Islam, The State, and Population

Islam, State and population edited by Gavin W. Jones and Mehtab S. Karim

Much has been written about the attitude of Islam to family planning and population control. In the past it has mainly taken as its starting-point the observation that Muslim countries and Muslim minorities in Non-Muslim countries tend to have high fertility. It was only a small step from this to the argument that high Muslim fertility was immutable, arising inevitably from elements in Islamic belief and family and social structures.


Gavin Jones has followed an academic career closely linked with consultancy assignments in the areas of population and development, educational planning, and urban planning. Mehtab S. Karim is the Head of the Reproductive Health Program and Professor of Demography at the Department of Community Health Sciences, Aga Khan University . He is also the President of the Population Association of Pakistan.