ABSTRACT
This is an area of pioneering juristic research. The Muslim jurists handled, with great courage and ingenuity, the more problematical issues in family formation and family planning. Early theologians considered, with variation in opinion, the legality of taking medicine that causes permanent infertility; contemporary theologians considered contraceptive sterilization and artificial insemination. Likewise, the issue of abortion was also dissected with variation according to textual and biologic interpretations. Three periods were prominent in this issue according to the period of gestation: less than 40 days, less than 120 days and after 120 days. These were not arbitrary milestones, but were based on texts and perceptions.
