Procreation. Although sexual activity was not necessarily linked to procreation—as it was in the medieval Christian tradition —children were often an outcome. The Qur'an says that children come by God's will: "The kingdom of the heavens and the earth belongs to God. He creates what He pleases, for some He grants females, for some He grants males, for some He grants males and females, and some He makes childless. He is Wise and Capable" (49: 50). It also says that all children should be welcomed, explicitly condemning the pre-Islamic practice of female infanticide and asking for what crime the infant girl should be killed. Despite such Qur'anic positions, Muslim religious thinkers in the medieval period had to remind people that male and female children should be equally valued. In a critique of what was no doubt customary behavior, al-Ghazali (1058-...