Dar al-Iftaa launches ‘Birth Control is Permissible’ hashtag

CAIRO – 17 February 2021: Egypt’s Dar al-Iftaa launched on its official pages on Facebook and Twitter a hashtag that reads “Birth Control is permissible,” to ensure that family planning and birth control methods are not religiously forbidden as some people think.

#تنظيم_النسل_جائز

— دار الإفتاء المصرية 🇪🇬 (@EgyptDarAlIfta) February 17, 2021

Dar al-Iftaa is an Egyptian Islamic advisory, justiciary and governmental body. It published on its website a detailed fatwa ensuring that all legal rulings it issues are derived from Quran and Sunnah, adding that there was no text that prohibited banning pregnancy or controlling birth.

القائم بتنظيم النسل أو مؤيده ليس متدخلًا في قدر الله أو معترضًا عليه لأنه من باب الأخذ بالأسباب#تنظيم_النسل_جائز

— دار الإفتاء المصرية 🇪🇬 (@EgyptDarAlIfta) February 17, 2021

القول بمشروعية تنظيم النسل لا يجيز اللجوء للإجهاض بعد نفخ الروح بحجة أن الزوجين حاولا تنظيم النسل#تنظيم_النسل_جائز

— دار الإفتاء المصرية 🇪🇬 (@EgyptDarAlIfta) February 17, 2021

In another tweet, Dar al-Iftaa explained that "a person who controls birth, or support regulating it is not interfering in God’s will." However, it ensured that this does not mean allowing abortion under the pretext of birth control, when a soul is breathed into a baby inside a woman's uterus.

Dar al Iftaa’s hashtag comes in lines with the country’s bids targeting to reduce the population growth. The hashtag addresses some people’s concerns about whether following family planning and birth control programs are against religious teachings, and re-assures them about its permissibility.

Egypt has been promoting birth control through several family planning systems and campaigns to fight rapid population growth in the country.

Egypt’s campaign to educate people about birth control were mostly launched in rural areas in a bid to slow a population growth rate that President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi said poses a threat to national development.

In June 2018, the Ministry of Social Solidarity launched a family planning campaign with the slogan “Two are Enough”, aiming to contain the phenomenon of overpopulation.

The campaign targets to reduce the birth rate to 2.4, targeting rural areas where many view large families as a source of economic strength and resist birth control believing that it is un-Islamic.

While inaugurating a number of medical establishments and getting briefed on the achievements of the Ministry of Health and Population, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi said Tuesday, “We won’t feel the impact of public spending [on national projects and infrastructure] unless annual population growth is cut to 400,000 [from 2.4 million].”

For the 100 million Egyptians to feel the impact of development programs accomplished, our annual GDP must be $100 trillion which is beyond our capacity, President Sisi added.

In that context, Minister of Health and Population Hala Zayed warned of overpopulation saying that the cost of establishing a hospital - whose capacity is 100 beds - is LE1 billion, and that the cost of an ambulance vehicle is LE1.5 million.