God created man in the best form and honored him to the utmost degree. God Almighty said: “And We have certainly honored the children of Adam. And We carried them on the land and sea and provided for them with the good things and preferred them over much of what We have created, with [definite] preference” (Al-Isra’ 70), He adorned him with reason, honored him with the task, made him a caliph on earth and made him settle in it, and honored him with carrying His message that is in harmony with his nature, indeed it is the nature itself, as God Almighty says: “So direct your face toward the religion, inclining to truth. [Adhere to] the nature of Allah upon which He has created mankind. No change should there be in the creation of Allah. That is the right religion, but most people do not know” (Ar-Rum 30) 

Islam has been keen to preserve the sound nature of man by preserving the five general objectives: religion, the soul, the mind, offspring, and wealth, and protecting them from any change that would corrupt them, whether in terms of cause or result. God has taught man what he did not know. And He commanded him to search, think, ponder and consider, addressing him in many verses: Do they not see? Do they not look? Has man not seen that We created him from a sperm-drop? Indeed, in that there are signs for people who give thought. Indeed, in that there are signs for people who reason Indeed, in that is a reminder for those of understanding. Read in the name of your Lord who created. Islam, by its nature, does not place a stone or restriction on the freedom of scientific research, but on the other hand it does not leave the doors of research open without controls for the applications of scientific results to enter the public arena without passing through the filter of Sharia, to pass the permissible and permitted and prevent the forbidden.

It is not permissible to implement anything just because it is implementable. Rather, it must be a science that is currently beneficial to the interests of people and to prevent their harm. It is required that this science preserve the dignity and status of man and the purpose for which God created him. It is not permissible to make man a field for experimentation. Nor does it violate his identity, privacy, and distinction. It is also required that it does not lead to the disruption of the stable social structure, or undermine the foundations of kinship, lineage, kinship ties, and family structures recognized throughout human history in the shadow of God’s law and on a solid basis of His rulings.

Among the new sciences that have become popular among people in this era is what the media all over the world has been buzzing about under the name of cloning. It was necessary to clarify the ruling of Islamic law on it, after presenting its details by a group of Muslim experts and scholars in this field.

Therefore, the Muslim religious scholar must clarify the ruling on this with respect to humans after taking into consideration what those scholars say in explaining the nature of cloning according to what they have highlighted in their books. For this reason, the scholars of Islam have striven to clarify the legal ruling on these newly introduced matters. We will refer to in this brief research that contains an introduction and three topics. The first is an introduction, the second is a definition of cloning and its divisions, and the third is the rulings on cloning and the scholars’ statements about it, then the conclusion and the index. And from God is success.

The body of every living being is composed of small, connected parts called cells. This cell has a nucleus, which is like the core of the cell, and a liquid substance surrounding the nucleus, which is called the cytoplasm. Inside the nucleus is a network of forty-six strands, the sum of which is called: Chromosomes. All somatic cells have this number of strands, except for the sex cells, I mean: the sperm cells secreted by the testicles in men and the egg cells in women secreted by the ovary; these sex cells, Although the body cells share in having a special membrane, cytoplasm, and nucleus, their nucleus contains twenty-three chromosomes, not forty-six. If the human being or animal is born by his mother through natural conception and reproduction, it is through the mixing and merging of the sperm cell from the father and the egg cell from the mother inside the womb during ejaculation, and the merging produces one new cell of forty-six (chromosomes). It is the sum of the chromosomes of the sperm cell and the egg. This cell is nourished inside the uterus, multiplies, and divides into two cells, then four cells, then sixteen, then thirty-two. All these cells are similar in all aspects and characteristics, except that when they reach thirty-two, they do not multiply as before with these characteristics. Rather, each cell of it becomes employed in specific tasks according to what God Almighty has decreed for man and animal from the different organs that man or that animal is composed of: some of them produce skin, some of them produce flesh, some of them produce bone, or brain, or heart... And so on, for in each one of them there is nothing but the beginning of that organ which was made by her choice so that the fetus becomes a complete child whom the mother gives birth to with a sound creation.

Scientific progress has led to the discovery that these chromosomes are the ones that are involved in all the genetic traits and characteristics specific to each species or individual. They are like the brain of the cell, and they carry all the characteristics of the complete individual, whether human or animal. There is no difference in this regard between reproduction and procreation occurring naturally or artificially.

The First Requirement 

Definition of cloning and its types

First 

Definition of cloning.

Cloning is requesting a second copy, so that what was first was formed again as another image with the same characteristics, because the new result is like the original that was. However, this similarity may be about the organ whose cell multiplied until it became a second copy of that organ. Another is in relation to the individual human or animal whose cell was taken and multiplied.

It can be explained by taking the complete genetic bag in the form of a nucleus from a somatic cell, and depositing it in an enucleated egg cell, thus forming a zygote that includes a complete genetic bag, and at the same time possesses the energy to reproduce. If it is implanted in the mother’s womb, it will grow, develop, and give birth to a complete creature, God willing. This type of cloning is known as (nuclear transfer) or nuclear replacement of the egg cell, which is what is understood from the word cloning when used in general terms, and it is what happened with the sheep “Dolly.” However, this new creature is not an exact copy, because the mother's enucleated egg still contains nuclear remnants in the part surrounding the enucleated nucleus. These remnants have a noticeable effect in modifying the characteristics inherited from the somatic cell. It has not been reported that this has happened to humans. Cloning, then, is the generation of one or more living beings, either by transferring the nucleus from a somatic cell to an enucleated egg, or by splitting a fertilized egg at a stage preceding the differentiation of tissues and organs [1].

Second: Cloning sections

Cloning is divided into three sections

Section One: Organic, Genetic and Cellular Cloning

Organic cloning means cloning some of the organs that a person needs at different stages of his life in the event of damage to those parts. The genetic revolution in natural sciences has been able to reach the result of being able to take a single cell from some organs by artificial means. It is placed in a special device invented by modern science, and fed by industrial means, and multiplies into identical, connected cells until we obtain a piece of the skin or the other organ from which we took the cell, and we win new skin, for example, which is a second copy of the original skin. This new organ may be used to treat the damaged organ of the person whose cell we took, by replacing the defective or severed one with it, and the body accepts this new piece because it is completely like the defective piece. As for embryonic cloning, Scientists have been able to discover the many causes of genetic diseases. If they can fix these causes in the gene, they can then clone it and use it in treatment. As for cloning cells, scientists have been able to succeed to a very great extent in bacteria. For example, a group of physiological characteristics of some bacteria were modified to produce insulin, which is now called human insulin [3].

Section Two: Embryonic Cloning (Sexual or Reproductive):

After the egg is fertilized in the woman’s womb by the man’s sperm, the fertilized cell multiplies, becoming two, then four, then eight, then sixteen... All these cells are contained under a single membrane that covers them, and each one of them consists of a sheath and a liquid substance. The nucleus contains chromosomes.

With the advancement of science, it became possible to penetrate that membrane that covered them all, and to separate the cells that had multiplied; so that each cell would be covered with a new membrane, so that each cell would be a second copy of the first cell, and would begin to multiply in the womb until it reached thirty-two, and would grow and become a complete child. These children are similar in all characteristics and characteristics, and they are identical twins [4]. The summary of this method is that if a mature egg, which usually contains 23 chromosomes, penetrates its thick wall with a mature sperm that also contains 23 chromosomes, the two nuclei will unite into a single nucleus carrying 46 chromosomes, which is a characteristic of human cells. Then the nucleus divides, and since the first division of the mother cell into two cells involves a tearing of the thick cell wall, we have one original mother cell. However, if this wall is not torn, each of the two cells resulting from this division considers itself an original mother cell.And it begins to divide and split again, to form a new embryo on its own.

Section Three: Human Cloning

Although cloning is common in plants and to a lesser extent in some animals, it is rare in humans, and it may even be said that it is impossible at the present time.

But that did not cut off scientists’ hope of applying the experiments they conducted on plants and animals to humans. The gist of it is that we take an unfertilized woman’s egg cell and remove its nucleus, on the one hand, and on the other hand we take a cell from some of the organs of a man or woman. If this same woman, the owner of the egg, were to take, for example, a cell from his skin, and place this cell in the place of the nucleus of the egg whose nucleus was removed, then we place this cell formed in this way inside a woman’s womb, and it begins to multiply until it reaches thirty-two cells. Then it reaches the stages of fetal maturity, and a child is born who is, in all characteristics and aspects, a second copy of the owner of the skin in the hypothetical example from which we took his skin cell. The woman’s egg cell contained twenty-three chromosomes, it could not reproduce and reach the stage of a complete fetus, but the cell of the organ whose cell we took contained forty-six chromosomes. If it is placed in place of the nucleus of the egg cell, the cell that is achieved from the two cells can reproduce and reach the complete stage of the fetus. The child is born to his mother [5].

The second requirement: the rules of cloning

The world was preoccupied for a period with the subject of cloning, which had a resounding impact on the world of medicine, considering that it was the first event witnessed by humanity, especially after the birth of Dolly the sheep. Fatwas appeared here and there, and scholars of Sharia and jurisprudence gave their opinions, based on their interpretation, about the ruling on cloning in the view of Islam.

They were on the statements that we will mention according to the sections:

Section One

 Traditional Organic Cloning

It is the traditional cloning that leads to the creation of a new organ, such as the skin, for example, by implanting a somatic cell in which there are 46 chromosomes in place of a nucleus extracted from an egg in that egg. The cytoplasm surrounding the new nucleus encourages it to divide, split, and grow from one stage to another of the embryo’s stages [6].

As for its ruling, there is no doubt that it is permissible to benefit from it in treating the affected organ of the owner of the cell, and there is no room for doubt about the prohibition of benefiting from it; due to the suspicion of considering the acceptance and consent of the owner of the organ in benefiting from his organ. If it is said that it is possible that the treatment itself is prohibited, then this possibility will be removed by the principle of innocence. There is also no doubt that it is permissible to benefit from it in treating the wombs of the owner of that cell, and for strangers, whether with the owner’s consent or by purchasing from him, and this is by consensus of scholars. Yes, it may be said that the new organ is impure if it contains flesh and blood, for example, because it is like the organs cut off from a living person.

But there should be no problem with the narrations of the impurity of the organs separated from the living, not including that [7]. So, if we doubt purity and impurity, if we say that the principle of purity applies when there is doubt about the impurity of something from the beginning, then the origin of the problem is chosen. Even if we do not say that based on the result of doubting how to read (dirty in the sentence: until you know that it is dirty), we say:“doubt about purity and impurity is sufficient to implement the principles that ensure the rulings on impurity, and the problem ends with that as well.” [8].

Section Two: The Ruling on Embryonic Cloning (Sexual or Insemination)

We have previously said what is meant by embryonic cloning, and in brief it is cloning by artificial division of the fertilized egg. There is no doubt that what is achieved by it is twins or multiple twins. Muslim jurists have differed in the ruling on this section into three opinions:

The first opinion: This type of cloning is permissible, but it is not permissible in its entirety. Rather, it is restricted by restrictions mentioned by the proponents of this opinion, which are number six:

• That it be between a married couple, so it is required that the cell be fertilized with the husband’s sperm, in addition to being implanted in the womb of the owner of the egg itself, which is the wife, and it is not permissible for it to be implanted in the womb of anyone else under any circumstances.

• That this should be during the existence and existence of the marital state, and not after their separation, whether by divorce or death.

• Ensuring that lineages are not mixed.

• The husband must be informed of this with his consent.

• The wife must be informed of this with her consent.

• To eliminate excess embryos [9].

The second opinion: Prohibition of any method that leads to human reproduction, and the Islamic Fiqh Council adopted this opinion [10]. This opinion is based on the following evidence:

• This method leads to and ends with the existence of surplus embryos, and thus the only way forward is either to destroy them or to implant them in the wombs of other women, and the first way has the danger of destroying the right to life by killing them, even if it is a fetus in its early stages.

The result of this method is to create life and then surrender it to death.The child whose twin was saved may need an organ transplant in the future, and then the backup copy of the twin is transplanted. If the twin cannot live without the organ taken from him, it is not permissible for a life to arise and then be wasted to save another life. Rather, this is considered a crime and a major sin. God Almighty said: And do not kill the soul which God has forbidden, except by right. (Al-Isra: 33), and His saying: For that reason, we decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption done in the land - it is as if he had killed mankind entirely. And whoever saves a life - it is as if he has saved mankind entirely. (Al-Ma’idah: 32) The Messenger of God (may God bless him and his family and grant them peace) said: “Avoid the seven deadly sins: associating partners with God, magic, killing a soul that God has forbidden except by right, consuming usury, consuming the wealth of an orphan, fleeing on the day of battle, and accusing chaste, unaware, believing women” [11]. There are many texts, whether Qur’anic or Hadith, that indicate the preservation and protection of human life even if it is a fetus in its mother’s womb. Moreover, some Muslim scholars have said that even if it is a drop of sperm in its mother’s womb, Al-Ghazali said: “The first stage of existence is when the sperm falls into the womb and mixes with the woman’s water and prepares to accept life. Corrupting that is a crime”[12].

It is replied: If there is harm to the life of the fetus in the division, then it is not permissible according to Islamic law, as it was proven from the Noble Prophet that he said: “There should be neither harm nor reciprocating harm” [13].

However, if the division does not involve any life or does not involve any risk to the life of the fetus, then this is permissible. But on condition that this process does not take place in a way that leads to a disruption of public order, because the appearance of completely similar copies may lead to a disruption of order due to the failure to distinguish and identify the oppressor from the oppressed. The wisdom of God Almighty has been based on the difference in languages ​​and colors to preserve order. God Almighty said: The diversity of your languages ​​and colors} (Ar-Rum: 22), so it is necessary to prohibit everything that leads to disrupting the system [14]. Therefore, if two conditions are met in dividing the zygote into several embryos, then such division is permissible.

First: There should be no danger to the life or health of the fetus.

Second: This process should not be carried out in a way that disrupts the system.Indeed, the issue of the ruling on aborting sperm is one of the controversial issues among scholars. Imam Al-Khoei issued a fatwa stating that it is not forbidden to kill fetuses outside the womb. He said in response to the question of killing fetuses that are fertilized outside the womb and are superfluous: There is nothing wrong with destroying those fetuses, because killing a fetus that is forbidden is only if it is in the womb. As for outside, there is no evidence that it is forbidden to destroy it, and God knows best. Al-Tabrizi: It is added to his answer (may God sanctify his secret): “And there is no blood money either” [15]. 

If it is said that it is not permissible to kill fetuses, we say that it is not permissible except after they have become fetuses, and that is by covering the cell wall with artificial material. As for what is preserved before that, its condition is like semen, which is not forbidden to waste, such as withdrawal during intercourse. What is preserved must be without a wall so that it is permissible to kill it later.

As for the second opinion - implantation in the wombs of other women - there is a problem with a woman carrying a fetus that is not from her husband, because the sperm is not from her husband [6], and this act is considered a form of adultery that is forbidden by Islamic law. God Almighty said: And those who do not invoke with Allah another deity or kill the soul which Allah has forbidden, except by right, and do not commit unlawful sexual intercourse. And whoever should do that will receive a penalty. (Al-Furqan: 68).

It was narrated on the authority of Imam al-Sadiq: “The most severely punished person on the Day of Resurrection will be a man who admitted his sperm into a womb that was forbidden to him” [16]. 

In another narration narrated by al-Saduq on the authority of the Noble Prophet, he said: I heard more than one of our companions narrating on the authority of Abu Abdullah that he said: The Prophet (may God bless him and his family) said: The son of Adam will not do a greater deed with God, the Blessed and Exalted, than a man who kills a prophet or an imam. Or demolishing the Kaaba, which God Almighty made a qiblah for His servants, or emptying his semen into a woman unlawfully [12]. 

He also said: “There is no sin after associating partners with God that is greater in the sight of God than a sperm that a man places in a womb that is not permissible for him”[17].

He responds to him: What is meant by the previous hadiths is the man’s semen, because the sperm is added to the man, while we are talking about the sperm, which is a fertilized egg composed of the man’s semen and the woman’s egg, which is the beginning of the creation of the human being. So, if this fertilized egg is not accompanied by another forbidden matter, it is permissible in itself, and it may even be desirable not to leave the fetus to die and perish, as there is no evidence of prohibition after the name of semen is dropped from the sperm, so inserting the sperm does not mean inserting the semen into the womb of a forbidden woman. Therefore, the evidence of prohibition above does not include this case.

If it is said who is the mother, is she the woman who owns the egg or is she the incubator? We say that the real mother is the owner of the egg, and his father is the owner of the sperm, but the one who brought him out of her womb is the incubator mother, not the real mother.

The third opinion: Stop without saying it is forbidden or permissible, waiting for the cloning experiments and what they will yield in the future, and thus the contribution of medical, legal and sociological scholars in clarifying the legal ruling so that we can ultimately rule that the fetus will not be exposed to structural and behavioral deformity.

It does not cause social problems in the future because of the presence of individuals who are exactly like him [4].

Preference

After mentioning the three opinions, I tend towards the first opinion, based on the responses to the second statement that I have made. The benefit of IVF is that it can be a treatment for infertility cases that require IVF. Some women suffer from a type of ovarian poverty in their ovaries, which results in only one fertilized egg. In this case, the chances of pregnancy are very low.

It would be better for her to separate her eggs when they begin to divide into two embryos, not one (which is fertilization), and to separate each one into two, thus providing four embryos to be placed in the woman’s uterus to increase the chances of pregnancy.

Another benefit is the diagnosis of fetal disease before implantation of the embryo in the uterus. Since taking a cell from an embryo poses a risk to the embryo, using the method of conjugation, this embryo can be separated into twins, one of which will be used for diagnosis. If the fetus is healthy, it is implanted, otherwise it is wasted and the other is for the implantation, complete and without deficiency [14].

Section Three: The Ruling on Physical Cloning of Humans

When examining the opinion of the great authorities and scholars, we find that they differ on the ruling on bodily cloning in two opinions:

The First Opinion: Prohibition

This is what most Sunni scholars have said, such as the former Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Jad al-Haqq Ali Jad al-Haqq, Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, and Sheikh Muhammad bin Saleh al-Uthaymeen, when he issued a fatwa saying: “Cloning is the greatest corruption on earth.” He said: “I see that the minimum punishment for those who invented cloning is to have their hands and feet cut off from opposite sides, otherwise they must be executed.” [2]. Al-Sufi and Dr. Wahba Al-Zuhayli. Sheikh Dr. Muhammad Saeed Al-Bouti said: Cloning is a form of tampering with genetic engineering and the standards of inheritance, ... and it is not permissible to tamper with its standards” [2]. In 1996, Al-Azhar issued a fatwa prohibiting the application of cloning to humans and animals, absolutely prohibiting it. The General Secretariat of the Muslim World League in Mecca also prohibited human cloning and called for setting controls for scientific research so that it does not conflict with God’s law and called on the international community to confront the temptation of human cloning, which harms humanity. It contradicts the law of life that God Almighty wanted for man, and according to this, the decision of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy and the decision of the Medical Jurisprudence Committee in Jordan, and from the Shiite scholars and jurists, Ayatollah Sheikh Jawad al-Tabrizi, says: Human cloning is not permissible.

Because the distinction between human beings is a necessity for human societies, necessitated by the wisdom of God Almighty, the Almighty said: And among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your languages ​​and colors and the Almighty said: And We have made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another because the general order depends on it. While human cloning - in addition to entailing other prohibitions such as direct contact with someone other than the same sex and looking at private parts - leads to disruption of public order, as does Sheikh Muhammad Mahdi Shams al-Din and others [15].

Evidence of those who say it is Forbidden

Evidence of those who say it is forbidden and the answers to them:

Cloning is Adultery

Cloning is a type of adultery, an example of it and an individual of it, contrary to the Almighty’s saying: And among His signs is that He created for you, from among yourselves, mates that you may find tranquility in them. And He has placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed, in that there are signs for a people who give thought. (Ar-Rum: 21), Marriage is the only legitimate way to reproduce, and it is the way to create mercy, affection and love. Cloning affects this way, and its effects include the creation of children and their descent from fornication, in addition to the fact that cloning contradicts the meaning of legitimate creation (from yourselves). Because the new organism does not carry the characteristics of both parents. If Islam has made marriage the way to procreate, then any way to procreate that is contrary to it is illegitimate, and human cloning is like the latter and is not legitimate [18].

The response to this is: To understand the truth of this evidence and respond to it, we must mention the definition of adultery, including the views of scholars and jurists. The First Martyr and Dr. Ahmed Fathallah defined it in the Dictionary of Terms of Jaafari and Zaydi Jurisprudence - and it was defined by the Hanafis, Al-Kasani, the Hanbalis, and the Maliki scholars, and a summary of their definitions: That adultery is the insertion of a living vagina into a living vagina, frontally or anally, without suspicion.

After knowing the definitions of adultery from almost all Muslim sects, we notice that cloning cannot fall under the definition of adultery, as everyone has stipulated intercourse and penetration of the vagina, and intercourse does not occur in cloning. Yes, it is possible. It is claimed that the result of cloning and adultery is the same if the man’s sperm reaches the womb of a foreign woman, while the fact is that this never happened.

Cloning and the problem of changing divine creation

If cloning is not a creation in exchange for the divine creation, then it is at least a change in God’s creation, and one of the things ordered by Satan, who only orders disobedience and evil, and in confirmation of the noble verse And I will surely command them to slit the ears of cattle, and I will surely command them to change the creation of God (An-Nisa’: 119).

Another proof of the prohibition of this change is the noble verse. So direct your face toward religion, inclining to truth. [Adhere to] the fitrah of Allah upon which He has created mankind. No change should be in the creation of Allah (Ar-Rum: 30).

This evidence is answered by saying:

• Most commentators have reported that the noble verse was revealed regarding the use of tattoos, gouging out the eyes of some animals, castration at that time, and some of the customs that were followed in the pre-Islamic era at that time, where they would slit the ears of a female animal if it gave birth to five offspring and the fifth was a male. They forbid themselves from benefiting from it, and they would gouge out the eye of the stallion if it stayed with them for a long time, and they would excuse it from being ridden, so the verse is foreign to the rule on cloning.

• It was mentioned in several narrations that what is meant by changing God’s creation is changing the religion of God Almighty, And I will command them to change God’s creation. They differed about its meaning. Ibn Abbas and Al-Rabi’ bin Anas said on the authority of Anas: It is castration, and they disliked castration in animals, and Sufyan and Shahr bin Hawshab said the same. And Ikrimah and Abu Saleh, and in another narration on the authority of Ibn Abbas, let them change the religion of God, and Ibrahim and Mujahid said the same. It was narrated on the authority of Abu Ja`far and Abu Abdullah, peace be upon them. Mujahid said: The servant, meaning Ikrimah, lied in his statement: It is castration, but it is changing the religion of God upon which people were created [19] and it is also foreign to the subject of cloning.

• Cloning destroys the high family values

Cloning leads to the destruction of the sublime meanings and high moral values ​​of fatherhood, motherhood and family relations, while Islam is keen to encourage the formation of a righteous family as the first cell for the formation of a righteous society, which is considered the basic building block for its construction. This foundation is based on marriage, and on the fact that each of the spouses - male and female - is a home for the other. God Almighty created everything in the form of pairs, starting with humans, passing through animals and plants, and ending with inanimate objects. As God Almighty says: {And We created you in pairs} (An-Naba’ 8), and {And of everything We have created pairs that you may remember} (Adh-Dhariyat 49), so man by nature needs the opposite sex not just for offspring, but for each of them to complete the other, as God Almighty says: {You are from each other} (An-Nisa’ 25), and for each of them to enjoy the other; As God Almighty said in describing this marital relationship, “They are clothing for you and you are clothing for them” (Al-Baqarah 187), the offspring are in dire need of the family atmosphere, of caring motherhood, of nurturing fatherhood, and of learning virtues from the family, and the virtues of treating one another kindly. Understanding, advice, exchange and cooperation in righteousness and piety. Cloning does not achieve this, nor does it achieve the family that the human child needs to live in its shade and protection and complete his growth under its care and responsibility.

This evidence is responded to:

• The marital relationship will remain as it was before cloning, because the innate tendency between a man and a woman cannot be eliminated by creating a new method for procreation, as procreation is not the only goal of marriage. Rather, stability, submission, reaching a state of perfection, satisfying instincts, and other things are other goals of marriage. Even if it is possible to have children in another way, the desire of the man and woman for each other remains the same. It is not possible to kill the instincts in a human being so that the two sexes turn away from each other. And the family is destroyed, for example.

• After enacting comprehensive and strict laws regarding cloning and legislating it within global and international controls that everyone is required to implement, the cloned person can become like a child born naturally, in terms of having a family that is kind to him and nourishes him with tenderness and love. Especially after the fetus definitely possesses a mother - more generally, she is the owner of the egg or the one carrying it in her womb - at that time the problem is not attributed to the cloning itself, but rather to the violation of the laws and their failure to be implemented, as is the case with what happens in various areas of life, as God Almighty said {Corruption has appeared on land and sea because of what the hands of people have earned. (Ar-Rum 41).

• What was mentioned is not considered one of the clear titles that have a negative impact, let alone its lack of impact on the prohibition without any text indicating it.

• Cloning and the prohibition of killing embryos. Cloning leads to the killing of embryos, due to the many failed experiments before any cloning process succeeds, and the Holy Law does not permit the killing of a living being.

The answer: If what is meant is that an abortion occurs in the cloning process, then this is something that is rejected, because abortion is the separation of the fetus from the lining of the mother’s uterus and its falling outside the uterus (and everyone agrees that it is absolutely forbidden after the soul enters the fetus, i.e. after four months of pregnancy have passed, Before that, it is also forbidden, but it is permissible in exceptional and very limited cases, the details of which can be found in the practical letters of scholars. But does this happen in cloning? No, rather what happens there is the death of several fertilized eggs before they are implanted in the uterus. So, what is the ruling on causing the death of those eggs? Is it forbidden or not? The answer is no, because what is forbidden is killing the fertilized eggs after they have settled and been implanted in the uterus, so they then become respected. As for before that, there is no evidence that they are forbidden, so they are permissible. “What is forbidden is the act of killing a living being whose blood is respected. Or killing the fertilized egg that is on the way to life, such as by miscarriage. What is forbidden to the person responsible is the process of producing a living being that dies before it completes the conditions of life without him having a hand in its death. It is permissible for a man to have sexual intercourse with his wife if she is ready for pregnancy. And if the pregnancy is at risk of miscarriage because of the failure to meet the conditions for life, due to a deficiency in the mother’s health or the lack of the appropriate circumstances for the fetus to complete its growth and gain life’’[20].

Cloning and the Insult to Human Dignity

Cloning leads to insult to human dignity, by manipulating the method of reproduction using non-sexual reproductive methods. Thus, the dignity of the individual, which Islam is very keen on, is wasted in the process of human cloning.

The role of both the man and the woman in the natural reproduction process is a positive and effective role, as is known, and the fetus inherits their characteristics together, and each of them feels that he is carrying out a mission in this life, as he participates in enriching life through reproduction. However, if the fetus comes through cloning, this means that both men and women will be stripped of this positive role, as this role will be transferred to an external will and a laboratory process; and this in itself is an insult to both of them, as the woman will feel that she is no longer more than a mere incubator for the cell. When a man has a cell taken from him, he will feel that he has become just a repository of cells, from which the living cell is taken to be placed in the womb of a woman who may or may not be his wife but may be one of his mahram whom he is forbidden to marry. Rather, the cell may be taken from one female and the egg from another female. Then, after fertilization, it is implanted in the uterus of a third female. Isn’t this a crime against the fetus and a violation of its dignity? Doesn’t this mean that man is no longer viewed in human cloning as an end, but rather becomes a mere means that can be manipulated? This is contrary to the Almighty’s saying {And We have certainly honored the children of Adam} (Al-Isra’ 70). Therefore, human dignity requires us, above all, not to make him the subject of experiments and tests.

He responds to him: The problem lacks evidence and proof. We say: The couple will maintain their positive role. The woman will become pregnant and feel its pains and go through the difficult stage of labor. Then she gives birth to him as all women give birth to their children, to begin the stage of breastfeeding and spiritual nourishment until the end. Likewise, the man will perform his assigned role as if the pregnancy was from his sperm, and his greater role begins after giving birth, where he imposes upon himself - like all fathers - providing the appropriate family atmosphere. The greater part of raising the child falls on him; all of that after legalizing the cloning process and putting it within a legal framework, then the cloned son will feel his value in society as well. However, if we prohibit cloning because of this problem and others, and then say: it leads to bringing insult to the parents, this is a confiscation of the required, as is clear. Ayatollah Sayyid Kazem al-Haeri says: “Cloning does not undermine human dignity, for dignity is established in the Qur’an for all of Adam’s children, and this child is one of Adam’s children, even if through his mother. It appears that what is meant by the dignity given to the children of Adam by God is that He - may He be glorified - granted them the rational soul capable of ascending the levels of perfection [21].

But if the copies were produced without any, as if the egg were taken from one female and the cell from another female, then the child would lose his parental relations of course, but not all cloning operations are done in this way, on the one hand, On the other hand, the law can embrace him and support him to provide him with what he missed from his father through humanitarian and social organizations. This is nothing new, as there are many who missed their fathers when they were young, and some of them never saw their father at all. Orphans in society are the best evidence of this, as there was no imbalance in it because of their presence. The highest example in this field is our master Jesus, as he grew up and became a prophet even though he was without a father.

The second statement: Those who say it is permissible

After discussing the evidence for the prohibition of the cloning process, it became clear that it is not prohibited by intrinsic prohibition, because it is not one of the prohibited titles, but it can be prohibited by incidental prohibition arising from its prohibitive implication, meaning that its primary ruling is permissibility, and the discussion occurred in the secondary ruling. By observing the titles that follow it, and by referring to the fatwas of scholars and references, we find that they all flow in this direction. Some of them issued a fatwa permitting the cloning process, such as Sayyid Muhammad Sa`id al-Hakim, who issued a fatwa stating the following: “It appears that it is permissible to produce a living being in this way or something similar; Which is due to the use of the laws of the universe that God Almighty has deposited in it, and in exploring which there is more knowledge of His signs, the greatness of His power and the precision of His creation, increasing the confirmation of the argument and alerting to the truth of the call, as God Almighty said: “We will show them Our signs in the horizons. And in their souls until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth. Is it not sufficient for your Lord that He is, over all things, a witness? And nothing is forbidden from that except what God Almighty has forbidden, which is adultery, and to it is included, as a necessary precaution, the insemination of a woman’s egg with a live foreign man by artificial insemination outside the womb. So that the living being is attributed to two foreign parents between whom there is no reason for marriage.

As for other methods, they are not forbidden in themselves unless they are accompanied by something forbidden, such as looking at something forbidden to look at, for example, or other forbidden things. And Mr. Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah and Sheikh Nasser Makarem Shirazi, and some of them made the permissibility conditional on the non-occurrence of the forbidden thing, and some of them hesitated, and did not confirm whether it occurred or not. The Assembly of Shiite Muslim Scholars in Kuwait also recently issued a statement in which they confirmed that cloning is permissible according to Islamic law, and that it is not a change to God’s creation, but rather the revelation of a secret of creation. As a result, most of them agree on its permissibility, even though those secondary titles are not fulfilled.

The brief research showed that there are results including:

• First: Three types of cloning: traditional organic cloning, reproductive cloning, and human cloning.

• Second: Each of these sections has legal rulings. According to scholars, there is no legal problem with traditional organic cloning, and the same applies to surgical cloning.

• Third: There are two opinions regarding the relationship between the child and the woman who gave birth to him in her womb in the cloning of the bath: It was said that the one called the mother of the incubator is the real mother, and before that the real mother is the owner of the egg, but the most likely statement is for the latter, as is clear to rational people.

• Fourth: As for the ruling on human cloning, there are two opinions among scholars.

• Passport.

• It is not permissible. Each has its own evidence, but the most likely view is that it is permissible, because it does not contradict the constants of the Sharia and because it is one of the scientific matters that God.

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22.