I wanted to ask you about Islam’s stance on the number of children we should have.
Based on what I’ve read in hadiths and seen from the life of the Imams, I get the impression we should try to have as many as we can. But I just wanted to check whether my understanding is correct?

Specifically, I have two questions regarding this topic:

1. If my rizq currently is at a level where I can realistically only afford say 2 children, should I just bring 2? Or should I aim to produce more with the belief that Allah (swt) will naturally increase my rizq as I start bringing more children?

2. Would it be better to have less children and spend more time on ibadah/studying in Islam? Or would Allah (swt) prefer we first try to have as many children as we can, and while doing so allocate any free time we get to ibadah/studying Islam?

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The question about how many children should we have should never be related to rizq. Allah has promised rizq to one and all. The Quran was very specific about this issue.

However the question of children should always be related to raising them well and within the tenets of Islam. We know in this day and era it’s very difficult to upbringing children in the right way if there are so many of them for a number of reasons.

Among these reasons:

1. Both parents leaving the household to earn a living

2. Globalisation

3. Peer pressure

4. Rapid change of values.

5. Effects of social media