In Islam too, this gory act is forbidden. The Qur’an explicitly forbids this: “Do not kill your children because of poverty; We provide for you and for them” (6:151). Islam recognizes that financial hardship can be severe, but the answer is support, family responsibility, charity, social welfare, and lawful family planning before conception—not taking the life of a child already born. A newborn has an independent right to life and dignity before Allah, regardless of the parents’ income or circumstances.
In our exclusive post on a passage from AL Qur'an, Al Qur'an spells out a comprehensive charter of personal morality, family responsibility, justice, economic ethics and intellectual integrity, we have shared verse number 31 from Surah Al-Isrāʾ which gives out a powerful declaration that economic fear can never justify the destruction of innocent life. We will expand this verse and see how scholars interpret it and how we should not kill newly born for fear of not raising them.
The Verse
وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلَادَكُمْ خَشْيَةَ إِمْلَاقٍ ۖ نَّحْنُ نَرْزُقُهُمْ وَإِيَّاكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ قَتْلَهُمْ كَانَ خِطْئًا كَبِيرًا
“Do not kill your children for fear of poverty. We provide for them and for you. Surely killing them is a great sin.”
Context of the verse
In pre-Islamic Arabia, some people killed children, particularly daughters, because they feared the financial burden of supporting them. Al-Ṭabarī explicitly relates the verse to this practice and explains خَشْيَةَ إِمْلَاقٍ — “for fear of poverty” as fear of future destitution.
This verse belongs to the remarkable moral charter of 17:23–39. Immediately before it, the Qur’an discusses the proper use of wealth: give relatives and the needy their rights, avoid wastefulness, but also avoid miserliness (17:26–30). Then comes 17:31: do not allow economic anxiety to make children expendable. Immediately afterward come prohibitions of zina (17:32) and unlawful killing generally (17:33).
This linkage and progression is meaningful: Manage wealth responsibly → protect children from economic fear → protect sexual morality → protect human life.
A subtle difference from 6:151
In our premise who mentioned verse from 6:151 to correlate it to the verse being shared. However there is a beautiful distinction between this verse and Al-Anʿām 6:151.
- 17:31 says: “Do not kill your children for fear of poverty. We provide for them and you.”
- While 6:151 says: “Do not kill your children because of poverty. We provide for you and them.”
Classical commentators noticed the difference:
- In 6:151, poverty already exists, so the parents' provision is mentioned first.
- In 17:31, the parents fear that children might make them poor in the future, so the children's provision is mentioned first: نَّحْنُ نَرْزُقُهُمْ وَإِيَّاكُمْ “We provide for them and for you.”
Scholarly Interpretation
1. Ibn Kathīr Ibn Kathīr specifically draws attention to this distinction. The message is psychologically profound: do not destroy today's life because of tomorrow's imagined scarcity.. Hesays that the verse demonstrates Allah's compassion toward His servants. He explains that people in Jahiliyyah sometimes killed their children because they feared having additional mouths to feed, and Allah categorically prohibited this. He describes child-killing as a major sin.
He also connects it with the famous hadith of ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd. When he asked the Prophet ﷺ which sins were greatest, after shirk the Prophet mentioned: killing one's child for fear that the child will share one's food. (This is authentically reported in Sahih al-Bukhari 4477 and 6001). That shows how seriously Islam regards the child's right to life.
2. Al-Ṭabarī emphasizes the economic motive behind the prohibition. Arabs sometimes killed children out of fear of financial hardship, and Allah reminds them that the provision of both parents and children ultimately comes from Him.
This does not mean people should stop working and simply say, “Allah will provide.” Rather: work responsibly, plan wisely, but never allow financial fear to destroy moral limits. Trust in Allah is accompanied by human effort.
3. Maududi extends the principle strongly into modern economic thinking. He argues that the verse challenges a mentality that regards additional human beings primarily as economic burdens or “mouths to feed.” He contrasts this with a worldview that encourages society to expand productive resources rather than treating human life itself as the problem.
Maududi also extended the verse to questions of birth control. That particular extension should be distinguished from the verse's undisputed primary meaning. Islamic jurists have discussed contraception, family planning and abortion separately, with important distinctions between preventing conception and terminating an established pregnancy. Therefore, 17:31 should not simply be presented as a blanket ruling against every form of family planning.
The unquestionable principle is: Fear of poverty cannot justify killing children.
4. Ghamidi notes that this is a mention of the sanctity of human life which it always has had as per morality and religion. The Qur’ān has informed us that prior to this, the Israelites were also given this directive and the Almighty had ordained that killing one human being is like killing the whole of mankind. It has also specified that the life of a human being can only be taken in two circumstances: when a person has killed someone or when a person while rebelling against the collective system goes after the life, wealth or honour of others. Apart from these two circumstances, every killing is an unjustified act the punishment of which is eternal Hell according to the Qur’ān (5:32; 25:68-69).
What does “We provide for them and for you” really mean?
It does not promise that every family will become wealthy. The Qur’an recognizes poverty elsewhere and commands society to care for the poor. Rather, it means that rizq ultimately comes from Allah, and human beings should not presume that the arrival of another person automatically means economic ruin.
Children themselves may later become: workers, providers, inventors, caregivers, scholars, entrepreneurs or sources of enormous blessing.
Human beings see today's expense. Allah knows the whole life ahead.
Relevance today
The ancient practice of burying children may largely have disappeared, but the underlying mentality can survive in new forms. The verse challenges any society that begins to think: “Human worth depends upon economic usefulness.” That principle matters enormously today.
- A poor child is not worth less than a wealthy child.
- A daughter is not a financial disappointment.
- A disabled child does not lose human dignity because care is expensive.
- A family struggling economically must not conclude that the weakest member has the least right to exist.
- And at the societal level, poverty should motivate us to reduce poverty, not reduce the value of poor people.
The verse also speaks to gender discrimination
Historically, daughters were among the victims of infanticide. Modern societies may no longer bury daughters, but discrimination can survive in subtler forms:
- less education for daughters,
- resentment at their birth,
- unequal nutrition or healthcare,
- denial of inheritance,
- or treating sons as economically valuable while daughters are considered burdens.
The Qur’anic message destroys that mentality at its roots. A child's worth is given by Allah, not by projected earnings.
Economic fear can distort morality
This may be the deepest contemporary lesson.
- Financial anxiety is real.
- Housing is expensive.
- Education is expensive.
- Employment may be uncertain.
- Families naturally worry about providing for children.
- Islam does not ridicule these concerns.
But 17:31 establishes a boundary: Fear is legitimate; violating sacred life because of fear is not. This principle reaches beyond children.
Human beings should not allow economic calculations alone to determine the worth of: (1) the elderly, (2) the disabled, (3) the poor, (4) refugees, (5) or anyone who cannot produce economically.
Once society begins calculating human dignity purely in financial terms, the weakest people become vulnerable first.
A balance between tawakkul and responsibility
The verse should also not be misunderstood as: “Have as many children as possible without planning because Allah provides.”
The Qur’an repeatedly commands responsibility, balance and foresight. Rather, 17:31 teaches: Do not make fear of provision into disbelief in the Provider, and never make innocent life pay the price of economic anxiety. To support families:
- Parents must work.
- Society must build economic opportunity.
- Governments must protect vulnerable families.
- The wealthy must fulfil social responsibilities.
- And believers must maintain trust that Allah's provision is broader than their immediate calculations.
A profound question for modern society
- 17:31 forces us to ask: Do economic systems exist to serve human beings, or do human beings exist to serve economic systems?
- The Qur’anic answer places human dignity first.
- Economics matters.
- Resources matter.
- Planning matters.
- But human life is sacred.
The verse therefore carries three major messages:
- Life is sacred: a child cannot be sacrificed to economic fear.
- Provision belongs ultimately to Allah: our calculations do not encompass the future.
- Human dignity is greater than economic utility: people are not merely mouths to feed or financial statistics.
Its message for our age can perhaps be expressed in one sentence:
When resources become scarce, Islam asks us to solve the scarcity—not to make innocent human life the victim of it.
That is why 17:31, though revealed in response to a practice of ancient Arabia, remains a powerful principle for any civilization tempted to measure the worth of human beings primarily in economic terms. Surah Al-Isrāʾ 17:31 is a powerful declaration that economic fear can never justify the destruction of innocent life:
وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلَادَكُمْ خَشْيَةَ إِمْلَاقٍ ۖ نَّحْنُ نَرْزُقُهُمْ وَإِيَّاكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ قَتْلَهُمْ كَانَ خِطْئًا كَبِيرًا
“Do not kill your children for fear of poverty. We provide for them and for you. Surely killing them is a great sin.”
Concluding Remarks
This verse hinges on the foundational Islamic principle of family. The husband and wife must plan their family well. Instead of abortions (unless allowed on extreme medical grounds) should not happen. Plan a child when one can and raise it well. Islam recognizes that financial hardship can be severe, but the answer is support, family responsibility, charity, social welfare, and lawful family planning before conception—not taking the life of a child already born. A newborn has an independent right to life and dignity before Allah, regardless of the parents’ income or circumstances.
May Allāh (سبحانه و تعالى) help us understand Qur'ān and follow the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, which is embodiment of commandments of Allah contained in the Qur'ān. May Allah help us to be like the ones He loves and let our lives be lived helping others and not making others' lives miserable or unlivable. May all our wrong doings, whether intentional or unintentional, be forgiven before the angel of death knocks on our door.
وَمَا عَلَيۡنَاۤ اِلَّا الۡبَلٰغُ الۡمُبِيۡنُ
(36:17) and our duty is no more than to clearly convey the Message.”
That is Our duty is only to convey to you the message that Allah has entrusted us with. Then it is for you to accept it or reject it. We have not been made responsible for making you accept it forcibly, and if you do not accept it, we shall not be seized in consequence of your disbelief, you will yourselves be answerable for your actions on Day of Resurrection.
May Allah forgive me if my posts ever imply a piety far greater than I possess. I am most in need of guidance.
Reading the Qur'ān should be a daily obligation of a Muslim - Reading it with translation will make it meaningful. But reading its Exegesis / Tafsir will make you understand it fully. It will also help the Muslims to have grasp over social issues and their answers discussed in the Qur'an and other matter related to inter faith so that they are able to discuss issues with non-Muslims with authority based on refences from Qur'an.
Note: When we mention God in our posts, we mean One True God, we call Allah in Islam, with no associates. Allah is the Sole Creator of all things, and that Allah is all-powerful and all-knowing. Allah has no offspring, no race, no gender, no body, and is unaffected by the characteristics of human life.
You may refer to more Selected Verses from Sürah 17. Al-Isra'ʾ (The Night Journey) already published from Sürah 17. Al-Isra'ʾ.
You may also refer to our exclusive reference pages:
- Selected verses from selected Surahs of Al-Qurʾān for compiled verses from other surahs.
- Selected Verses from Al Qur'an about a Specific Subject (Reference Page) to know more about what Qur'an says about specific subjects
- Selected Verses from the Qur'an.
You may also refer to our Reference Pages and Understanding Al Qur'an for knowing more about Islam and Qur'ān.
An effort has been made to gather explanation / exegesis of the surahs and selected verses of Al-Qurʾān from authentic sources and then present a least possible condensed explanation of the surah. In that the exegesis of the chapters of the Quran is mainly based on the "Tafhim al-Qur'an - The Meaning of the Qur'an" by one of the most enlightened scholars of the Muslim World Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi.
In addition, other sources which have been explored and views of other scholars have been incorporated while explaining meaning of a verse. Those desirous of detailed explanations and tafsir (exegesis), may refer to these sites. For expansion of meaning and themes / contextual background help from ChatGPT is also taken.
Disclaimer: The material for this post has been collected from the references given above. If anyone differs with the material contained in this post, one may consult the references and their authors. If someone has more material about the subject, he/she is most welcome to share in the comments box to make the post all encompassing.
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