Salam alaykum,
I want to get an idea of what muslim Nairalanders feel about the above topic. I have seen people in real life who do not believe in family planning or that overpopulation may have a direct effect on the economy.
I believe both family planning and population control should be implemented in muslim societies. the benefits are clear cut. we are no longer agrarian societies, there's a global economic recession as we speak, education, yes; even proper Islamic education is expensive, women's health etc.
I was watching tv sometime back, and I saw people rushing to get on the train in Cairo, Egypt. you need to see the numbers: male and female huddled together obscenely in the rush. I was shaking my head. there are reports there's a lot of sexual harassment going on in that country. Is this due to overpopulation?
I did an internet search and found the article below agreeable. what do you think?

Family Planning and Islam: A Review

by Khalid Farooq Akbar


In Pakistan, demographic matters have gained prime importance because of an unprecedented large increase in her population. Pakistan is the ninth most populous country in the world. According to an estimate, it's population was 112 million in 1990 and would increase to 163 million in 2003. [1] The population of Pakistan is growing at a rate of 3.0% which is among the highest in the world. [2]

This gigantic increase in population has emerged as a matter of great public concern because it is undermining our efforts to raise living standards of our people. It is true that due to mechanized agriculture, use of fertilizers and cultivation of high yielding varieties of grains, agricultural output has increased considerably. Industries are also expanding. But the country is not showing sufficient signs of progress because progress made by Pakistan is being nullified by her rapid population growth.

Every year, more than 3.37 million new individuals are added. [3] Due to this population explosion, Pakistan is least able to provide large additions of youngsters with food, clothing and education, and of young adults with jobs, housing and other consumer essentials, while trying to break out of the vicious circle of poverty.

The gravity of this crisis, as a cause of impending mass misery, as a threat to social system, and as a major obstacle in the path of our efforts to raise levels of living, had been acknowledged in the '50s. Pakistan is among those countries who first of all started government sponsored population control programmes. But in the last 30 years, after spending nearly five billion rupees on population control campaigns, we have failed to restrain the rate of population growth. [4] There is little evidence of any positive results of these programmes except some slogans printed on postal envelopes and some billboards with jingles.

The eighties brought a renewed recognition of the urgency of the population and development question in Pakistan. We are entering or have already entered a phase of net food deficit and can avert food shortages only if we embark upon extensive programmes of modernizing our agriculture and, at the same time, try to limit our population growth to manageable levels.

By analysing the cause of failure of family planning programmes in Pakistan--given the fact that hundreds of millions of rupees have been spent by national and international agencies--it has been felt that ambiguity over the way Islam views family planning has been a primary obstacle to the large scale acceptance of family planning programmes. Many Muslims, including religious scholars, have misperceptions about family planning within the context of Islam. This article is an effort to clear these misconceptions that many Muslims have about the lawfulness of birth control in Islam.

Is birth control permissible in Islam?

A Muslim has three sources of knowledge to obtain answers to the questions pertaining to various aspects of human life. These sources are:
1. The Holy Qur'an;

2. Sayings (hadith) and acts (Sunnah) of the Holy Prophet (pbuh); and

3. The views of the leaders of juristic schools qualified to interpret the teachings of Islam.

1. The Holy Qur'an

No Qur'anic text forbids prevention of conception. There are, however, some Qur'anic verses which prohibit infanticide and these are used by some Muslims to discourage birth control.

But contraception does not amount to killing a human being. These verses in fact were revealed to forbid the pre-Islamic Arab practice of killing or burying alive a newborn child (particularly a girl) on account of the parents' poverty or to refrain from having a female child. Perhaps in those days, people did not know safe methods of contraception and early abortion.

2. Hadith

The principle of preventing conception was accepted in those sayings of the Prophet (pbuh) which allowed some of his followers to practice 'azl or coitus interruptus. These ahadith embodied the earliest legal reasoning of Muslims on contraception and were essential instruments of argument in later Islamic thought on contraception. There is a sufficient number of ahadith on contraception. The most commonly quoted ones are the following. [5]

1. According to Jabir, "We used to practise 'azl in the Prophet's (pbuh) lifetime while the Qur'an was being revealed." There is another version of the same hadith, "We used to practise coitus interruptus during the Prophet's (pbuh) lifetime. News of this reached him and he did not forbid us."

Views of medieval Muslim jurists

Muslim jurists do not speak with one voice on the question of birth prevention, on it's lawfulness, on conditions for practice and on methods that may be used. Muslim jurists determine the lawfulness of an act on the basis of a method which comprises four principles or sources (usul). Two of these (Qur'an and Sunnah) are religious sources. The other two principles include analogical reasoning (qiyas) and the consensus of the 'ulama (ijma').
The most detailed analysis of Islamic permission of contraception was made by the great leader of the Shafi'i School of jurism, al-Ghazzali (1058-1111). He discussed this issue in his great work, Ihya' 'ulum al-Din (The revival of Religious Sciences), in the chapter on biology in religion. [7]

Al-Ghazzali stated that there was no basis for prohibiting 'azl. For prohibition in Islam was possible only by adducing an original text (nass, an explicit provision in the Qur'an or hadith) or by analogy with a given text. In the case of contraception, there was no such text, nor was there any principle on which to base prohibition.


Al-Ghazzali classified earlier and contemporary opinions into three groups:

1. Unconditional permission for 'azl;

2. Permission if the wife consents but prohibition if she does not. This is the view of Hanbali and Maliki groups, of Zaydiyah scholars and of 'Ibadites, survivors of the Kharijite sect. According to some Hanafi scholars, this condition does not apply if the husband is convinced that the child will grow in an unhealthy moral environment.

3. Complete prohibition, a view expressed by Ibn Hazm and his followers of the Zahiriyah School. [9]

Al-Ghazzali accepts prevention or contraception if the motive for the act is any of these: (1) a desire to preserve a woman's beauty or her health, or save her life; (2) desire to avoid financial hardship and embarrassment; (3) avoidance of other domestic problems caused by a large family. He did not accept avoidance of female birth as a legitimate motive for contraception.

Another great scholar, Ibn Taymiyah, discussed Divine providence, procreation and contraception (in this way) in the early fourteenth century. He argues, "Allah creates children and other animals in the womb by willing the meeting of parents in intercourse, and the two semens in the womb. A man is a fool who says, 'I shall depend on God and not approach my wife and if it is willed that I be granted a child I will be given one, otherwise not and there is no need for intercourse.' This is very different from having intercourse and practising withdrawal, for withdrawal does not prevent pregnancy if God wills a pregnancy to occur, because there can be involuntary pre-emission of semen." [10]

Muslim jurists and abortion

Many Muslim scholars have discussed the thorny question of abortion. They have based their discussion on the division of the development of foetus into two stages. According to them, the whole period of pregnancy can be divided into two stages: the first 120 days, and the remaining period before childbirth. Most classical Muslim jurists claim that it is permissible to have an abortion for valid reasons during the first stage.
All Muslim scholars agree that the foetus changes to a human being after 120 days of conception. The following hadith also supports this point.

The Prophet (pbuh) said, "Each of you is constituted in your mother's womb for forty days as a nutfah, then it becomes an 'alaqah for an equal period, then a mudghah for another equal period, then the angel is sent and he breathes the soul into it."

This view of embryonic development was central to the Muslim arguments on abortion. According to Muslim scholars, it is lawful to have an abortion during the first 120 days, but after the stage of ensoulment, abortion is prohibited completely except where it is imperative to save the mother's life.

The Hanafi scholars, who comprised the majority of orthodox Muslims in later centuries, permitted abortion until the end of the four months. According to them, a pregnant woman could have an abortion without her husband's permission, but she should have reasonable grounds for this act. One reason which was mentioned frequently was the presence of a nursing infant. A new pregnancy put an upper limit on lactation, and the jurists believed that if the mother could not be replaced by a wet-nurse, the infant would die.

A considerable majority of the Maliki jurists described abortion as completely forbidden. In their view, when the semen settles in the womb, it is expected to develop into a living baby and it should not be disturbed by anyone. According to Ibn Jawziyyah, when the womb has retained the semen, it is not permitted for the husband and wife, or one of them or the master of the slave-wife, to induce an abortion. After ensoulment, however, abortion is prohibited absolutely and is akin to murder. [19]

Many Shafi'i and Hanbali scholars agreed with the Hanafis in their tolerance of the practice, some putting an upper limit of forty days for a legal abortion, other eighty days or 120 days.

By comparing the Muslim jurists' consensus on the permission of contraception, there appears a difference of opinion on abortion. But given the fact that prohibition was not the dominant view by any standard, given the fact that Muslims believed in ensoulment as the crucial event before which the foetus was not a person, and given the fact that the sanction of contraception strengthened the view that abortion should be legalized before ensoulment, perhaps we can say that, on the whole, abortion was religiously tolerated. This conclusion gains indirect support from the contemporary medieval Arabic secular literature. Medicine, materia medica and popular literature all treated contraception and abortion as if they were two aspects of the same process: birth control.

Views of some modern Muslim jurists

The Grand Mufti of Jordan, Shaykh 'Abd Allah Al-Qalqili, issued a fatwa in 1964 in which he said:
There is agreement among the exponents of jurisprudence that coitus interruptus, as one of the methods for the prevention of childbearing, is allowed. Doctors of religion inferred from this that it is permissible to take a drug to prevent childbearing, or even to induce abortion. We confidently rule in this fatwa that it is permitted to take measures to limit childbearing. [20]

Another Muslim scholar, Dr. Ismail Balogun of Nigeria's University of Ibadan, wrote about the lawfulness of modern contraceptive methods:

The question that arises because coitus interruptus was the only contraceptive method known by the Prophet's Companions, and which practice the Prophet (pbuh) condones, is this: can Muslims of today practice any other method? The answer can only be in the affirmative, as long as other methods are not injurious, either to the man or woman. The question is tantamount to asking whether a Muslim can today wear clothes different in shape from those worn by the Prophet (pbuh) and his Companions during their time. [21]


Conclusion

The early followers of Islam were few and weak in the midst of a vast majority of aggressive and oppressive people. The good of the Muslims then required that there should be a call for the multiplication of their numbers, in order that they might be able at the time to fulfil their responsibilities in defending the mission of Islam and protecting the true religion of Allah against the power and multitudinous adversaries threatening it. But now we find that conditions have changed. We find that the density of population in the world threatens a serious reduction in the living standards of mankind to the extent that many men of thought have been prompted to seek family planning in every country so that the resources may not fall short of ensuring a decent living for it's people to provide public service for them.
Islam, as the religion of pristine nature, has never been opposed to what is good to man. Indeed it has always been ahead in the effort towards the achievement of this good so long as it is not in conflict with the purposes of Allah's law.

Family planning, understood by Islam, is not opposed to marriage or to the begetting of children, nor does it's concept imply disbelief in the doctrine of fate and Divine dispensation--for Allah Almighty has bestowed reason upon man to enable him to distinguish between the useful and the harmful, and to help him follow the path that would assure him happiness in this world as well as in the world to come.

Edited, for full article see
source: http://www.islamawareness.net/FamilyPlanning/familyplanning.html

^Your article has answered your question but I guess you want the opinions of others. No harm in that at all.

right, I want other people's opinion etc. it's a rather long article so I doubt if people will be able to read it all.
the article in effect permits abortion before ensoulment(of course not for pregnancies from illicit relations), so you maclatunji, do you personally subscribe to this?

have you lived in northern Nigeria? there are gatemen that have like 3 wives and 10 children, they still don't mind having more.

snubish: right, I want other people's opinion etc. it's a rather long article so I doubt if people will be able to read it all.
the article in effect permits abortion before ensoulment(of course not for pregnancies from illicit relations), so you maclatunji, do you personally subscribe to this?

Really? I did not deduce that from the article. Maybe you should quote the relevant portion. In general terms, abortion should not be done unless it is a fruit of rape or there is a grave danger to the health of the mother. Otherwise, let the pregnancy be.

Abortion should not be regarded as a method of contraception.

snubish: have you lived in northern Nigeria? there are gatemen that have like 3 wives and 10 children, they still don't mind having more.

Since it has been established that family planning or contraception is allowed in Islam, this question is a little bit redundant but if we look at it from the angle of the responsibility of the parents to provide for their children, we may say the parents are unwise for wanting more children.

However, we have a problem. Islam is a total package and under its system, a couple with 20 children would still be able to take care of their children with institution of Zakat and its cousin Sadaqah, the General Wellbeing Index would be quite high for each individual.

Countries like Saudi Arabia have to export Charity to other countries because there is hardly anybody to give it to in their territory.

@snubbish, thank you so much for this article. It comes to me at the perfect time. I had issues some week ago on what time abortion is permitted in Islam. with Ultrasound a fetal heart beat can be heard in d seventh week and I was wondering if that is the limit.

by the day, 120 a lot can already be said of the child. whether he is suffering from a congenital anomaly or not, etc..it is therefore very good that abortion is permitted until this period.


Now, regarding contraception. The initial report b4 your post is somehow cos it speaks of population control whereas Allah specifically warns of people who kill their children for fear of hunger. The prophet also states how much he would boast of the population of his Ummah.

I am however not against the use of contraception but would want it for other reasons like-

*the health of the mother.
*the psychosocial effects of grandmultiparity on the mother and child
*the social impact. it is well known that many Africans have children they dont give any attention.

e.t.c

without any questions to these, there is no cause for alarm. Child spacing is it as regards the mother's health. when she does space the children, and stops child delivery at say, age 35. The population density will automatucally fall in place.

.

In hausa land barrow pusher dey marry three wives born 12 children n even plan 2 born more, dat why u see some piple go enter boko harm some go join bad boys

Pls don't question God...let naija become 500million that's what god wants....

MUST HAVE SEX? MUST HAVE SEX TO GET PREGNANT?

MUST U HAVE S.EX? MUST U HAVE SE.X TO GET PREGNANT?

Please, I served in the North, Kaduna precisely, this situation is of great concern. I am an adherent of birth control but not after conception. I strongly believe in the use of any method or means to prevent fertilization, that is, the fusion of the Ova and the Sperm, cos if this occurs a human is being formed. And any act to kill the embryo or zygote to me is termed abortion and that is murder. Hence, if the muslim brothers can adhere to giving birth within their means, I believe that the issues of Almajiris will be a long forgotten phenomenom.

Good post,this should enlighten people,in case they do not know,times have changed-we are no more in ancient times of subsistence farming when more children leads to more hands in the farm.over population leads to poverty and poverty leads to crime.
stop giving birth to kids you can not train and send them to Lagos and Abuja to be beggars and constitute nuisance an turn to criminal elements.think people!

Family planning is basically cos of the mother's health but come to think of it; if the woman is a strong woman and she is able to withstand it. Would it be advisable for her to cotinue giving birth until she gets tired even though it is obvious she doesn't have the financial capability to take care of the child. Why give birth to a child you cannot cater for? I got an aunt like that. She keeps conceiving on the bases that family planning is a sin and now she can't take care of these kids and house rent is a prob. They've been parking frm one house to the other cos of house rent prob.

On a lighter note, been a while I commented on this forum. I'm juSt seeing the warning

Gabriel_sylar: Pls don't question God...let naija become 500million that's what god wants....

If you have money to plan for your kids you can have one million kids,but please if you are a poor man,do not born children to become touts and criminals in our societies to haunt us all,just because a man was satisfying his sexual pleasures...it is a sin and immoral to born kids to suffer.

[ the Islamists idea of Family planning and Population control. FALSE [/b]

firstolalekan: MUST HAVE SEX? MUST HAVE SEX TO GET PREGNANT?

Why would you want your wife to get pregnant the hard way? Sex is the natural way, any other method is just bothersome and would be avoided by the overwhelming majority of people. It goes without saying.

[quote author=vanstanzy][/quote]Thor kwomana

D problem is dat some pple jst give birth 2 children without making proper plans 4 dem. Der is nid 2 educate dis set of pple. Dey shld b made 2 undastand d implication of giving birth 2 children with or without taking gud care of dem.

am learnin something here. Sincerely speakin, d issue of abortion and family plannin is a well discussed and misunderstood topic un Islam.

Cant there be birth control without family planning? If there should be i would only advise the use of condom and withdrawl any other method may posed health risk. pls educate them on these.

abdulkayus: am learnin something here. Sincerely speakin, d issue of abortion and family plannin is a well discussed and misunderstood topic un Islam.

what is d misunderstanding

The way I see it from Christian perspective life that would fulfil God‘s purpose of creation and procreation starts from the fertilization. There are references to support this but I stop here.

From the moral point of view, prevention of what could stand later as unfit should be better than terminating it when God has received glory on what He has allowed to be possible or about fulfilling his purpose.

Osc: Cant there be birth control without family planning? If there should be i would only advise the use of condom and withdrawl any other method may posed health risk. pls educate them on these.

Family planning is a form of birth control

Rexyl: The way I see it from Christian perspective life that would fulfil God‘s purpose of creation and procreation starts from the fertilization. There are references to support this but I stop here.

From the moral point of view, prevention of what could stand later as unfit should be better than terminating it when God has received glory on what He has allowed to be possible or about fulfilling his purpose.

at ur paragraph 2, even when it could kill the mother?

you mean abortion should not be carried out at all from your christian perspective?

MashaAllah islam is a perfet religion from Allah.
I tink the article up there has already clearly given answers to the quetion of the OP, perhaps, it is agreed by most scolars that family planning is accept so as nt to infringe on the heath issue of the mother parents bearing the childreen.. I think wt we need here is to enlighten pple more that the more they strive to tackle the needs of their mass childreen,the more effect it would hv on there health,since the Quran strictly frawns at reducing rate of birth due fare of poverty.
May Allah continue to guide us.

Rexyl: The way I see it from Christian perspective life that would fulfil God‘s purpose of creation and procreation starts from the fertilization. There are references to support this but I stop here.

From the moral point of view, prevention of what could stand later as unfit should be better than terminating it when God has received glory on what He has allowed to be possible or about fulfilling his purpose.

Ure statement here is nt clear. Are u saying that abortion is totally prohibite even when it pose a threat?

deols:

at ur paragraph 2, even when it could kill the mother?

you mean abortion should not be carried out at all from your christian perspective?

Matter like this may look complex but it is so simple when God is genuinely invited into the situation as we believe. It is not the work of God to sorrow on what He has already blessed except something is wrong somewhere. There can be opposing forces from some quarters against good plan of God. But by waiting strongly and patiently upon Him He will provide a way through.

However when something seems to be wrong somewhere, which good couples on legal marriage Don‘t pray for, it is the Lord that says in the Bible “my people come let us reason together“ You know we are human beings on account of ability to decide and make choices as the Bible made us to understand. But when people reason together and decide on certain things there can be components against God‘s program, He may permit it while at the same time He wants them to realise the extent they are deviating from His will and be careful in the ways they handle and interprete complicated matters so that they do not querry His authority to commit grave sin.

Walexz02:
Ure statement here is nt clear. Are u saying that abortion is totally prohibite even when it pose a threat?

Pls refer to the immediate post and let us answer together, as I am constrained by the time presently.