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Global Anti-Human Cloning Decrees Conform With Islamic Fatwa
CAIRO, Aug 9 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A leading Muslim Scholar raised concerns and objections Thursday to recent developments in the field of genetic engineering that involved the cloning of human beings.
The controversial decision, already denounced as unethical in many countries, was deemed haram (forbidden) under Islamic Shari'a law according to a recent fatwa (Islamic legal ruling) issued by Muslim scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
The fatwa was in response to a decision adopted by a meeting of scientific experts in Washington.
Qaradawi said: "Viewed from the Islamic general objectives, rulings, and texts, [the] cloning of a human being is completely prohibited. Islam prohibits such cloning because it contradicts with diversity of creation.
"We will not exactly realize and determine the relation of the cloned in regard to the original, if human cloning is permitted, how will we determine the relation of the cloned in regard to the original - will he be his brother, his father, or even himself? This is a confusing point," Qaradawi commented.
He also added that cloning contradicts the pattern of creating things in pairs, as Allah said in His Glorious Qur'an: "And of everything We have created pairs, that ye may receive instruction." (Sura Az-Zariyat: 49).
"It is not only parents who need one another in order to proceed with life, but also their offspring need them both. All these meanings can never be acquired through cloning," he added.
However, if the process that can produce clones can be used in the creation only of specific parts of the human body, such as heart and kidneys, for the purpose of treatment, this is permitted, and actually recommended and rewarded by Allah, he said.
Qaradawi explained that Islam embraces scientific progress and research, as throughout Islamic history there has been no evidence of conflict between Islam and science.
However, this progress, like everything in life, must not collide with faith. It must move in parallel with the limitations set by religion, which must prevail over man's course of life and customize it according to its principles, he said.
According to BBC's online service, Italian researchers Panos Zavos and Severino Antinori said they were ready to go ahead at two secret locations with the cloning of human beings "within 30 to 60 days," and already had 200 couples as volunteers.
The doctors' decision sparked an intense debate about the ethics of their work.
Their intentions, outlined before a joint panel of the National Academies in the U.S., have been widely condemned.
In France, Health Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a newspaper interview Thursday that sanctions could be imposed on countries that allow human cloning under a universal ban proposed by France and Germany, the French news agency AFP reported.
"We must move forward in drawing up an international convention that would ban human cloning and that would include economic sanctions against countries that flout the ban," the minister said in an interview with Le Monde newspaper.
He said an international court, such as the International Criminal Tribunal, could be asked to intervene since cloning would represent "an attack on human dignity".
"We have something called the World Trade Organization, … why not a world organization on ethics?" he said.
His comments came a day after the French foreign ministry announced that Paris and Berlin had asked U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to negotiate a universal ban on human cloning.
Taiwan will also ban human embryo cloning, officials said Thursday, as news that the Italian doctors were planning to press ahead with human clones sparked outrage in this mainly Buddhist and Taoist island.
A draft bill preventing the cloning of human embryos has already been sent to parliament, an official of the Department of Health told AFP.
"Human cloning is strictly prohibited under the bill," she said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Under current Taiwanese Department of Health regulations, doctors are already forbidden from practicing cloning of human cells.
"Any doctor who violates the measure would have had his license revoked. Although no doctor is trying to break the measures for now," the official said, adding that it was wrong for scientists to play God. "Who do they think they are? They are not gods."
Tsai Chen-tsun, in charge of the Taoist Kuanghsuan Temple in the northern Pingchen town, said science must not be used to push the limits of human beings.
Yet he said it would be acceptable if "cloning methods were used to reproduce human organs" which could be used to replace the damaged ones.
Often referred to as the Doctor Strangelove of the world of reproduction, Antinori told U.S. media he hoped to begin the research within weeks, and that his technology would be used to assist sterile couples.
On Thursday, Antinori was quoted by the Spanish daily El Mundo as saying that he planned to go ahead with his research despite all the controversy.
He said he was considering carrying out his experiments in several countries, but had ruled out Europe or the United States.
"If everything goes according to plan, the first cloned embryo will be conceived before the end of the year," he told the newspaper.
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