Short answer
Yes. Permanent sterilisation for family planning is haram in the Hanafi school, and the four schools agree. It becomes allowed only in real necessity, for example when qualified doctors judge that another pregnancy would seriously endanger the woman's life and temporary methods are not suitable.
Vasectomy, tubal ligation and other permanent methods are haram when done for family planning or convenience, because they destroy a faculty Allah created and resemble castration, which the Prophet ﷺ forbade. They become permissible in genuine necessity confirmed by a reliable, preferably Muslim, specialist.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
There is a clear difference between preventing pregnancy for a time and ending fertility for life. Temporary contraception is allowed for a valid reason (see is contraception haram). Ending the ability to have children is treated far more seriously, and the four schools agree it is forbidden without necessity.
When some Companions, far from their wives on campaign, asked the Prophet ﷺ for permission to castrate themselves, he forbade it. When Uthman ibn Maz'un wanted to give up marriage altogether, he refused him. Scholars apply this to sterilisation: it cuts off lineage, which the Shariah aims to protect, and it is a lasting change to Allah's creation of the kind the Quran says Satan calls people to. A reversal operation is not guaranteed to work, so a vasectomy or tubal ligation is judged as permanent.
Necessity changes the ruling. Examples scholars discuss include:
- a woman who has had several caesareans and is told by specialists that another pregnancy would put her life at real risk
- a medical condition in which pregnancy is dangerous and temporary methods are unsuitable or have failed
In such cases, get the opinion of a trustworthy specialist, ideally a second one, and take the medical report to a mufti. A hysterectomy or removal of the ovaries to treat cancer, severe bleeding or another disease is not sterilisation for family planning at all. It is treatment, and it is allowed.
If you had a sterilisation in the past without a valid reason, the remedy is sincere repentance (tawbah). You are not required to have it reversed.
Ask a mufti about your own case. This answer explains the general ruling. When the details of your situation matter, as they do here, ask a qualified mufti and give them the full facts. Where to ask a scholar.
The evidence
Quran, Surah An-Nisaa 4:119
وَلَأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ وَلَأُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ وَلَءَامُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُبَتِّكُنَّ ءَاذَانَ ٱلْأَنْعَٰمِ وَلَءَامُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَمَن يَتَّخِذِ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنَ وَلِيًّۭا مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ فَقَدْ خَسِرَ خُسْرَانًۭا مُّبِينًۭا ﴿١١٩﴾
And I will mislead them, and I will arouse in them [sinful] desires, and I will command them so they will slit the ears of cattle, and I will command them so they will change the creation of Allah." And whoever takes Satan as an ally instead of Allah has certainly sustained a clear loss.
Permanently destroying a faculty Allah created, without need, falls under changing His creation.
Quran, Surah Al-Baqara 2:173
إِنَّمَا حَرَّمَ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلْمَيْتَةَ وَٱلدَّمَ وَلَحْمَ ٱلْخِنزِيرِ وَمَآ أُهِلَّ بِهِۦ لِغَيْرِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ فَمَنِ ٱضْطُرَّ غَيْرَ بَاغٍۢ وَلَا عَادٍۢ فَلَآ إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَفُورٌۭ رَّحِيمٌ ﴿١٧٣﴾
He has only forbidden to you dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah. But whoever is forced [by necessity], neither desiring [it] nor transgressing [its limit], there is no sin upon him. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
The principle of necessity is what allows sterilisation when life is at real risk.
Sahih al-Bukhari 5075
Sahih... ألا نستخصي فنهانا عن ذلك ...
"Ibn Mas'ud said: We asked, should we not castrate ourselves? And he forbade us from that."
Ending one's fertility was forbidden even under hardship.
Sahih al-Bukhari 5073
Sahih... رد رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم على عثمان بن مظعون التبتل ولو أذن له لاختصينا ...
"Sa'd said: The Messenger of Allah refused Uthman ibn Maz'un permission to live in celibacy, and had he allowed it, we would have castrated ourselves."
Giving up marriage and fertility as a way of life was rejected.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Hazr wa al-Ibahah, on castration. Castrating a human being is haram.
- Fatawa Mahmudiyya, Kitab al-Hazr wa al-Ibahah, section on birth control. Permanent sterilisation is not permissible except in genuine medical necessity.
This answer is pending review by the scholars on our team. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.