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Is it permissible for the wife to take birth control pills secretly without her husband's knowledge, so that she may temporarily rest from the burdens of pregnancy, in the event that the husband insists on pregnancy, knowing that she is a mother of four children, the youngest of whom is an infant?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Among the most important objectives of marriage are procreation and increasing offspring. Therefore, neither spouse is permitted to prevent pregnancy without the permission of the other, because it is an established right for both of them. However, if pregnancy poses harm that cannot be removed except by preventing it, then it is permissible to prevent pregnancy by any lawful means at that time, due to the Prophet's (peace be upon him) saying: "There shall be no harm or reciprocating harm."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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