Abstract
Human germline gene editing (hGGE) poses many questions for the Muslim community. They range from the scientific: is there sufficient evidence that hGGE is better than existing technologies? To the ethical: is the lack of consent an insurmountable hurdle? What is the moral status of the embryo? What effect would hGGE have on societal inequalities? And, most crucially, can hGGE be interdicted on the basis of preventing its ineluctable use in eugenic programming? This paper confronts these issues from a religious perspective basing its judgements and reasoning on traditional sources of Islamic jurisprudence. It concludes that, except in very few instances that must be individual and case-specific, hGGE is not congruent with the tenets of Islam.
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Notes
One may, of course, add the burden of self-expectation such enhancement thrusts upon the individual.
There is also the question of what parts of the body are included in the ‘awra of men and women, about which there is considerable difference of opinion. See Al-Jazīrī, ‘Abd al-Raḥmān. (2003). Al-Fiqh ‘ala’l-madhāhib al-arba‘a. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, 1:172.
Though somewhat beyond the scope of this paper, it is noteworthy that gender selection is only permissible in Islam when there is a ghalabat al-ẓann of X-linked diseases. This is because it meets the criterion of cure (dawā’) for a specific illness (Nasim 2012, 1–12). On a similar note, a person who is a hermaphrodite/ intersex identity (khuntha) may undergo sex-reassignment surgery (SRS) if there is ghalabat al-ẓann, in the opinion of experienced professionals, that the condition meets the criterion for illness. Any surgical intervention, therefore, is considered treatment (Alipour 2017, 91–103; Skovgaard-Petersen 1995).
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Acknowledgements
The author would like to express his gratitude for the support of the Centre of Islam and Medicine (CIM) where an earlier version of this paper was presented. A special mention must also be made of Arzoo Ahmed, the Director of CIM, who first suggested this topic.
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Lala, I. Germ-Inating Solutions or Gene-Rating Problems: An Islamic Perspective on Human Germline Gene Editing. J Relig Health 59, 1855–1869 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-019-00770-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-019-00770-5