Islam and birth control

there is a little controversy with regards to the issue of birth control due to two conflicting hadiths
one is where a man came to the prophet and tod him he practices coitus interruptus with his slave girl (a method of birth-control in which a man, during ***** withdraws his ***** from a woman's ***** prior to ejaculation. The man then directs his ejaculate away from his partner's ***** in an effort to avoid insemination) and the Prophet reportedly said do it if you want - but it wont make much difference:

Jabir (Allah be pleased with him) reported that a man came to Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) and said: I have a slave-girl who is our servant and she carries water for us and I have intercourse with her, but I do not want her to conceive. He said: Practise 'azl, if you so like, but what is decreed for her will come to her. The person stayed back (for some time) and then came and said: The girl has become pregnant, whereupon he said: I told you what was decreed for her would come to her.
Sahih Muslim 8:3383

Narrated AbuSa'id al-Khudri: A man said: Apostle of Allah, I have a slave-girl and I withdraw the penis from her (while having intercourse), and I dislike that she becomes pregnant. I intend (by intercourse) what the men intend by it. The Jews say that withdrawing the penis (azl) is burying the living girls on a small scale. He (the Prophet) said: The Jews told a lie. If Allah intends to create it, you cannot turn it away.
Abu Dawood 11:2166

Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Book 4, Number 231:
Narrated Sulaiman bin Yasar:

I asked 'Aisha about the clothes soiled with semen. She replied, "I used to wash it off the clothes of Allah's Apostle and he would go for the prayer while water spots were still visible.
Narrated Jabir:
We used to practice coitus interrupt us during the lifetime of Allah's Apostle. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 62, Number 135

the conflicting one is here - but doesn't make sense to me personally:
Muslim, Book 008, Number 3392:
Judama daughter of Wahb, sister of Ukkasha (Allah be pleased with her). reported: I WENT TO ALLAH'S MESSENGER (MAY PEACE BE UPON HIM) ALONG WITH SOME PERSONS AND ASKED HIM ABOUT 'AZL, whereupon HE SAID. THAT IS THE SECRET (WAY OF) BURYING ALIVE, and Ubaidullah has made this addition in the hadith transmitted by al-Muqri and that is:" When the one buried alive is asked."

the actual verse is here:
8. When the female (infant), buried alive, is questioned -
9. For what crime she was killed;
Quran 81:8-9

we must always bear in mind that some hadith are weak in narration, are narrated through 2-3 generations, and some are outright fabricated by people, we do not pretend that this is not possible when it is obvious that some are,
the hadith are different from the Quran in that it was memorised on the spot and recited in the mosques, and written down.
the hadith were compiled long afterwards after chasing companions and their descendants and acquaintances and acquaintances of acquaintances, so they require reading through conflicting ones, the rest of the prophet's sayings, looking at the likelihood of truth - and when this can't be ascertained, looking at the spirit of the sayings of the prophet to see if it would may make sense, with some very uncertain ones - you alone must ultimately decide - as your scholar wont bear responsibility on the day of judgement.

secondly, in todays day and age - we see abortion of live foetuses being practiced on an industrial scale - often with the help of the u.n,
research india's female infanticite and china's one child policy,
often - when parents in china are told it's a girl, the choose to abort in anticipation for a future boy,
the 1400 year old verse again comes to life:
8. When the female (infant), buried alive, is questioned -
9. For what crime she was killed;
Quran 81:8-9

and we are constantly told how a big family is bad, while the very elite who say this encourage us to waste constantly, waste resources that could feed the whole world on bombs and guns ad co2 emitting planes and tanks, while telling us that it's in our best interest to pay them extra taxes because we put out co2 (which plants inhale to give us pure oxygen),
the Quran clearly tells us:
"Kill not your children because of poverty - We provide sustenance for you and for them"[Noble Quran 6:151]
Allah also says:
"And kill not your children for fear of poverty. We shall provide for them as well as for you. Surely, the killing of them is a great sin" [Noble Quran 17:31]

to me - this sounds like it refers to conceived children and ones who are born, not sperm which has not even touched the inside of a female.
and Almighty God informs us that it is He who provides for us and for them, so we have no right to kill them.

and regarding the largest race, yes, this has been proudly spoken of by the Prophet (pbuh) in the Hadith,
and by the other respected Prophets in the previous scriptures:

And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.
And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.
And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.
And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
Genesis 21:14-21

And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.
And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran,
and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words.

(did you know that the story of the well of Zamzam is located in Makkah, and that when the Prophet (pbuh) came to conquer Makkah, (the day of the Great Victory) he came with ten thousand of his followers?
research "conquest of Makkah")

Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.
Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
For thy Maker isthine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
Isaiah 54:1-7

For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Galatians 4

regarding the "flesh and spirit" comments, we are aware in Islam that all mankind is from Adam and Eve and that people are exalted in the sight of the Lord through piety and good action - not by being born of any nobility.
we can also see that there are a few edits made here by someone who hadn't done their research properly:

And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh:
as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
Genesis 22

Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.2And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD:
And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty,

but by my name JEHOVAH was I NOT KNOWN to them.
Exodus 6

still - putting aside the petty squabblings, what we find is that first, hagar is told that God would make Ishmael's (pbuh) progeny a great nation.
and in Isaiah, that it would be larger than Sarah's descendants.

Imaam al-Bukhaari (may Allaah have mercy on him) narrated in his Saheeh from Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with them both) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “I was shown the nations, and some Prophets passed by with a few followers, and some Prophets passed by with no followers. Then I was shown a great multitude, and I said, ‘What is this? Is this my ummah?’ It was said, ‘No, this is Moosa and his people.’ It was said, ‘Look at the horizon.’ There I saw a huge multitude filling the horizon. And it was said, ‘Look there, and there, on the horizons of the sky.’ There was a multitude filling the horizons. It was said, ‘This is your ummah, and of these, seventy thousand will enter Paradise without being brought to account.’” Then he [the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)] went inside, without explaining further. The people started to discuss what he had said, saying, “We are the ones who have believed in Allaah and followed His Messenger; we are they” or, “It is our children who were born in Islam whilst we were born in Jaahiliyyah.” The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) heard about what was being said, so he came out and said: “They are the ones who do not seek ruqya, do not believe in bad omens and do not use branding; they put their trust in their Lord…”

I hope i have been of some help,
peace

Also, Islam is the highest growing religion in the western countries because followers of other faiths (atheists, agnostics, christians, etc) don't like having children. Many of them also turn homosexuals.

Asalam alaikum,Insha'Allaah the following article will be able to offer some relevant information about your concerns. according to Jabir radiyaahu canhu said: "we use to do cazli while Quran is revealing and Prophet did not prohibit? my question is as follows 1- Is it allowed to use a condom/pill? 2- if so what is the conditions? 3- what type of niyyah do we need to have at performing either or both"Condom/Pills/cazli? 4- Why the Companion doing this?Praise be to Allaah. *Firstly, what the Muslims should do is to try to have as many children as they can, because this is the command of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), who said: “Marry the one who is loving and fertile, for I will be proud of your great numbers before the nations.” (Narrated by Abu Dawood, 2050; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood, 1805).*Having more children increases the numbers of the ummah, and increasing the numbers of the ummah is a source of its glory, as Allaah says, reminding the Children of Israel of His blessings:*“and made you more numerous in man-power”[al-Isra’ 15:6 – interpretation of the meaning]*And Shu’ayb said to his people:*“And remember when you were but few, and He multiplied you”[al-A’raaf 7:86 – interpretation of the meaning]*No one can deny that having a large number is a source of pride and strength for the ummah, contrary to what those pessimists think who say that large numbers causes poverty and starvation in a nation.*If the ummah increases in number, puts its trust in Allaah and believes His promises as mentioned in the aayah, *“And no moving (living) creature is there on earth but its provision is due from Allaah”[Hood 11:6 – interpretation of the meaning], then Allaah will make things easy for them and will grant them independence of means from His bounty. Based on that, the answer to your question is as follows:*Birth control pills:*A woman should not use birth control pills, unless the following conditions are met:*1-****** She should need to use them, for example if she is ill and cannot cope with a pregnancy every year, or she is physically unfit, or there is some other reason that getting pregnant every year may harm her.2-****** Her husband should give his permission, because the husband has the right to have children. There must also be consultation with the doctor, to find out whether these pills are harmful or not. *If these two conditions are met, there is nothing wrong with taking these pills, but that should not be on a permanent basis, because that means preventing having children.*With regard to ‘azl (coitus interruptus), or withdrawing during intercourse, the correct scholarly view is that there is nothing wrong with it, because of the hadeeth of Jaabir (may Allaah be pleased with him): “We used to practise ‘azl at the time when the Qur’aan was being revealed” – i.e., at the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). If that action had been haraam, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) would have forbidden it. But the scholars say that one should not engage in ‘azl with a free woman except with her permission, because she has the right to have children. Moreover, withdrawing without her permission diminishes her pleasure, because the woman’s pleasure can only be completed after ejaculation. So not asking her permission causes her to lose out on pleasure and on the possibility of having children. Hence we state the condition that this may only be done with her permission.*From Fataawa al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Uthaymeen.*From Fataawa Islamiyyah, vol. 3, p. 190.*Thirdly: the reason why the Sahaabah engaged in ‘azl was because they did not want the woman – especially a slave woman – to get pregnant, so that they could continue to enjoy a physical relationship with them and the woman would still be able to do their work. Abu Dawood narrated that a man said, “O Messenger of Allaah, I have a slave woman and I engage in ‘azl with her, because I do not want her to get pregnant, but I want what men want. But the Jews say that ‘azl is a lesser form of infanticide.” He said, “The Jews are lying. If Allaah wants to create (a child) you cannot prevent that.” (Narrated by Abu Dawood, Kitaab al-Nikaah, 1856; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood, 1903).Islam Q&A Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjidwww.islamqa.com/en/ref/11885

format_quote Originally Posted by aadil77

Birth control is allowed if you fear you cannot provide for the child, but generally we're not supposed to prevent ourselves from having children

brother, that was a very vague quote, i don't believe it includes abortion, condoms etc are different as they are a temporary measure and it takes a second to change one's mind, but once a baby is conceived, it has been given a life by Allah, and fear of want is not an excuse to kill children,
the Quran clearly tells us:
"Kill not your children because of poverty - We provide sustenance for you and for them"[Noble Quran 6:151]
Allah also says:
"And kill not your children for fear of poverty. We shall provide for them as well as for you. Surely, the killing of them is a great sin" [Noble Quran 17:31]