Life before birth part three

If you were a Faqeeh say in 19th century, how would you make a decision about:
When is it lawful in Islam to allow abortion
When the "Ghurra" (blood money for the fetus) becomes applicable and
at what stage the fetus acquires state recognition as a 'legal entity', a person.
Well these are certainly some of the questions related to the ahadeeth I discussed in so much detail before and you can understand the significance thereof. There may still be two "schools' one will say 120 days of pregnancy and the other 42 days (before 'ensoulment'). For more info on these aspects please see the statements of Islamic Medical Association of North America (www. IMANA.org., Incidentally they will soon,insha-Allah, publish their statement on 'stem-cells' which, in my judgement is going to be a very knowledgeable and scientific document) Let me divert your attention to another side of the story.
In the early sixties in the children's ward I saw one baby born without arms and little stumps in place of legs. I learnt as a house physician in England the horrible consequences of using a drug called "thalidomide" during pregnancy. A poignant and horrifying reminder of how much the baby is affected by what the 'mother' eats or drinks etc. Now if a mother wants the baby she is carrying to be an equal of Michael Jackson or of Imam Abu Haneefah, I dont need to tell you what she should do or read, or see pictures of, or listen to music or recitation of Qur'an etc.
"It is He who brought you forth from the wombs of your mothers when ye knew nothing; and He gave you hearing, (first) and sight (second) and Intelligence(third) and affections, that ye may give thanks (to Allah)" Surah Nahl, 16th, Ayah 78. (Note my first second and third above)
This is the sequence in which the abilities to hear, to see and to think (this is allegorical hearts meaning of "af-idah) develope in the developing baby so it is advised that the expectant mothers should recite Qur'an with voice daily during pregnancy for the BABY IS LISTENING to the mother. So in addition to all the medical instructions from your prenatal clinics you:
Should use good language and keep away from bad one
Should recite Qur'an with voice daily
Should put more khushoo'a in your namazes
Should have nice Muslim surroundings in your house (fahters to provide all these things)
Not be nervous/ anxious or losing tempers but staying calm and be respectful (fathers to respect and love the mothers-in-making)
Should of course be careful what to eat and drink (did you see what happens to Musa when Ayesha takes a cup of tea (small ammount of caffiene)
Should get blessings of the elders, if available, at the 'baby-showers'
Well, I leave this list in complete and pray for you (all expectant Muslim mothers) to be blessed with a solid Salih Muslim/Muslimah. Aameen.

Life before birth part two

My major discussuin will be around one hadeeth with two versions, one of which is interpreted as showing 120 days and other one as 40 days BEFORE Rooh is infused into the new being in the womb.
CAUTION: words like nutfa alaqa, rooh etc. are 'scriptural' and sperm, egg embryo etc. are scientific words. Keep them separate in mind (as they are not necessarily interchangable, no matter how they have been translated in English) otherwise confusion is likely to arise.

Narrated Abdullah Ibn Masoud (RA) that the prophet (PBUH) true and truly inspired said, "(The matter of creation of) human being is put together in the womb of the mother in forty days and then he becomes a clot of thick blood for a similar period (Thumma yakoonu alaqatan mithla zdalik), then a piece of flesh for a similar period (thumma yakoonu mudghatan mithla zdalik). Then Allah sends an angel who is ordered to write down four things; he is ordered to write his (new creature's) deeds, his livelihood, his (date) of death and whether he will be blessed or wretched (in religion). Then soul is breathed into him..........." (Dr. M. Mohsin Khan, in Vol IV SahihBokhari, Book of 'beginning of creation' page 290 Kazi publications, Chicago 1979)
Exactly the same hadeeth is reported in 'Muslim' (in Kitab-al-Qadr) but wording is slightly different (and with huge significance). I shall only mention the difference of Arabic wording for you to compare.
In the 'Muslim' version,the words are "Thumma yakoonu FEE ZDALIKA, alaqatan mithla zdalik" (the capitalized words are 'added', or you can say "fee zdalika" is 'missing' in the other version.
Since I am not hadeeth expert, I am quoting part of the discussion by an expert from "the Kuwait Document" (Proceedings of the conference on "Human life, its inception and end as viewed by Islam" held in Jan 1985, Eng. translation done 1989)
Dr Muhammad Sulaiman Ashqar says in "A Glance At Ibn Masoud's Tradition":
"If we scrutinize the second version all difficulties may be resolved in the way it is phrased; what does the phrase 'in that' (Fee zdalik) refer to? I find that no one speaks of the difference between the two versions. Perhaps the first version is more readily understood and every one takes it to refer to the three forty day periods but the second version is bypassed altogether. The phrase 'in that' can refer to nothing other than the phrase "forty days" which means it is a 'germ-cell' (alaqa) in the first forty days and the stage of embryonic lump (mudgha) also occurs in the first forty days. In this way all versions narrated by Ibn Masoud and by others agree and no conflict remains"
He is right as all other scholars tend to interpret both versions as 40x3. Then he ends the discussion like this:
"The whole matter , however , has to be discussed further. All versions in the books of tradition with both content and ascription should be meticulously compiled and then investigated according to the principles set by the specialists. A conclusive opinion may then be reached."
Another hadeeth to make this discussion more understandible
Narrated by Huzdaifa Ibn Aseed, "The angle enters to the semen-drop (Nutfa) forty days or fortyfive nighte after it settles in the womb. The Angel says; O! Allah is he mischievous or happy? then the angel writes down (the answer). Then the angel says, O! Allah is it male or female? and he writes (the answer). he also writes his deeds, his destiny and sustenance. Then the papers are folded (record closed) with no addition or ommission in them." (Dr. Aly A Mishal writing in "Year book of FIMA" 2002, but there are many other references to various ahaheeth giving 42 to even 50 days etc.) The point here is no other narration makes it intrepretable as clearly for 40x3=120 days as the Ibn Masoud's Bokhari version.
"Breathing 'spirit' or rooh is usually interpreted as "beginning of human life" but It must be understood these are scriptural matters and do not correspond to our understanding of "beginning of life" as one scholar (Dr. Hassan Hathout) says this is only a job being done by the angel at that time and it does not mean anything more.
My own feeling why '120 day hadeeth' became popular and others were ignored may have something to do with the 'quickening' that starts about that time and so the older and even some contemporary scholars of hadeeth and fiqh consider that to be the "beginning of life". Of course Allah knows best.
Hoping I have not caused confusion there is more to come in part three insha-Allah.

My First School

OK, I shall try to be brief.
Picture shows a man (me) standing in front of a building out of which we are concerned only with the old shabby-looking rectangular room with a front verandah almost in the middle (ignore the rest of the structures please).

Believe it or not this was the room in which I sat for my first and second grade (Parraow School, Urdu primary portion, yes there was a Hindi primary also in the same compound not seen in the picture)

Go back to 1937-8 in Saugor C.P. India. I was barely 4-5 years old going to school with (my first and fourth class teacher) 'Jumman Janabji' (No relation to Jumanji) on his bike. Sitting on the bicycle in front of the driver's seat with kaccha and pucca roads was not necessarily very pleasant experience for my 'tashreef' but that was the only ride available (To brief you on Jumman Janabji, he was our 'family teacher' and he loved us so much that he named his owm children as Wahaj and Meraj- my older brother's name). I being his favorite did not mean he will not twist my ears if I made mistake especially 'Zabaani hisab' , boy! how I dreaded that class;I was not very good nor very confident in Zabaani Hisab.

Right about where I am standing there used to be a big (probably peepal) tree under which sometimes we would have our class. All students stand well-distanced from each other and in rows sparated. Janabji will utter those frightening words composing a zabaani(oral) calculation or zarab (Multiplication) or taqseem (division), whatever and we would write the answer on the slate and put it down, face down, on the ground. Here comes now the master and looks at my slate; my heart racing mad and skin has bugs crawling all over, ears ringing and cold sweats etc. and he looks up unsmiling at me and advances his hand towards my ears. Well I know my answer was wrong that time.

After the whole day all children stand in this compound to recite 'paharra' or whatever else needed to be memorized. (yes I still remember the "tehseels of Saogor from that time, preserved locked up in my memory) They will scream at the top of their voices (Just like thay do in the Punjab) and will go like this:

Do aikum do; do duay char; do tiyay cchay, do chokay aath......... doi dham bees. (2x10=20)
(Panjabi equivalent) Ikk dooni do-ay; do dooni chaaray; tinn dooni chhay; chaar dooni atthhe......... dus dooni veeh-ay.

For some reason I have always been very shy and it started in that rectangular room. One student will come out in the verandah from one door and the other one from the other door. They will meet in the verandah and say Asslamualaikum to each other and make Musafaha (handshake). It was good teaching and I clearly recall I was extremely shy to say those words. I always sat with my friend Shafi-ullah(Died 1950), then Haleem (a retired Lawyer in Bhopal now) and then Ishaque (retired school master in Saugor). When we moved to Municipal school in 5th class we were on a bench (for four) rather than a 'Taat", like in the "Parrow school". When I visite Ishaque now he still remembered how much I scored in Primary exam standing first etc. he still lives in the same place he lived with his father then.

Under that tree one more thing I remember is trying to write the most difficult word of Urdu (for me ) to write on my slate; 'Khainch-ta' (The railway engine dragging the whole train).
That ground never had grass. but we played during 'plaiver' (play hour) on it. Sometimes we had other games and competition like "Rassa-kashi" and I cant remember who was the heqaviest guy with us at one end and who was the strongest in front. I, being little with not much power was in the middle somewhere tugging the rope.

O! there were so many memories unlocked there I could not believe. Ishaq was not with me at that time physically but had a heartful of reminescences with him. Like I told them (Haleem and Ishaque) when leaving after a very short time;

"Haif der chashm-e-zadan suhbat-e-yaar aakhir shud
Roo-e-gul sair nadeedaim-o-bahaar aakhir shud"

Oh that in the blink of an eye the company of my friend is over already
I have barely seen the face of the rose and the spring is over already