THE ISLAMIC VIEW ON STEM CELL RESEARCH
By Michele Weckerly
Abstract: Islam’s obligation towards knowledge coupled with its tradition towards not allowing surrogate parenting or embryo adoption, leads many Islamic scholars to believe that the Qur’an can be used to support stem cell research.
Islam has a theology based legal system that dictates law based upon divine and immutable revelation. The main authority of Islam, the Qur’an, is not an encyclopedia of how to live one’s life. There are several other sources of truth in Islam but it is the Shari’ah that contains the body of legal literature. Muslims believe that the Shari’ah teaches Muslims how to worship according to the Qur’an and the ways of the Prophet Muhammad. 4 However, Islamic law is flexible and is supposed to be analyzed under current times to deal with new problems.
To analyze Islam’s stance towards stem cell research, once again the status of the embryo must be determined. In Chapter 23, verse 12-14 the Qur’an teaches:
We created (khalaqna) man of an extraction of clay, then we sent him, a drop in a safe lodging, then We created of the drop a clot, then we created of the clot a tissue, then We created of the tissue bones, then we covered the bones in flesh; thereafter We produced it as another creature. So blessed be God, the best of creators (klaliqin)!
This passage has been interpreted to indicate that a fetus is perceived as a human life, only later on in the biological development because of the Qur’an’s use of the words “thereafter We produced him as another creature. Additionally, many scholars indicate that ensoulment of the fetus does not occur until the end of the fourth month of pregnancy (120 days). However, tradition states:
Each of you possesses his own formation within his mother’s womb, first as a drop of matter for forty days, then as a blood clot for forty days, then as a blob for forty days, and then the angel is sent to breathe life into him.
Additionally, the Shari’ah makes a distinction between actual life and potential life, determining that actual life should be afforded more protection than potential life. 10 Thus, under most interpretations of Islamic law, the embryo is not considered a person and the use of it for stem cell research does not violate Islamic law.11 Also, under this same line of analysis, stem cells from aborted fetuses would also be permitted if the abortion was performed before the fourth month of pregnancy.
Additionally, Islamic law prohibits
surrogate parenting, adoption and the adoption of human embryos due to the
importance of determining a child’s true parentage and inheritance rights.12
This would free up any excess embryos for research purposes since under Islamic
law, they could not be used by anyone but the couple who created them. The
Many Islamic scholars also point to the belief that all knowledge emanates from God and that as such, human beings have an obligation to use that knowledge to serve human society.15 Like Judaism, Islam places an obligation on its followers to seek out knowledge, scientific knowledge in particular, since it is a part of human nature as created by God. As stated by Dr. Abdulaziz Sachedina:
”The will of God” in the Koran has often been interpreted as the processes of nature uninterfered with by human action. Hence, in Islam, research on stem cells made possible by biotechnical intervention in the early stages of life is regarded as an act of faith in the ultimate will of God as the Giver of all life, as long as such an intervention is undertaken with the purpose of improving human health.
Thus, Islam’s obligation towards knowledge coupled with its tradition towards not allowing surrogate parenting or embryo adoption, leads many Islamic scholars to believe that the Qur’an can be used to support stem cell research.
CONCLUSION
Looking at the religious perspectives on religion, it is interesting to note that the religions that have strong traditions of legal and religious law, namely Judaism and Islam, support most forms of stem cell research. These two religions also support their beliefs on when life begins and stem cell research by interpreting specific religious texts. While the Catholic Church has put the issue of stem cell research on the forefront of its agenda, Pope John Paul II does not point to any specific biblical text that supports the Catholic Church’s concept of when life begins.
While science may never answer the question
of when life begins, Catholicism, Judaism and Islam have answered the question in some ways
that support and in other ways that prohibit the use of stem cells, even for
therapeutic means. In