ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Family in Islam Translator’s Foreword Family life and related issues such as marriage, divorce, parenthood, underage pregnancy and abortion are areas of great discussion and dispute in the ‘western’ world today. The facts emanating from various societies in the ‘developed’ world show that the current state of affairs is unsustainable and illogical and will inevitably result in the decline and self-destruction of these societies.

A prime and oft-quoted1 example of this is Italy where, being a Catholic country, one would expect the birth rate to be high. However with a reproduction rate of only 1.3 children per couple it is clear that the population is not being sustained or replaced and is dwindling. It requires a live reproduction rate of at least 2.0 children per couple to maintain population levels each generation.

This story is repeated throughout the European Union where the Republic of Ireland despite also experiencing a sharp drop in the ‘fertility’ rate is the only country where rates are at ‘generation replacement level’.2 At these rates, Italy’s abortion statistics at around 150,000 per year3 seem an unaffordable luxury as they do in the other countries of the EU.

The use of the term ‘fertility rate’ according to these statistics also appears to be a little disingenuous, as it does not take into account the number of terminations each year. The number of live births per woman is not a valid reflection of true fertility, because a conception subsequently terminated can also be regarded as a statistic of fertility.

The killing of children is deemed wrong in the Qur’an and hence in Islam: ‘And kill not your children for fear of want, We will sustain them and you. Indeed, the killing of your children is a great sin.’4 In many places in the Qur’an also, evidence is brought that previous nations and generations were brought down by their sinning: ‘Do they not travel through the earth and see what was the End of those before them?

They were even superior to them in strength and in the traces (they have left) in the land: but Allah did call them to account for their sins, and none had they to defend them against Allah.5 Hence we can see that the concept of sin is not just an abstraction with no relevance or effect in the real world but it is a way to the downfall of human society.