What justifies having children if there is a possibility that they will suffer eternally in the afterlife?

Question

One of the subjects which I have been perplexed about is the conflict between procreation and antinatalism. Islam places great emphasis on the family unit and raising children. Of course, this is in opposition to the arguments raised by antinatalism.

Although the arguments of most anti-natalists focus on materialistic suffering and materialistic pleasure, for the sake of the upcoming question let's entertain the idea of eternal suffering and eternal pleasure in the afterlife instead.

Since people who would not exist:
1. cannot truly be deprived of the pleasure that they would have possibly experienced if they had lived, but
2. are "excused" from suffering that they would have possibly experienced if they had lived:

From an Islamic perspective, what justifies having children if there is a possibility, no matter how small, that they will suffer eternally in the afterlife?

Answer 1

for what i know, there is no such thing as "people who would not exist" , because every soul that god created will come to earth , whether by a Muslim family or atheistic family . As a muslim , if I am cabable, I can have this (soul) child and raise him Muslim , and increase his chances to heaven.

Answer 2

"And [mention, O Muhammad], when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority." They said, "Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?" Allah said, "Indeed, I know that which you do not know." "[2:30]

God created us for a purpose which is to worship him. If we raise children and teach them the religion then we will have the reward of teaching them. We can hope for them to go to paradise.

Our beloved Prophet said(pbuh):

"Let not any of you die except that he assumes the best from Allah" [Reported by Muslim (#2877) and others]

Even though they have a chance of going to hellfire, we should assume the best.

Answer 3

‘because every soul that god created will come to earth‘ if a person never has sexual relations then how can a child be born. There’s also contraception and vasectomies. There are many scholars and poets that never married such as Imam Nawawi, Imam Ibn Taymiya, Imam Ibn Jarir al-Tabari and the famous female scholar of hadith Sayyida Karima al-Marwaziyy and others.

Answer 4

well i mean its a pretty loaded question, but I'm sure they're a few Sufi sects here and here that may be anti-natalist. personally I find the argument you used pretty fallacious since misery and joy are quite subjective and if you're risking joy and happiness then you're risking misery, thus they, for the most part, cancel out each other when speaking subjectively.

Answer 5

If the people don't exist, then they cannot judge whether or not something brings them pain. Therefore, the theory is self-refuting.