The Children of Israel
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE[17:31]
Hence, do not kill your children for fear of poverty: it is We who shall provide sustenance for them as well as for you. Verily, killing them is a great sin.
* v.31 : 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 Zamakhsharīs 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.