Q642 :What does Islam say about test-tube babies,
artificial insemination, sperm banks and the so-called
“children-on-demand” techniques?
A642 : Much is being said about the techniques now
available as a result of what is termed the “revolution” in genetic
engineering. There is the sperm bank which is used to fertilize eggs of
women who have remained childless after a number of years of marriage.
There is also the method known as “surrogate” motherhood where one
woman is employed to bear the child for a married couple who cannot
have a child of their own. The surrogate mother is paid a fee for her
troubles. There are other techniques and methods which are being tried
on animals to determine whether they can safely be applied to human
beings. There is a ruling which has been agreed by many scholars and
which applies to all these techniques and methods. That ruling states
that whatever is used strictly between a married couple to help them
have a child of their own is permissible, provided that no third party
is involved in any way. If, for example, the egg of a woman is taken
out of her body and fertilized in the laboratory out of her own
husband’s sperm, which means that the conception takes place outside
her body, and then the fertilized egg is replanted in her body, and she
carries the fetus for the rest of the pregnancy term before giving
birth to it, this is acceptable. When any process involves a third
party, either in the shape of a surrogate mother or fertilizing the egg
of one woman with the sperm of someone other than her husband, then all
this is forbidden. In the latter case, the sperm may nete from a bank
and the man who gave it is not known to the woman. The prohibition is
based on the principle that Islam is keen to maintain proper family
relationships. The children must be aware of who their parents are.
When a mess like the one happening in the West is allowed to take
place, all sorts of problems arise. What is more, the inevitable result
will be total confusion of parenthood and of the child-parent
relationship. This is something which Islam does not allow.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )