Will there be pregnancy and childbirth in Paradise?

Q. We know that there will be wives in Paradise; will there be any pregnancy and childbirth?

Praise be to Allah.

Some of the scholars are of the view that if a person wishes to have a child in Paradise, Allah will fulfil that wish for him. They quoted as evidence for that the report narrated by at-Tirmidhi (2563) in hisSunan from Abu Sa‘eed al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “If the believer wishes for a child in Paradise, the pregnancy, birth and growth will occur within an hour, as he wishes.” Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami‘, 6649 

What is meant is that the pregnancy will occur and the child will be born and will grow to the age of perfection, which is thirty years, as the person wishes, i.e., the child will be male or female and so on, in accordance with the person’s wishes. 

This is the view of many of the scholars. 

Some of the scholars said that in Paradise there will be intercourse but there will be no children. This view was narrated from Tawoos, Muhaajid and Ibraaheem an-Nakha‘i. 

Imam al-Bukhaari (may Allah have mercy on him) said: It was narrated from Abu Razeen al-‘Uqayli that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “The people of Paradise will not have children there.” 

The hadeeth referred to by al-Bukhaari was narrated by Imam Ahmad (15773) from Abu Razeen al-‘Uqayli (may Allah be pleased with him) in a lengthy hadeeth in which it says “The righteous women will be for the righteous man, you will enjoy them as you enjoyed them in this world, and they will enjoy you, but you will not produce children.” 

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: It has the dignity and light of Prophethood which suggests that it is saheeh. However it was classed as da‘eef by al-Albaani in Zalaal al-Jannah, and Shu‘ayb al-Arna’oot said: Its isnaad is da‘eef and is a series of unknown narrators. 

The hadeeth clearly states that there will be no childbirth, but there is a difference of opinion as to its soundness. 

With regard to the hadeeth of Abu Sa‘eed (may Allah be pleased with him), “If the believer wishes for a child in Paradise, the pregnancy, birth and growth will occur within an hour, as he wishes”, it was noted that its soundness is subject to further discussion. Hence Ibn al-Qayyim said concerning it: Its isnaad meets the conditions of soundness, but it is ghareeb jiddan. Haadi al-Arwaah, p. 213 

And he said: With regard to this hadeeth of Abu Saeed al-Khudri, the best of its isnaads is the isnaad of at-Tirmidhi, who determined that it is ghareeb and that it is only known from the hadeeth of Abu’s-Siddeeq an-Naaji, and the wording of the hadeeth is not sound. End quote. 

Imam Ishaaq ibn Raahawayh (may Allah have mercy on him) said concerning the hadeeth of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), “If the believer wishes for a child in Paradise, the pregnancy, birth and growth will occur within an hour, as he wishes”: But he will not wish. What is meant by the words of Ishaaq is that the words of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), “If the believer wishes …” are hypothetical )i.e., if the believer were to wish, but in fact he will not wish). 

Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned a number of reasons why it is most likely that there will be no childbirth in Paradise, such as the following: 

1.     The hadeeth of Ibn Razeen

2.     The words of Allah, may He be exalted (interpretation of the meaning): “Therein they shall have Azwajun Mutahharatun (purified mates or wives)” [an-Nisa’ 4:57]. They are the ones who have been purified from menses, nifaas (postpartum bleeding) and so on.

It was narrated that Mujaahid said: Purified from menses, stools, urine, sputum, spitting, maniy and childbirth.

3.     Allah, may He be glorified, made pregnancy and childbirth along with  menses and maniy; if women were to become pregnant in Paradise, menses and other discharges would not cease for them.

4.     It is proven in as-Saheeh that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “There will remain in Paradise surplus space, and Allah will create a creation for it and cause them to inhabit it (the surplus space).” Narrated by Muslim, 5085. If there were to be childbirth in Paradise, then this surplus space would be for those who would be born there, and they would be more entitled to it than others.

5.     Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning): “And those who believe and whose offspring follow them in Faith, to them shall We join their offspring” [at-Toor 52:21]. Here He tells us that He will honour them by joining to them their offspring that they had in this world. If they were to have offspring in Paradise, Allah would have referred to them as He referred to their worldly offspring, because they would be delighted with them (the hypothetical offspring in Paradise) as they were delighted with their children in this world (i.e., the fact that He mentioned only the worldly offspring indicates that there will be no offspring in Paradise).

6.     Either we say that there will ongoing procreation in Paradise or that it will continue until some point, then cease. But both ideas are impossible, because the former implies endless birth of new individuals, whilst the latter implies the end of one of the pleasures of the people of Paradise, and that is impossible. And we cannot say that there will be procreation and people will die to be succeeded by others, because there is no death there.

7.     People will not grow in Paradise as they did in this world, so the children of its people will not grow and become bigger, and the men will not grow. Rather these children will remain small and will not change, and the adults will be thirty-three years old and will not change either. If there were any childbirth in Paradise, then the child would have to grow until it became an adult. It is well known that children who die will reach the age of thirty-three without growing. 

Then he said: Paradise is not the realm of procreation; rather it is the place of eternal abode and those who are in it will never die and be replaced by their offspring. End quote. 

Haadi al-Arwaah, 1/173 

And Allah knows best.

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