31وَلا تَقتُلوا أَولادَكُم خَشيَةَ إِملاقٍ ۖ نَحنُ نَرزُقُهُم وَإِيّاكُم ۚ إِنَّ قَتلَهُم كانَ خِطئًا كَبيرًاMuhammad AsadHence, do not kill your children for fear of poverty:1 it is We who shall provide sustenance forthem as well as for you. Verily, killing them is a great sin.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.