June 11, 2012
June 11, 2012
Syrian women raped by gang-like militia or forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad should be allowed to undergo abortion according to a Saudi cleric.
Sheikh Ali al-Maliki described rape as one of the most heinous crimes against women and one that is worse than murder. “A body’s scars can heal but scars of the soul stay,” he told Al Arabiya.
His fatwa is the result of a heated debate between religious scholars in Saudi Arabia who have been approached by rape victims from the bloody-conflict in Syria asking for an edict allowing them to abort pregnancies that result from rape.
The sheikh added that the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Abd al-Aziz al-Sheikh, will meet with the Council of Senior Muslim Scholars in the next two days to cast a verdict on the subject.
Various Islamic school of thoughts have differing opinions on abortion which vary from a complete ban on abortion to allowing it under specific conditions, like within a designated period of the first trimester. If, for example, a pregnancy endangers the mother’s life, she is allowed to undergo abortion.
Scholars have various interpretation of the ruling: some believe that children born out of rape are “legitimate” whereas others say a woman who is raped can abort her pregnancy so as not to sully her honor.
Source: Alarabiya
