CHILDFREE PROBLEMS AND THEIR SOLUTIONS FROM AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

Received: November, 26th 2021 Revised: December, 17th 2021 Approved: December, 19th 2021 Recently, there has been a child-free phenomenon that is being discussed, especially in Indonesia. It causes various questions regarding the views of the pros and cons of childfree itself, then how does Islam respond to it? What are the childfree problems and their solutions from Islamic view? Islam is one of the religions that can answer current problems based on the Al-Quran and Sunnah. As the basis of religion, the Qur'an and the sunnah have discussed many child-free problems. Therefore, this study is aimed to determine the problem of childfree and its solution in the view of Islam . This research used the Library Research method or literature review with a qualitative research approach. The results of this study, in the view of Islam, married couples who choose child-free include acts that are against nature because having children is a blessing and as human nature. Islam also responds to child freedom with several arguments about the primacy of kids in the family.


INTRODUCTION
In Islam, marriage is sacred worship, following the Sunnah of the Prophet, and carried out based on sincerity and responsibility (Wibisana, 2016). Marriage in Arabic namely An-nikah which has several meanings. According to the language, the word marriage means together, unite and relate.
Allah SWT has explained in the Qur'an, that He will give to His servants who marry because of Him. Allah says in Surah An-Nur 32: Means: And marry the women and men and the improved ones of your male slaves and your female slaves among you who are single. If they are poor, Allah will enrich them out of His Virtue. And Allah is All-Embracing (His Bestowals, His Blessings are abundant), All-Knowing.
Marriage is a worship that is highly recommended by the Prophet SAW and the Prophet SAW encouraged his people to multiply offspring (Rukmana, n.d.). Imam Ghazali in his book Ihya Ulumuddin explained that efforts to have children (marriage) become worship from four sides, namely, first seeking Allah's pleasure by producing offspring (Aslami, 2016). Second, seeking the love of the Prophet SAW by increasing the human population that he is proud of him. The Third, hopes for blessings from a pious child after he dies. Fourth, hoping for intercession, because of the death of a small child who preceded him. And last is strong enough that the importance of offspring in a marriage.
Having a child is a blessing and a human nature (Islam, n.d.). The fear of married couples to have children, the current phenomenon is called childfree. According to Henri Salahuddin, senior researcher at the Institute for the study of Islamic thought and civilizations (INSISTS), childfree is a product of the short-sighted generation. The term childfree is the intention to get married but do not want to have children.
In Islam, pious children become investments in the afterlife for parents. And also be a charity for their parents. Of course, this priority is not obtained by the childfree concept. Some of the reasons for childfree include personal, financial, family background, concerns about the child's growth and development, and the environment. Al-Qur'an has explained that among the purposes of marriage is to find peace in one's life between husband and wife (litaskunu ilaiha). In addition to obtaining tranquility and peace, it can also maintain offspring (hifdzu al-nasli). Allah SWT said (QS an-nahl: 72).
‫س‬ ُ ‫ف‬ ‫أ‬ ‫َن‬ ‫ْي‬ ‫ٌُأ‬ ٕ Means: "And Allah hath given you wives of your kind, and hath given you, from your wives, sons, and grandsons, and hath made provision of good things for you. Is it then in vanity that they believe and in the grace of Allah that they disbelieve?" Based on the description of childfree problems there are concerns in terms of financial, environmental, and other factors, the curiosity of researchers arisen to discuss more childfree problems and their solutions from an Islamic perspective. The focus of the discussion in this study is the problem of childfree in the view of Islam and Islam address the childfree problem.

RESEARCH METHOD
The method used in this research is library research or literature review. This research used qualitative research by using a descriptive qualitative approach because the data collected is in the form of written words. By using this type of library research or literature review, is a series of activities related to the methods of collecting library data, reading and taking notes, and processing research materials. This data collection technique was to identify, discourse, from books, articles, journals, the web (internet), or other information related to this research. To analyze the data, the researcher used content analysis, which is a method that can be used to analyze all forms of communication including concepts, opinions, theories, principles, newspapers, books, poetry, films, folklore, regulations. statutes or scriptures.

Child-free problems in the view of Islam
The child-free trend, which is a life choice or agreement between a husband and wife not to have children after marriage, whether biological children, stepchildren, or adopted children continue to be discussed, it becomes interesting discussion material. Of course, many people agree with this and some are against it with their arguments and reasons. What must be questioned now is the problem of what will happen if the childfree trend continues to be applied in life. Humans are indeed extraordinarily complex creatures, every human being has experienced existential anxiety, was born struggled, and finally died. That's how humans live life, then many questions will arise, who are we? where did we come from? After death where will we go? why is there life and death? why so and so? and there were still many questions that keep raging inside.
Therefore, many people find themselves in absurd situations, fixated on these absurd questions, as a result, many are trapped in that absurd state, which will later be referred to as nihilism, which assumes that nothing in this world is meaningless. There was no meaning, there was no essence, and of course, the impact is on the despair and indifference among the nation's generation.
Despair and indifference are one of the causes of the emergence of the child-free trend, in essence, the problems, challenges, tests, and trials in marriage are to increase our belief towards haqqul yaqiin (true belief), especially if all human beings understand the purpose of marriage is towards sakinah mawaddah wa rahmah.
From many arguments, of course, we have to draw a common thread to be able to reflect on the main problem of the child-free trend if it continues in our lives in the view of Islam. In a hadith about the phases of human creation, narrated from Abu Abdurrahman Abdullah bin Mas'ud, he said, The Messenger of Allah said, when the spirit is breathed into man, Allah commands the angels to determine four things, namely: determining his sustenance, his death, his deeds and his accident or happiness (Al-Bugha & Mistu, 2017).
The sustenance here means something that brings benefits to humans. Sustenance is divided into two: sustenance to uphold the body and sustenance to uphold religion. The sustenance for upholding the body is eating, drinking, clothing, housing, etc, while the sustenance for upholding religion is knowledge and faith. (Muhammad, 2012).
Muslims believe that Allah SWT is a form of the Richest, Most Perfect, which of course does not need anything. Therefore why was man created? what was the purpose of his creation? Does God's creation have a purpose? If it doesn't have a purpose, it means that God's actions are in vain?
In reality, Allah created nothing in vain, no product failed in His creation, everything has a meaning and purpose. As Allah said: "Then do you think that We created you to play (without any purpose and that you will not be returned to us?" In Al-Qur'an Allah SWT explained at least some verses of the Qur'an that have indications about the purpose of the creation of humans, some words which are contained in the Qur'an such as the expression: al-Ibadah, al-khilafah (caliphate), and al-amanah.
These three words, namely al-Ibadah, al-khilafah (caliphate) and al-amanah which are contained in the Qur'an regarding the purpose of human creation, then the most appropriate thing to be associated is fitrah, human nature after a long process of creation, fitrah is a tendency innate nature from birth, which since the first creation, humans have a natural innate nature, namely the nature of monotheism, because Islam itself is a religion of nature.
It becomes urgent for humans to understand their nature, because with that, humans will be aware to take care of them, so they don't deviate and stay straight on their holy nature until they return to their Lord. Because if humans deviate from the nature, then humans must be responsible for the nature that has been given by Allah SWT.
In the Qur'an, it is clearly stated how Allah created humans with His power. None other than to worship Him by making humans as caliphs on earth. In the Qur'an Surah Ad-dzariyat verse 56, Allah said: And I did not create the jinn and human except that they might worship Me." In the sentence Illa liya'buduun the meaning of worship here is very broad, so we cannot say that worship is only obligatory worship that has been prescribed by Allah, such as prayer, zakat, and fasting. However, the meaning of worship here is all practices whose purpose is lillah, including the concept of marriage and having offspring which are human nature, then the child-free trend means that it is contrary to human nature. Moreover, getting married and having children is the sunnatullah and his messenger, so in a hadith from Aisha r.a, she said, Rasulullah SAW said: ْ "Marriage is part of my sunnah, whoever does not practice my sunnah, then he is not following my path. Get married, because I make you proud of the rest of the people, whoever has wealth, then get married, and whoever can't afford it, let him fast, because fasting is a shield for him." (Narrated by Ibn Majjah).
Indeed, getting married and having children is a choice and a right for each human being, in fact in Islam there is nothing that is forced, all good deeds must be present with the intention of the heartْ ْ ِ ‫ْٓإ‬ ‫َلَ‬ ْ َ ‫ْس‬ ‫م‬ ‫ِيْ‬ ‫َْف‬ ‫آ‬ ْ ِ ‫ِيِ‬ ّ ‫ٱىد‬ which means there is no compulsion in (adhering to) the religion of Islam. So getting married and having children is not a compulsion, but a form of worship to the Lord of its creator.
The meaning of the family itself in Islam is the smallest unit that is responsible for realizing the creation of a peaceful and civilized society (Amri & Tulab, 2018). The family must be a fortress that protects it, because building a family is the same as half a religion, keeping it is the implementation of faith, fighting all plagues that threaten it is a form of jihad, caring for the fruit that is born from it is a form of religious symbols.
With it, humans also continue to maintain their nature, and develop the potentials that Allah SWT has given to humans through their nature, how can a person be able to apply a lifestyle to refuse to give birth or have offspring even though he is given healthy reproductive abilities? material. maintaining this nature will certainly support the implementation of the function of his caliphate on earth. So in Surah al-Baqarah verse 30, Allah says: And when thy Lord said unto the angels: I am about to place a viceroy in the earth, they said: Wilt thou place therein one who will harm therein and will shed blood, while we, we hymn Thy praise and sanctify Thee? He said: Surely I know that which ye know not." The word ja'ala means to make something that already existed before. Then in the sentence ْ ‫إّيْجبعوْفيْاۡلزضْخييفتْ‬ that Allah made humans on earth as caliphs, named after his creation on earth.
Being a caliph on earth, of course, there is a burden of mandate on the shoulders of each human being, because the caliph is a substitute for Allah who regulates His affairs in human life. In addition, the caliphate can also be understood as "a regeneration that takes turns in which they are tasked with prospering and prospering the earth". Thus the caliph is a servant of Allah who is assigned to be the benefit and welfare of the world. So of course humans have a great mandate on their shoulders as caliphs on this earth. As explained in the Qur'an Surah Al Ahzab Verse 72 Allah says: Surely We did offer the Trust (the Spirit) to the heavens and the earth and the mountains but shrank from bearing it and feared from it and human under-took it. Surely it (the soul) very tyrants, very ignorant.".
From the verse above very clearly commands humans to fulfill the mandate, a mandate that cannot be given to any other creature. Because humans have been given the advantage of reason by their Lord, reason to carry out the mandate to be leaders and enforce the law in the fairest way possible on this earth. For this reason, every human being must be aware, whether male or female, to better understand his nature and maqoom, both as an imam or as a mother in a family. Considering the important role of a family for the future of the ummah is as a da'wah baton. For this reason, collaboration is the most important thing in building a sakinah, mawaddah, warohmah families.
So with a bit of the phenomenon of the end of time and the real problems that are happening now, as the young generation of Islam living in Indonesia. In this era, we should be firm and not swallow down on the emerging trends, one of which is child-free, in fact, human thoughts and conditions always change over time, because humans are dynamic, so it would be better if we didn't make a fuss about things that can change. (Luthfi, 2018).
Because the future of world civilization depends on the future of young women who will start it from home. Getting married and having children is not an easy thing, an educated wife will lead to the success of her husband, a broad-minded mother will give birth and educate a generation to be proud of (Tanjung, 2021). And of course, the presence of children is the hope of the people to continue the da'wah relay struggle.

Islamic solutions in addressing childfree problems
In practice, childfree is not new in this world. Childfree has long been used by westerners who don't want to have children during their marriage. In Islam childfree is also not a new thing. Many scholars have discussed and concluded whether it is permissible or not. But most Muslims prefer to have children than not, because of the many virtues in educating children and can also lead them to heaven from the child's good deeds (Zarman, 2011). That is why so many Muslims do not approve of the childfree.