The Ruling on Delaying Childbirth on the Ground of the Wife’s Young Age

Question:
This questioner asks: What is the ruling on one who delays having children on the grounds that the wife is young, that she lacks experience in raising children, or that a time period is left between one child and the next on the grounds that this makes it easier and helps in raising the children with good upbringing?

Answer:
All of these are invalid justifications. The justification for spacing out childbirth is if the mother is harmed by consecutive pregnancies, being ill or physically weak such that she cannot handle consecutive pregnancies; in that case, there is no harm in taking what delays pregnancy until the harm of the first child subsides. As for these possibilities, these are invalid reasons. As long as the mother is healthy, strong, and capable of pregnancy and consecutive pregnancies, then pregnancy is left to its course, and childbirth is left to its course, and there is good in it.