Waʾd (Infant Burial)

Wa'd: burying a female infant alive from fear of poverty or disgrace; the foulest practice of the Jahiliyya, which the Qur'an abolished and magnified as a sin.

Among the foulest and ugliest customs of the Jahiliyya people was wa'd: burying the daughter alive, whether from fear of poverty or dread that a tale of disgrace might come of her ¹.

When Islam came, the buried infant was asked for what sin she was killed: "And when the buried infant is asked for what sin she was killed" (al-Takwir 8–9); He forbade killing children from fear of poverty: "Do not kill your children for fear of want" (al-Isra' 31); and made killing them loss and straying from the religion: "Lost are those who killed their children in folly" (al-An'am 140) ¹.