Question:
Permanent contraception (female sterilization) – intention affects the admissibility?
Assalamu Alakum va Rakhmatullahi va Barakatuh
Thank you for your question.
Under normal circumstances, female sterilization is considered absolutely and strongly forbidden (haram) in the Shari'ah. The irreversible nature associated with both male and female sterilization is clearly contrary to one of the main objectives (maqasid) of marriage, which is to have children, as mentioned by Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali in his Ihya “Ulum el Dean.
In addition, sterilization is a form of injury to one’s body (mutula), which was expressly prohibited in Sharia. Allah the Most High mentions the words of Satan in al-Nis when he said:
“I will mislead them, and I will create false desires in them; I will order them to cut the ears of cattle and destroy the (fair) nature created by Allah. ”
However, in cases of absolute necessity, sterilization becomes permitted. The well-known principle of Islamic jurisprudence, based on the guidelines of the Quran and Sunnah, says: “Necessity makes prohibitions legal” (Ibn Nujayim, Al-Ashbah wa al-Nazaire 85)
Cases of absolute necessity include the life of a woman or her permanent health, which is seriously threatened by pregnancy, or is at risk of losing her life with additional births after they have gone through cesarean section in previous cases. Thus, if impartial and professional medical recommendations are made, and each concludes that a woman’s life or permanent health will be seriously affected by the pregnancy and that there is no other medicine for her illness, only after that will sterilization be allowed to women.
You declare that this woman has a serious congenital heart condition, and therefore pregnancy can be risky. In the light of the above explanation, she would need to get professional medical advice, ideally from an experienced and right Muslim doctor (who knows the seriousness of the sterilization ban in Islam), and then act accordingly. If a medical expert believes that pregnancy is a serious risk to her life or permanent health, she can be sterilized.
Other reasons stated in your question do not justify sterilization. In fact, some of them, for example, seeing children as a financial burden, fearing poverty and thinking that the world is already burdened with a sufficient number of people, are in direct conflict with the teachings of Islam. Even reversible contraception is not allowed due to “such” reasons and intentions.
As for the doctor and the doctor, if sterilization is justified (in the light of the above explanation), it is allowed to perform an operation on the patient. If, however, this is not Islamistly justified, for example, when there is no absolute need or when alternatives are available, then the Muslim doctor is not allowed to perform the operation, as this will be done as helping someone else in a sinful act.
I hope the above answers all your questions.
And Allah knows best
Answered by Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam
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Permanent contraception (female sterilization) Last modified: October 4, 2018 from