Index: Objects/moduleobject.c
===================================================================
--- Objects/moduleobject.c	(revision 87237)
+++ Objects/moduleobject.c	(working copy)
@@ -63,8 +63,9 @@
     PyMethodDef *ml;
     const char* name;
     PyModuleObject *m;
-    if (!Py_IsInitialized())
-        Py_FatalError("Interpreter not initialized (version mismatch?)");
+    PyInterpreterState *interp = PyThreadState_Get()->interp;
+    if (interp->modules == NULL)
+        Py_FatalError("Python import machinery not initialized");
     if (PyType_Ready(&moduledef_type) < 0)
         return NULL;
     if (module->m_base.m_index == 0) {
Index: Lib/test/test_import.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/test_import.py	(revision 87237)
+++ Lib/test/test_import.py	(working copy)
@@ -9,11 +9,13 @@
 import stat
 import sys
 import unittest
+import textwrap
 
 from test.support import (
     EnvironmentVarGuard, TESTFN, check_warnings, forget, is_jython,
     make_legacy_pyc, rmtree, run_unittest, swap_attr, swap_item, temp_umask,
     unlink, unload)
+from test import script_helper
 
 
 def remove_files(name):
@@ -284,7 +286,18 @@
         self.assertEqual("Import by filename is not supported.",
                          c.exception.args[0])
 
+    def test_import_in_del_does_not_crash(self):
+        # Issue 4236
+        testfn = script_helper.make_script('', TESTFN, textwrap.dedent("""\
+            import sys
+            class C:
+               def __del__(self):
+                  import imp
+            sys.argv.insert(0, C())
+            """))
+        script_helper.assert_python_ok(testfn)
 
+
 class PycRewritingTests(unittest.TestCase):
     # Test that the `co_filename` attribute on code objects always points
     # to the right file, even when various things happen (e.g. both the .py