|| || o || _o_,_\ ,;: .'_o_\ ,;: (_|_;: _o_,_,_,_; ( .. / (_) / ( . Bismillah irRahman irRahem In the Name of Allaah, The Most Gracious, The Most Kind Is Family Planning allowed in Islam ? by Jamaal ZarabozoEd. Note: this is a shortened version that has the gist of the orginal article (which disappeared from the web). As far as I can see, Islam forbids abortion, which would also include abortifacients like birth control pills, IUD, Norplant, and Depo-Provera. Sterilization is also banned. They allow family planning for non-selfish reasons, using approved methods, but we have not been able to find out what those methods are. If you find out, please let us know.
The question of family planning and birth control was discussed in detail
by the Majma al-Fiqh al-Islaami. They had twenty three scholars research
this topic and present their findings on this matter....Their proceedings,
papers and discussions may be found in Part One of the Fifth Volume of
Majallah Majma al-Fiqh al-Islaami (1988/1409 A.H.). These proceedings are
748 pages all about the question of birth control and related issues......
From the Islamic perspective, children are a gift and a blessing from Allah.....
The only true provider for all mankind is Allah. If Muslims follow what
Allah has prescribed for them, Allah will provide for them. Allah has warned
about killing one's children out of fear of poverty for either parents
or the child. Allah says:
"And kill not your children for fear of poverty. We shall provide for them
as well as for you. Surely, the killing of them is a great sin" (al-Isra
31)
Hence, Muslims should never abort or kill their children out of fear of
poverty. It is Allah who provides for them.
Based on the above points and numerous others, the scholars who participated
in the research on this question came up with the following resolution:
It is not allowed to enact a general law that limits
the freedom of spouses in having children.
It is forbidden to "permanently" end a man's or a woman's
ability to produce children, such as by having a hysterectomy or vasectomy,
as long as that is not called for by circumstances of necessity according
to its Islamic framework.
It is permissible to control the timing of births
with
the intent of distancing the occurrences of pregnancy
or to delay
it for a specific amount of time, if there is
some Shariah need
for that in the opinion of the spouses, based
on mutual
consultation and agreement between them. However,
this is
conditioned by that not leading to any harm, by
it being done by
means that are approved in the Shariah and that
it not do
anything to oppose a current and existing pregnancy.