Islamic Fiqh > Marriage and family > Infertility and medically assisted reproduction
The thwarted desire for children: the MAR frame in fiqh, what is admitted, what is void, and the patience promised to the afflicted.
In medically assisted reproduction, the licit path is single: the gametes of the husband and of the wife, implanted in the wife's own uterus, with no third party, as fixed by the OCI Fiqh Academy in its resolution 16 (3/4) of 1986. Absolutely void are the procedures that bring in a third party: another woman's egg, a stranger's sperm, the gametes of 2 strangers, surrogacy, a co-wife's uterus, because they mix lineages. The embryo is a human to be safeguarded (resolution 181 (17/9)): its life may not be destroyed except in an extreme necessity. The tested couple keeps the invocation of al-Furqan (surah al-Furqan 74) and the path of the orphans (al-Bukhari 5304).
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Updated on 07 October 2026 at 6:42 PM
The OCI Fiqh Academy set the frame as early as 1986: resolution 16 (3/4) on test-tube babies (3rd session, Amman, 1986). Two licit paths, with the necessary precautions: fertilizing the couple's gametes followed by implantation into the wife's own uterus (IVF), and insemination of the husband's sperm into his wife's cervix or uterus. The protocol fits one line: gametes of husband and wife, the wife's uterus, no third party.
The same resolution bans 5 procedures absolutely: the husband's sperm with another woman's egg, a stranger's sperm with the wife's egg, implanting the couple's gametes into a volunteer's uterus (surrogacy), gametes of 2 strangers, a co-wife's uterus. The stated reason: "mixing of lineages, loss of motherhood". The Academy's resolution 181 (17/9) completes: the embryo is a human to be safeguarded, its life may not be destroyed except in an extreme necessity recognized by the shari'a.
The invocation of al-Furqan remains the couple's word: "Lord, grant us joy from our spouses and our offspring" (surah al-Furqan 74). And the highest path of the childless: "I and the guardian of the orphan are thus in Paradise" (al-Bukhari 5304): fostering, kafala, spending on orphans.
The tested couple: consult a doctor and a scholar together, check that the clinic follows the protocol (the couple's gametes, no third party), and keep the invocation of al-Furqan: the licit path exists within marriage, and its nobility lies in its limits.