Religious Fallacies Caused by Misunderstanding of Islamic Teaching in Relation to Out of Wedlock Pregnancy Resolution

: Countless abortions, coerced adoptions, and new-born abandonment due to their illegitimate status are still happening in this country albeit the majority of Malaysian population is Muslim. With limited time and source of information, out of wedlock pregnancy resolutions are often made in haste and not necessarily weighed thoughtfully. In the attempt to curb this phenomenon, the reasonable preventive measure is religious teachings. However, instead of following the prescribed as mentioned in Quran and Sunnah, many base their strategies on common logic and cultural beliefs, which after so long, became the credence they hold on to. Islamic teachings are confused with culture, resulting skepticism and erroneous conclusions. Using library research methodology, this paper explores religious fallacies related to illegitimate children’s phenomena that impacted pregnancy resolution among Malay Muslim women in Malaysia. The research concludes these religious fallacies stemmed from systemic bias towards unmarried pregnancy women and their children, contrary to the actual Islam teaching that embraces repentance and holds no one accountable of their past as long as they are truly remorseful. It is evident these misconceptions play a significant role in the process of finding the best pregnancy resolution, resulting in abandonment and death. Therefore, religious fallacies should be rectified so pregnancy resolutions could be made with rumination, and simultaneously save both mother and children.


Introduction
Religious fallacies refer to interpretations or explanations that are unjustifiably presumed as religious.The term fallacy originated from a Latin word, fallacia, derived from fallac-or fallax that means deceitful, and from fallere which means to deceive (Merriam-Webster, n.d.).Fallacies may be psychologically persuasive, but they are logically flawed, marking them as sophisms or errors in reasoning regardless their conclusions are commonly based on inferences that sound reasonable and valid, causing their unreliability as vague (Grcic, 2008).Fallacies are highly persuasive, hence the widespread use in everyday dialogues, and known to have a psychological dimension in the pattern of illusions and deceptions (Walton, 2010).
The common logic and cultural beliefs in Malay Muslim community regarding out of wedlock children rooted from the shame associated with the disclosure of engaging in premarital sex.Associate Prof Dr Aizura Syafinaz Ahmad Adlan in an interview claimed parents would even send their pregnant daughters to half-way houses to deliver their unwanted babies expecting them to come home alone to avoid their family names tarnished (Said, 2019).Having a child out of wedlock is often viewed as a moral and social transgression, and unwed mothers may face social stigma, ostracism, and discrimination (Saim et al., 2013;Saim et al., 2014;Vin et al., 2014;Nor et al., 2019).While Malay society is beset with three conflicting major influences -adat (tradition), religion and the resultant impact of British colonial laws (Kling, 1995), the interplay of these multifarious elements are always concluded with religion as the dominant component that causes the fallacies.
Many unwed mothers were worried about the stigma and punishment from their families, who fear the exposure of their sin through the existence of their children, commonly labelled with derogatory terms like as anak haram (bastard) or anak luar nikah (illegitimate child) (Tan et al., 2012;Saim et al., 2014).Islamic teachings play a significant role in shaping cultural beliefs towards out of wedlock children in Malay society, emphasising the importance of marriage and family in making sure the rights and welfare of the child as primary consideration.However, there are Islamic teachers and leaders who instead of using Quran and Sunnah to deduce Islamic legal maxim, base their rulings on dialectics commonly passed down from older generations.In curbing out of wedlock pregnancy, some even misuse the religion to defend their offensive responses to this phenomenon, substantiating their fallacies by quoting Quranic verses as well as Hadith out of context to give grounds for their justifications.As a result, Islam is seen as unreasonable; especially when the discrimination against out of wedlock children are used to manipulate emotions like the issue of "bin or binti Abdullah" for out of wedlock children as gazetted by The National Fatwa Committee.There was a case in 2017 where The Court of Appeal succeeded in getting the permission to let a Muslim illegitimate child bear his father's name for the said sentiment but was overturned in 2020 by The Federal Court (Federal Court, 2020), causing public outcry to reassess the Islamic teaching for the sake of social inclusion.
Islam is not a religion of interpretation; it doesn't need to stay relevant based on the need of society nor does it adjust itself to please its followers.It is a decree that had stood the test of time, maintaining the very same message, unaltered and true.Not only these religious fallacies caused the religion to be seen as vindictive towards sinners, but these mistaken beliefs also that are falsely attributed to Islam subsequently impacted illegitimate pregnancy resolutions, forcing mothers and their children to be separated, pregnancies to be aborted and newborns to be left in the gutters.This contradicts the basic nature of this religion that is compassionate, empathetic, and nurturing towards remorseful sinners.Allah SWT said: "Verily, My Mercy prevailed over My Wrath." (Hadith. Muslim #2751) This research plays a crucial role in proving many of the religious fallacies in regard to out of wedlock children are in fact misunderstandings of Islamic teaching, an area not talked enough due to its taboo nature and scarce resources.It is hoped that when the society properly understands Islam is a religion of compassion that believes in embracing those who sincerely repent, the stigma of out of wedlock pregnancy could be reversed so that pregnancy resolutions could be made with rumination, and simultaneously save both mother and children.

Research Objectives
To identify the misunderstanding of Islamic teaching as a factor contributing to religious fallacies, causing out-of-wedlock children stigma that significantly impact unmarried Malay Muslim women in Malaysia to resolve to the pregnancy resolution they do not prefer.

Research Methodology
This research adapts Thomas Mann's A Guide to Library Research Methods as the methodology, for the objective of this paper is to explore the actual Quranic verses and Sunnah by the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬ in countering the long existing misunderstanding of Islamic teaching that caused out of wedlock pregnancy stigma within Malay Muslim community in Malaysia.Except when there is no prior research, library research methodology is capable of turning up existing information or knowledge records that cannot be found efficiently, or often even at all, by others (Mann, 1995).

Religious Fallacies as an Effect to Misunderstanding of Islamic Teaching
Islamic teaching is notably the key in curbing societal issues in Malay Muslim communities in Malaysia.However, with no scholarly provision within the community, religion and culture inevitably are mixed up, causing confusion and false beliefs.The misunderstandings are often left unattended or uncorrected, in which after repeated exposure for a long time, became the truth people choose.People are oftentimes exploited by spiritual opportunists because they were told from early age to never question anything related to religion especially if it is claimed to have come from authoritative individuals or parties.They are gullible from the inadequacy they feel for lacking the knowledge of Islam, making them the easy target to be indoctrinated by charismatic individuals who manipulates the religion in gaining selfish objectives.This is why it is common to hear in tight communities like Malay Muslim, their practices and beliefs are being said as part of Islamic teaching, when in reality, they are only loosely and selectively linked.Much like superstitions, different versions of similar concepts of common beliefs are usually verbally passed down with no basis nor proof, yet for so many decades could be firmly hold on to.This phenomenon is known as the illusory truth effect, a tendency where false information is believed to be correct as the information they hold on to is in line with their understanding and feels more familiar (Hassan & Barber, 2021).
In the effort to keep premarital issues under control, religion is used as the source of argumentative points.However, when there are conveyers of the message who are not well versed and properly equipped with both Quran and Sunnah, the actual teachings, ideas and practices being passed on are compartmentalised, loosely connected, unexamined, and context dependent.Instead of spreading the true image of Islam that is firm on the sin yet compassionate towards the sinners, misunderstood Muslim -deliberately or not -portrayed this religion as somehow rigid, or worse, vindictive.
Instilling fear is seen as the better preventive measures while educating the society the actual teaching of Islam, creating awareness, and strategising the best methods are thought as lesser.Such indoctrination is easy to achieve because Malay Muslims in Malaysia are raised to always unquestionably accept values, principles or beliefs by superiors, be it by age, status or authorities, causing the younger generations to become blind followers of their predecessors.In time, those misunderstandings eventually created religious fallacies thought to be coming from Islamic teaching.There are attempts along the years to correct them but are ineffective because the society justifies the fallacies as not the bigger issue than out of wedlock phenomena, and as long as the original intention is good as well as the objective is seen as the greater good, these misunderstandings should be viewed from a positive perspective.
However, Islam does not permit such manipulation and deceit for this divine religion values the importance of being truthful.Even when the intentions are commendable, each action that comes right after has its consequences in the Day of Judgment.Although it can be justified with reasonable and valid logic, if the underlying motives are not in line with the religion, it shall not be accepted as virtuous deed.Rasulullah ‫ﷺ‬ said, The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended."(Hadith.Al-Bukhari.#1) Intention alone is insufficient in Islam.In fiqh, or Islamic legal maxim, the permissibility of an action is based on both the mean and purpose (Pejabat Mufti Wilayah, 2018).Only when a right action is paired with the right intention will it be accepted in Islam.Therefore, resolving to false method to achieve a good intention nullifies the permissibility of the purpose.In Islam, whatever that could lead to anything that is prohibited, then it is also prohibited.The religion is clear in the right and wrong, distinct in good and bad.On things that are in between, Rasulullah ‫ﷺ‬ said: "Both legal and illegal things are evident but in between them there are doubtful (suspicious) things and most of the people have no knowledge about them."(Hadith.Al-Bukhari.#52) Misunderstanding of Islamic teachings -if not from the determination to wilfully dismiss them -may come from sincere viewpoints, with kind intentions and hopeful attempts of attaining goodness for a much better and wider objectives.However, as the knowledge of human are incomparable to Allah who is All-knowing, Muslims should be able to adhere to the prescribed ways with patience even when the divine instructions have yet to make sense to their comprehensions.This surrender is a proof of a Muslim's faith as an act of submission to the Creator who knows best.
In reference to the above table, the use of religious fallacies claimed as a necessary step in curbing pregnancy resolution should be rejected as they are not in accordance with fiqh.Both means and purposes must be in line with the righteous path in order for it to be valid.Although the intention to refrain Muslims from zina is noble, manipulating the truth or simply creating lies to achieve the goal is not permitted at all.Religious fallacies are common at the family and community level especially when the people in the society are not well versed with the Quran and Sunnah.Fallacies are sophisms; clever but false, and often used to deliberately deceive.Fallacies violate argument rules used in rational thinking or argumentation as they appear reasonable and valid, and always connected with misused inferences, which in this case, verses from al-Quran and the words of the Prophet ‫,ﷺ‬ to mask its vague unreliability.(Walton, 2010).
Malay Muslims are accustomed to not question religious instructions especially from those with the authorities like religious leaders, Islamic teachers and community representatives who are given the power to raise awareness and influence attitudes, behaviours and practices in the society.Requesting justifications and reasonings from the Quran and Sunnah for proof somehow is seen as disobedience because it portrays distrust towards the one conveying the knowledge.This contradicts to the real practice of Islam: Everyone who claims to surrender to Allah must live the life as prescribed, not as assumed by oneself; attainable by understanding the basic tenets and practices of the deen (religion).There are no prohibitions in asking for proof especially to further comprehension.Even more so, choosing to not blindly follow a common practice by seeking the truth is ordained upon Muslims, as mentioned in the Quran: "When it is said to them, 'Follow what Allah has revealed,' they reply, 'No!We (only) follow what we found our forefathers practicing.' Would they still do so even if their forefathers had (absolutely) no understanding or guidance?"(Al-Quran.Al-Baqarah 2:170) Muslims are responsible for their choices and should not act on anything without first seeking proof from the Quran and Sunnah.If the society truly is sincere in its attempts to curb the stigma of out of wedlock pregnancy, better methods in line with the syari'ah should be the option for only when both the means and purpose are righteous, the deed is accepted in the sight of Allah.Based on the above verses and sayings of Rasulullah ‫,ﷺ‬ it is clear intention alone is not a sufficient justification, and Muslims should be more proactive in fact checking before committing to anything claimed to be from religious standpoint.Failing to do so is what caused these misunderstandings from thriving over the years.
Misunderstandings may seem small in the beginning, but without immediate corrections would snowball to irreversible unimaginable things.The figure below illustrates why it is important to have proper understanding of Islamic teaching especially on out of wedlock phenomena.

Figure 1. The Effects of the Misunderstanding of Islamic Teaching
When correcting the misunderstandings of Islamic teaching related to out of wedlock pregnancy is not deemed as priority, the society will not take religious fallacies seriously and shall continue believing them.This falseness will then be passed down uncorrected and unquestioned until they become the truth they hold on to.Gradually, religious fallacies morph into stigmas that target unmarried mothers and their illegitimate children, causing countless abortions, coerced adoptions and newborn abandonment due to their illegitimate status.

Religious Fallacies Related to out of Wedlock Phenomena
Thinking instilling fear is the better strategy than truly understand the wisdom behind the prevention of zina in hopes to keep Muslims away from premarital relationships, irresponsible members of society who misrepresent the deen, confusing divine revelation with cultural honour end up displaying Islam as callous and uncompromising.Ironically, the positive intention to influence the society to feel repulsed by the sin gradually became the catalyst to a prejudiced community that target the sinners instead.An internet survey was done to inquire the common fallacies related to out of wedlock pregnancy in Malay Muslim community; the recurring responses are as follows: These horrible misrepresentations of religion are passed through the mouth of community elders who learned them from past generations who claimed to be indoctrinated by the community religious leaders.Back then, the younger generation in the society are required to unquestionably offer love, respect, support and deference to their parents as they are eternally indebted to them for the lives provided since birth.This tenet of filial piety also applies to all elders like teachers, professional superiors or anyone who is older in age; which explains why knowledge dissemination are unregulated and unrestricted (Tanggok, 2018).As elders are seen highly as those who have visioned, initiated, developed, guided, nurtured, and anchored the community for decades, by default, whatever they pass to their children are wisdom that should be followed without doubt.All the above are claimed to be based on Islamic teaching simply by the assertions of the fallacies' religious features, for instance, the effect towards one's ibadah (religious practices) and the impact it has on the aakhirah (eternal life).
Religious affiliations, practices and credences are often connected with Malay cultures and beliefs in Malaysia, confused between each other.Although there are no substantiation from Quran and Sunnah, those ideas and opinions had penetrated deep into the society for a long time and passed on from one generation to anotherabsorbed and accepted as their value and character.The internalisation of religious fallacies is relatively easy to achieve because it is conceptual, not methodological.The younger generation learns what to believe from the elders through serial or systematic learning based on proposition and verbal kind of learning, as well as from repeated experience (Chaves, 2010).There are no proof to why that misinformation of Islamic teaching occurred, but without solid references from Quran and Sunnah, it is understandable how easy it is to indoctrinate ideas and practices that are mainly fragmented and situational.After decades of internalisation, these religious fallacies, like superstitions, ended up fossilised and difficult to change.
While it is understandable that fearmongering is a successful technique in instilling ideas, understanding cultures and tradition in the society therefore is commonly used in the older generation, the fear appeals have been associated with heightened distress and are detrimental for those who are anxious and have lower self-efficacy (Belcher et al., 2022).Creating false belief in the name of Islam is a not permissible and considered as sin, as mentioned by Rasulullah ‫:ﷺ‬ "If somebody innovates something which is not in harmony with the principles of our religion, that thing is rejected."(Hadith.Al-Bukhari.#2697) Even with good intention, the invention of religious fallacies is unacceptable in Islam as it was drawn upon lies.Although the society tolerates a certain degree of manipulation of truth such as tact, excuses, politeness, reticence, avoidance or evasion to protect privacy, promote social harmony, and encourage interest, a deception is still a lie, therefore forbidden in Islam (Adler, 1997).The research believes misunderstanding of Islamic teaching causes religious fallacies that contributes to out of wedlock children stigma in Malay Muslim communities in Malaysia which ultimately influence illegitimate pregnancy resolutions.The best way to ensure the future of both unmarried mother and their illegitimate children is by educating the society the proper Islamic view on this matter.

Figure 2. The Importance of Proper Understanding of Islamic Teaching
Many unmarried mothers chose the pregnancy resolution they do not prefer due to the stigma of out of wedlock children.Many ended up having abortion even the child is wanted, some had to give their child up for adoption even they wish to raise them, and a number of them are forced to marry to save their family honour even if the partners are not desired.Therefore, to ameliorate pregnancy resolutions in Malay Muslim community in Malaysia, the stigma should be reversed so it would no longer contribute to the unmarried mothers' hasty decisions, and the best attempt to achieve this is by having proper understanding of Islamic teachings on the phenomenon of children born out of wedlock.

Proper Understanding Of Islamic Teaching In Regard To The Fallacies Related To Out Of Wedlock Phenomena
Islam is a religion that is adamant in taking stern precautions, but different approaches are applied on things that had already been done.Strict provisions only apply before the occurrence of a sin, not after.All that is needed for a sinner to be free from their past disobedience is a sincere tawbah, done with innermost conviction.Repentance is supposed to be easy and personal to motivate sinners from looking back to the sins that hold them from moving forward.
Although the proper Islamic teaching is to never merit any human beings based on what they have done but who they are in present time, Muslim society in general still fails to truly embrace those who had repented even when Allah specifically had mention in His Book the horrendous sin of zina is forgivable: And the two among you who commit this sindiscipline them.If they repent and mend their ways, relieve them.(Al-Quran.An-Nisaa' 4:16) While Islam has no bias on one's past as long as they perform tawbah and commit to their act of atonement, the society in contrary vindictively participates in tajassus (investigating) other people's affair, harbouring ill intentions.The reality is there are Muslims who are displeased with those who have committed zina.When it is commendable to hate sin, some just went overboard by manifesting their ill thoughts through self-righteous causes that turned out to be fallacies, which eventually stigmatise the children conceived from the premarital relationship -even before they were born -until the end of their lives, and their generations to come.The society seems to neglect the warning by Rasulullah ‫ﷺ‬ when it comes to addressing other people's personal issues: ‫ُﻢ‬ ‫وھ‬ ‫ِﺮُ‬ ّ ‫ﯿ‬ َ ‫ُﻌ‬ ‫ﺗ‬ "Do not harm the Muslims, nor revile them, nor spy on them to expose their secrets.(Hadith. At-Tirmidhi. #2032) Even if the fallacies are true, no one is permitted to talk negatively towards them nor about them.Choice of words are important in Islam, that if the message has the possibility to sound too harsh to the ears of those who are listening, the better approach suggested by Rasulullah ‫ﷺ‬ is to remain quiet.With that in mind, it should be clear how impossible it is for Islam to condone such degradation of human beings for the status they are born with and has no control upon, subsequently proving all of the fallacies said to have come from religious perspectives are basically just lies.

Nature Versus Nurture
With a loose estimation of 20 -60% at best, genetic studies provide no clear pattern of inheritance nor specific genes that confer specific temperamental traits in human ("Is Temperament Determined by Genetics?",2022).Similarly, there are no correlation of sin between two people albeit their biological relationship.This is confirmed by Allah in al-Quran: No soul burdened with sin will bear the burden of another.And if a sin-burdened soul cries for help with its burden, none of it will be carriedeven by a close relative.(Al-Quran.Fatir 35:18) There are no definite genetic predictors to sins that would support the fallacy of children of adulterers will become adulterers themselves.The assertion is believed to root from a hadith mentioned "Children of zina will never enter jannah, as will never his children, for 7 generations".The hadith, however, according to Muḥammad Nasir and Mashhur (2010) had been graded as batil (invalid) as it contradicts the Quranic verse: As for those who believe and whose descendants follow them in faith, We will elevate their descendants to their rank, never discounting anything (of the reward) of their deeds.Every person will reap only what they sowed.(Al-Quran.At-Tur 52:21) Each will be graded based on their deeds; any transgressions should be repented on their own account, not at the expense of others like the practice of honour killings.In extreme circumstances particularly in Islamic communities in Middle Eastern, Kurdish and Pakistani, honours can be regained by committing the offensive act.As the patriarchs are given the license to kill their unmarried pregnant daughters for the sake of redeeming family honour (Knudsen, 2004), children born out of wedlock in Malay Muslim community permitted to kill their parents in order to expiate their sins of zina.Such tradition is not in line with the teaching of Islam, proven by this verse: The word "dislike" in the hadith should not be confused with personal view and feeling; rather, it refers to the imam's lack of knowledge or inability to properly fulfil the conditions of prayer.As such, if this legal cause is not present, then the disliked nature of praying behind him no longer remains.Thus, despite being illegitimate, if a person possesses the necessary characteristics of being an Imam, then he can be an Imam without any dislike.In fact, if an illegitimate person is more righteous and more knowledgeable than others in regard to the rules of prayer, then he is more worthy of leading the prayer.

Conclusion
The misunderstanding of Islamic teachings is what caused the stigma of out of wedlock children to exist in Malay Muslim community, significantly affecting the pregnancy resolutions among unmarried women.The decisions to countless abortions, coerced adoptions and newborn abandonment are still made in haste and not necessarily weighed thoughtfully as the mothers are fearful of the society more that the days of judgement, resulting in psychological trauma of endless guilt that haunts them with infinite suppositions that they could have done better for their children.Over and over again, statistics show that in clinically depressed patients, it is guilt, not shame, that predicts depression (O' Connor et al., 2001), proving the victims of this phenomenon are not only the children but their mothers as well.
The fallacies that portray Islam as vindictive and unforgiving are left uncorrected for so long, fossilised within the community and had become the made up truth passed from one generation to another.In actuality, the fallacies related to out of wedlock pregnancy created with the intention to instil fear in the society are evidently gratuitous and superfluous.Instead, society should choose to be more forgiving, for it would give people hope, which then would provide people positive meaning of life and drive.Allah said in His Book: To conclude, it is hoped that when the society properly understand Islam is a religion of compassion that believes in embracing those who sincerely repent, the stigma of out of wedlock pregnancy could be reversed so that pregnancy resolutions could be made with rumination, and simultaneously save both mother and children.The stronger the stigma, the worse it could get for the pregnancy, unless if proper understanding of Islamic teachings intervenes during the process.

Table 1 .
The Islamic Legal Maxim Regarding Means and Purposes.

Table 2 .
The Fiqh in Means and Purpose in Curbing Out of Wedlock Phenomena.
believers!Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you.Should you disagree on anything, then refer it to Allah and His Messenger, if you (truly) believe in Allah and the Last Day.This is the best and fairest resolution."(Al-Quran.

Table 3 .
The Religious Fallacies Related to Out of Wedlock Phenomena.
therefore no hajj nor 'umrah for them Must cover proper awrah even to his mother Aakhirah Can never enter jannah (paradise)The righteous one can only reach between jannah and jahannam (hell) Will be the follower of dajjal My servants who have transgressed against themselves by sinning, do not despair of the mercy of Allah.Indeed, Allah forgives all sins.Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful" (Al-Quran.Az-Zumar 39:53)