Critically analysis of the fertility level of the muslim religious leaders (imams) and their views on the practices of family planning methods: a study in rural areas of murshidabad district, West Bengal

The higher fertility rate of Muslims than Hindus gives birth to social tensions and political concerns in India. The government of India followed ante-natal population policies where Muslims are not the exception. In India, a large section of the common people believed that the religion Islam had a significant positive role in the higher fertility rate of Muslims. Even a rumour had been believed by a section of Indian people that soon Muslims will be exceeding Hindus by number in India. Therefore, it is important to identify the views of Muslim religious leaders on the uses of various modern family planning methods to control the fertility rate of Muslims. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 180 local Muslim religious leaders whose ages ranged from 27 – 72 years. The local Islamic religious leaders are selected for an interview through multi-stage purposive convenience sampling. The result shows that all the Muslim religious leaders considered permanent methods of contraceptives i.e., sterilization (Both male and female sterilization), and abortion is strictly prohibited in Islam. However, there is controversy among the leaders regarding the use of various temporary modern contraceptives. The study also suggests that Islamic religious leaders are more comfortable with the word 'birth spacing' instead of 'birth control'.