Q & A on Reproduction – ( Islamic perspective )
The following issues were discussed by the IOMS, The Fiqh Academy at Jeddah and WHO in various meetings held between the years 1980 – 2000.
Q:1) Artificial insemination (Test Tube Babies) is it lawful or prohibited in Islam?
A: Such practice is lawful under the following conditions:
a) If it only involves a married couple
b) During the marriage life.
c) Sufficient & meticulous care is taken to avoid lineage confusion
d) The practice is unlawful if it involves an alien party, whether in the form of semen, an ovum, an embryo or a womb.
Q:2) If a woman is ovulating but does not have uterus, could she inseminate and incubate this fertilized ovum in the uterus of another women?
A: According to Islamic Sharea, it is not lawful.
Q:3) If the above happened, who is the real mother?
A: This fetus has two mothers. One is the owner of the ova and the other one is the surrogate. According to Islam, the surrogate is the lawful mother. The Quran says: “If any men among you divorce their wives by Zihar (calling them mother), they cannot be their mothers: None can be their mothers except those who gave them birth. And in fact they use words (both) iniquitous and false: but truly God is One that blots out (sins), and forgives (Again and again)”. –(Al-Mujadila:2)
“And we have enjoined on man (To be good) to his parents: In travail upon travail did his mother bear him, and in years twain was his weaning: (hear the command), show gratitude to Me and to thy parents: to me is (thy final) goal”. (Luqman: 14)
Q:4) Is the Surgical Contraception (Sterilization) either on individual basis or on mass level lawful?
A: It is agreed that surgical contraception is lawful on the individual level in cases of necessity as determined by a trustworthy Muslim Doctor and when other alternatives have been exhausted. On the level of the Muslim Nation at large it is unlawful and the scholars denounce turning sterilization into a general campaign and warns against its exploitation in demographic wars that aim at turning Muslims into minorities in their own countries or in the world as a whole.
Q:5) Is Abortion lawful? What is its condition from the Islamic point of view?
A: The Muslim Jurists and earlier Fiqh Scholars unanimously forbid abortion. Going over the views expressed by earlier fiqh scholars, with the keen insight and sound judgment they demonstrate, and noting that they unanimously forbid abortion after the breathing in of spirit,i.e. after the first four months of pregnancy, and that they differ over abortion before spirit is breathed in, with some opting for categorical prohibition or considering it reprehensible, and other prohibiting it after the first forty days and allowing it before that, with some difference over the necessity for justifying reasons; and benefiting from a review of contemporary medical and scientific advances as established in papers and by modern medical technology; the seminar concludes that an embryo is a living organism from the moment of conception, and its life is to be respected in all its stages, especially after spirit is breathed in. Aggression against it, in the form of abortion, is unlawful except in cases of maximum necessity. Some participants, however disagreed and believe abortion before the fortieth day, particularly when there is justification, is lawful.
Q:6) I am a lady. I feel shy whenever I visit any male Medical Doctor. Could you tell me, whether the medical examination by the other sex is lawful from the Islamic point of view?
A: It is lawful for a medical member of one sex to look at the awra ( a prohibited part of body to opposite sex, except face and hands) of a member of the other sex for purposes of medical examination, treatment, and medical education. Exposition, however, should be limited to what the need calls for.
Q:7) What is the individual or national opinion on Fetal Sex Selection from the Islamic point of view?
A: There was an agreement from the Islamic legal viewpoint is that fetal sex selection is unlawful when it is practiced at a national level, while on an individual basis, some of the scholars participating in the seminar on ” Human Reproduction in Islam ” believe that there is nothing legally wrong with the attempt to fulfill the wish of a married couple to have a boy or a girl through available medical means, while other scholars believe that it is unlawful for fear that one sex might outnumber the other.
Q: 8) What is the Islamic view on mixed Human Milk Banks?
A: The setting up of banks of mixed human milk is to be discouraged. If medical need calls for them, banks of human milk may be set up for premature babies. A group of participants believe, on the basis of the opinion of the majority fiqh scholars, that the collection of milk should be done in a way that guarantees the identification of each donor and each baby receiver. The nursing should be written down in records that are kept, and everyone involved should be notified to avoid the marriage of persons who have a milk relationship entailing the prohibition of their marriage.
Others, however, believe that there is no need to identify the donors and receivers, on the basis of the opinion of Al-Laith Ibn Sa’d who opine that milk relationships occurs only when a baby sucks the breast of a milk mother.
Source: islamset
Courtesy: www.everymuslim.co.za ?
