At how many months is the child in a woman's womb when the soul is breathed into it?
The soul is breathed in upon completion of four months (120 days) — the hadith agreed upon (by al-Bukhari and Muslim): Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him: “The creation of each one of you is gathered in his mother's womb for forty days, then he is in that a clinging clot for a like period, then he is in that a lump of flesh for a like period, then the angel is sent and breathes the soul into him, and is commanded with four words: to write his provision, his lifespan, his deeds, and whether he will be wretched or happy” (Sahih al-Bukhari: 3208, Sahih Muslim: 2643).
The soul is breathed in upon completion of four months (120 days) — the hadith agreed upon (by al-Bukhari and Muslim): Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him: “The creation of each one of you is gathered in his mother's womb for forty days, then he is in that a clinging clot for a like period, then he is in that a lump of flesh for a like period, then the angel is sent and breathes the soul into him, and is commanded with four words: to write his provision, his lifespan, his deeds, and whether he will be wretched or happy” (Sahih al-Bukhari: 3208, Sahih Muslim: 2643).
The reckoning: nutfah 40 days + 'alaqah 40 days + mudghah 40 days = 120 days = four lunar months; then the angel breathes in the soul, and the provision, lifespan, deeds, and whether wretched/happy are written.
Related rulings (after 120 days): (1) Abortion — except for a definite danger to the mother's life, it is, by consensus, equivalent to killing a soul, a major sin; (2) if the child is miscarried / born dead, then burial with washing, shrouding, a name and the funeral prayer — the Sunnah way.
Translated from the original Urdu fatwa.