Suhaib Webb – Connecting Fiqh Womens Health
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I completed my residency in OBGYN at Georgetown
University Hospital, and now I am a fellow
in a specialty called pediatric and adolescent gynecology
at Baylor, in Houston, Texas.
Those are my qualifications.
As far as our agreements,
we will,
kind of briefly go through these as I
think everyone should be familiar by now. But
old friend mentality, meaning just treating everyone like
an old friend. Break it down. So if
you use jargon or another language to just
explain it, in simple terms in English, meaning,
you know, just appreciate that people will like
or enjoy things that maybe you're don't you
know, that you're not into.
We're all at different places, so everyone's on
their own journey. Step up, which is my
favorite one. Meaning, if you don't normally speak
up, please feel free to speak up and
step back. So if you're someone who normally
speaks up, give me, you know, mic to
somebody else, and then you do you. So
just be authentic.
There will be no link sharing,
in the chat. I assume the best intent
of people, but acknowledge if something is harmful
or if something is really off, feel free
to email me.
Be present. So if you're able to,
name yourself with your at least your first
name,
show your video if you can, speak from
your experience.
No recording,
from
the participant side, but the video will be
recorded and put onto SWISS,
and then just get comfortable. So settle down,
light some candles, grab a hot tea,
and we'll go ahead and get started.
Alright. So the objectives for today are as
follows. 1st, we're going to describe the stages
of development
of an embryo and a fetus,
and kind of what the difference between those
two things are. Correlate the stages of development
with,
Quranic and hadith descriptions of the developing human,
discuss the concept of soulment, meaning the moment
that the soul enters into the body of
the fetus,
and the Islamic principles used to delineate the
beginning of human life,
And then understand the thick rulings,
around vaginal bleeding related to miscarriage and a
little bit related to postpartum bleeding.
And then discuss Islamic principles and legal rulings
around pregnancy terminations, which are,
another way of saying abortions.
Any questions about that so far?
Okay.
So conception.
How does an egg need a sperm? So
the egg
is released from the ovary. And first, I'll
just give you a breakdown of what this
image is. Sorry if it's a little bit
graphic.
But imagine that someone is kind of sliced
in half at the level of the belly
button and you're looking down into the pelvis.
So this is the bladder.
This is the last part of the large
intestine before the stool comes out. And then
in between these two structures, you have the
uterus. Okay?
And then coming off the uterus are the
fallopian tubes here that have kind of the
little springy looking ends,
and then the ovaries on either side. Okay?
So every month, there,
are several
hundreds of thousands of follicles within the ovaries
that are developing and one of them eventually
will become an egg and that egg will
ovulation is when that egg ruptures from the
capsule of the ovary and it gets released
actually into this space behind the uterus. So
in this diagram, everything is kind of lifted
up. But imagine that if all this were
kind of, like, sunk back, these ovaries would
be tucked under here with the fallopian tube
surrounding them.
And actually, the egg gets released into this
area along with a little bit of fluid.
And it's from that fluid that either the
right or the left fallopian tube can pick
up that egg and these
fimbriae, which is an I think a Latin
term for fingers,
actually scoop up the egg and deposit it
into the tube itself. Okay? So because that
egg is just floating in this little puddle
of fluid, can actually be grabbed from either
side regardless of whether it ovulates from the
right or the left ovary.
And so once the egg gets into the
tube,
there needs to actually be firm sperm present
in the tube at the time of ovulation,
because the ovum is actually very
unstable. It is not even a complete cell.
Right? It only has the genetic material for
really half of the cell.
So if sperm are present in the ovary,
then fertilization happens, And it happens typically within
an hour of ovulation, so pretty fast.
And then, eventually,
what happens
is that this fertilized egg starts
going down the fallopian tube. So you start
off with your ovum, which is half your
genetic information from your mom, the sperm, which
is half the genetic information from the dad.
And when these two combine, they form something
called a zygote.
This is initially one cell, and then it
starts to double. So
from 1 cell, you get 2 cells. Those
2 cells will each double to get 4
cells and then 8 cells. And when you
get to the 16 cell stage is when
you have something called the morula.
That is a Latin term meaning mulberry like,
kind of describing the shape of it. And
around day 3 after fertilization, the morula is
going to enter the uterus. Okay? It's going
to continue to divide.
And when it gets to be about 60
cells,
it becomes something called a blastocyst.
What kind of distinguishes the blastocyst
is that it has this cavity here.
And so,
on one side of the cavity, you have
a group of cells called the inner cell
mass. These are what are going to go
on to become
the developing,
embryo and then fetus. And then this other
end of the blastocyst
is called the trophoblast.
The name doesn't really matter, but ultimately, this
becomes the placenta.
Okay? So around 6 days after fertilization, the
blastocyst is going to implant into the lining
of the uterus.
Does anyone have any questions about those things
so far?
Okay.
So the critical question at this point is,
how do you calculate the age of a
pregnancy?
And what's important to understand is the difference
between something called an embryologic age versus something
called a gestational age. And it's very critical
that you understand, kind of, the difference between
these two things and how you can maybe
use one to derive the other in order
to understand the fick rulings around,
abortion
and, of course, when life begins. Right?
So
this is a diagram that you've seen if
you've seen either my 1st or second lecture.
It's basically a diagram of the menstrual cycle,
but to includes if a conception were to
occur.
So the menstrual cycle
is based on
the timing of the period. So day 1
of the menstrual cycle is gonna be day
1 of bleeding.
And so bleeding occurs for the 1st few
days of the cycle. Eventually, it stops. The
lining of the uterus starts to build up.
And then at about the halfway mark for
a menstrual cycle, so let's say that the
cycle is 28 days, which is the average,
ovulation
would occur. Okay?
And
ovulation,
you can think of in this case as
being synonymous with fertilization because they happen within
an hour of each other. Right?
So
your embryologic age starts from the moment that
the sperm meets the egg at the time
of ovulation, which would be around day 14.
And in the sacroanct tradition, this is the
method that's used to describe the development of
the pregnancy. Okay?
Your
gestational age starts from day 1 of the
last menstrual period. So if you have ever
been pregnant or if you get pregnant one
day,
then when you go to the doctor and
they tell you the age of the pregnancy,
what they're giving you is this number
calculated from day 1 of your period. So,
this is a method used by OBs to
track pregnancies.
So, basically, a simple way to calculate between
your gestational
age to the embryologic age is that the
gestational age equals the embryologic age plus 14
days. So you have to account for those
14 days prior to when ovulation occurred, ovulation
slash conception.
So,
basically,
if
you think of the day of ovulation
as day 0, your embryologic age, according to
the gestational age, you've already been pregnant for
2 weeks in a sense. Right?
And so
if you were to look at the date
of the Moria implants, for example, we know
that implants
6 days after ovulation
slash fertilization.
So your embryologic age would be 6 days
because that's 6 days after conception occurred, but
the gestational age would actually be 20 days.
So the pregnancy at this point would be
considered to be about 2 weeks 3 days.
Okay?
So not a very difficult calculation.
But why is it that providers will use
the gestational
age? It's simply because it's easier. It's actually
really hard to determine the exact date of
ovulation
because there isn't, like, a little light bulb
that goes off or any kind of external
sign that happens that tells you, hey. I'm
ovulating.
Right? And so it would,
the easiest thing to do is just base
it off of the period because everyone can
tell you which day she first started to
have bleeding. Right?
Any questions about the difference between these two
things?
I have a question.
So it's about the Who's Sabrina? I'm Sabrina,
by the way. Oh, Sabrina. Hey. Okay.
There's a thing called the due date fallacy,
if I'm not mistaken,
where,
the push and pull between birthing,
women and, their providers when they are being
pushed for inductions and whatnot.
And they feel like their body isn't ready
even though that it's technically early 39 weeks
14 weeks. And I know, like, the World
Health
Organization
recommends to,
give birthing,
moms time up until 42 weeks. That's, like,
the most that is it because of this
as well? Like, the whole like, between 40
to 42 weeks, there's there's this,
leeway?
So that's a really interesting question. I guess
from the perspective of the World Health Organization
or from, like, any provider who's caring for
someone with a pregnancy,
They actually
never ever ever, excuse me, think of the
pregnancy in terms of the embryologic age. The
the data that they're basing or the reason
why they're making those recommendations is because of
data that they have on what the outcomes
are for babies who go to certain gestational
ages.
So the gestational age is 240
days from that first, from the last day
sorry, from the first day of your last
period,
which equals about 40 weeks. And to be
honest, it's,
in some ways, it's kind of, like, arbitrary
whether they were to use an embryologic age
or gestational age. But, ultimately,
they stick to 1, which is the gestational
age. And then they say that babies who,
who are in utero for more than 2
weeks beyond their due date have a much
higher risk of stillbirth. And so that is
where, that recommendation comes from.
Oh, I see. Okay. Thank you. Make sense?
Alright. Yeah. Of course.
Any anyone else?
Okay.
So
descriptions in the Quran of, conception and embryogenesis
from Surat Al Mu'min,
we have,
and indeed we created man from a draught
of clay, then we made him a drop
in a secured dwelling
place.
So elsewhere in the Quran,
humans are described as being created from dried
clay made of molded mud, a base fluid,
or dried clay like earthen vessels. And then
there are many other references simply to clay.
So the drop here refers to seminal fluid,
and I think that is also what the
base fluid would refer to.
And then the secure dwelling place is the
womb. Okay? And just as an FYI, this
commentary comes from the start the study Quran
if you have it.
And then the rest of the source says,
then,
of the drop, we created a blood clot.
Then of the blood clot, we created a
lump of flesh.
Then of the lump of flesh, we created
bones, and we clothe the bones with flesh.
Then we brought him into being as another
creation. Blessed is God, best of creators.
So in, in these verses,
you have a,
somewhat vivid description of what the development is
like within the uterus. You go from a
blood clot to a lump of flesh
to a lump of flesh with bones,
and then eventually brought into a being as
another creation, so becoming a human.
So this verse is paired with the following
hadith, and from it scholars extrapolate the age
of ensoulment.
So in this hadith, it says, your creation
is such that you are brought together in
your mother's belly for 40 nights. Then you
are a blood clot for the same duration,
40 nights, then a lump of flesh of
the same duration, 40 nights.
And then god sends an angel,
who is given commands regarding 4 things unless
he writes down one's provision, one's deeds, one's
lifespan, and whether one will be wretched or
joyous. Okay?
So let's break that down.
In that hadith, it says that for 40
days, you're a blood drop,
or sorry, a drop.
A drop of seminal food, for example.
And then for another 40 days, a blood
clot, another 40 days, a lump of flesh.
And then after that 40 day period ends,
so at the 120 day mark,
everything about what happens for the rest of
your life is written. And so that,
would be, is considered the time of ensoulment,
meaning the time that the soul enters the
body.
But remember that this is the embryonic age.
This is not the age that's designed by
a provider. So you can't,
use these numbers. You have to use your
conversion.
So by 120 days, scholars from all schools
unanimously agree that installment has taken place. Okay?
So in gestational age, what would that be?
So from 0 to 7 weeks 5 days,
it would be a drop
from
7 weeks until 13 weeks and 3 days
of blood clot. And then at 19 weeks
and one day,
after
that becomes a lump of flesh, and then
this is the point at which ensoulment occurs.
And so now we wanna know what is
the embryo actually doing at these points of
development? What do we know medically
about what happens at each of these points?
Does anyone have any questions about, like, these
conversions or what, like, these number cutoffs mean?
Okay.
So trimesters are calculated based on gestational age,
nonembryologic age. And as we said, the human
gestation is 40 weeks long.
So the first trimester goes from the 1st
day of last menstrual period until, 13 weeks
6 days, basically, you know, until about 14
weeks.
The pregnancy is an embryo from 5 to
10 weeks,
and is, considered a fetus from 11 weeks
onward.
And we'll talk about the difference between these
2.
And the 2nd trimester starts at 14 weeks.
And then it's during the 2nd trimester that
you pass the 19 week and one day
mark. And this is the time that scholars
agree that installment has occurred. And then the
3rd trimester would be 28 weeks until delivery.
Okay?
So gestational age milestones. So at around week
4, the pregnancy is the size of a
pinhead.
And then by week 5, the pregnancy is
considered an embryo. The brain, spine, and heart
are beginning to form.
And this is the critical period that birth
defects can occur. And most of these defects
actually have no known cause. Okay?
But this is also the earliest that the
pregnancy could be seen on an ultrasound.
So if you look at this week 5
ultrasound,
what this is generally showing is this structure
are you guys able to see my mouse?
Yep. Oh, yeah. Awesome. So this structure is
the uterus.
This kind of
slightly brighter colored,
you know, more white area is the lining
of the uterus. And then here's the pregnancy
implanted. And all you can see,
is
what we call the gestational sac, and you
can't really see any of the other structures
within it.
And then by week 6, the pregnancy grows
to the size of a dime, and this
is the earliest that a fetal heartbeat can
be detectable.
And at this point, you can actually measure
the size of the fetus,
based on the crown rump length. So going
from the tip of the head to the
spine. So if you look here, now our
gestational sac is much bigger. It's this entire
black area. This is the yolk sac,
from which the embryo is actually driving its
nutrients until the placenta is more developed. And
then this is the developing human.
And what they're measuring here, the CRL or
the crown rump length, just going from the
tip of the head into the base of
the spine.
Okay? So
the pregnancy,
the the day of the last period alone
is usually
the day of last period is not usually
used alone to determine the the timing of
the pregnancy. They'll combine that with the crown
rump length and see depending on,
if they're close enough together, then we'll go
based on the last period. Or if they're
too far off and we have, you know,
different number cutoffs depending on the gestational age,
then
redate the pregnancy based on what they see
on ultrasound.
Also because some women's periods are irregular,
So the time in the last period may
not always be reflective of how old the
pregnancy is.
By week 7, the pregnancy becomes the size
of a nickel. And then this is where
we hit those 1st 40 days.
That's described in the hadith. So it's the
1st 40 days embryologic age, which corresponds to
7 weeks, 5 days gestational age.
And so the pregnancy is no longer considered
a blood clot and has now become a
lump of flesh. Okay?
By week 8, the pregnancy is the size
of a quarter.
And then by week 10, the embryonic tail
disappears,
and that is when the pregnancy becomes the
fetus.
So the every
human,
while it's developing in the uterus will initially
have this tail, and then eventually the tail,
just is, kind of broken down.
And it's at that point that the pregnancy
becomes a fetus, and, also, it is at
this point that the pregnancy is now discernible
as a human.
So fingerprints are being formed and the pregnancy
is about 1 inch long. So this is
an ultrasound
of, a 10 week old fetus.
By week 11, the fetus can open its
mouth and swallow. And then by week 12,
the uterus has burned up that it can
be actually felt through the abdomen just above
the level of the pubic bone. Okay?
So week 13 is really interesting.
We no longer use the crown ramp length
to measure the fetus. At this point, we
can actually use something that we call fetal
biometry,
meaning that we take measurements from the hard
bony structures.
So we would measure both the circumference of
the head as well as the diameter of
the head or the skull rather. So imagine
that we were measuring the circumference here and
also the diameter of the skull.
And then we also measure the circumference of
the abdomen, way around this way, and then
the length of the femur, which is the
long load of the thigh.
And all of these structures become evident. And
now if the pregnancy hasn't already been dated,
these are the different measurements that your provider
would obtain in order to help date the
pregnancy.
This corresponds with the second 40 day period
that's describing the head east. Now we're at
the 80 days or 13 weeks 3 days
gestational age where,
the fetus is no longer a lump of
flesh, but now a lump with bones.
And, SubhanAllah,
that's exactly
what we're doing as providers is now we're
actually using the bones
to measure,
the fetus. It was really fascinating.
So in week 14 is when the 2nd
trimester begins. The fetus is now 3 inches
long, and then the external
can be seen on ultrasound at this point.
You can determine,
if it's a boy or a girl.
Week 15, the fetus is 6 and a
half inches long and now weighs 4 ounces
or about the size of the deck of
cards.
And then week 19, we reach that the
end of that third
described 40 day period. So this would be
the 120 days or 19 weeks of one
day gestational age,
where the Quran says that this is no
longer just a lump with bones. It's now
a lump of with bones covered with flesh,
and this is when ensoulment occurs.
So around this time, we typically do it
around 20 weeks, certainly. It can be done
at around 19 weeks. Your provider is gonna
recommend an anatomy ultrasound
to evaluate for fetal anomalies just to make
sure that all the anatomy looks normal. And
I included these
ultrasounds
to show you the
level of depth at which the we can
actually detect
every structure in the fetus just like you
would be able to see it, for example,
on an MRI in an adult human. Right?
So this is the brain. We can see
structures like the thalamus, the hippocampus.
This is the an ultrasound
detailing different portions of the heart. So we
can see the extending aorta, the pulmonary artery,
the aorta as it comes down in the
descending aorta.
And then here, this is, an ultrasound
showing you the liver, the gallbladder.
It's kind of cut off, but the stomach
would be just,
underneath here.
So
even as the Quran describes that it is
the
fetus is now covered with flesh, then that
is also the time at which we actually
look at all of the fleshy structures
within the fetus in order to check for
any kind of anomaly,
in the stage of development. And it lines
up like Supanalog,
like, basically, exactly. Right?
It's really interesting.
So week 21, the fetus can suck, grasp,
and have hiccups.
And at week 22, it's now 11 inches
long and weighs around 1 pound.
So the question is, well, if installment occurs
at 19 weeks, then is it possible for
a fetus to survive if it's born at
19 weeks? Let's say someone goes into preterm
labor for whatever reason
survive, and the answer is no.
And,
the age of viability
refers to the age at which the fetus
could survive outside the womb. And to be
honest, it's actually partially dependent on a NICU's
capabilities.
So a NICU,
you know, in a first world country where
you have,
like,
all kinds of access to medicine
is going to be able
to keep a fetus alive if it's born
early better than one in which there aren't
as many resources. Right?
So typically,
we refer to the age of viability
as 24 weeks. As the NICU's capabilities have
improved in the United States at least,
we're actually able to say that 23 weeks
is periviable.
So at 23 weeks, the survivability of the
fetus is about 33%, meaning about 1 in
3
babies born at 23 weeks will survive.
And then that number drastically
jumps to 65%
at 24 weeks. What's the reason for that?
That's because the,
surface area of the lung significantly
expands, and the fetus is able to exchange
oxygen in slugs.
So even though at 19 weeks, we're able
to see all those organs and see that
they're fully formed
and, you know, theoretically should be functional,
the issue is that
the the lungs
just aren't able to exchange oxygen. The fetus
cannot breathe very easily on its own. Okay?
But every week that the fetus stays in
utero,
helps
to increase the survivability
until eventually you get to 32 weeks when
that number approaches 100.
And at 32 weeks, the fetus' lungs not
only have expanded in surface area, but it's
able to produce enough of,
a,
of a substance called surfactant
to actually prevent the lungs from collapsing. So
not only is there enough space for the
oxygen to exchange the lungs stay inflated.
Just to put into context what the, you
know, what what is the meaning of the
viability because it's not exclusively about, you know,
whether the baby's alive or not, but is
this baby actually going to be able to,
like, fully function?
So at 23 year weeks,
unfortunately, only 2% of fetuses, sir, not only
survive, but also have no further deficits.
And then that number slowly starts to increase
as, the fetus is able to develop more
in utero.
What do we mean by major deficits? So
there are certain issues that happen with premature
infants.
One of these things can be strokes. Another
can be that the retina
is not fully developed, so they developed something
called retinopathy
prematurity where they can't see fully.
They can develop infections and get sepsis.
And then a really serious,
form of that would be something called necrotizing
enterocolitis
where basically they have a really bad
bacterial infection of the GI tract. Okay. So
sorry. I'm trying not to be very bleak,
but I just want people to have, an
understanding of kind of, like, what exactly is
happening, what these milestones mean.
But then when you enter the 3rd trimester,
then you get to week 34.
The fetus is about 18 inches and weighs
£5.
And this is typically the early stage at
which a pregnancy might be delivered due to
severe pregnancy complications.
So,
that could be something like,
really severe preeclampsia
would probably be one of the more common
reasons why we deliver women early.
And, certainly, there are a number of reasons
why a baby might be delivered early, either
because of the health of the mother or
because the the thought is that the baby
might actually survive better outside of the womb
than inside. So, for example, if someone's water
bag of water were to break early,
if it were to break at 34 weeks,
at that point, it's actually considered safer to
deliver the baby than to risk,
getting an infection in utero
and trying to keep the pregnancy inside the
uterus longer.
At week 37,
that's 3 weeks before the due date, it's
no longer considered preterm.
At 39 weeks,
the infant is full term,
for anyone who wants to be delivered just
as an elective delivery, meaning that for whatever
reason, they just either don't wanna be pregnant
anymore or the timing kind of works out
better in their lives. 39 weeks or a
week before your due date would be the
early stage that,
you can just opt for delivery, either a
vaginal delivery or a c section depending on
the circumstance.
At week 40, this is the due date
that's given to the patient. It's calculated based
on the last period, like we said.
And then week 41 is post term. So,
as Sabrina had mentioned earlier, we really start
to recommend,
at 41 weeks. And if delivery doesn't occur
at 41 weeks, then we recommend field monitoring,
meaning that the patient has to come back
to the OB clinic routinely,
usually a couple of times a week
just to make sure that the fetus is
still doing okay. And then certainly by 42
weeks, the recommendation is to be delivered.
Does anyone have any questions about any of
that so far? This is kind of a
summary slide,
in case anyone wants to screenshot it, but
just has the most important dates, up top
or kind of outlined.
But any questions, thoughts?
I wanna ask,
Yeah.
When do moms get, and and,
I guess, what what's the risk and also
benefits of, steroid shots, I think, to, mature
the baby's lungs in the womb? Like, how
how can you tell if someone's gonna go
into preterm labor?
Oh my gosh. That is such a great
question.
So, Supanella,
we actually
as much
as we've done research
and, you know, as, like, we have all
these incredible medical technologies, we are still actually
so, so bad at predicting,
like, preterm
deliveries
or,
whether or not someone is, like, truly going
into labor or if they're just having preterm
contractions.
And I think part of that is because
it's really hard to do ethical studies on
pregnant people. And certainly, no one's gonna consent,
for example, to, like, getting a biopsy of
their uterus,
like, while they're pregnant or, you know, while
they're going through a really difficult time in
their lives if they're, you know, having a
preterm delivery and that sort of thing. But
I also think that,
there's just
so much,
of this that just can't be controlled, and
it's really just in God's hands. But as
far as for the steroid shot,
we typically recommend it around the age of
viability. So most people would recommend it if,
for example, your bag of water breaks at
24 weeks, certainly, then the steroid shot is
gonna be recommended.
And or if someone is having preterm
contractions and there's some concern that they may
deliver within the next 48 hours, then they
would be given steroid shots. The reason why
we don't do it earlier than 23 or
24 weeks is because
if the baby has such a low chance
of survival before that, that it's not really,
I don't know how to say this. It's
just there's there's really no added benefit in
getting a steroid shot. But the steroid shot
can be given up until,
36 weeks 6 days. As,
I said on the last slide, 37 weeks
means you're no longer preterm. So if you're
preterm,
you're eligible for it. And in certain instances,
you're even eligible for it twice. Like, let's
say, there is one point where they thought
you might go into preterm labor and they
gave you the shot.
Then depending on how much time has gone
by and the timing of the first shot,
then you may even be eligible for a
second shot if they think you're if you
didn't go into labor the first time, but
they think you might be going into labor
the second time. Or if if there is
an intention to deliver the baby prematurely because,
you know, let's say mom was diagnosed with
a cancer and needs chemotherapy, and we really
need to deliver the baby so that she
can expedite getting chemotherapy, for example.
Then,
if they know that they're going to be
planning a delivery within the next couple of
days, then they'll provide the shots as well.
And what Sabrina is referring to is a
steroid shot that is given to the mom
that actually helps
the baby's lungs mature a little bit faster,
so that they have a better shot at
being able to breathe once they're delivered.
That's a really good question.
Did I answer it for you?
Yes. Thank you.
Anyone else?
Okay.
So let's talk a little bit about miscarriages.
So miscarriage is a pregnancy loss that happens
in the 1st trimester
or, it's often defined as less than 13
weeks gestational age. It is actually very common.
So occurs
some places will say 10% of clinically recognized
pregnancies, meaning pregnancies that, you know, OBGYN
confirmed, you know, with a pregnancy on an
ultrasound, let's say. But they we really think
it's actually up to 1 in 4 pregnancies.
So imagine, like, back in the day when
people were having, like, 8 or 10 kids,
then they were they probably had 1 or
2 miscarriages, like, in the mix of those.
Okay?
So 50% of miscarriages are due to fetal
chromosomal
abnormalities.
So what does that mean?
We have this diagram here that shows oogenesis
refers to how an egg is made. And
essentially, you have,
your human genetic data that has to duplicate
and then separate and then separate again. And
so at some point in this process, typically
at the point where they're trying to separate
out, they
these chromosomes don't divide out the way that
they should be. So imagine
if this,
cell had 2
blue chromosomes or if it was missing and
only had one red one, for example.
And so these happen randomly.
There's nothing that anyone can do to, you
know, a medicine you can take to prevent
it or something you can do to encourage
them to divide the right way. Okay? It
just occurs randomly. And 50% of miscarriages are
just because these don't have the proper amounts
of genetic material
in the ovum.
As far as recurrent miscarriages, meaning 2 concert
consecutive miscarriages, so 2 in a row are
relatively rare, about 1 in 5 percent of
women.
So 85% of women will have a normal
pregnancy following 1 miscarriage, and 75% of women
will have a normal pregnancy following 2 or
more miscarriages.
So I think one thing that we don't
talk a lot about in the Muslim community
is or really probably in any community
is miscarriage. I think a lot of women
feel they may feel that they've kind of
failed as a woman or they have anxiety
about whether or not they can have a
normal pregnancy again in the future.
And I think because people don't talk about
it so much, we really don't realize how
common it is.
And, you know, having one miscarriage doesn't mean
that you can never get pregnant again or
that you would need infertility services to get
pregnant. It's actually
the your best chance of getting pregnant is
to start trying again immediately after the first
miscarriage.
But does anyone have any questions, thoughts, like,
personal stories?
Anything
they wanna point out about this before we
move on?
I miscarried at 9 weeks for my first
pregnancy.
And,
it was, thanks to me passing
that,
I I'm I'm actually is it a fetus?
Is it, like, at at at 9 weeks?
At 9 weeks, it's still an embryo.
Okay. So really good question.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
The the embryo and also the lump of
flesh that came with it. I'm not sure
exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So,
it was thanks to those crampings that I,
prepared for birth, you know, for, with my
second
pregnancy. Yeah. Because it was the same, you
know, contraction. It was the same, you know,
kind of pain. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't
know. That was Wow. Yeah. I think. But,
how how of how soon after miscarriage, can
you try again?
Like, some providers, like, after 3 months.
Most doctors will wanna just make sure that
your,
beta HCG, your Parkinson's hormone level drops back
down to 0, and some people don't even
care to do that.
As long as there is no concern that
you had an ectopic pregnancy,
for example, like a pregnancy that implanted somewhere
where it shouldn't have been, there's really you
can start trying to get immediately.
Really, like, no medical reason why you would
need to wait.
Just as long as you're not bleeding anymore,
certainly.
But otherwise,
if you're no longer bleeding and there's,
like and and the pregnancy was known to
have been in the uterus to begin with
or that they don't see anything in the
uterus anymore like an on ultrasound, then it's
okay to go ahead and start.
That's a really good question.
Anyone else?
No questions right now, but this is all
very, very helpful. Thank you. Yeah. Of course.
Okay. So let's,
this is, another description in the Quran of
conception embryo genesis. So this is, in sorts
of Hajj. It says, oh, mankind, if you
are in doubt concerning the resurrection, remember,
we created you from dust, then from a
drop, then from a blood clot, then from
a lump of flesh formed and unformed
that we may make clear for you and
would cause what we will to remain in
the wounds for eternal pointed. Then we bring
you 4,000 infant that, then that you may
reach maturity.
And
so,
the drop here again refers to *, which
is also mentioned in other parts of the
Quran,
such as the references to base fluid.
And the lump of flesh formed and unformed
is generally thought to mean that after the
blood clot settles in the womb, so when
the morula implants,
some pregnancies come to term, while others miscarry
before producing fully formed human beings.
So not only is it about
the, you know, the fact that the pregnancy
can be described as formed and unformed,
but also in combination with this next line,
we cause what we will to remain in
the wounds for a term appointed, meaning that
some pregnancies will come to a term and
some won't. And this
is purely up to Allah. And, there's
actually
virtually,
like,
there's really not much that your provider can
do
if if the pregnancy is going to miscarry.
There isn't, like, a magic medicine that you
can take. And they even do studies on,
for example, women who are going into preterm
labor. If there are certain medications we can
give them to stop the contractions
and even medicines that have been shown to
stop the contractions
cannot actually stop labor. If if it is
meant to be, it is meant to be,
subhanallah, and it's something that, like, as human
beings, like, as advanced as our technology and
our medicine is, we we have not found
a way to be able to change that.
And I just think it's
it's actually so reassuring to see in the
Quran
this recognition
of, like, something that can actually be, like,
a big tragedy for a person or for
a couple or a family. We'd like to
have miscarried, but it's actually recognized as as
something that happened in the Quran and that
it it's in Allah's control alone.
No. I I actually really like this verse
for that reason.
Does anyone have any thoughts about this?
Okay.
So FICC rulings on miscarriage. I'm gonna do
a little terminology refresher. If you've seen my
first lecture, then you've heard more detail about
these words. But menstrual bleeding
is for the thick vaginal bleeding that is
between 3 to 10 days long and occurs
around the time that you would expect your
period to occur.
Lopia is bleeding through the * after delivering
a baby.
For the thick, it can last up to
40 days. And, actually, as OBGYNs,
we tell patients after they deliver, 6 weeks
after delivery, you may continue to have bleeding.
And 6 weeks is 42 days. So it's
virtually the same as as what's recognized,
by the Fick Scholars.
If Tejada is vaginal bleeding, that does not
meet criteria for either rectal bleeding or lochia.
That's kind of really simple way of putting
it.
So any kind of vaginal bleeding that's not
either of those first two. So if a
miscarried fetus shows any human features,
for example, fingers,
hand, hair, then the bleeding is considered lochia,
and you would treat it like postpartum bleeding,
meaning that you can expect it to last
up to 40 days, and then you wouldn't
perform your prayers for those 40 days.
And that typically occurs at
10 weeks. Gestational age is when you start
to see those human features, because that's the
time where it's no longer an embryo and
now a fetus.
But bleeding after a miscarried embryo, I. E.
The stage before any discernible
human features is not lochia,
And then you would treat it as menstrual
bleeding,
which means that you would expect it to
not last more than 10 days.
It may, in some instances, also be istejada.
There's, like, a big asterisk there.
There are a lot there's a lot of
information that you would need to know as
far as what your last period was before
that and the duration of bleeding, that sort
of thing. So,
it it's
the
the simple way of putting it is that
it you can either treat as menstrual bleeding
or Estejada, but you would,
need to you would need to know some
of the other facts surrounding the part the
bleeding,
in order to call it that. But the
big thing is that it's not lochia
either way.
Any questions?
Okay.
So the FICC rulings on miscarriage. So a
miscarried fetus, meaning,
a pregnancy that has human features is named,
it's washed, it's wrapped in a clean cloth,
but it's not shrouded, meaning that it's not
dressed for burial. And then it's buried, but
it is not prayed for
prayed over.
So and then you would also take the
placenta umbilical cord and the amniotic sac,
and wrap those in cloth and bury those
as well.
An embryo that has no discernible human features,
there is no need to observe any religious
liturgy. So you don't need to,
treat it the same way that you would
treat a miscarried fetus. Okay?
Any questions about that?
Okay.
So how is,
abortion,
like, approached in Islam? So the debate over
abortion as a whole begins with the discussion
of when life begins.
So we talked about the significance of the
120 days and that being the time that
ensoulment occurs.
But there are some scholars that say that
actually they divide it up based on whether
it's before the 40 days or before the
120 day mark. So during the 1st 40
days, meaning that 7 weeks 5 days just
gestational age,
the majority of scholars would permit abortion for
what they call legitimate reasons, meaning that,
the person feels that they're either physically or
mentally unable to raise a child. So, for
example,
that could be someone who,
maybe is, you know,
much older and doesn't think that they could
get pregnant and they already had a few
kids, let's say, and they just don't feel
that they would be able to,
you know, put in the amount of care
that maybe a newborn would need or keep
up with, like, a toddler used as an
example.
But fear of poverty
does not qualify as verse in the Quran,
that says, do not kill your children for
this verse in the Quran,
that says, do not kill your children for
fear of poverty.
We provide for you and for them. And
I wanna focus on this first for a
moment
because I just find it really fascinating
that the word that's used,
is often translated as property but if you
look the word in Arabic is imlaq
and it's actually
the fear of losing
material wealth.
Okay?
So this isn't a verse that's
necessarily designated towards
poor people or people who have less means
to say,
oh, you know, just because
I mean, certainly,
as we said, if
you shouldn't have you shouldn't necessarily say that
you don't have enough needs to take care
of a child. But, actually, this you can
think of it as being directed towards
someone who actually is of a lot of
wealth, who has a lot of wealth, and
still says,
well, I don't know because children are expensive,
and I saved all this money, and I'm
gonna spend all this money on this kid.
And supanullah, what you actually see and practice
in the real world
is that it's often people who have no
means or countries that, let's say, on the
GDP level are actually very poor, who have
a lot of kids and appreciate kids and
see kids as a blessing and have no,
like,
financial qualms with, you know, like, the finances
were never an issue or never something that
they thought about or necessarily made them wanna
not have kids. But then you actually see
people from the richest countries in the world
with the highest GPs
with, you know, individuals with the highest income
who say, oh, I don't know if I
can really afford a kid.
So I'm not trying to call out any,
you know, one individual. But but when you
look at it on in a global way,
you actually see that that's what happens is
that it's actually that people
will will choose not to have kids either
through, you know, the use of lifelong birth
control or through the use of of of
abortion
to not have a kid,
Whereas people who don't come from countries that
have a lot of means, that's never something
that factors in
to their decision to have a kid. Does
anyone have any thoughts about that?
Okay.
So many contemporary scholars will offer spiritual counsel
to those considering,
a pre 40 day abortion.
And so the way that counseling typically
goes is that they encourage
the couple to continue with the pregnancy unless
there's already a known danger to the mother
or the fetus. But, of course, they still
leave the door open to those who may
choose otherwise.
So what would be like a danger to
the mother or fetus?
Let's say this is someone who has already
had 5 c sections, and each c section
gets
considerably more complicated than the previous one just
because of the scarring and you're, you know,
continuing to operate on this organ over and
over again, the uterus.
So in that case, it may be wise
to,
just end that pregnancy at this point.
And as you already know that there's a
potential risk to the mother's life.
So this is a quote from, doctor Hadzner
Hej. She's a PhD in comparative FICC and
is also a board certified pediatrician. And so
he said that abortion in the 1st 48
days, a pregnancy upon mutual agreement of both
parents is permissible for a legitimate cause, such
as the woman's fear of not having the
capacity to raise a newborn. Now having said
that, it's always preferable to avoid that. And
if one relies on a less help and
puts his or her trust in him, he
will not let them down.
So certainly, there's there's a lot of uncertainty
that goes,
with having a pregnancy.
But,
in general, the Islamic stances
generally that it's encouraged and that there really
should be a legitimate reason, and certainly that's
concerned on a case by case basis. And
there's always the opportunity to speak with scholars
to determine whether or not, you know, your
your fear or your hesitation
is legitimate. Right? So long it's not a
fear of poverty.
But then after those 7 weeks and,
those 7 weeks,
the abortion can be permitted up until 120
days
when a pressing need is present. So an
extreme fetal deformity that's incompatible with life or,
for example, in the case of * or
* or maybe it's not,
you know, realize that the person is pregnant
until later.
So as we had discussed before, it's around,
you know, that 19, 20 weeks
that,
the anatomy ultrasound is performed when
they the provider can see if there are
any extreme deformities that are noted, and the
patient can be counseled as far as, you
know, how likely is it that,
this
baby would survive outside of the womb.
You know, for example, there are, some fetuses
that they just don't develop kidneys. Otherwise, structurally
fine, but just no kidneys. And in such
a case,
the pregnancy can survive to full term
because it's reliant on the placenta and mom's
system to kind of get rid of toxins
that the kidneys would normally do, but that
that baby would not survive very long outside
of the womb. And in such a case,
it may be better to
end the pregnancy early than
to go all the way to full term,
which can be sort of associated with greater
blood loss and more complications for mom to
go through with the delivery,
you know, much later in the pregnancy when
it's known that the baby will not survive
for very long. And, certainly, every phenotypal anomaly
is different and the person should be counselled
as far as like reasonable expectations for what
could happen after the pregnancy.
So by 120 days from conception, the scholars
of all schools unanimously agree that installment has
taken place
and
aborting the pregnancy would be forbidden after those
120 days as the embryo is now fully
sanctified human life.
This language is taken from
the Okene Institute article.
So if you want more details around those
things, then certainly feel free to look into
that, and I included the link to that
in this course syllabus.
But, of course, the exception
to terminating a pregnancy
after that 120 days would be if there
is
a danger to the mother's life. And,
so the logic behind this is a legal
maxim in Islamic law that says that certainty
should not be overridden by doubt. So in
other words, the potential life of the infant
should not threaten a stable life, that of
the mother. So the the mother's survivability
is much more predictable.
She, you know, has been alive as a
healthy human, whereas,
the infant, as we talked about in our
session of viability,
you know, may or may not make it.
And certainly, even infants that are born full
term, you know, for whatever reason,
can die early from things such as SIDS.
You know?
So you take you prioritize
the mother's life because it is more certain
than that of the infant.
Jurists also support this from another angle saying
that the mother is the origin of the
infant. So even if they have equal possibility
of surviving, as long as the fetus is
part of her and dependent on her, you
can't cut the roots to the branch.
So
the,
yeah, so those are the two angles. Any
questions about that?
This is even,
if, let's say, the mother has specifically,
willed that, please save my child and, you
know, like,
even if I die, just save my child.
In Islam, that is not allowed, I guess.
Yeah. That's a really good question because, I
mean, presumably, the mother has people in her
life who know her, presumably has
maybe even already had children who are reliant
on her.
That's a that's a really interesting question.
But I
This is a very motherly instinct. Right? Like,
I mean, she's already carried this this baby
for so long and you know?
Yeah.
Yeah. That's a really good
question.
I
I can let me let me do a
little bit more digging and say, like, what
can you as an individual say I want
to, like, support the life of the baby
over my own life. That that wasn't something
that had occurred to me. So I'll look
into it, and thank you for bringing that
up.
Anything else?
Okay.
So this is just a summary slide,
saying that before 40 days, generally,
there should be a legitimate reason.
Before 120
days in certain instances with pressing need. And
after 1 to 1 120 days,
it should,
pregnancy termination should be done to,
save the life of the mother.
But, of course,
in Islamic thoughts, there is preference to use
contraception to prevent an unwanted pregnancy than to
rely on abortion to remedy a problematic outcome.
And so this as we talked about,
in our last lecture on contraception,
one of the reasons why contraception is allowed
because you would rather prevent a pregnancy than
to have it make to make a really
difficult decision about whether or not to continue.
Something that is, like, potentially on its way
to becoming,
a fully sanctified life.
Okay.
So how is abortion performed in the United
States? It depends on how far along the
parenthesis. So I've divided it roughly into 1st
trimester and second trimester.
But in the first try basically, for either
trimester, you have two options. Either,
a medical option, meaning given being given medicines,
or a surgical option, meaning that the provider
actually goes into the uterus and extracts the
pregnancy.
As far as for the 1st trimester,
typically, it's 2 medications that are given, one
that's taken orally and then one that's placed
vaginally.
These can be taken at home. Okay? And
then the pregnancy can be passed at home.
So this, is an option that people may
choose if they just want greater privacy or
if they want to experience the loss of
the pregnancy at home.
And it can be done safely up to
between 10 11 weeks gestational age. It's FDA
approved for 10 weeks, but
centers like planned parenthood have evidence that it
can be safe up to 11 weeks.
And then as far as for a surgical
option, it's a procedure called a suction b
and c,
d standing for dilation, meaning dilating the cervix,
and c standing
for curitage, meaning taking an instrument to remove
the contents of the uterus.
So this would have to be performed in
a clinic.
There are some clinics that have,
certain levels of anesthesia
approval, and so they're able to perform it
in a clinic setting. And, certainly,
a clinic life plan parenthood, for example, would
be able to provide that.
And these can be performed up to about
14 weeks gestational age.
And then as the patient moves into the
2nd trimester,
then
for the certainly,
the procedure,
becomes a little bit more complicated. There's greater
risk involved, particularly risk of infection and risk
of hemorrhage or risk of,
a retained placenta, for example, because now the
structures have gotten so much bigger.
So in order to undergo kind of a
medical abortion or,
really, it's it can be thought of as,
like, an induction of labor at this point
would be either,
multiple there there are many different ways that
it can be performed in the 2nd trimester
either through a series of medications that are
given in the * or with IV Pitocin.
So anyone who's gone through labor may have
actually had Pitocin given to them
and then for their normal pregnancy in order
for it to be delivered. And you can
do that even with,
people who need to deliver the pregnancy earlier.
So these can be given over,
the course of 24 to 48 hours, and
they require hospitalization,
again, because of the risk involved.
And then some individuals may offer a d
and e, that's dilation. So, again, dilating the
cervix and evacuation.
It just
it refers to,
kind of a greater amount of tissue that
needs to be extracted as opposed to the
curettage.
And so because, again, the risk involved, these
need to be performed in either a surgery
center or a hospital,
a place where
if, god forbid, something were to happen where
a blood transfusion would be needed,
eminently, you know, that everything would be available.
Okay? So these are not just ways that
we treat
people who want an elective,
kind of abortion,
But even for women who have a retained
miscarriage, meaning that the pregnancy passed in the
uterus, but contractions never came or maybe they
only partially evacuated the pregnancy and a part
of it still remains in the uterus, then
certainly they can opt for either
of these two options.
And as far as for the 2nd trimester,
certainly, these are also, methods that are used
for someone who has a late fetal demise,
meaning a demise in the 2nd trimester where
the baby has already passed and now needs
to be delivered.
So
as far as kind of statistics on abortion,
this is data from 2,008,
but 1,200,000
abortions,
occurred in the US that year,
for a population of about 300,000,000.
And 30% of US women report having an
abortion by age 45, so almost a 3rd.
But 2nd trimester abortions are actually relatively rare.
Only about 10%
occur after 13 weeks gestational age.
And
98.7%
of abortions
in the US are performed,
at 20 weeks or earlier. And this is
actually relatively in line with the 19 week
one day cutoff in Islam.
So I just thought that was really interesting.
Certainly, you know,
medical providers in the US aren't trying to
be in alignment with, like, what's
kind of, like, proposed in Islam. But I
just thought it was really fascinating that,
even in a place where abortions are,
kind of offered
in, I guess, in a more secular way,
still don't seem to perform them later than
Islamically would think that the soul enters the
fetus.
Any questions, concerns, thoughts about any of this?
Okay.
So these last few slides, we're going to
focus on kind of descriptions of the of
the womb,
in Islam.
So Muslim jurists have always viewed the fetus
as the precious origin of human life, and
certainly it is.
And the womb
is perceived as a fragile vessel that carries
a unique human soul and hence deserves safeguarding
and crippled treatment. Okay?
So there's a hadith
that says,
that God says, I am Allah and I
am Ar Rahman, the most merciful,
who created the or the womb. So whoever
stays connected with it,
I will connect into my mercy, and whoever
severs ties with it, I will disconnect him
from my mercy.
I wanna focus more on, like, the language
that's used here. There's a distinct
linguistic
connection that's being made between the name of
Allah Ar Rahman, the most merciful,
and the Rahm l'awoon. So clearly,
these two words
are derived from the word for mercy. So
womb, even,
in the Arabic language is considered a mercy.
Either you can think of it as a
mercy, like, for women to mankind.
And I just think it's so beautiful that
this is the one structure
in the human body
that
almost shares a name with one of the
most beautiful attributes of Allah, one of the
most frequently used names of Allah. And there's
a direct connection there, which I think speaks
to
what a high status
the womb has in the eyes, of God
and, like, through that we as Muslims should
have when we view it.
I also,
like this story that we had mentioned earlier
from sort
these verses from sort of what we knew
that says,
and indeed we created man from a jot
of clay, and then we made him a
drop in a secure dwelling place.
And I just I just find that description
to be so beautiful. It almost makes me
tearful in a way that, like, this is
that this is how the womb is described
as a secure dwelling place. It's like
it's it's cozy.
It's sweet. It's endearing.
It's just
it's just
it is, you know,
like the place where you probably felt safest
in your entire life, Panalog.
Does anyone have any thoughts about
these words or these,
the, you know, these verses?
Okay. So I have a few more.
So
there
these two verses from,
chapter 35 in the Quran and then chapter
41
have almost identical language.
So this first one says God created you
from dust and from a drop, and he
made you pairs, and no female bears or
brings forth save with his knowledge.
And none who grows old grows old, nor
has ought lessened of his life, but that
it is in a book truly that is
easy for God.
And similarly here, we, it says, unto him
is knowledge of the hour referred.
No fruits come forth from their sheaths,
nor does any female bear or bring forth,
saved by his knowledge. And on the day
when he will call unto them, where are
my partners, they will sing,
that none among us bears witness.
So here,
are 2 surahs that are referencing
the fact that
Allah above all knows
when conception occurs or it doesn't occur. And
as we mentioned earlier,
you know, the Quran talks about the pregnancy
in terms of embryologic age, whereas physicians and
humans talk about the pregnancy in terms of
gestational age. And the reason being that as
human beings, we don't really know when ovulation
occurs. And even when we date these pregnancies,
we're doing it based on this external sign.
But ovulation can occur at any point from
when the last period is. Right? Like, even
months later for people who have really irregular
periods.
So
it just it goes back to this idea
that, like,
even the woman who ovulates doesn't know when
she's ovulating. But Allah
has knowledge of this. Okay?
So
pairing that with this next Surah,
it says that God knows that which every
female bears, how wounds diminish, and how they
increase.
Everything with him is according to a measure,
knower of the unseen and the seen, the
great, the exalted.
Okay.
So the first part of this verse, I
think, is beautiful because it talks about how
wounds diminish and how they increase.
I think this can be seen in a
couple of ways.
One way is that
the uterus can grow from less than the
size of your fist
up to an organ that reaches up to
just underneath your rib cage. So the womb
itself has when it's fully pregnant,
has
enough blood flow that the entire circulation of
blood in a person's body goes through the
uterus within 10 minutes
when someone is full term.
Imagine how large of a structure this is
and
that it can accommodate
so much
of the entire human body's capacity for blood.
And then after delivery, it just shrinks back
down.
No other organ in the human body undergoes
this kind of transformation
or undergoes it so many times in life
depending on how often the person gets pregnant
even if they miscarry or if they have
a full term or, you know, preterm pregnancy.
So first, it's it just is,
it shows you the amount of respect that
the womb kind of commands because no other
organ can do what it does and transform
the way that it does.
I think another way that this can also
be thought of is that, you know, how
women diminish and how they increase. I think
some interpretations of that, it's also maybe a
reference to
how,
how women can miscarry, which again is another
reassurance from Allah that
underlining that this is actually really common,
and that it it's within his control.
That's the first thing that I really like
about this.
And then the next part is going back
to this idea that Allah is the knower
of the unseen and the seen.
And in Arabic
and excuse me because my Arabic is not
very good. But it's.
He knows the unseen, and the word for
unseen is
in this instance. Okay?
And then
I think of this, and I pair it
with this other,
verse in the Quran, which is actually a
really
I don't know if controversial is the right
word for it, but,
it's a verse that I think people talk
a lot and reflect a lot about. And
I found so many interpretations
and even just so many translations for this
verse.
But I put the full verse here.
So it's from Surat Al Nisa. It says
that men are the caretakers of women as
men have been provisioned by Allah over women
and tasked with supporting them financially.
And righteous women are devoutly obedient and, one
alone, protective
of what Allah has entrusted them with.
And so
the this part in yellow that I've highlighted
corresponds to this portion in yellow.
So the part that says that
they are protective of what Allah has entrusted
them with. They
are They
are
protective or preservers of the unseen.
And it's interesting because in the translation,
there isn't actually the words unseen unseen used
here, but it's actually the same
word that we saw,
here previously
in this in in these verses that are
directly talking about the womb.
Right? So to me, this is saying that
women
are
protective of this unseen thing.
And
what is it that's unseen? It's not just
the
conception
that's unseen,
but it's also the ensoulment.
SubhanAllah.
This is the organ
that which connects
the earth to the heavens.
Allah creates a soul,
and he imparts it into a woman's womb.
And I just think that that is so
incredible
that our bodies have the capability
to do something like that. That our uterus
is actually directly connected to Allah
and and responsible for the
for for housing
this unborn life for we are entrusted by
God to protect
this like, the womb itself, to protect the
pregnancy, to protect, like, the soul that enters
it. It just it is such, like, an
incredible
responsibility and an incredible privilege that we're given
because we're born with this this organ
that that only half of humanity has.
So that's the way that I interpret this.
Does anyone have any thoughts about this or
about other verses or just about anything that
we've talked about so far?
Some really profound
reflection. I really appreciate you,
like, expanding on that. I think I'm I'm
really
enjoying and appreciating the number of verses that
are being highlighted here
and the many the many themes that we're
seeing
or even
phrases
and specific words that are repeated,
and the ones that are that are new
or unique to certain verses.
Mhmm.
Absolutely.
I just I just think it's so incredible.
And it's actually like this the the substance
of this lecture are what made me want
to make this course.
Because I it just gives me chills every
time.
I just and it's so,
like, tragic to me that
in
in, you know, what's kind of called, like,
western feminism or Mhmm.
That, like, that women are actually they
constantly seeking out what men have. Like, if
a man wears pants, I don't wear pants.
And if a man does this, then I
wanna do this. But, actually, like, we're totally
missing
that we have this incredible
thing that we're given. And, certainly, like, not
everyone can get pregnant or
or or or bear children for whatever reason.
And it it's not about that, but it's
it's about just, like, respecting
the difference that women
have from men
and the different rights and the different responsibilities
and that we don't need to
derive, like, our own self worth relative to
a man's. That actually Allah is, like, continuously
addressing us and addressing the things that make
us unique
because, like, he loves us individually. Like, not
relative to men. He loves us as human
beings, but also humans that he imparted, like,
this particular gift with. And so it just
gives me so much, like
like, a calmness of mind that, like, I
don't I don't need to be seeking out
what anyone else has. Like, I can I
can just be an awe and appreciation of
of the way that Allah created me, whether,
you
know, it's because of my womb or, like,
anything else that makes me unique or anybody
unique?
Right. Right. And I'm I'm thinking too with
your comments on, you know, the danger
of always lionizing or idolizing,
what men have or the ambitions of men
versus
perhaps
the the task here is elevating the sacred
beauty of the feminine
and making that something to aspire towards as
well.
Absolutely.
Yeah. I completely agree, Sofia.
Oh, I would also like to point out
that,
the,
verse on, do not cure children out of
poverty.
Mhmm. And the whole in luck, word.
Mhmm. That's definitely new to me and maybe
to a lot of people as well because
of we we've just only heard the English
translation
of business poverty, and it's it's being said
and reiterated in, cases where, you know, with
families who have less wealth and all that.
You know?
And they have,
yeah. Sure. Children are a blessing, but they're
also worried. You know? How am I gonna
provide for them? Right? Mhmm. So it's this
I mean, it's a very, very new thing
for me to hear that, you know, oh,
like, I guess, wealthy people also have this
fear, I guess, of losing material wealth. And
they seem to have it more.
So Sorry. I interrupted you.
No. No. No. Yeah. So that that that
was a new thing that I learned,
from,
the your explanation of that verse.
And also,
how as you said, linguistically,
Rahim and,
the Rahim itself. So,
ever since,
joining, like, classes
and whatnot and, learning on the name of,
you know,
a rahmanirrahim. So every time I say,
even in prayer, I always remember, I mean,
the womb and therefore my mother. And that
is my first, you know,
experience of love, I guess. So
as as much as my mother loves me
and as much as I love my child,
god loves me more. And to have to
be able to be privileged enough to know
a mother's love that way, and now to
have my own child,
that I feel that love towards,
it's just unimaginable to me that amount of
love that my creator has for me and
how, like, the Raham
envelopes you and, like, you know, protects you,
surrounds you, and, you know, gives you such
a warm hug. You know? So that that
that visualization that I have really helps me
with,
for sure in. Yeah.
Mhmm. That's so beautiful. I yeah. I can't
even imagine.
Yeah. Because I don't have, like, children of
my own, and certainly, we can all, like,
reflect on,
the way that our mothers love us. But
I think it kind of, like, you alluded
to, like, it's it's like you don't even
really realize how profound it is maybe unless
until you experience it yourself even. And to
think that
that Ella loves you even more than you
love your child. Like, unimaginable.
It's really beautiful. Thank you for bringing that
up.
Okay. That's basically all I have.
So
in 2 weeks, I believe the next course
is on, infertility,
if I remember correctly.
And so that's another one that I'm actually
also really looking forward to. And I appreciate,
again, you guys always joining me. So, Inshallah,
we'll see you then. I hope you didn't
stay up too late.
It's okay. My baby just went to sleep,
so perfect timing. Alright. Perfect.
Alright.
Guys. Thank you so much. Thank you so
much.
No problem. Bye bye.