Wala taqtuloo awladakum khashyata imlaqin nahnu narzuquhum wa-iyyakum inna qatlahum kana khit-an (surah Al Isra: 31)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(17:31) (7) Do not kill your offsprings for fear of want: for it is We Who provide them and you as well. Indeed their killing is a heinous crime. *31

Wa laa taqtulooo awlaadakum khashyata imlaaq; nahnu narzuquhum wa iyyaakum; inna qatlahum kaana khitan kabeeraa

*31) This verse cuts at the very root of the movement of birth control, which has been going on from ancient times to our present age. It was the fear of want that induced people to kill their children or resort to abortion. In our age another plan has been added to these, i.e., contraception. This article of the Islamic Manifesto prohibits the people from reducing the number of mouths by artificial means taut exhorts them to increase the means of production according to the natural methods enjoined by .AIlah. According to this article, it is one of the biggest mistakes of man to check birth rate as a solution to the want and scarcity of provisions: therefore, it warns him, as if to say, "O man, it is not you who make arrangement for food, but AIIah, Who settled you in the land and has been providing for you and will provide for those who will come after you". History tells us that the food resources have always expanded in proportion to the number of inhabitants of a country: nay, often they have exceeded far snore than the needs of the inhabitants. Thus it is a folly on the part of man to interfere with the arrangements of Allah.
It is very significant that as a result of this teaching no movement has ever been started to control birth nor has there been any inclination to infanticide among the Muslims ever since the revelation of the Qur'an.