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Sex during Pregnancy in Islam: Allowed?

10 May, 2023
Q As-salamu `alaykum. Can you please tell me, in Islam, when a woman is pregnant, is she allowed to have sex with her husband? If they are allowed, when in the pregnancy does it need to stop? Does having sex during pregnancy harm the baby? Please answer, as my husband and I are quarrelling all the time about this topic.

Answer

Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.


In this fatwa:

  • There is nothing wrong in having sex during pregnancy unless that will harm the wife or the baby.
  • The principle of honorable cohabitation implies that one should not force one’s wife to do anything painful or difficult.

In responding to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:

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There is no taboo against having sex during pregnancy unless a medical practitioner or obstetrician advises the couple against it because of some special circumstances.

We find nothing in the authentic sources of Islam, such as the Quran, Hadith or fiqh, that either explicitly states or implicitly suggests otherwise.

It is also common knowledge that sex during pregnancy poses no health risk either for the fetus or the mother in normal cases.

Therefore, the general Islamic rule of permission prevails in this case unless a physician or midwife advises the husband and wife against it because of special circumstances.

It is, however, advisable for the couple who are engaging in sexual intercourse during pregnancy to exercise caution and avoid positions or methods of intercourse that may likely prove harmful.

Allah Almighty knows best.

Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.

Source: Excerpted, with slight modifications, from: www.islam.ca