D. Abortion
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Islam's approach to the issue of birth control and abortion is very balanced. It allows women to prevent pregnancy but forbids them to terminate it. Abortion after the implanation of the fertilized ovum in the womb is
Abortion has become common in the Western world for various reasons:
1. sometimes it is a matter of choice between a child and a career;
2. sometimes it is a matter of choice between a child and a luxurious life-style;
3. sometimes it is because of the child's illegitimacy;
4. sometimes it is because of wrong child sex;
5. sometimes it is because of rape.
All these justifications are unacceptable from the Islamic point of view. The first two excuses reflect the selfish nature of this materialistic society. Allah says, "Do not kill your children because of (fear of) poverty -We will provide for you and them." (6:152) "Do not kill your children for fear of poverty; we will provide for them and you. Surely the killing (of children) is a great error." (17:31) The third excuse is a by-product of illicit sexual relations which Islam strongly condemns. The fourth reason is no less evil and cruel than the pre-Islamic Arab custom of burying the baby girl alive. As for the fifth case, the lady should use the morning after pill or RU486 immendiately after the sexual assault in order to prevent the possible implanation of a fertilized ovum. But if pregnancy is established, then Islam does not allow abortion.
Modern technology (like ultra sound) has made it possible o know whether or not a child has a defect long before he is born. Some people justify the abortion of a defective foetus. The present mujtahids do not allow such abortion; they say that the parents should pray and hope for a normal and healthy child. There are many examples where the prediction of the doctors have been proven wrong! In other words, what our mujtahids ar saying is that take preventative measures before going for pregnancy; but once pregnancy has taken place, you are not allowed to abort a foetus even if it is defective.
The shair'ah allows abortion only when doctors declare with reasonable certainty that the continuation of pregnancy will endanger the woman's life. This permission is based on the principle of lesser of the two evil known in Islamic legal terminology as the principle of al-ahamm wa 'l-muhimm (the more important and the less important). The Prophet said, "When two forbidden things come [upon a person] together, then the lesser will be sacrificed for the greater."1 In the present case, one is faced with two forbidden things: either abort the unborn child or let a living woman die. Obviously, the latter is greater than the former; therefore, abortion is allowed to save the live person.The birth of the first 'test-tube-baby' in 1978 made headlines all over the world. All the world, with the exception of Vatican, welcomed this new development in human science. After all, man is the prime creation of God. Allah has created the universe for man but created the man for Himself. During the last five decades, man has taken great leap in science and technology. One of the areas which has amazed us most are the new techniques in human reproduction.
It is interesting to note that even on this issue, Islam stands in the middle of the two extreme views: On the one hand, the Roman Catholic Church has categorically condemned in virto fertilization, artificial insemination and surrogate motherhood. On the other hand, the liberations allows these methods no matter whether it is done between married couples or others. Islam, as we shall see below, allows the new reproduction technology as long as it is done between the married couples.
In this chapter, we will examine in the new techniques designed to help couples in reproduction, and see whether Islam agrees with them or not.
AIH is used when the husband can produce semen, but his semen is not quite adequate to achieve fertilization. The inadequacy of semen can be attributed to low number of active sperms or the inablility of sperms to swim fast enough towards the ovum. AIH can also be used when the husband is suffering from permature ejaculation.
In AIH, the sperm is obtained from the husband by his masturbation and is then concentrated and 'improved' in the laboratory. This semen is then introduced into the wife's cervix at the best fertile days. The semen is introduced by an injection. Depending on the regulations of each institute, the injection can be carried out by a doctor or a nurse, or by the couple themselves.
As far as the shari'ah is concerned, there is no problem in the Artificial Insemination by Husband (AIH) as it is done between lawfully wedded couple.
Masturbation is forbidden, then how can the husband's semen be obtained for AIH? It is true that masturbation is forbidden in Shi'ah fiqh, but we have also said that masturbation by one's spouse is permissible! Therefore, in case of AIH, the wife can masturbate the husband in order to obtain the semen. It will be interesting to know how the Roman Catholics intend to solve this problem: "The Roman Catholic Church does permit artificial insemination if the husband's semen is used and is the product of intercourse with his wife, not masturbation, but this usually involves intercourse in a doctor's office and is 'hardly romantic,' Father Wolak said."1
AID is very similar to AIH. However, AID is used in cases where the husband's semen is definitely inadequate in quantity or quality. In the Western society, some single women who wish to remain unmarried but have a child also use this method to become pregnant. In England, two or four thousand births in a year are attributed to AID.
As far as Islam is concerned, Artificial Insemination by Donor is absolutely forbidden because it is by a donor and not by the woman's husband.
Since it does not involve any sexual relations between the donor and the woman, and therefore, cannot be categorized as adultery -some people may ask: how can it be haram? The Qur'an clearly says, "Say to the believing women that they ... should guard their private parts." (24:30) The divine command to guard the private parts is unqalified; it does not say that guard only from illicit sexual intercourse; it says that guard from everything except from your spouse. Allah describes the believers as "those who protect their private parts except from their spouses ... Therefore, whosoever seeks more beyond that, then they are the transgressors." (23:5) Therefore, even injecting the sperm of another man would constitute a transgression and a violation of the command of Allah.1
What is the status of a child conceived by AID?
If God forbid, a woman conceives a child through AID, then the child will not be considered an illegitimate child because he was not conceived by adultery which
This decision of the mujtahids is based on a hadith which provides an example very similar to the case of a child conceived by AID. This hadith has been narrated by various sources from Imam Hasan, Imam Muhammad al-Baqir and Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (peace be upon them all). A question was put to the Imams that if a woman had intercourse with her husband, and then immediately she goes to her slave-girl and has lesbian relations with her in which semen of the husband flows from the woman into the vagina of the slave-girl and makes her pregnant. What happens in this case? The Imam, after explaining the punishment which has to be imposed upon the two women, say that the child both from the slave-girl will be related to, and given in the custody of, the owner of the semen.2 (This is a very good example of how our 'ulama' solve the modern day problem even though they use the same old sources of Islam!)The first two methods were for cases where the hubands sperms lacked in quality or quantity. IVF is a technique used mostly for women whose fallopian tubes are blocked and cannot be remedied by surgical procedure. Also for those who fail to conceive despite having
In IVF, one or more ova are removed from the mother through a small syringe and placed in a test-tube. Then the sperm of the husband is used to fertilize the ovum. After fertilization, the ovum is allowed to develop in the test-tube till the eight-cell stage. Then it is implanted into the mother's womb.
IVF may also be used in cases where the husband's semen contains so few sperms that it becomes difficult for them to fertilize an ovum in the fallopian tube. By IVF, sperm of such a person is used to fertilize the ovum in a test-tube.
As far as the shari'ah is concerned, in vitro fertilization is allowed as long as it be being done between married couple.It will be of interest to know that our mujtahids are keeping themselves ahead of scientific technology in deciding the religious and ethical issues about human reproduction. While talking about artificial insemination, they also talk of the following possibilities:1
1. It is permissible to invent an artificially made ovum, fertilize it with a man's sperm and let the child develop in an artificial womb. In this case, the child will be fully
2. It is permissible to invent an artificially made sperm and inseminate it into a woman's womb. Such a child will be fully related to the mother. At most, he or she will be a child without a biological father.
3. It is permissible to take an artificially made ovum and an artificially made sperm, and then fertilize and develop the two in an artificial womb. Such a child will be related to no one!
4. If twin boy and girl are born through the above procedures, then in the first three case they will be normal siblings -for example, they cannot marry one another- but in the fourth case, they will not even be considered as siblings because they do not have a parent.Surrogate motherhood is a by-product of the artificial insemination. It has created great controversy in the legal and ethical circles around the world, especially so after the baby 'M' case of 1987.
Surrogate motherhood means that a woman allows a fertilized ovum of another couple to be injected into her womb. Then she carries the child to its full term for the other couple. This can be done free in exchange for some money as was the case in babay M's birth. This procedure of human reproduction is adopted when a woman has a problem in carrying her child to its full term.
From the shari'ah point of view, surrogate motherhood as portrayed above is not allowed because it involves the insertion of a sperm of another person into the
There are, however, certain procedures in Islamic marriage system which would allow some form of surrogate motherhood. For example, if a woman is having problems in carrying her husband's child to its full term, then the husband may marry another woman (on a termporary or permanent basis) and then an ovum of the first wife fertilized by the husband's sperm can be injected into the womb of the second wife with her approval.
To which of the two wives will the child belong? Does it belong to the genetic mother (the first wife) or the biological mother (the second wife)? According to Ayatullah al-Khumayni it depends on the age of foetus. If it was inseminated in the womb of the second wife after four months, then it belongs to the first wife -the second wife is just a receptacle. If it was inseminated before its fourth month, then it is difficult to say that the child belongs to the first wife.1
However, there is another way of looking at this relationship. I have already talked about the 'urfi and shar'i definitions earlier. In the present case, the common people have a perception about child-mother relationship. The 'urfi would say that the woman who "gives birth" is the mother. So based on this 'urfi perception, I would say that the child belongs to the biological mother, the second wife irrespective of its age at the time of insemination. The child will be mahram to her other children and will
What you will read below are issues being discussed for the first time from the shari'ah point of view. These are the results of my initial interpretation. I hope this will stimulate faithful discussion among our mujtahids.In most cases of artificial insemination, three ova are removed from the woman's body and all three are fertilized by the husband's sperms. But only one is used for reimplanation into the woman's womb. And if they fail in first attemp, then the other fertilized ova are used. The question which has created much contoversy is about the extra and unwanted fertilized ovum. What should be done with the extra fertilized ovum? Must it be used? Can it be destroyed?
According to the shari'ah, there should be no problem in destroying the extra fertilized ovum. It will not constitute abortion because, firstly, abortion only take place after the implanation of the fertilized ovum in the womb
Another by-product of the new technology is the so-called sperm bank where sperms and fertilized ovum are preserved in frozen state. There are four questions which must be addressed here.
Firstly: Is man allowed to preserve his sperms in frozen state? Similarly, are a married couple allowed to preserve their fertilized ova for future use? I can think of no shari'ah basis for prohibiting such an act. It is no different from the act in which a person banks or donates his blood.
Secondly: Is it permissible to sell the sperms or the fertilized ova? One cannot sell his sperms to be injected into the uterus of another woman; he may only sell it to a scientific institution for medical research. Similarly, a couple cannot sell their fertilized ova to be implanted into the womb of another woman.
Thirdly: Can a woman use the preserved fertilized ovum or sperms of her husband after the latter has died? Apparently, there is nothing to prevent her from doing so. The frozen ovum (fertilized by her husband's sperm) is her property and therefore she can use it. The child will, of course, be legitimate! However, this would be allowed only if the woman does not marry another person after her husband's death. Since Islam does not allow a woman to have more than one husband at a time, the second husband will take the place of the first in the verse which says, "The believers are ... those who protect their private parts except from their spouses." (23:5)
Fourthly: Can a woman use the fertilized ovum after she has been divorced from her husband? This is allowed only if she has not married another person. As soon as she marries another person, she cannot use the fertilized ovum or sperm of her previous husband. The basis of this view is same as mentioned above.
