The pregnancy period in Islam is four years.

 God Almighty said:

Mothers shall breastfeed their children for two complete years for whoever desires to complete the nursing. And upon the father of the child is their provision and clothing on equitable terms. No soul shall be charged except according to its capacity. A mother shall not be harmed on account of her child, nor a father on account of his child. And upon the heir is the like thereof. But if they both desire weaning by mutual consent, And if you wish to have a

wet nurse for your children, there is no blame upon you as long as you pay what you have given in an acceptable manner. And fear Allah and know that Allah is Seeing of what you do. (233) Al-Baqarah And We have enjoined upon man, to his parents, good treatment. His mother carried him with hardship and gave birth to him with hardship, and his gestation and weaning is thirty months until, when he is [now] born, [ he will be ] a child . He reached his full strength and reached forty years. He said, “My Lord, enable me to be grateful for Your favor which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents and to do righteousness of which You will be pleased. And make righteous for me my offspring. Indeed, I have repented to You, and indeed, I am of the Muslims.” (15) Al-Baqarah. From this, some of the Companions, such as Ali, Ibn Abbas, and Uthman ibn Affan, may God be pleased with them, used as evidence. And upon this the scholars [1] agreed that the minimum period of pregnancy is six months. Ibn Kathir, may Allah have mercy on him, said when interpreting the verse of Al-Ahqaf: Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, used this verse, along with the one in Luqman: {And his weaning is in two years}, and His statement: {And mothers shall breastfeed their children for two complete years for whoever wishes to complete the nursing}, as evidence that the minimum period of pregnancy is six months, and this is a strong and correct deduction. [2] Al-Fakhr Al-Razi, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The verse indicates that the minimum period of pregnancy is six months, because since the total period of pregnancy and breastfeeding is thirty months, He said: { And mothers shall breastfeed their children for two complete years }, so if you subtract the two complete years, which are twenty-four months out of the thirty, the minimum period of pregnancy remains six months. [3] Al-Zamakhshari, may God have mercy on him, said: This is evidence that the minimum period of pregnancy is six months, because if the period of breastfeeding is two years, as God Almighty says: { two complete years for whoever wishes to complete the nursing } , then the pregnancy remains six months. [4] I said : This is what the Holy Qur’an has only specified in this matter, and it is what a group of the Companions and scholars have deduced from it that the minimum period of pregnancy is six months, without specifying its maximum, so it is something that the Book of God did not mention, nor did His Prophet, may God bless him and his companions and grant them peace, mention. Abu Hayyan al-Andalusi said:



















Galen said: I was very careful about the estimated duration of pregnancy, and I saw a woman give birth after one hundred and eighty-four nights. Ibn Sina claimed that he witnessed that; as for the maximum duration of pregnancy, there is nothing in the Qur’an that indicates it . [5]

Al-Shanqeeti, may God have mercy on him, said:

As for the maximum duration of pregnancy, nothing has been reported in the Book or the Sunnah to specify it, and scholars differed about it, and all of them said according to what appeared to them from the conditions of women. [6]

Zakariya Butrus boasted about narrations from this and that, that he had stayed in his mother’s womb for such and such, including what is attributed to Imam Malik, may God have mercy on him: Ma’n, Al-Waqidi, and Muhammad ibn Al-Dahhak said: Malik’s mother carried Malik for three years. And from Al-Waqidi, he said: She carried him for two years. [7] Narrated: Abbas ibn Nasr Al-Baghdadi, on the authority of Safwan ibn Isa, who said: Ibn Ajlan remained in his mother’s womb for three years, then her womb was cut open, and he was taken out, and his teeth had grown. Narrated: Abdul Aziz ibn Ahmad Al-Ghafiqi, on the authority of Abbas. Yaqub ibn Shaybah said: Ibrahim ibn Musa al-Farra’ narrated to us, al-Walid ibn Muslim narrated to us, he said: I said to Malik: I was told on the authority of Aisha - may Allah be pleased with her - she said: A woman does not bear children for more than two years, the length of a spindle’s shadow. He said: Who says this? This is the wife of Ibn Ajlan, our neighbor, a truthful woman, she gave birth to three children in twelve years, she was pregnant for four years before she gave birth . Saeed ibn Dawud al-Zanbari said: Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Ajlan told me, he said: I gave birth in four years, during my father’s lifetime. Al-Waqidi said: I heard Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Ajlan say: My father was pregnant for more than three years. [8] I said : These narrations and others are the result of extrapolating the conditions of these people in their time, and they have no connection to the Holy Qur’an or the Prophetic Sunnah, but rather they are sayings that were transmitted according to what was heard by those who said them, and they have no connection to the Book, the authentic Sunnah, or even the weak Sunnah . This is a challenge to Zakaria Botros to bring a single hadith of the Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace, whether it is authentic, weak, or fabricated, to say such a thing. Al-Shawkani, may God have mercy on him, says: Among the famous people who were born after six months was Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, the Umayyad Caliph. Thus, there is no authentic, good, or weak hadith attributed to the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, that the longest period of pregnancy is four years, but it happened and occurred as the history books relate . [9] Ibn Hazm said: All of these are fabricated reports attributed to someone who is not believed and who is not known, and it is not permissible to rule in the religion of God Almighty with such a thing . [10] Ibn Abd al-Barr said: Al-Barr, this is an issue that has no basis except for independent reasoning and referring to what is known about women. [11] Then let the Christians consider what should be cited as evidence and what should not be known. The meaning of the evidence is done, and all praise and thanks be to God, and praise be to God by whose grace good deeds are accomplished , and praise be to God first and last, outwardly and inwardly, and He is God, there is no god but He. To Him belongs praise in the first and the last, and His is the judgment, and to Him you will be returned . Glory be to your Lord, the Lord of Might, above what they describe. And peace be upon the messengers, and praise be to God, Lord of the worlds . _____



















































[1] Adwaa Al-Bayan 2/226.

[2] Tafsir Al-Quran Al-Azeem 7/279.

[3] Al-Tafsir Al-Kabeer 15/14.

[4] Al-Kashaf ‘an Haqa’iq At-Tanzil 4/306.

[5] Al-Bahr Al-Muhit 8/60.

[6] Adwaa Al-Bayan 2/227.

[7] Siyar A’lam An-Nubala 15/53.

[8] Siyar A’lam An-Nubala 11/389.

[9] As-Sayl Al-Jarrar 2/334.

[10] Al-Muhalla Bil-Athar 10/317.

[11] Adwaa Al-Bayan 2/227.