Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Salam alaikum,

Please I want to no if there is an Hadith like this, "If there are two unavoidable evil take to the lesser one" For instant if a sister is pregnant outside wedlock, it is evil to abort the pregnancy and it is also evil to have the baby. But people opinion is that the pregnant should not be aborted.

I'm looking forward to receiving your reply very soon

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Answer:

Lesser of two evils hadith

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Your Question: Please I want to no if there is an Hadith like this, "If there are two unavoidable evil take to the lesser one"

To the best of our knowledge, there is no such specific ‘hadith’ recorded in the authentic and established Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws) which declares that "If there are two unavoidable evil take to the lesser one".

The guidance of Islam regarding the indulgence in any and all types and manifestations of sins is extremely simply and absolutely comprehensive!

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 6 Surah Anaam verse 120:

120 Eschew all sin open or secret: those who earn sin will get due recompense for their "earnings."

Having said that, if one finds oneself in an unavoidable situation where one is absolutely forced to choose between two evils, then logic and intelligence dictates that in such absolutely unavoidable situations, one fear their Lord, and chose the lesser of the two evils.

For example if a believer is surrounded by disbelievers who are intent on killing him if he declares himself to be a believer, and the only options the believer has is either to declare the truth that he is indeed a believer and get killed, or state a lie and claim to be a disbeliever and thus save his life….it would only be prudence for the believer to choose the lesser of the two evils and state the lie and thus save his life.

Your Question: For instant if a sister is pregnant outside wedlock, it is evil to abort the pregnancy and it is also evil to have the baby. But people opinion is that the pregnant should not be aborted.
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 6 Surah Anaam verse 140:

Most surely they became losers, who, in their folly and ignorance killed their own children; and made unlawful what Allah had provided them as sustenance, falsely ascribing prohibitions to Allah. Surely, they went astray and were not at all rightly guided.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 6 Surah Anaam verse 151 (part):

You should not kill your children for fear of poverty; for We provide sustenance for you and will provide sustenance for them also.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 17 Surah Israa verse 31:

Do not kill your children for fear of want; for it is We Who provide for them, and for you as well. Indeed, their killing is a heinous crime!

The heinous act of intentionally killing one’s child, born or unborn, is akin to the crime of murder in the Sight of Allah Subhanah. One of the reasons the Lord Most Majestic Most Supreme puts as an argument unto the disbelievers who do not believe in the necessity or the advent of the Day of Judgment….is so that the Lord May take to account and extract full retribution from those evil-doers who murdered innocent children!

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 81 Surah Taqweer verses 7-9:

7 When the souls are sorted out (on the Day of Judgment)!

8 When the female (infant) buried alive is questioned

9 For what crime she was killed?

For one who first commits the absolute abomination and crime of ‘zina’ and get pregnant ….to seek to abort the unborn child would be to commit an even bigger crime of ‘murder’ in the Sight of Allah Subhanah! The case here would not be one of choosing between the lesser of the two evils, but rather to indulge in both abominations…the second (murder) being much much greater than the first (zina)!!!!

The child resulting from ‘zina’ is and will be considered by the believers, by Shariah Law, and by the Lord Most High as being absolutely innocent and blameless of the abomination committed by its biological parents! If Allah forbid a believing sister has committed the abomination of ‘zina’ and gets pregnant as a result, she has absolutely no right to abort or kill her unborn child. Allah is our witness, if she were to do so, she should prepare herself for an extremely severe accounting in the Presence of her Lord Most Majestic Most Supreme on that Inevitable and Tumultuous Day of Judgment!

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan