Is it allowed to due prenatal screening for potential down syndrome? What are some supplications for the health and well-being of one’s soon-to-be-born child?
Question Summary
Is it allowed to do prenatal screening for potential down syndrome? What are some supplications for the health and well-being of one’s soon-to-be-born child?
Question Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
It is your choice as to whether you wish to go through with the prenatal down syndrome screening.
Regardless of the result, the scholars agree that abortion, after 120 days, is strictly prohibited unless there is clear pending harm to the mother and there remains no alternative. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]
Even if the pregnancy is less than 120 days, the majority of scholars still considered abortion strictly prohibited (haram), except in the above scenario. [Ibid.]
Supplications for the Health of One’s Soon to be Born Child
Try to consistently and constantly recite the following supplication. Have full certainty in Allah Most High, while reciting, that He will accept your supplication. Thereafter consign the matter to Allah Most High, in whose control is all affairs.
رَبَّنَا هَبْ لَنَا مِنْ أَزْوَٰجِنَا وَذُرِّيَّـٰتِنَا قُرَّةَ أَعْيُنٍۢ وَٱجْعَلْنَا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ إِمَامًا
“Our Lord! Bless us with ˹pious˺ spouses and offspring who will be the joy of our hearts, and make us models for the righteous.” [Qur’an; 25:74]
The Prayer of Need
Perform the prayer of need and recite the du’a of need often.
Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York, where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Quranic exegesis, Islamic history, and some texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.
