Q. When we offer our prayers, is it obligatory to wear a head covering, like a cap? If it is not obligatory, how important is it? Are prayers acceptable if one does not cover his head? Is it true that one must not enter a mosque without wearing some head cover? Is there any guidance on shape, color or size of the best head cover to wear?
Ismail Khan, Abha
A. The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to wear a head cover most of the time, because this was the normal social tradition in his society. He did not introduce it as part of his guidance. He did not change his clothes in any significant way to suggest that there is particular Islamic preference in matters of dress.
On the basis of the Prophet’s teachings we can say that wearing a cap is neither obligatory nor particularly recommended for entering a mosque or offering prayers. Thus, a prayer without wearing any head cover is just as acceptable as a prayer with a cap on. Unfortunately, in some societies, there is too much emphasis placed on wearing a cap when we pray, to the extent that a supply of caps is placed in mosques for common use. This is unnecessary.
Abortion in Early Pregnancy
Q. On the basis of past experience, a woman knows that she goes through very hard times during pregnancy. Now she is in her early days of pregnancy and she is much worried about the outcome. She has been told that abortion is permissible during the first 40 days, as it is at that time that the spirit is breathed into the fetus. Is this correct?
F. Faisal
A. The breathing of the spirit takes place after 120 days, according to the best interpretation of the Hadith. But we cannot make this Hadith the basis of a ruling concerning abortion. We do not know the nature of the spirit, how it is breathed into a fetus, and what effect it has on it. God states in the Qur’an: “They ask you about the spirit. Say: ‘Knowledge of the spirit belongs to my Lord. You have been given but scanty knowledge.’” (17: 85)
Scholars in the past differed a great deal about the question of abortion in the early period of pregnancy. However, with our more advanced knowledge of the nature of the fetus and its growth, we realize that a potential life is in existence from the very first moment of conception.
Therefore, scholars who look into such matters carefully have ruled that abortion is forbidden right from the first day of conception, except for medical reasons. When the pregnancy constitutes a risk of death for the mother, abortion is permissible at any time. In other situations, we need to look at every case on its merits.
The couple should consult a properly skilled doctor and present his opinion regarding the pregnancy to a trustworthy scholar of broad knowledge. This is the only way to determine such a case.