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Artus, 2015, explains the Hanafi stance: "marriage is legal at any age... sexual intercourse between the husband and the wife happens after the girl reaches puberty". Islam Q&A instead says "until she is physically able to bear intercourse". In any case, as far as I can tell, it's possible for a Muslim man be married to a 13 or 14 year-old girl, say, and have sex with her legally under Sharia.

Question: Is it haram for a husband to get his 13 or 14-year-old wife pregnant?

I ask because there seems to be medical and social complications that can arise from pregnancy at that age, e.g.:

The top three causes for maternal death in Pakistan are post-partum haemorrhage (excessive bleeding), sepsis (major infection) and eclampsia (hypertensive disorder). All three are found to have greater prevalence in teen pregnancies due to biological and physiological factors. -- Mumtaz et al., Age of marriage: A position paper, 2010 (pdf)

And I wonder if it's haram until she is physically able to bear pregnancy (analogous to the Islam Q&A fatwa).

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  • According to the very dominant opinion about Aisha's age at consummation, Muhammad had sex with her when she was 9. Clearly a 9 year old falls into a higher-risk group for dying from childbirth (possibly even from pregnancy and intercourse) than a 13-14 year old, as far as healthy girls are concerned. Considering there are no ahadith that mention pregnancy in relation to age of consummation, what indications do you see that there might be a question here that doesn't have the well-documented answer of "sex is allowed at puberty"?
    – G. Bach
    Commented Jun 9, 2017 at 12:17
  • Perhaps a fatwa saying: "if it puts her health in danger due to her young age, it's haram to (intend to) get her pregnant" (or something to the contrary). I don't know in advance, though.
    – Rebecca J. Stones
    Commented Jun 9, 2017 at 12:25
  • 9 year-olds at that time and place , is different than today's females , physiologically , emotionally , and physically , so , unfortunately , G.Bach doesn't know what he is talking about . according to your question , if the harm is for certain , or most probable, then he must not get her pregnant . He will ask the trusted doctors and they will tell him. that is also true for any woman of any age , not only for 13-14 year-old females. But sure, it is more reasonable to happen to 13 year old female than to a 20 year old .
    – Butarek Hd
    Commented Aug 24, 2017 at 19:32
  • why isn't the answer to this 'ask a doctor if this medically feasible' ?
    – BCLC
    Commented Apr 2, 2021 at 13:41

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Based on my research, I concluded that:

It doesn't seem to be haram for a husband to get his 13 or 14-year-old wife pregnant. Because a girl who has reached the age of puberty, is allowed to get married and ...

Hence, from the viewpoint of Islam there is no prohibition for doing that (at least in common condition). Of course, albeit Islam allows this, (I presume) it doesn't mean that Islam encourages women to be pregnant in very low ages; as for instance you presumably know that (scientifically) it is said that best age for pregnancy is about 18 to 25, whereas it doesn't mean that the age before/after this age is definitely dangerous (or unlawful).

From the aspect of scientific, as much as I've perceived of Islam, Islam presents a general formula that doing everything whose negative effects (harms) are high/remarkable, it can be considered as a haram issue/act. So, in the issue of pregnancy in 13/14-year-old, I personally concluded that it can be related to the physical condition of the girl, for instance if there is a girl whose body is really weak and ..., and a -trusted- doctor(s) considers the pregnancy as really a dangerous action for her (due to her high-risk status of body), then it can be haram for her (and presumably for her husband is aware of the issue). But, in general Islam allows that after puberty.

Reference:

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  • and a -trusted- doctor(s) --> so basically the answer is 'ask a doctor if this medically feasible' ?
    – BCLC
    Commented Apr 2, 2021 at 13:42

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