“To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. HE creates what HE wills (and plans). HE bestows (children) male and female according to HIS will (and plan). Or HE bestows both males and females, and HE leaves barren whom HE will: for HE is full of knowledge and power.” (…The Qur’an 42.49-50)
There are different reasons why Muslims may agree with infertility treatments. AIH (Artificial Insemination by Husband) and IVF (In-Vitro Fertilization) is a treatment in which the fertilization of the egg takes place in a laboratory. A couple can try this when natural means have failed. These two methods are generally allowed to Muslims as long as absolute security is maintained.
There are different reasons why some Muslims may disagree with infertility treatments. One of these includes AID-(Artificial Insemination by Donor) If a husband is sterile, another man’s sperm from a donor bank is used to fertilize the wife’s egg. This is not allowed to Muslims, because it involves another man and is therefore seen as similar to the sin of adultery. Also, Muslims are worried about the characteristics or diseases that may be inherited from an unknown donor.
Surrogacy is another process which might be disagreed upon by some Muslims. This is a form of parenting which happens when a woman is paid to carry and give birth to a child on behalf of a woman unable to become pregnant herself. The husband’s sperm will be used to fertilize the egg of the wife or, if necessary, the egg of the other woman. It is then transferred to the surrogate mother who agrees to hand over the child to the parents when it is born. Some Muslims accept this practice, although only if the man were married to both women. Others are against it, because, it tampers with the normal processes of nature, it encourages women to use their bodies for commercial gain and it creates confusion as to who is the real mother and may lead to wrangling.
In Islam, family life is governed by laws taken directly from the Qur’an and the Sunnah … hence there are areas and topics where changes in those laws cannot even be contemplated … No Muslim man is allowed to donate sperm to a woman who is not his legal wife and no woman is allowed to donate an egg to another woman. No child can be called after a person unless the sperm is that of the person to whom he belongs and he has been borne (and born) by the woman who is the legal wife of the man concerned … If a married woman conceives using sperm from a third party because her husband is infertile, this is adultery … If a woman carries an embryo fertilized with the sperm and egg of another couple, the child legally belongs to the ‘surrogate mother’. (Statement from the Islamic Shari’ah Council of Britain published in ‘What does Islam say, Ibrahim Hewitt’)
If the semen of a man is placed in an artificial womb … the action is permissible and … all orders applicable to a father and child will be applicable to them … Making the semen of a husband reach the womb of his wife artificially is permissible and the child thus born is like all other children. (Articles of Islamic Acts, Imam Al-Khoei.)
So basically, there are opinions on this subject that differ but in the end they all agree on the same thing: In Islam AIH (Artificial Insemination by Husband) and IVF (In-Vitro Fertilization) are allowed by the Islamic Shari’ah, because of the fact that both processes involve the sperm and the egg of the legal parents and is carried and born by the legal mother. But AID (Artificial Insemination by Donor) and Surrogacy are not allowed of the Shari’ah, because they involve the use of a third party which is considered as adultery. I believe that this is correct because I was raised to believe this and it makes sense to me why it’s allowed or disallowed.
By: Hamza Abib 11MJB