelihood be? What will his age be?' The Angel writes all this while the child is in the womb of its mother."

To cease or complete the development of life in a womb is in the Power, Domain, Will and Permission of none save the Lord Creator. If Allah Wills and Permits to complete the child’s creation in the womb, no combination of powers and things in creation can halt the completion; and if Allah Wills and Pleases to cease the development of life in a womb, no combination of powers and things in creation can complete that development!

To believe that the visiting of a house where a birth has taken place or someone has died has anything to do with the development of life in a womb; or any act can bring about harm in the ‘unseen’ to the pregnant woman is to disbelieve in the Will and Power of Allah Subhanah and a manifestation of their belief in the abomination of ‘shirk’!

The believing pregnant woman may say, do, or go anywhere she wishes to go just like any other believing woman and there is absolutely no such restrictions laid upon her by her Lord or His Messenger (saws).

If one trusts, obeys, and follows the guidance and commands of Allah and His Messenger (saws), one can be assured of never ever being misled; but if one believes, obeys and follows any other guidance, other than that of Allah and His Messenger (saws), one can be assured of being led astray.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan