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Within the Muslim community, there are those who encourage Muslims to have a high number of children. I also read that "procreation in Islam is a sign of God's will and a large family is perceived as a blessing" in Blyth, E. Ruth Landau, eds. 2009. Faith and Fertility: Attitudes Towards Reproductive Practices in Different Religions from Ancient to Modern Times. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

But what does the Quran say about the number of children a family should have? For instance, are there explicit verses in the Quran that, e.g., encourage families to have at least one or two children, that a large family is a blessing, that a family with children is positive in some sense, et cetera?

I am looking for a detailed and canonical answer.

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    No, the Quran does not mention anything about number of children. It however, does encourage marriage, which leads to..... And so, it is implicitly saying, HAVE CHILDREN!
    – El Flea
    May 1, 2020 at 9:58

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There is no prefered or detected number for children in Islam, but the parity is prefered. Muhammed peace be upon him said :(تناكحوا تكاثروا فإني أباهي بكم الأمم), (Get married, for I will boast of your great numbers before the nations)

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  • What source do you have for this saying?
    – Elias
    Aug 2 at 13:52
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Quran has no verse saying something like how many children should a family have. but there is a Hadith where Prophet peace be on him encouraging people to have lot of children

Narrated Ma'qil ibn Yasar:
A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: I have found a woman of rank and beauty, but she does not give birth to children. Should I marry her? He said: No. He came again to him, but he prohibited him. He came to him third time, and he (the Prophet) said: Marry women who are loving and very prolific, for I shall outnumber the peoples by you.

refrence: qaalarasulallah

An other Hadith that goes to the same idea Narrated Anas: Um Sulaim said to the Prophet (ﷺ) "Anas is your servant." The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "O Allah! increase his wealth and offspring, and bless (for him) what ever you give him."

حَدَّثَنَا سَعِيدُ بْنُ الرَّبِيعِ، حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، عَنْ قَتَادَةَ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ أَنَسًا، قَالَ قَالَتْ أُمُّ سُلَيْمٍ لِلنَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَنَسٌ خَادِمُكَ‏.‏ قَالَ ‏ "‏ اللَّهُمَّ أَكْثِرْ مَالَهُ وَوَلَدَهُ، وَبَارِكْ لَهُ فِيمَا أَعْطَيْتَهُ ‏"‏‏.‏

Reference    : Sahih al-Bukhari 6334
In-book reference    : Book 80, Hadith 31
USC-MSA web (English) reference  : Vol. 8, Book 75, Hadith 346
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  • I saw the grade for that hadith is Hasan Sahih, is that weaker than Sahih?
    – Rafid
    Nov 29, 2019 at 17:36
  • This is not a canonical answer. It does not seem correct, either. Does not the Quran view a large family as a blessing? For if it does, then one interpretation is that, according to the Quran, there is some positive benefit in having a higher number of children. Or does the Quran say nothing about the size of the family? About having one child instead of no child?
    – Elias
    Dec 2, 2019 at 16:06
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    Where did you get the information that large families are a blessing or is it an assumption you made?
    – user32715
    Dec 2, 2019 at 16:13
  • "Procreation in Islam is a sign of God's will and a large family is perceived as a blessing", from Blyth, E. Ruth Landau, eds. 2009. Faith and Fertility: Attitudes Towards Reproductive Practices in Different Religions from Ancient to Modern Times. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    – Elias
    Dec 2, 2019 at 16:30
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    @AnonymousIGuess you asked about if having many children is better then having less, that is what I answered. If you are asking me to give you something from the Quran that support that, as I said already, I dont know any verse that have this meaning
    – brahimm
    Dec 3, 2019 at 14:15

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