Family Planning in the Legacy of Islam Book

Family formation and spacing have been central concerns in Islam for the last fourteen hundred years. Family Planning in the Legacy of Islam is the result of a massive research project, gathering views from leading Islamic theologians and jurists from the seventh to the twentieth centuries. These views combine to provide a comprehensive survey of the Islamic attitude towards, and practice of, family planning. The work has been discussed and shaped at each stage by a committee of Islamic experts representing the majority of the Muslim countries.

This book provides the first comprehensive and objective analysis of Islamic jurisprudence as it relates to family planning, and it dispels many misconceptions. Abdel-Rahim Omran reveals that Islam has been endorsing contraception for fourteen hundred years, and examines the opinions of leading theologians, the teachings of the Qur'an and the Prophets, Sunnah (tradition) and the views of the nine Islamic schools of jurisprudence. He also examines family planning in the twentieth century with the increased pressures of population control, health care and rapid urbanization.
Published for the United Nations Population Fund