Question Summary:
Should one be content with 4 children?

Question Detail:

Assalaamu alaykum,

Answer :

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

The musalli wishes to have another child. He already has four children. He cites the following reasons for having another child.

i)               He has enough wealth.

ii)             He and his wife are young.

iii)            He has support of a four-page fatwa.

iv)           He wishes to adopt a child.

v)             He also wishes to remarry to have another child.

The musalli does not explain the reason why his wife does not want another child. You should enquire from him why his wife does not want another child. The issue may not be wealth. He may have sufficient wealth to take care of another child. It is challenging for a mother to raise four children at once. Is he assisting his wife physically in taking care of the four children? If he is not physically assisting his wife in taking care of the children, how does he expect her to bear another pregnancy and take care of the child? That may accordingly affect her health and the proper upbringing of the four children. According to Shariah, the musalli has a right to remarry. What guarantee does he have that the second wife will bear him a child or if the child will be healthy etc?

Advise your musalli to be content with his wife and four children. He should be patient and hope for reward from Allah for his patience. He should focus his energy on assisting his wife in taking care of his four children and raising them with proper Islamic values. He will be immensely rewarded for that.^[1]

And Allah Taala Knows Best

Mehrazur Rahman

Student Darul Iftaa

Brooklyn, NY, USA

Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.

[1] (   فتاوی محمودیہ،   ج   ۱۸،   ص   ٥٨٧،   ادارہ الفاروق کراچی   )