Co-wife as surrogate mother.
In the name of Allah, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful.
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Many experts have opined that surrogate motherhood is forbidden in Islam. We believe under the special circumstances mentioned below the technique of fertilizing the egg of a woman with the sperm of her husband and implanting that fertilized egg in the womb of another wife of the husband is to be encouraged.
First we consider three expert opinions on surrogate motherhood and list the objections raised in them.
1. http://www.central-mosque.com/fiqh/test-tube.htm
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A surrogate born-child may have no genetic link with the surrogate at all. In other words, the surrogate is merely offering her gestation function to an embryo. This is referred to as 'fall surrogacy".
… It is illegal and immoral to introduce into a woman the sperm of any man other than her husband.
… It will be Haram (forbidden) to form the embryo by the fusion of a woman's ovum with the sperm of a man other than her husband.
… it is Haram to introduce sperm or embryo into an unmarried woman.
Surrogate motherhood is definitely not allowed in Islam due to the fact that many evils may arise from this procedure, which can be listed as follows:
… In order to relieve themselves of the agony of childbirth, married women could be tempted to resort to this technique. Islam abhors such action.
… Finally, surrogate motherhood violates the systematic planning of Allah in the normal process of procreation.
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2. http://www.islamonline.net/livefatwa/english/Browse.asp?hGuestID=i41ob9
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A surrogate mother is impossible in Islam because motherhood used to have two reasons:
1) Either the egg of the fetus is of the same pregnant mother and that is what the Qur'an says in sura 58, verse 2, "...None are their mothers except those who gave them birth - they indeed utter an ill word and a lie. And lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful."
2) The other mother is the one who breastfeeds a child. She becomes his mother.
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3. http://www.themodernreligion.com/misc/hh/surrogate-parenting.html
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The contract which the surrogate mother and the married couple enters into can in no way be justified legally under the Shari'ah.
… 1st. it is a contract stipulating the "sale" of a free person;
2nd. it involves an element of adulterous implantation (the fertilised egg being implanted not in the wife but in the womb of the surrogate mother).
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In summary, we have:
1. It is illegal and immoral to introduce into a woman the sperm of any man other than her husband.
2. It will be Haram (forbidden) to form the embryo by the fusion of a woman's ovum with the sperm of a man other than her husband.
3. It is Haram to introduce sperm or embryo into an unmarried woman.
4. In order to relieve themselves of the agony of childbirth, married women could be tempted to resort to this technique. Islam abhors such action.
5. Finally, surrogate motherhood violates the systematic planning of Allah in the normal process of procreation.
6. Either the egg of the fetus is of the same pregnant mother and that is what the Qur'an says in sura 58, verse 2, "...None are their mothers except those who gave them birth - they indeed utter an ill word and a lie. And lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful."
7. The other mother is the one who breastfeeds a child. She becomes his mother.
8. It is a contract stipulating the "sale" of a free person.
9. It involves an element of adulterous implantation (the fertilized egg being implanted not in the wife but in the womb of the surrogate mother).
Objections 1, 2, and 9 do not apply as the wife desiring a surrogate mother, and the surrogate mother has the same husband. We are in agreement with objection 3 in general. However in our case the surrogate mother being one wife of the husband, it does not apply. The surrogate mother is not unmarried; she is indeed married to the father of the child to be born of surrogacy. Objection 8 is not applicable as the child belongs to the single husband irrespective which of his wives delivers the child. Objections 4, 5, 6, and 7 are handled one by one in what follows.
Objection 5 does not apply as it is Allah’s process of procreation that a husband gets children through his wives. There is no ordnance – to our knowledge – insisting that the egg of one woman cannot be implanted inside the womb of another woman. One could extract the egg of the wife who could not bear a child, preserve it, and at the appropriate time place it surgically in the womb of the other wife who is healthy; then if the other wife conceives by having sex with her husband, such conception is valid. However, the egg is not hers, but that of the other wife. It is a matter of convenience whether the egg gets implanted in the womb and gets conceived or the egg of the unhealthy wife gets fertilized by the husband’s sperm in a test tube and the fertilized egg gets implanted in the womb of the other wife, who is now the surrogate mother. Let us not forget that what is forbidden in Islam is clearly forbidden. As there is no objection to implanting the egg of one wife inside the womb of another wife, there could be no objection to one wife becoming the surrogate mother to the other wife’s genetic child. If some might object to the above, we would like them to consider the process of the birth of Prophet Jesus, son of Mary, peace be upon them. It our stand that anything between the normal process performed by many and the miraculous process by which Prophet Jesus, son of Mary, peace be upon them, was delivered is acceptable in Islam unless forbidden by other reasons. There is no objection to implanting the egg of one woman into the womb of another woman, especially under the circumstances to be described below. Let us not forget that the technology of test tube babies would not have emerged unless sanctioned by God Almighty.
Objection 6: Let us consider the following two Verses of the Holy Quran from http://www.searchtruth.com/search.php?keyword=birth mother&chapter=&translator=2&search=1&start=0&records_display=10&search_word=all :
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(1) We have enjoined on man kindness to his parents: In pain did his mother bear him, and in pain did she give him birth. The carrying of the (child) to his weaning is (a period of) thirty months. At length, when he reaches the age of full strength and attains forty years, he says, "O my Lord! Grant me that I may be grateful for Thy favour which Thou has bestowed upon me, and upon both my parents, and that I may work righteousness such as Thou mayest approve; and be gracious to me in my issue. Truly have I turned to Thee and truly do I bow (to Thee) in Islam."
( Al-Ahqaf, Chapter #46, Verse #15) (Yusuf Ali – English translation)
(2) If any men among you divorce their wives by Zihar (calling them mothers), they cannot be their mothers: None can be their mothers except those who gave them birth. And in fact they use words (both) iniquitous and false: but truly Allah is one that blots out (sins), and forgives (again and again).
( Al-Mujadila, Chapter #58, Verse #2) (Yusuf Ali – English translation)
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Objection 6 is taken from the second result given above. The surrogate mother is recognized as the real mother in Islam. Such a decision is strengthened by the first result, Verse 15 of Chapter 46 of the Holy Quran. The fact that the surrogate mother is the real mother basically affects the inheritance. The child would not inherit the genetic mother but the surrogate mother. The genetic mother has the freedom of giving one third of her wealth as gift and thus she could still give wealth to her genetic child. The situation is similar with respect to the foster mother too.
Objection 7 claims that the only other mother is a foster mother. In the case of the surrogate mother she is the blood mother and thus we need not consider this objection. This objection has a bearing on the genetic mother. The genetic mother is neither the blood mother nor a foster mother.
Only objection 4 needs to be considered. Yes some wealthy and lazy women might like to have a surrogate mother so that they avoid the pain of baby delivery. In view of the above fact that the surrogate mother becomes the blood mother and the genetic mother has no connection – in Islam – with the child, such efforts would not be attempted by Muslim women. Still, we like to indicate that this facility of having a co-wife as surrogate mother is valid for those women who cannot bear a child as per the knowledge of mankind at that time. We do identify such a class of women in the following.
From http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic507.htm we have:
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The most common cause of Rh incompatibility is exposure to an Rh-negative mother by Rh-positive fetal blood during pregnancy or delivery … Once produced, maternal Rh immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies may cross freely from the placenta to the fetal circulation … The amount of fetal blood necessary to produce Rh incompatibility varies. In one study, less than 1 mL of Rh-positive blood has been shown to sensitize volunteers with Rh-negative blood. … Once sensitized, it takes approximately one month for Rh antibodies in the maternal circulation to equilibrate in the fetal circulation. … Rh positive antibodies circulating in the bloodstream of an Rh-negative woman have no adverse effect in the nonpregnant state.
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Often the first pregnancy of an Rh negative woman with an Rh positive baby does not affect the baby. In some cases, the first conception gets aborted. This abortion could be due to many reasons. However, if the cause is Rh incompatibility, and if the pregnant mother was not treated to suppress the formation of the Rh antibodies, she is sensitized. For such a sensitized Rh negative woman further pregnancies with Rh positive fetus might result in further abortions or other medical complications. In advanced countries medical care ensures that no Rh antibodies are formed in an Rh negative woman. It cannot be expected in other countries.
http://channels.apollolife.com/show.asp?NewAid=5459 has the following:
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By and large, in India 85-90 percent of the population is Rh positive while 5-10 percent is Rh negative.
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For simplicity of calculations, we take the population of India to be 1 billion, with equal males and females. Let us assume that about 30% of the population is of child bearing age. We are looking at the interaction of some 150 million males with 150 million females. These could result in a minimum of 0.05 x 0.85 x 150 million, or 6.375 million to a maximum of 0.1 x 0.9 x 150 million, or 13.5 million Rh negative women marrying Rh positive men.
http://channels.apollolife.com/show.asp?NewAid=5459 has the following also.
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…subsequent babies will be affected in the form of still birth (intrauterine death) or birth with severe anaemia (erythroblastosis fetalis) or jaundice (kernicterus), which can damage the baby's brain. If the baby survives, it will require blood transfusions.
The statistics of such incidents in India have been reported as, 1 in 30 babies.
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Assuming that India achieves population stability, every female begets two children. Hence, a minimum of 12.75 million to a maximum of 27 million children are to be considered. Among these a minimum of 425,000 to a maximum of 900,000 babies are at risk. That is a minimum of 212,500 to a maximum of 450,000 mothers run the risk of losing the second child due to Rh complications in India. Some of these mothers might have lost the first baby due to abortion without knowing that they have Rh problem with their husbands. What are these women to do?
It is for the above small number of women that we recommend that their husbands marry a second wife. Such a marriage is not a temporary marriage. The second wife is as permanent as the first wife. Depending on the love and affection between the two wives – in many societies the first wife takes an active role in selecting the second wife – the second wife could become the surrogate mother for the genetic child of the first wife.
What is the advantage of such an arrangement to the first wife? We are told that the selfish gene likes to survive through the child. Thus, the gene pool of the first wife does not terminate by having the co-wife as surrogate mother. Further, as genes regulate behavior, the family has a child behaving as the natural child of the first wife even though it is the blood child of the second wife.
In conclusion, in the specific circumstance indicated above surrogate motherhood is permissible in Islam. Is it to be encouraged?
From http://www.searchtruth.com/search.php?keyword=life slew&chapter=&translator=2&search=1&start=0&records_display=10&search_word=all we get:
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On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our apostles with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land.
(Al-Maeda, Chapter #5, Verse #32) (Yusuf Ali – English translation)
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As the co-wife as surrogate mother saves the life of the first wife’s child, she indeed gets rewarded as though she saves the life of the whole people. Hence, we recommend the co-wife being the surrogate mother for the first wife who for medical reasons cannot deliver a baby, but has eggs that could be fertilized by the husband’s sperm.
Allah knows best.