The Virtues of Having Children
Answered by Sidi Tabraze Azam
Question: What are the virtues of a) pregnancy, and b) having a stillborn baby?
Answer: Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,
I hope you are in the best of health and spirits insha’Allah.
One of the benefits Imam Ghazali (Allah be pleased with him) mentions in his tremendous work, The Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya `Ulum al-Din) is that one benefits and receives the supplications (du`a) of a righteous child after one passes away. Therefore, by raising a pious, righteous and worshipful soul, one is creating a continual charity (sadaqa jariya) for oneself which one will continue to benefit from.
The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “When a Muslim dies, his actions are cut off from him except from three, continual charity (sadaqa jariya), knowledge he benefited from or a righteous child who supplicates for him” [Muslim]
Furthermore, raising and bringing up a Muslim child is of the greatest of spiritual works. Whatever one teaches one’s child, one will receive the reward of whatever they do without it diminishing their reward in the least.
Imam Muslim (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Whoever points to the good has the reward of the one who performs it.”
How many a mother rises to tend to her child in the middle of the night, time and again, out of love and mercy for them; she deems it slight, yet with a living heart and a magnified intention, it is great in the sight of Allah. What greater thing can a person do than raise a believing, God-fearing, soul in love with Allah and his Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace). This an opportunity to show immense gratitude for the favor and grace Allah has showered upon one.
Allah, Most High, says in the Noble Qur’an, “If you are thankful, surely I will increase you” [14:7]
Finally, if the child passes away, Imam Ghazali states that one will benefit by “receiving the intercession of the child if he passes away before one”. As for the details on a still-born child or the passing away of a child, please see the following answer: The Loss of a Child: Seeking & Turning to Allah in Difficult Times
And Allah alone gives success.
Wassalaam,
Tabraze Azam
Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani
