ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the historical and theological origins of jurisprudential arguments, which are many and often conflicting. It examines the domestic and international manifestations of Islamic population discourse. Contemporary international debates have been partly informed by religious concerns, primarily Catholic ones, however despite this, long standing Muslim tradition, and the adoption of global norms by a number of Muslim states and societies, Islam remained at the periphery of international debate until the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). International opinion holds that population growth is problematic, thus it is important to establish an Islamic jurisprudential position on the question of population growth and optimum size. The literature on Islam and family planning is examined, in order to understand the religious position on population growth, family planning and contraception, to gauge how this might manifest in national level debates, and whether this necessarily means that debates in the Muslim world will be different from international ones.
