Human Cloning: An Islamic Perspective

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Questions:
1: They have already cloned sheep and monkeys, which turned out as exact duplicates over a period of time. They could now go for cloning human beings and produce human beings with the same fingerprints and attributes over a period of time. Does it contradict what is given in the Qur'an or Hadith?
2: What is the Islamic perspective on cloning? Is it forbidden, is it possible or is it acceptable?
3: I am confused about the issue of possible human cloning. It is possible, according to the Qur'an, to do human cloning?

Answer:
Cloning is an interesting subject. I have been following the reports about cloning and read some opinions of the scientists and religious scholars on this subject. I also received several questions from the readers of this column about cloning. Many Muslims want to know what is the Islamic perspective on cloning. The whole subject is new; so it is very difficult to give any definite opinion on it. We need to study it more extensively. Experts in the biological sciences (especially genetics) as well as scholars of Islamic Fiqh have to discuss this matter together to form a reasonable Islamic opinion. This scientific breakthrough has many medical as well as religious and ethical implications. I can give here only some tentative observations from an Islamic perspective.

What is cloning?
Cloning involves genetically replicating a living organism from a single cell or small cluster of cells. In normal human development, the mother and father contribute equally to the genetic material of their offspring. This genetic material, in the form of DNA located in the nucleus, is contained in the sperm cell of the father and the egg cell in the mother. Sperm and egg cells each contain half the DNA required to produce a complete cell, so development proceeds only upon fusion of the two cells. The combinations of genes present in the sperm and egg cells can vary greatly, so this ensures that every offspring of a given mother and father will be different.

In cloning, the nucleus from an already complete cell, such as one from an adult, is transferred into an egg cell whose own nucleus has been removed. This results in the development of an organism that has the exact same genetic makeup as the donor. Recent experiments by a British scientist named Ian Wilmut demonstrate how quickly cloning technology has advanced. Wilmut and co-workers took cells from an adult sheep, cultured them in the laboratory, and then isolated nuclei from them. Single nuclei were then introduced into anucleated (i.e. lacking a nucleus) egg cells from another sheep. These fertilized eggs began dividing, and they were then placed into the womb of the sheep that originally produced the egg. The lamb that developed shared the exact same genetic characteristics as the donor of the nuclei.

These experiments are the first demonstration that cloning can be done in mammals starting with adult cells. Previous cloning experiments have always used embryos as the nuclei donors. However, Wilmut's method is still very inefficient: only 1 out of 277 embryos survived. Even if perfected, it remains unclear if this method would work for cloning other animals, let alone humans. Nevertheless, it is likely that the technology allowing cloning of human embryos from adult cells will be available within a few years.

If cloning were done in humans, this would mean that DNA taken from just about any cell of an adult could be transferred directly into an anucleated egg cell and then implanted in the womb of a female. It would not matter from whom the egg cell came because, in this case, the egg cell is only providing the proper environment for embryological development to begin. The result would be, possibly, the development of a child who is exactly like the person who donated his or her nucleus. Thus, the child might be produced from a single parent. (My son Imran Siddiqi who is a medical student has prepared this part.)

What does the Qur'an say about the possibility of cloning?
I do not know of any verse in the Qur'an that says that cloning is impossible or human beings cannot produce another animal or human through the method of cloning. If the scientists became capable of doing such a thing, it would not make them creators. They would not become God or replace God. They would be only manipulating God's creation and using the cause and effect (asbab) that Allah has created in His creation. After all, the scientists were able to produce babies through artificial insemination, in-vitro fertilization and surrogacy. These methods were not possible only a few years ago, but they are possible now. In a similar way cloning of humans might be possible. It will show what power and capacities Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has placed in a single cell. A single atom can produce massive atomic energy, so a single cell can also produce a whole living organism.

It is wrong to say that a thing is impossible unless we are very sure about its impossibility on the basis of a definite and clear verse from the Qur'an or the authentic Sunnah. But the real question is not whether it is possible or not. The real question is whether it is right and what are the implications of this new biological technology. As Muslims we should also be concerned whether it is permissible according to the Qur'an and Sunnah or not. What does Islam say about the permissibility of cloning? I think it is not right to make a sweeping judgement on this technology. We should not condemn it outright and we should not say that all cloning is wrong and haram. We have to study very carefully what benefits this technology can bring to human beings and their society. It is possible that there are some medical benefits in it and it may lead to the discovery of some cures for serious diseases or handicaps among some people. I think cloning in a very limited and restricted sense, for medical purposes alone, should be permissible. It may help some people in some cases. The basic principle of the Shari'ah is "No harm given and no harm taken" (la dharara wa la dhirara).

However, cloning should not be used as an alternate way of human production, even on a small scale. In my opinion, a full-fledged use of cloning technology is haram because it may cause three major problems:

• It may cause danger to the human personality
• It may cause danger to human dignity and honor
• It may cause danger to human family and society

Let me explain these points. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created human beings through a family system, through a male and female (al-Nisa' 4:1; al-A'raf 7:189; al-Hujurat 49:13). Thus, the proper and acceptable way of producing children is through the joining of males and females in marriages and then through their union the procreation should take place. In this way the family is preserved. The children born in this way carry the genes of both parents and this combination gives them identity, balance and a wholesome personality. Islam does not allow producing children without marriage. A woman is not allowed to carry the fertilized ovum of a person to whom she is not married. (Modern jurists allow in-vitro fertilization, but the condition is that the fertilization must be between the husband's sperm and his wife's ova.) Thus, according to the Shari'ah, a single-cell production will not be considered a proper production and it will not be allowed for a woman to carry the embryo produced from a single cell of even her husband or herself.

We are not sure what will be the biological implications of cloning. We do not know whether the human thus created will have a balanced personality; or that he/she will become a monster. It is true that a person created this way will have identical physical features of his/her single parent, but this does not necessarily mean that that person will be mentally and morally like his/her parent. Even identical twins have different personalities. We also do not know whether this highly manipulated single cells will be able to produce healthy and psychologically stable persons. Another question is about the use of the clones. What function would they play? Where are we going to keep these clones to live and grow as adults? How can we allow a human being's body to be used by another human being as spare parts? This will be worse than slavery. This technology, if developed, would certainly affect the family system and would have many legal and ethical problems.

Some Muslim scholars who have discussed this subject recently have pointed out that 'changing the creation of Allah' (taghyir khalq Allah) is not allowed unless there is a real need or human welfare (maslaha) that depends on it. Thus they say that the Prophet -peace be upon him- even forbade from making changes unnecessarily in the body, face, eyebrows, etc. If making changes in such small and somewhat superficial things is forbidden then certainly the major changes in human genetics would be even more forbidden.

As I said before these are only very preliminary thoughts or remarks on the Islamic perspective on cloning. Only Allah knows best.
By: Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi
Source: http://www.pakistanlink.com/religion/97/re03-21-97.html

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Jazzak Allahu Khairan for posting this!