New fatwa forbids artificial conception

INSEMINATION UNISLAMIC: The fatwa finds in-vitro fertilisation and test tube babies un-Islamic.

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Lucknow: A rude shock is in store for all childless Muslim couples who were planning to undergo artificial insemination.

Dar-ul-Uloom, a reputed Muslim seminary based in Deoband, UP, has issued a fatwa saying Islam cannot accept a woman conceiving through such an unnatural act.

The fatwa declares that medical techniques such as in vitro fertilisation and test tube babies are un-Islamic.

The edict raises deep socio-ethical questions for the community that is grappling with modernity and change.

Said the Dar-ul-Uloom’s Ulema, Mufti Imran, “A woman whose husband is not able to give children, she is not permitted to use any other means. It is forbidden and un-Islamic.

The fatwa also bans infertile women from allowing others to bear their babies.

Clerics say it is improper to masturbate in order to get a child through artificial means. Though a child born this way will be regarded as one's own descendant, the method itself is undesirable and is haraam, or forbidden, if done through a doctor.

This is not the first time that the Dar-ul-Uloom of Deoband has issued such a controversial fatwa. The edict has evoked a mix response from the Muslim leaders."

AIMPLB (All India Muslim Personal Law Board) member Khalid Rashid agrees with the ruling.

''You cannot make a child through any artificial manner. A child should be (created) in a natural manner,” he says. “If Allah has not given a child, He has not given the right (to get one) through artificial means."

But the President of the AIMWPLB (All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board), Shaista Ambar, disagrees.

“If we have a lady doctor, then there should not be any problem,” she maintains.

Religious leaders also feel that the Shariyat or the Muslim law book does not give the right of adoption. A child adopted by a Muslim family can receive gifts from his or her parents but he or she cannot become their legal heir.

With inputs from Achyut Punnekat in New Delhi