Family planning is no sin
By Asghar Ali Engineer
Friday, 28 Aug, 2009
IT remains a controversial issue among Muslims. Some, like the Taliban, maintain that Islam has no place for family planning; others say it is not at all against the tenets of Islam.
Some mullahs oppose it on grounds that the Prophet (PBUH) urged us to increase the number of Muslims. They should, therefore, multiply their numbers. They also quote a verse from the Quran, “And kill not your children for fear of poverty — We provide for them and for you. Surely killing them is a great wrong.” (17:31).
In this verse what is being said is not related to family planning for the following reasons. One, the verse speaks of children born and not those who have not even been conceived yet. Two, no one would ever advocate killing children already born or even conceived and in an advanced stage of pregnancy. It would certainly amount to killing.
According to Imam Raghib in Mufradat (which is a dictionary of the Quran), here the killing of children means not giving them proper education as ignorance is intellectual death and intellectual death is worse than physical death in a sense. If what Imam Raghib says is taken as the latent meaning of the above verse, it strengthens the position of those who advocate family planning. To have more children means that parents will not be able to properly educate them.
Not only that but parents will not even be able to feed them and give them nourishing food necessary for good health and upbringing. This will be possible if the number of children is less. Interestingly, this was the position of Imam Shafii, while explaining verse 4:3. The last words of this verse, which mainly relate to polygamy are: dhalika adna alla taulu, which is normally rendered as ‘This is more proper so that you may not do injustice.” But Imam Shafii translates it as, “So that you may not increase your progeny” (from the Arabic ayal).
Thus Imam Shafii says the meaning of the verse would be if you fear you cannot do justice then marry once so that you may not have more children. If Imam Shafii’s translation is accepted then the Quran itself advocates having fewer children or spacing children in such a way that you may not feel burdened and may educate them properly and nourish them properly, as Imam Raghib also says.
Some other commentators maintain the verse 17:31 relates to the tradition among Arabs of killing their daughters. They used to argue that being poor they could not provide for them. Therefore, Allah says, “We provide for them and for you.” In any case there is no question of killing children already born. Family planning is certainly not about killing children but spacing them and restricting their number to match one’s income.
Imam Ghazali also quotes a number of traditions from the Prophet (PBUH) to show that the prevention of an unwanted birth is permissible, especially if the mother’s health is in danger. According to him both husband and wife can prevent the birth of a child with mutual consent. Ghazali goes one step further and says conception can be prevented even if the mother’s beauty is likely to be affected.
He even approves of various ways of aborting a child, up to the third month of pregnancy, if the mother’s health is in danger, and shows some ways of abortion. Many jurists maintain that abortion on grounds of saving the mother’s life is permissible up to the third month of pregnancy, as according to the Quran, Allah infuses life in the fourth stage of conception. Hazrat Ali is also reported to have approved of abortion up to the third month in case of danger to the mother’s life on the basis of this Quranic verse.
Also, the Prophet had permitted azl (coitus interruptus) if one goes with one’s wife on a long journey and does not want his wife to bear a child while travelling. Some scholars argue that azl should be taken in a much wider meaning, and can justify today the use of contraceptives, as azl was the only known contraceptive in those days.
Also, family planning was not a necessity in those days and this question did not arise as in our own times. In those days the question arose only on grounds of the mother’s life or health. Thus, we need to answer this question ourselves. One can also use the doctrine of zarrorah (necessity), which declares even haram as halal if there is a pressing necessity.
In any case it would not be correct to denounce family planning as a sin. It basically involves the prevention of unwanted pregnancy, nothing more and nothing less.
The writer is an Islamic scholar, and heads the Centre for Study of Society & Secularism, Mumbai