Legal Time for Breathing the Divine Spirit into Fetus in the Light of the Holy Quran and Hadith

Breathing the divine spirit into fetus is a subject to which many injunctions of the law are allocated. Some of the injunctions have both monetary and penal aspects. According to the Article 716 of IPC, blood money for abortion depends on breathing the divine spirit into fetus. Also, according to the Article 720 of IPC, the calculation of blood money for the organs of fetus or the injuries sustained by fetus depends on breathing the divine spirit into fetus. The Islamic jurists do not allow abortion after breathing the divine spirit into fetus; therefore, it is important to determine the exact time of breathing of the divine spirit into fetus based on Islamic jurisprudential sources. The stages of development of fetus have been described in the verses of the Suras Al-Mu'minun and Al-Hajj. The Islamic traditions also provide some information about the time of breathing of the divine spirit into fetus. According to the words ascribed to the famous jurists of two Islamic sects, the divine spirit is breathed into fetus at the fourth month of pregnancy. However, according to the theory of the present article, for determination of the time of breathing of the divine spirit into fetus, one cannot trust on the reports of the embryologists for two reasons. On the view of the legal proofs, the divine spirit is breathed into fetus at the fifth month of pregnancy which is consistent with the language of the verses and Islamic traditions