Answering some doubts about in vitro fertilization

In vitro fertilization or as it is more popularly known, test tube babies, is an advanced medical technique used to help infertile couples conceive.  Here we answer some doubts about IVF.

 

Is using IVF changing the creation of Allah?

 

The creation of Allah cannot be changed at all.  As Allah Ta’ala says in Surah Rum:

 

The nature created by Allah will never be changed.  Surah Rum(30:30)

 

Using IVF is an extraordinary case.  This might lead some to think that this is like changing the creation of Almighty Allah or a violation of nature.  However this thought is not correct.  Changing Allah’s creation would be if the features i.e. the face, eyes, nose, ears, etc. are mutilated or disfigured the way it was done in the pre-Islamic days.  It would have been a violation of nature when the scientists were ‘creating” something on their own.  In this case, what happens is that when due to some disease the embryo cannot be formed inside the body, it is being formed outside in the laboratory using IVF and then implanted into the womb of the wife.  This is not against nature as the phases of conception, pregnancy, etc. are the same.  Neither is a new way of giving birth to children being invented here.  The weakness found in the man and/or woman is being compensated for using an advanced medical technique.  However, because of prohibited acts, there is some degree of undesirability in this.

 

Impermissible uses of IVF

 

(1)  If the husband’s sperm are not potent enough or if he has no sperm at all and sperm of some other man (not the husband) are used to fertilize the wife’s ovum.  This is impermissible as a stranger’s semen is being put in the womb of somebody else’s wife which is forbidden.

 

(2)  The wife cannot conceive for some reason.  The husband’s sperm and the wife’s ovum are fertilized using IVF and the embryo is planted in another lady’s womb.  This is also impermissible as the woman in whom the embryo is being implanted is not the man’s wife.

 

(3)  There is some problem with the ovary of the wife.  The husband’s sperm are combined with another lady’s ovum and the embryo is implanted in the wife’s womb.  This is also impermissible as the lady from whom the ovum is being taken is not the wife of the man.  It is not permissible for the woman either to give her consent for her ovum to be fertilized by a stranger’s sperm.  It is neither permissible for the man to combine his sperm with the ovum of a lady who is not his wife.

 

(4)  The husband and wife both cannot conceive.  Sperm and ovum of two strangers are combined and implanted in the womb of the lady.  This is also impermissible.  The reason for their impermissibility is clear that the embryo of two strangers is being implanted in the womb of a lady who is herself a stranger.

 

(5)  The husband does not have potent sperm and the wife has no ovary and physically as well the wife is unable to bear the stress of a pregnancy.  Then sperm and ovum of some other man and woman are combined and the embryo is implanted into the womb of the wife or some other woman.  This is also impermissible.

 

(6)  The husband has no potent sperm.  The wife has ovaries but cannot bear a child.  The sperm of stranger and ovum of the wife are combined and implanted into the womb of another wife.  This is also obviously forbidden.

 

(7)  The wife is not able to bear the stress of pregnancy.  The husband’s sperm and wife’s ovum are mixed and the embryo is implanted into another wife of the same husband.  This is also forbidden.  Although both the ladies are wives of the same husband, but when the Shariah has forbidden intercourse with one wife in presence of another, implanting one wife’s ovum into another’s is all the more forbidden.

 

In the aforementioned cases, the sperm and ovum of the husband and wife are being implanted in the womb of a third woman whereas the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) has expressly forbidden it. 

 

Combining the sperm and ovum of strangers is akin to adultery

 

In the described situation, unrelated (i.e. not of a husband and wife) sperm and ovum are being used, which is impermissible in light of the Hadith.  The way sexual relations between unrelated, (i.e. not husband and wife) man and woman and impregnating somebody else's wife constitutes adultery, in the same way mixing the sperm and ovum of a man and woman, who are not husband and wife, has the same ruling with respect to its result.  Though on mixing of sperm and ovum in this, the Shariah punishment will not be given, as the punishments given by the Shariah are not given even if there is the slightest of doubt and in this case, physical contact is not found at all, but it has the same ill-effects as adultery.  It shreds the fabric of modesty and destroys the system of parentage and ancestry.