Forced Marriage & Termination Pregnancy before 120 days
Question
As salam alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. I am reaching out because I need a private and individualized ruling regarding a possible pregnancy and abortion before 120 days. I am not looking for an answer that simply tells me what I want to hear. I am genuinely concerned about committing a major sin and want to know what Allah requires of me in my circumstances. I may be pregnant, although I have not confirmed it yet. Based on my calculations, I would currently be in the early stages, and by September 8 I would be approximately 7–8 weeks pregnant, around 59 days, although I understand that the exact gestational age would need to be medically confirmed. I feel it is important to explain the circumstances of my marriage because they are directly relevant to why this pregnancy is causing me such severe distress. I was introduced to my husband when I was 18. My family presented him to me as a very religious, respectful man who prayed regularly and would support my Islamic goals. I initially accepted because I trusted my parents and believed I had the freedom to get to know him and end the engagement if I realized it was not suitable. However, after getting to know him and learning more about his personality, religious priorities, and values, I realized that he was not the man I had been led to believe he was and that I did not want to marry him. I clearly told my parents and him that I did not want this marriage and wanted it to end. In our culture, the engagement period is conducted through a nikah. The nikah does not mean that the couple immediately begins living together or having intercourse; consummation traditionally happens after the wedding. My family had presented the engagement to me as though I would still have the freedom to end things if it did not work out, but when I actually tried to refuse the marriage, my refusal was not accepted. I was subjected to significant emotional and family pressure and was ultimately pressured into the nikah despite clearly saying that I did not want it. My husband was also aware that I did not want the marriage. I told him directly and repeatedly over approximately three years, including before and after the nikah and before the wedding. He has acknowledged that he knew I did not want it. Despite this, the marriage continued. Our wedding took place on July 25, 2026, and that was when we began living together and the marriage was consummated. Before the wedding, I was genuinely planning to avoid intercourse because I did not want to become pregnant and did not want to become more permanently tied to this marriage. I had not started birth control earlier because I was also afraid of the possible effects and side effects, especially because I already have difficult menstrual periods. I ultimately found myself in a situation where the marriage was consummated despite the fact that I had never genuinely wanted the marriage. There is also significant cultural pressure surrounding consummation. In our families, there is an expectation that the bride’s virginity will effectively be confirmed after the wedding, and family members may indirectly ask the husband about the consummation. It is understood what they are asking even when it is not stated explicitly. This added another layer of pressure and made the situation more complicated. I am now married to him, but I still do not want this marriage and am actively trying to find a legitimate way to end it. I have no desire to build a future with him or have children with him. The possibility of being pregnant has caused me severe psychological distress. The thought of going through pregnancy, childbirth, and then raising a child while remaining connected to a marriage that I have spent years trying to leave has already caused me multiple emotional breakdowns. I genuinely feel that continuing the pregnancy could cause me serious psychological harm. I understand that abortion is a very serious matter in Islam, and I do not take it lightly. I also understand that there is scholarly disagreement regarding abortion before 120 days, including opinions concerning serious harm to the mother’s physical or mental health. Therefore, I would like to ask: 1. If I am pregnant and under 120 days, could my circumstances constitute a valid shar’i excuse for abortion? 2. Can serious psychological harm to the mother constitute a valid necessity before 120 days? 3. Does the fact that I consistently rejected this marriage, was pressured into the nikah despite my refusal, and am now actively trying to leave the marriage affect the ruling? 4. Would I need an assessment from a qualified medical professional regarding my psychological health for this to be considered a valid necessity? 5. If there is a recognized difference of opinion among qualified scholars regarding a situation like mine, am I permitted to follow a qualified position that considers my circumstances a valid excuse? I am genuinely trying not to twist the fiqh in my favour. I want to know the ruling honestly, even if the answer is difficult for me to hear. I would be very grateful if you could consider my specific circumstances rather than giving only a general ruling on abortion. JazakAllahu khayran for your time and guidance.
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salamu alaykum wa-rahmatullahi wa-barakatuh.
Sister in Islam,
We are sorry for the distress you are in, and we appreciate that you have asked for the truth rather than for permission. May Allah ease your affair and guide you to what is best. Your query involves two matters, the standing of your marriage and the pregnancy, and the second depends on the first.
Regarding the marriage, a distinction must be drawn between two situations. The first is a woman whose consent was never sought and who never gave it, whose family contracted the marriage over her head and against her stated refusal. Such a marriage does not take effect for an adult woman without her consent, and she is entitled to reject it. The second is a woman who was not content, who said so, who was pressured, and who nonetheless gave her approval, whether in words or by going through with the contract and what followed it. Such a marriage is valid, because consent given under pressure of persuasion and family expectation is still consent, and the Shariah looks at what was done and not at what was felt while doing it. Your account places you in the second situation. You accepted the proposal at the outset, you went through the nikah, you went through the wedding three years later, and you lived with him as his wife. Every one of those events is an act of approval. It was approval given without contentment, but it was approval. Accordingly, your nikah is valid and you are his wife.
Regarding the pregnancy, in principle the termination of a pregnancy before one hundred and twenty days is not permissible without a valid excuse recognized by the Shariah, and it is a sin when done without one. The recognized excuses are a genuine and impending danger to the mother's life or health due to the toll of pregnancy of the body, and a serious defect in the fetus established medically. Where psychological harm cannot be quantified, and what is described is the distress of an unwanted situation, however severe it feels, it does not reach the level of an excuse. The reasons you have mentioned, that you did not want the marriage, that you are trying to leave it, and that a child would tie you to it, are of this kind, and they do not qualify. If you are pregnant, this child is a decree of Allah, and a decree of Allah is not undone because the circumstances around it were unwelcome.
We would ask you to be open to something. What has happened to you may be the means of your salvation, and it may be the way by which this marriage becomes something you did not expect it to be. Many marriages that began in reluctance became marriages of real affection, and a child is often the turning point. There is no longer any point in resistance. This is the man you have married, and the path forward is to make it work and to work on making him a better person, with patience, with dua, and with the effort you would give to anything else you wanted to succeed. Give the marriage a genuine chance from this point, as though it began today.
That said, the door is not closed to you. If, having tried, you find that he is neglectful of your rights, or that there is a clear incompatibility that makes life together unbearable, then it would be advisable to present your case to your local masjid, where the imam or a committee of scholars can hear both sides and discuss with you the options of khul, meaning release in exchange for compensation, of faskh, meaning annulment by a Shariah body, or of talaq from him. That is the proper route, and a pregnancy does not close it, because a child remains yours and his whatever happens between the two of you.
Confirm the pregnancy first, and see a doctor for your own care. Then turn your effort to the marriage. We ask Allah to give you strength and to place goodness for you in what He has decreed.
Allah knows best
Mufti Mirza-Zain Baig
Canadian Centre for Islamic Research and Iftaa · This answer is provided for general guidance.