The National Fatwa Council is against
human cloning for any purpose but welcomes the use of embryonic stem cells in
medical research. This
is provided the cells are not harvested from cloned embryos.
The council said today in March last year it had issued a fatwa against human
cloning, but felt it was timely to raise the matter again in response to the
latest scientific controversy where an alien cult known as the Raelians have
claimed two births of cloned babies.
Its chairman, Datuk Dr Ismail Ibrahim, said the cloning of humans went against
Islam's teachings on the sanctity of human life and the supremacy of God as
creator.
"The status of human beings should not be lowered to that of animals. This
is what cloning does," he told a Press conference at the Malaysian Islamic
Advancement Department office here.
Reproductive human cloning (cloning for the sake of having a child and not for
therapeutic research) in particular, had serious implications that could erode
the family institution, human relationships and society, he added.
The cloned child's status would be difficult to determine, and for Muslims,
this would complicate marriage and inheritance issues.
If human cloning took off as a trend, it would add to the problem of single
mothers, Dr Ismail added.
"It goes against the natural order of the reproductive process, which is
the joining of a man's sperm and a woman's egg to create a human being. Even
this is scientifically established. For Islam, the man and woman must also be
legally married," he said.
Human cloning does not require sperm. Instead, a woman's unfertilised egg is
removed of its nucleus, and is fused with the nucleus of another cell from her
body. The cell starts dividing to form an embryo which is planted into the
woman's womb.
The council also decided that reproductive cloning by married couples was haram
because the baby would not be a child, but a "twin" of the parents.
On the use of embryonic stem cells for therapeutic research, such as the
growing of new organs for transplants, the council said it was permissible as
long as the embryo was not cloned, and was below 120 days, or four months.
"Before 120 days, the embryo has not yet been infused with a soul
(roh)," Dr Ismail said.