Fatwa #1411828 March 2006Canada
Please tell us if handing out sweets and methai after the birth of the baby to family and friends is permissible?
Question
1. Inshallah soon we will be having a baby. Please tell us if handing out sweets and methai after the birth of the baby to family and friends is permissible?
2. At time of labour, medicine is offered to ease the pain of the mother like Epidural etc, is taking these medicines permissible or should the woman not take these medicines and handle the pain?
3. Can you tell us some of the virtues and rewards that woman who have a child get? I heard someone say that any muslim woman who goes through labor has all of the animals in the world dua for her for one year? do you have any hadiths about this subjects?
Answer
1. It is permissible to hand out sweets and Mithai, etc. after childbirth to family and friends as it is an occasion of happiness and joy with the condition that one does not think it to be an act of ibaadah. If a person thinks it to be an act of worship, it will not be permissible.
2. It is permissible for a woman to take epidural and other medicines to ease labour pains.
3. We are unable to locate the saying that any Muslim woman who undergoes labour receives the du’aas of all the animals in the world for one year. It is mentioned in a Hadith that Rasulullah [sallallaahu alayhi wasallam] said, ‘No fatigue, nor disease, nor sorrow, nor sadness, nor hurt, nor distress befalls a Muslim even if it were the prick he receives from a thorn, but that Allah expiates some of his sins for that. (Bukhari Hadith5641). From this Hadith, we deduce that a woman undergoing the hardships of pregnancy and labour will be blessed with the same virtue, i.e. her sins will be forgiven.
and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai