Chapter : The growth of a child in the womb of a mother and his destiny in regard to his livelihood, his deeds. both good and evil.Abdullah (b. Mas’ud) reported that Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) who is the most truthful (of the human beings) and his being truthful (is a fact) said: Verily your creation is on this wise. The constituents of one of you are collected for forty days in his mother’s womb in the form of blood, after which it becomes a clot of blood in another period of forty days. Then it becomes a lump of flesh and forty days later Allah sends His angel to it with instructions concerning four things, so the angel writes down his livelihood, his death, his deeds, his fortune and misfortune. By Him, besides Whom there is no god, that one amongst you acts like the people deserving Paradise until between him and Paradise there remains but the distance of a cubit, when suddenly the writing of destiny overcomes him and he begins to act like the denizens of Hell and thus enters Hell, and another one acts in the way of the denizens of Hell, until there remains between him and Hell a distance of a cubit that the writing of destiny overcomes him and then he begins to act like the people of Paradise and enters Paradise.

Scholars of Islam have concluded from this hadeeth that because the angel of life blows the soul into the fetus when it is 120 days old, abortion on very strict medical grounds is permissible only before the fetus is 4 months old. Once life has been blown into the fetus it becomes a living creature and to terminate its life is murder.

Arya Siddhanti: U r saying that the soul is blown into the fetus on the 121st day. How does the fetus grow for 120 days without the soul? If it can grow for 120 days then why can’t it grow till 250-280 days ?  Why does a person need a soul at all?

Mulla;

 Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim wrote in his scholarly work “Kitab al Ruh”,

” Ruh is an entity which differs totally from the physical body. It is a subtle, ecclesiastical, enlightened living and moving body which penetrates into the depths of the organs and flows into them like the water in the rose or the oil in the olive or the fire in the coal. As long as these organs remain able to accept the impressions of this subtle body, the ‘Ruh’ remains attached to these organs and provides them with feeling and movement. But when these organs are spoiled because of the dominance of diseased elements upon it, and they are no longer able to accept the impressions of the soul, it leaves the body and heads towards the world of the souls. “

There is some difference in the way the words ‘Ruh’ and ‘Nafs’ are used. The ‘Ruh’ is the subtle spirit, which resides in the heavens and needs a physical body to carry it on the earth. When this spirit is given a body, life begins and it is described as ‘Nafs’. The word ‘Nafs’ is used in a number of ways by the Qur’an, all of which imply the meaning of a soul with a body.

1. ‘Nafs’ meaning “Self.”

“You know what is in my self but I do not know what is in Your self”

(Qur’an Al-Ma’ida 5:116)

2. ‘Nafs’ meaning “Blood”.

“The (insect) which has flowing Nafs (blood).”

3. Nafs as a strong force in man, which can push him either towards good or evil. The concept of ‘Nafs al Ammara bis Su’ (‘Nafs’ which encourages evil) and ‘Nafs al Lawwama’(‘Nafs’ which blames) and ‘Nafs al Mutmainna’ (‘Nafs’ which is contented) .

Two deaths and two lives

The Qur’an mentions two deaths and two lives given to us by Allah

“How can you reject faith in Allah, seeing that you were dead and He gave you life. Then He will cause you to die, then He will bring you to life, then to Him will be your return.”

(Qur’an Al-Baqarah 2: 28)

“They will say: Our Lord, twice have You given us death and twice have You given us life…”

(Qur’an Al Mumin : 11)

When the soul is first created it has no physical body and is considered to be a dead creature. In this state it is referred to as ‘Ruh’, and this is the first death as even death is created by Allah.

“He is the one who created Death and life in order that He may try which of you is best in deeds , and He is the Exalted, the Forgiving.”

(Qur’an Al Mulk 67: 2)

The Qur’an also tells us that all the souls of mankind were created before the creation of Adam and were asked to testify to the Lordship of Allah.

“When your Lord drew forth from the loins of the children of Adam their descendants, and made them testify concerning themselves: ‘Am I not your Lord?’. They said, ‘Yes, we do testify.’ This lest you should say on the Day of Judgement: ‘We were not aware of this.’ “

(Qur’an Al A’raaf :272)

The first life begins when the soul is breathed into an embryo in the womb of its mother, and now the soul is referred to as ‘Nafs’. The word Nafs is also used for ‘blood’, and so women who are in a state of post-natal bleeding are known as ‘Nufasaa’. As long as blood surges healthily through the body, there will be life in that body.

Regarding the 121st day “Allah knows best”.

Arya siddhanti: U want me to believe that the fetal heart starts beating without the soul in it. Ur embryology is a sham.

The fetal heart activity is among the earliest signs that the pregnancy is viable. The fetal heart rate can be seen by transvaginal sonogram TVS as early as 22 days after fertilization/ovulation or 5weeks 1 day after the last menstrual period. However, many times it’s not seen until 6 weeks and 0 days. By the time the embryo measures 2 mm the fetal heart rate activity should be seen and normal embryos start at under 85 beats per minute heart rate.

After reading this mumbo-jumbo my conclusion is as follows:

Allah does not know what is the soul, what is its function or properties, what is its material of construction, when does it enter the body, whether it is unborn or made, etc. Therefore the prophet and his muslims could not answer the question of the jews and the infidels [although they might have tried to find the answers from other people discreetly] .  Allah can do well by learning from AUM  or by reading the vedas, shastras , upanishads and ayurveda and clearing doubts from learned men. one should always improve on one’s shortcomings.

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