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Surah 17. Al-Israa, Ayah 31

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وَلَا تَقْتُلُوٓا۟ أَوْلَـٰدَكُمْ خَشْيَةَ إِمْلَـٰقٍ ۖ نَّحْنُ نَرْزُقُهُمْ وَإِيَّاكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ قَتْلَهُمْ كَانَ خِطْـًٔا كَبِيرًا
Wal a taqtuloo awl a dakum khashyata iml a qin na h nu narzuquhum waiyy a kum inna qatlahum k a na khi t an kabeer a n
Hence, do not kill your children for fear of poverty:36 it is We who shall provide sustenance for them as well as for you. Verily, killing them is a great sin.
  - Mohammad Asad

Historically. this may be a reference to the pre-Islamic Arabian custom of burying unwanted female children alive (see note [4] on {81:8-9}, as well as to the occasional - though much rarer - sacrifices of male children to some of their gods (see Zamakhshari's comments on 6:137 ). Beyond this, however, the above prohibition has a timeless validity inasmuch as it relates also to abortions undertaken "for fear of poverty", i.e., on purely economic grounds.

You shall not kill your children for fear of want, for it is We Who provide sustenance for them as well as for you; surely killing them is a great blunder.
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
Do not kill your children for fear of poverty. We provide for them and for you. Surely killing them is a heinous sin.
  - Mustafa Khattab
Slay not your children, fearing a fall to poverty, We shall provide for them and for you. Lo! the slaying of them is great sin.
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
Kill not your children for fear of want: We shall provide sustenance for them as well as for you: verily the killing of them is a great sin. 2214
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Arabs were addicted to female infanticide. In a society perpetually at war a son was a source of strength whereas a daughter was a source of weakness. Even now infanticide is not unknown in other countries for economic reasons. This crime against children's lives is here characterised as one of the greatest of sins.

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