“O MANKIND! Reverence your Guardian-Lord, Who created you from a single person, created, of like nature, his mate, and from them twain scattered like seeds countless men and women – fear God, through Whom you demand your mutual rights, and reverence the wombs that bore you: for God ever watches over you.”
This is the translation of the opening verse of Surah al-Nisa’ in the Quran.
It states how God has created mankind from the first man, Prophet Adam, and soon after, his mate Siti Hawa (the biblical Eve).
And from these two spawned countless men and women.
Interestingly enough, the name Eve cropped up in the closing week of 2002 when it was reported that the first cloned baby was born on Dec 26.
The people behind this “endeavour” claimed that six more cloned babies would be born across the continents in the next few months.
The announcement of the birth of Eve was made on Dec 27 by the chief executive and scientific director of Clonaid, Brigitte Boisselier, who belongs to a cult known as the Raelians.
This cult believes that human life began 25,000 years ago as a result of cloning by alien lifeforms.
The Raelians was founded by Claude Vorihon, who calls himself Rael.
Rael is also the founder of Clonaid, the company behind Eve.
Immediately after the announcement was made, scientists, world leaders and religious figures rallied to denounce the claim by the cult.
Even Severino Antinori, the Italian fertility expert, who himself was caught in controversy over human cloning several months ago, doubted the claim.
He said the people behind Clonaid were not even scientists and who had never published any papers and, therefore, their claims could not hold water.
Meanwhile, an American ethicist, Norman Frost, was reported to have said that “the announcement had to be seen as a hoax until evidence is produced”.
Other scientists doubted Clonaid’s claim as the rate of success of cloning is low.
They quote the findings that led to the birth of Dolly the sheep in February 1997 in which out of 277 eggs used, only 30 began to divide and from this number, nine induced pregnancy.
In the end, only one survived, creating Dolly.
Clonaid’s claim that their cloned baby had been born on Boxing Day and that six more are to be born is, therefore, regarded improbable mathematically.
In short, the announcement of the birth of the first cloned baby was met with condemnation, cynicism and scepticism by scientists.
Even world leaders viewed the announcement as troublesome and called for governments across the world to outlaw cloning and punish those involved in cloning.
One such call was made by President Jacques Chirac of France.
When it comes to human cloning, the world’s three main monotheistic religions denounced the claim as unethical and unnatural.
From the Islamic perspective, cloning a human is against human nature.
The Academy of Islamic Fiqh based in Jeddah, which consists of 50 Muslim jurists worldwide, had unanimously agreed that human cloning is prohibited in Islam.
Last March, the National Fatwa Committee of Malaysia issued a fatwa (decree) that human cloning was forbidden.
This fatwa was based on various verses in the Quran that state that reproduction involved the male’s sperm and the female’s egg. Cloning, on the other hand, is asexual reproduction.
Technically, cloning is defined as “the production of genetically- identical organisms via somatic cell nuclear transfer”.
In simpler terms, cloning is a method of producing a baby that has the same genes as the parent.
However, cloning does not produce an exact copy of the organism being cloned.
The organism has the same genetic code as its parents, but its personality and appearance depend on the surrounding and environment in which it is brought up.
Ever since cloning technology was first reported to be possible in the early 1960s, it has never failed to attract controversy.
In 1961, Oxford zoologist John Gurdon succeeded in cloning a frog.
This led to the opening of the floodgate of debates on the endless possibilities that cloning technology had, and the dangers that it may pose.
However, it was not until embryologist Ian Wilmut’s announcement of the birth of the cloned sheep Dolly that it dawned upon people that the possibility of human cloning was nearer than ever.
Islam prohibits human cloning based on a number of arguments. The syariah or Islamic law only justifies procreation within the legal confines of a marriage.
This would rule out any basis for human cloning with regard to pro- creation between homosexual couples, which is forbidden by Islam.
On top of that, asexual female re-production is also ruled out as it goes against the nature of human beings.
This is because marriage is an institution built on the union of a man and a woman, from which children are born.
Majdah Zawawi, a law lecturer from the International Islamic University Malaysia, in her book Human Cloning: A Comparative Study of the Legal and Ethical Aspects of Reproductive Human Cloning, published by Ikim, wrote: “Cloning would disrupt the definition of nasab or lineage, cause confusion to family ties which in turn causes the problem of determining those who are in the prohibited degree of marriage which later results in the destruction of the concept of family.”
This “confusion” is a result of the absence of sperm in reproduction. For example, if the donor of the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) or the gene code comes from the husband, which is then fused with the ovum of the wife, would the husband be the father or twin of the resulting baby?
Cloning is a replication of the DNA from the donor where no actual reproduction takes place.
Procreation involves a sperm and an ovum, where the baby would have both the parents’ genetic codes.
In contrast, cloning only uses the DNA of one person, in which the resulting baby is the DNA replica of the donor.
Majdah also observes that the problems that human cloning creates goes further into society. Human cloning would no doubt allow women to reproduce asexually.
According to her, this would lead to “the increase of the number of single parents, thus reducing the role of men and sexual acts as sources of pleasure which would lead to further social irresponsibility”.
Ethicists are also concerned about the possibility of the commercialisation of “selected genes”.
With human cloning, it is likely for famous people, celebrities, renowned intellects and charismatic leaders to market their genes at high prices.
Aside from that, there is also the potential of the commercial use of the uterus.
This is because cloned babies still require the uterus to grow and mature before being given birth.
As it is, even with artificial re-productive technologies such as IVF, there are disputes about surrogacy. Human cloning would only result in more legal disputes over this matter.
As frequently noted, Islam is a complete way of life that looks after the maslahah (well-being) of man-kind.
It is clear that human cloning could indeed result in fasad (destruction) of the core of humankind.
Thus, human cloning falls under the category of mafsadah (causing evil or destruction), which is the complete opposite of maslahah.
Islam’s position on human cloning is unequivocal.
The risks and dangers that this technology poses to society are great and far-reaching.
As Islam is a religion of fitrah, any act that goes against the nature of human beings is, thus, prohibited.
Judging from the worldwide condemnation of Clonaid’s claim, it can be said that the majority of people in this world are still wary and against human cloning.
While it may be technologically possible to produce human clones, most of us are still cautious about the ramifications that this technology may bring.
With the beginning of the new year, mankind is facing even greater challenges than ever before.
Perhaps the unanimity and accord shown against human cloning give us hope that we can still agree on issues that matter most for the survival of mankind.