Islamic Fiqh > Marriage and family > Contraception and birth spacing
Avoiding or hoping for children: the 'azl reported from the Prophet, contraception conditions, sterilization and spousal consent.
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Updated on 06 October 2026 at 10:50 PM
'Azl is authentically reported: "we practiced 'azl during the Prophet's lifetime while the Quran was being revealed" (al-Bukhari 5209; Muslim 1440, hadith of Jabir). The OCI Fiqh Academy drew the modern rule: resolution 39 (5/1) on birth regulation (5th session, Kuwait, 1988): no law may limit the spouses' freedom to procreate; temporary birth control to space pregnancies is licit, on condition of both spouses' consent.
The same resolution rules: removing the procreative capacity of man or woman is forbidden, except for a necessity recognized by the shari'a. It explicitly distinguishes temporary regulation, licit, from definitive limitation, forbidden: sterilization is not contraception, it is a shutdown of the faculty.
Spacing is wisdom: the mother's health, education, means. The family plan is decided by 2: resolution 39 (5/1) binds any measure to both spouses' consent; the honest discussion (desire for children, health, means) precedes the method; repentance stays open to whoever overstepped the spouse's right.
The honest joint discussion (desire for children, health, means) precedes the method: contraception in marriage is a shared decision, not an ambush; and repentance always opens: whoever practiced without consent returns to consultation rather than rupture.