The term abortion denotes the purposeful termination of a pregnancy. It may also mean the spontaneous expulsion of the fetus, but this is more often referred to as a miscarriage. Reasoning by analogy from Qurʾānic injunctions not to kill children, Muslim legal scholars judged abortion to be analogous to killing a child and therefore prohibited it.

Abortion can be a far more complicated matter to adjudicate than the killing of a child. There are times when Muslim religious authorities recognize that abortion may be a better alternative than bearing th…