By Shaykh Muhammad Qutb

The Islamic community had been left in ruins. It had been weakened and divided into small nations. The seeds of internal conflict had been planed and nurtured. Every effort had been made to draw society far away from the essence of religion, keeping people in ignorance and luring them with worldly incentives. Attempts to reform within an Islamic framework are still being suppressed. Religious practicing Muslims have become outcasts in their own society.

And yet it was the will of Allah, the Almighty, that this religion would survive – not only survive, but make a comeback. For at the same time that Islam is no longer “fashionable” in Muslim countries, people in the West itself are beginning to discover the truths of Islam which Muslims have neglected. And those who have not yet discovered Islam have at least noticed the great spiritual famine that has taken hold of western culture. They are now seeing before them the failure of the new freedom to bring satisfaction to the human soul. Mankind, in general, is in a state of worry, anxiety and despair. Before him is the failure of present political, social and economic systems to realize justice or to bring peace of mind to the human race. Man longs to believe in a purpose behind existence. He is finally beginning to understand the real need for a belief in God, for nothing else can take place – not a belief of mere words and rituals or of spiritual disciplines that neglect human needs, but a religion which includes every aspect of humanity: the mind, the body and the soul. And there is only one religion on earth that includes and satisfies all of these… Islam.

In spite of the obvious difficulties which appear to us now, the obstacles will lessen as more and more people seek an improvement and turn back to reason and to God. And this time, when men awaken and search, they will find Islam.

How long will this take? It is not important. The reward for those who work towards that end is guaranteed by Him who created the heavens and the earth, and the result is in His hands. By the will Allah, Islam has survived its darkest hour. And by His will, it can again spread its light to every corner of the earth.

“And Allah will give victory to those who support Him. Certainly is Allah exalted in strength and in power.” [Surah al-Hajj 22:30]

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Genetic Engineering: 21st Century’s Frontier Science

by Ibrahim B. Syed, Ph. D.
President
Islamic Research Foundation International, Inc.
7102 W. Shefford Lane
Louisville, KY 40242-6462, USA
E-mail: IRFI@INAME.COM
Website: http://WWW.IRFI.ORG

What is Genetic Engineering?

Engineering is the technological manipulation of the objects of the natural world in a way that is perceived to be beneficial to people. Traditionally we used the word in the context of inanimate nature: bridges, railways and machines etc. But the term can be used and is used in the context of biology, namely for bioengineering, i.e. modifying or manipulating living organisms. Another term used in place of the term ‘genetic engineering’ (GE) is ‘biotechnology’ (BT). Some people think that ‘biotechnology’ sounds less emotive, less fearful. How is genetic engineering defined then? As with the term ‘gene’, it depends upon who is using it and in what context.

Genetic engineering refers to a set of technologies that are being used to change the genetic makeup of cells and move genes across species boundaries to produce novel organisms. The techniques involve highly sophisticated manipulations of genetic material and other biologically important chemicals.

Genes are the chemical blueprints that determine an organism’s traits. Moving genes from one organism to another transfers those traits. Through genetic engineering, organisms are given new combinations of genes — and therefore new combinations of traits — which do not occur in nature and, indeed, cannot be developed by natural means. Such an artificial technology is radically different from traditional plant and animal breeding. Researchers have discovered ways to change the inherited shape, form and function of living things by altering their Genetic material. This process is known as GENETIC ENGINEERING (GE).

All living cells-plant, animal and human- contain the genetic material DNA (deoxyribo nucleic acid), which determines the attributes of the offspring of all living things. The molecular gene is a definite sequence of bases in the DNA chain which together code for the production of a particular protein. By directly manipulating the DNA, scientists can change inherited characteristics in predetermined ways. Here the term ‘genetic engineering’ (GE) shall mean ‘transgenesis’ or ‘recombinant DNA technology’, — i.e. the technology of copying pieces of genetic code from one organism of the same or different species to another by means of the techniques of the molecular biology laboratory. It results in a ‘genetically modified organism’ (GMO). Genetic engineering is sometimes described as ‘modern biotechnology’, ‘gene technology’, ‘genetic modification’ (GM), ‘genetic manipulation’ or ‘genetic mutilation’. Gene replacement is essentially transplantation surgery although at the molecular level. Cloning is a branch of Genetic Engineering.

Novel organisms

Nature can produce organisms with new gene combinations through sexual reproduction. For example cows must breed with other cows (or very near relatives). A breeder who wants a purple cow would be able to breed toward one only if the necessary purple genes were available somewhere in a cow or a near relative to cows. A genetic engineer has no such restriction. If purple genes are available anywhere in nature — in a sea urchin or an iris — those genes could be used in attempts to produce purple cows. This unprecedented ability to shuffle genes means that genetic engineers can concoct gene combinations that would never be found in nature.

Genetic Engineering has particularly captivated protracted discussions amongst Ulema (Islamic scholars) because of a phrase in the Quran about “changing God’s creation.” According to the Quran, after Shaitan tempted Adam (AS) and Hawwa (AS) ( Eve) to sin by eating from the forbidden tree, he was appalled to see them repenting and being forgiven and honored by their mission to planet Earth as Allah (SWT)’s Khalifa (vicegerent). Shaitan asked Allah (SWT) to grant him another occasion to prove that humans are not that trustworthy after all. If allowed to test them on earth, Shaitan disclosed some of his plots to astound them saying: “Verily of Thy servants I shall most certainly take my due share, and shall lead them astray and fill them with vain desires. And I shall ORDER them so that they cut off the ears of cattle (in idolatrous sacrifice), and I shall order them to deface the (fair) nature created by GOD.” (4:119). A. Yusuf Ali in his commentary no. 631 says ” To deface the (fair) nature created by God: there is both a physical and a spiritual meaning. We see many kinds of defacements practiced on men and animals. Against their true nature as created by God, partly on account of superstition, partly on account of selfishness. Spiritually the case is even worse. How many natures are dwarfed or starved and turned from their original instincts by cruel superstitions or customs? God created man pure: the Evil One faces the image. ” The regard for this verse among Islamic scholars and physicians and health practitioners also affects their decisions on such issues as plastic surgery, gender transformation (sexual conversion) operations. Fortunately, however, the consensus is that this Quranic verse cannot be invoked as a total and radical ban on genetic engineering. If carried too far it would conflict with many forms of curative surgery that also entails some change in God’s creation.

MAIN CONCERNS

Many previous technologies have proved to have adverse effects unexpected by their developers. DDT, for example, turned out to accumulate in fish and thin the shells of fish-eating birds like eagles and ospreys. And chlorofluorocarbons turned out to float into the upper atmosphere and destroy ozone, a chemical that shields the earth from dangerous radiation. What harmful effects might turn out to be associated with the use or release of genetically engineered organisms?

The answer depends on understanding complex biological and ecological systems. So far, scientists know of no generic harms associated with genetically engineered organisms. For example, it is not true that all genetically engineered foods are toxic or that all released-engineered organisms are likely to proliferate in the environment. But specific engineered organisms may be harmful by virtue of the novel gene combinations they possess. This means that the risks of genetically engineered organisms must be assessed case by case and that these risks can differ greatly from one gene-organism combination to another.

Many ethical issues are raised by scientific development of genetic engineering.

The creation of new virulent bacteria for use in biological warfare was a serious concern of the early seventies when the technology of recombinant DNA was first described. This type of destructive application is clearly wrong and unacceptable from the Islamic perspective. On the other hand applications such as the diagnosis, correction, cure or prevention of genetic disease are acceptable and even commendable.

Potential Harms to Health

Here are the some examples of the potential adverse effects of genetically engineered organisms may have on human health. Most of these examples are associated with the growth and consumption of genetically engineered crops. Different risks would be associated with genetically engineered animals and, like the risks associated with plants, would depend largely on the new traits introduced into the organism.

New Allergens in the Food Supply

Transgenic crops could bring new allergens into foods that sensitive individuals would not know to avoid. An example is transferring the gene for one of the many allergenic proteins found in milk into vegetables like carrots. Mothers who know to avoid giving their sensitive children milk would not know to avoid giving them transgenic carrots containing milk proteins. The problem is unique to genetic engineering because it alone can transfer proteins across species boundaries into completely unrelated organisms.

Genetic engineering routinely moves proteins into the food supply from organisms that have never been consumed as foods. Some of those proteins could be food allergens, since virtually all known food allergens are proteins. Recent research substantiates concerns about genetic engineering rendering previously safe foods allergenic. A study by scientists at the University of Nebraska shows that soybeans genetically engineered to contain Brazil-nut proteins cause reactions in individuals allergic to Brazil nuts.

Scientists have limited ability to predict whether a particular protein will be a food allergen, if consumed by humans. The only sure way to determine whether protein will be an allergen is through experience. Thus importing proteins, particularly from nonfood sources, is a gamble with respect to their allergenicity.

Resistance to Antibiotic

Most genetically engineered plant foods carry fully functioning antibiotic-resistance genes.

The presence of antibiotic-resistance genes in foods could have two harmful effects. First, eating these foods could reduce the effectiveness of antibiotics to fight disease when these antibiotics are taken with meals. Secondly, the resistance genes could be transferred to human or animal pathogens, making them impervious to antibiotics. If transfer were to occur, it could aggravate the already serious health problem of antibiotic-resistant disease organisms. Although unmediated transfers of genetic material from plants to bacteria are highly unlikely, any possibility that they may occur requires careful scrutiny in light of the seriousness of antibiotic resistance.

New Toxins Produced by Plants

Many organisms have the ability to produce toxic substances. For plants, such substances help to defend stationary organisms from the many predators in their environment. In some cases, plants contain inactive pathways leading to toxic substances. Addition of new genetic material through genetic engineering could reactivate these inactive pathways or otherwise increase the levels of toxic substances within the plants. This could happen, for example, if the on/off signals associated with the introduced gene were located on the genome in places where they could turn on the previously inactive genes.

Fungal Toxins

Although for the most part health risks are the result of the genetic material newly added to organisms, it is also possible for the removal of genes and gene products to cause problems. For example, genetic engineering might be used to produce decaffeinated coffee beans by deleting or turning off genes associated with caffeine production. But caffeine helps protect coffee beans against fungi. Beans that are unable to produce caffeine might be coated with fungi, which can produce toxins. Fungal toxins, such as aflatoxin (a fungal toxin usually found in peanuts), are potent human toxins that can remain active through processes of food preparation.

Potential Environmental Harms

Monarch butterfly mortality

One variety of genetically engineered Corn produced pollen that was toxic to monarch butterflies.. Recent studies reported in Science and Oecologia journals suggested that pollen from the transgenic Bt com may be fatal to monarch butterflies, which feed on milkweed coated with Bt com pollen. Scientists have confirmed the mortality of monarch butterflies exposed to Bt com pollen under both laboratory and field conditions. Proponents of the technology claim that under field conditions the concentration of pollen on milkweed may not reach levels that cause lethal effects. Scientists from Iowa State University are examining this more closely, and their findings should be published soon. A study published in Nature (1999) indicated that secretions from remains of Bt com adversely affected certain other soil borne nontarget insect species.

Unnecessary Weeds

One way of thinking generally about the environmental harm that genetically engineered plants might do is to consider that they might become weeds. Here, weeds means all plants in places where humans do not want them. In agriculture, weeds can severely inhibit crop yield. In unmanaged environments, like the Everglades, invading trees can displace natural flora and upset whole ecosystems. Some weeds result from the accidental introduction of alien plants, but many were the result of purposeful introductions for agricultural and horticultural purposes. Some of the plants intentionally introduced into the United States that have become serious weeds are Johnson grass, multiflora rose, and kudzu.. Another example would be a rice plant engineered to be salt-tolerant that escaped cultivation and invaded nearby marine estuaries.

Genes Susceptible to Pesticides

Many insects contain genes that render them susceptible to pesticides. Often these susceptibility genes predominate in natural populations of insects. These genes are a valuable natural resource because they allow pesticides to remain as effective pest-control tools. The more benign the pesticide, the more valuable the genes that make pests susceptible to it.

Wildlife Poisoning

Engineering crop plants, such as tobacco or rice, to produce plastics or pharmaceuticals could endanger mice or deer who consume crop debris left in the fields after harvesting. Fish that have been engineered to contain metal-sequestering proteins (such fish have been suggested as living pollution clean-up devices) could be harmful if consumed by other fish or raccoons.

Unknown Harms

As with human health risks, it is unlikely that all potential harms to the environment have been identified. Each of the potential harms above is an answer to the question, “Well, what might go wrong?” The answer to that question depends on how well scientists understand the organism and the environment into which it is released. At this point, biology and ecology are too poorly understood to be certain that question has been answered comprehensively.

The main concerns about genetic engineering lie in the area of the unknown and unsuspected future. The possibility of grafting new genes not only in somatic cells but also into germ cells thus affecting coming generations, could later be associated with tragic self perpetuating mutations

As with any new technology, the full set of risks associated with genetic engineering have almost certainly not been identified. The ability to imagine what might go wrong with a technology is limited by the currently incomplete understanding of physiology, genetics, and nutrition If pursued with man’s inclination for seeking the unknown until it is known and the unachievable until it becomes achievable then mankind may be confronted by patterns of life yet to appear on the biological stage. Science might think that everything is under control while the case is not really so. Moral concerns have been voiced that bear on equity, justice and the common good. Perhaps it is time for a comprehensive public debate and the prospective formulation of an ethical code for genetic engineering. A long story is in the waiting, and it is just beginning to unfold!

The hazards of nuclear radiation were not apparent for some time, nor could the damage be repaired, and the winnings with genetic engineering are far more serious. The introduction of genetic material from one species into another, in practicality means the creation of a new species with mixed features.

Like Adolf Hitler those who support Eugenics (ancestry through inherited characteristics) and elitism could result in discrimination against normal individuals. Thus, manipulating the human progeny might be extended beyond combating disease to the cultivation of certain physical characteristics considered desirable leading to elitism and discrimination against (normal) individuals who lack those characteristics

People will be inclined to the abortion of defective fetuses (cystic fibrosis). Tampering with human personality and the manipulation of behavior is possible if genes determining behavior are isolated . . Islam would certainly condemn the principle of tampering with the human personality and its capacity for individual responsibility and accountability. One need to look into sin and abuse of our bodies. The health costs are staggering from alcohol abuse, illegal-drug use, smoking, sexually transmitted diseases and improper diet, not to mention crime and violence as a means to solving problems,

“The severing of procreation from sex, love And intimacy is inherently dehumanizing, No matter how good the product” (Ethics of Cloning Humans, Gregory E. Pence, Editor, 1998, p.26). Manufacturing children by cloning could prove to be another step in the further disintegration of the family. In the wrong hands, biotechnology can be a grave danger. At one time nuclear-power plants seemed Like a brilliant idea, but a string of Nuclear-power-plant disasters has dimmed their luster.

Worse still is US experiment in which pigs were given human Growth-hormone gene so that the pigs can put on weight faster. They put on weight, but were also partially blind and arthritic and developed Ulcers.

BENEFITS:

· Animals have been bred to be stronger, more hardy, to produce more wool, milk or meat. On the livestock side, a drug has been produced for dairy cows — Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) or Bovine Somatotropin (BST) — by engineering a bacterium to contain the gene for the hormone. The drug is administered to cows to increase milk production, despite the chronic oversupply of milk in the United States. A highly controversial product when it was first introduced, BGH is currently used on about 10 percent of the US dairy herd.

Animals Engineered for Leaner Meat. Animals Engineered as Drug-Production Facilities

· Goats and sheep have been engineered to secrete bioactive molecules into their blood, urine, or milk. Companies are in the process developing commercial enterprises based on these animals. So far, none of the drugs is on the market. It is likely that producers will want to slaughter the animals for food after they are no longer useful for drug production.

The possibility exists of using animals Engineered as Sources of Transplant Organs

Animals Engineered for Disease Resistance. Chickens and turkeys have been engineered to resist avian diseases. None have been commercialized.

Genetically Engineered Fish and Shellfish : Fish and shellfish have been engineered to cause changes in hormones that accelerate growth in several laboratories. So far, none have been commercialized in the United States.

An engineered predatory mite has been field tested in Florida. Researchers have produced honeybees and other beneficial insects engineered to tolerate pesticides.

Bacteria have been genetically engineered to produce rennet, an enzyme important in making cheese. Genetically engineered rennet (chymosin) is approved for commercial use and widely used by US cheese processors.

· Strains of wheat, corn and rice have been created that produce more food while needing less fertilizer and water. Genetically engineered crops that were aimed at feeding the hungry, would be developing seeds with certain predictable characteristics:

· (a) ability to grow on substandard or marginal soils;

· (b) plants able to produce more high-quality protein, with increased per-acre yield, without increasing the need for expensive machinery, chemicals, fertilizers, or water;

· (c) they would aim to favour small farms over larger farms;

· (d)the seeds would be cheap and freely available without restrictive licensing; and

· (e) they would be for crops that feed people, not meat animals.

· Fast-growing trees provide more lumber, Pulp, fuel and shade. Genetically engineered cotton has been approved for commercial use.

· Flowers are bigger, more colorful, more beautiful than they would be otherwise.

· Several tomatoes engineered to delay ripening have been approved for commercial use. In some cases, delayed ripening just prolongs shelf life that is tomatoes have a longer shelf life.

· Rice strains are disease-resistant. Many plants have been commercialized, including tomatoes and squash and commodity crops like corn and soybeans. Most have been engineered for one of three traits: herbicide tolerance, insect resistance, or virus tolerance.

· Genes of fish have been placed into potatoes and strawberries to make these plants more resistant to cold weather.

· Sheep with skin that will provide immunity to insect parasites.

Plants that produce toxic chemicals that ward off their natural pests. Engineered Microorganisms Used as Pesticides. Several bacteria engineered to enhance their ability to kill or repel pests have been approved for commercial use. These products are used as pesticides in agricultural fields and gardens.

· Heal diseases(cancers, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s)

· Fashion “designer children” and reverse the aging process. Design a customized child who is Genetically disposed to be physically attractive, of superior intelligence or athletically talented.

· Eliminating genetic diseases. For example, geneticists think it may be possible to eliminate genetic diseases such as Tay-Sachs through careful and methodical screening programs.

· Screening unborn babies. This refers to screening for genetic disorders either before a pregnancy takes place or in the early months of a pregnancy. More information would give prospective parents more options in dealing with their infants’ problems.

· Treating diseases. For example, scientists are working on ways to insert cells from embryos into cancerous cells as a way to stop the growth of cancer.

· The ultimate beneficiaries of technological innovation have always been consumers, both in the United States and abroad. In developing countries, biotechnological advances will provide means to overcome vitamin deficiencies, to supply vaccines for killer diseases like cholera and malaria, to increase production and protect fragile natural resources, and to grow crops under normally unfavorable conditions.

· The pharmaceutical possibilities of genetic engineering will open tremendous vistas in treatment of many illnesses and the possibilities in agriculture and animal husbandry might be the clue to solving the problem of famine the world over.

Conclusion

Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States wrote an OP-ED in New York Times of August 26, 1998 titled “Who’s Afraid of Genetic Engineering? “….Anti-biotechnology activists argue that genetic engineering is so new that its effects on the environment can’t be predicted. This is misleading. In fact, for hundreds of years virtually all food has been improved genetically by plant breeders. Genetically altered antibiotics, vaccines and vitamins have improved our health, while enzyme-containing detergents and oil-eating bacteria have helped to protect the environment. In the past 40 years, farmers worldwide have genetically modified crops to be more nutritious as well as resistant to insects, diseases and herbicides. Scientific techniques developed in the 1980’s and commonly referred to as genetic engineering allow us to give plants additional useful genes. Genetically engineered cotton, corn and soybean seeds became available in the United States in 1996, including those planted on my family farm. This growing season, more than one-third of American soybeans and one-fourth of our corn will be genetically modified. The number of acres devoted to genetically engineered crops in Argentina, Canada, Mexico and Australia increased tenfold from 1996 to 1997.

The risks of modern genetic engineering have been studied by technical experts at the National Academy of Sciences and World Bank. They concluded that we can predict the environmental effects by reviewing past experiences with those plants and animals produced through selective breeding. None of these products of selective breeding have harmed either the environment or biodiversity.

Carter says that by increasing crop yields, genetically modified organisms reduce the constant need to clear more land for growing food. Seeds designed to resist drought and pests are especially useful in tropical countries, where crop losses are often severe. Already, scientists in industrialized nations are working with individuals in developing countries to increase yields of staple crops, to improve the quality of current exports and to diversify economies by creating exports like genetically improved palm oil, which may someday replace gasoline. Other genetically modified organisms covered by the proposed regulations are essential research tools in medical, agricultural and environmental science.

If imports like these are regulated unnecessarily, the real losers will be the developing nations. Instead of reaping the benefits of decades of discovery and research, people from Africa and Southeast Asia will remain prisoners of outdated technology. Their countries could suffer greatly for years to come. It is crucial that they reject the propaganda of extremist groups before it is too late. “

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Halal Dating

by Ibrahim B. Syed, Ph. D.
President
Islamic Research Foundation International, Inc.
7102 W. Shefford Lane
Louisville, KY 40242-6462, USA
E-mail: IRFI@INAME.COM
Website: http://WWW.IRFI.ORG

Dating is getting to know each other. However the dating that is vogue in North America involves intimate relationship such as touching, kissing, petting, necking that ultimately results in pre-marital sex. This was not there in North America before the Second World War. The women used to wear long chaste dresses and their dating did not involve the close intimacy that we see today.

No premarital sex is allowed in Islam. Therefore, no dating is allowed on the premise that dating inevitably leads to premarital sex.

The choice of a marriage partner is one of the most important decisions a person will make in his or her lifetime. It should be taken as seriously as any other major decision in life – with prayer, careful investigation, and family involvement. It is Islamically permissible for a couple to meet in chaperoned, or group environment. In Islam consent is very important- that is neither women nor men can be married against their will. Islam has given this freedom of choice to both young men and women – they cannot be forced into a marriage that they don’t want.

Qur’an and Hadith on Chastity

However, we need to keep in mind the following Islamic commandments:

” You commit no sin by announcing your engagement to the women, or keeping it secret. GOD knows that you will think about them. Do not meet them secretly, unless you have something righteous to discuss. Do not consummate the marriage until their interim is fulfilled. You should know that GOD knows your innermost thoughts, and observe Him. You should know that GOD is Forgiver, Clement.” Qur’an 2:235

… Also, you may marry the chaste women among the believers, as well as the chaste women among the followers of previous scripture, provided you pay them their due dowries. You shall maintain chastity, not committing adultery, nor taking secret lovers. Anyone who rejects faith, all his work will be in vain, and in the Hereafter he will be with the losers. Qur’an 5:5

Successful indeed are the believers; who are reverent during their Contact Prayers (Salat). And they avoid vain talk. And they give their obligatory charity (Zakat). And they maintain their chastity. Only with their spouses, or those who are rightfully theirs, do they have sexual relations; they are not to be blamed. Those who transgress these limits are the transgressors. Qur’an 23:1-7

Tell the believing men that they shall subdue their eyes (and not stare at the women), and to maintain their chastity. This is purer for them. GOD is fully Cognizant of everything they do. Qur’an 24:30

And tell the believing women to subdue their eyes, and maintain their chastity. They shall not reveal any parts of their bodies, except that which is necessary. They shall cover their chests, and shall not relax this code in the presence of other than their husbands, their fathers, the fathers of their husbands, their sons, the sons of their husbands, their brothers, the sons of their brothers, the sons of their sisters, other women, the male servants or employees whose sexual drive has been nullified, or the children who have not reached puberty. They shall not strike their feet when they walk in order to shake and reveal certain details of their bodies. All of you shall repent to GOD, O you believers, that you may succeed. Qur’an, 24:31

Among His proofs is that He created for you spouses from among yourselves, in order to have tranquility and contentment with each other, and He placed in your hearts love and care towards your spouses. In this, there are sufficient proofs for people who think. Qur’an 30:21

They keep their chastity. (They have relations) only with their spouses, or what is legally theirs – Qur’an 70:29-30. Chastity is defined Quranically in 23:6 as avoiding sexual relations outside marriage.

There are clear verses in the Quran against the natural results of dating; from the seemingly innocent kiss to the more obvious. According to the Qur’anic commands unmarried men and women should maintain their chastity until marriage. (5: 5, 23: 5-7, 24: 3-0-31, 70: 29-331).

Hadrat Umar (RA) related that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “Not one of you should meet a woman alone unless she is accompanied by a relative (mahram)” (Bukhari/Muslim).

The Prophet (peace be upon him) also reportedly said, “Whenever a man is alone with a woman, Satan (Shaytan) is the third among them” (Tirmidhi). When young people are getting to know each other, being alone together is a temptation toward wrongdoing.

At all times, Muslims should follow the commands of the Qur’an (24:30-31) to “lower their gaze and guard their modesty….” Islam recognizes that we are human and are given to human weakness, so this rule provides safeguards for our own sake.

Friendship with Opposite Sex

Is it wrong for two people of the opposite sex to be very good friends at school and outside of school? Dr. Muzammil Siddiqui answers ” Muslims should have good elations with all people, males as well as females. At school, at work, in you neighborhood etc. you should be kind and courteous to everyone. However, it is not allowed in Islam to take a non-mahram person or persons of the opposite gender as a very close friend.

Such friendship often leads to Haram. In the Qur’an, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala mentioned that good men and women are those who marry, do not have fornicating relationships and do not have “paramours” (“akhdan” see al-Nisa’ 4:25; al-Ma’idah 5:5). “Akhdan” are “sweethearts” or for a man a “mistress” and for a woman a “lover”. The Prophet – peace be upon him – said, whenever two strangers of the opposite gender are alone with each other, Satan becomes the third one between them. (al-Tirmidhi, 1091). (1)

Halal Dating

It is a common thing to see a white woman marrying a man from a Muslim country. A question arises as to how they met each other before their marriage? Was it a marriage arranged by their parents?

They had probably met at work and dated each other. In the past Muslims did not date because of arranged marriages. Are parents in North America going to arrange the marriages of their young children as is done in some Islamic countries?

In Islamic countries there are matrimonial brokers and agents who work to match the brides and bridegroom. Parents have the support of the community in finding spouses for their children. Relatives, networking, social gatherings particularly weddings, make arranging marriages easier. In the United States, parents are left alone and cut off from these networks.

The more educated the girl becomes, the less contented a parent feels in arranging for her marriage. African-American Muslims, as well as Arab and Asian immigrants from cultures that practice arranged marriages–are now unenthusiastic to do the same for their own children.

In an arranged marriage, a Muslim family usually investigates the prospective candidate further – talking with teachers, professors, employers, friends, family, Imams, colleagues, etc. to learn about his or her character.

It is a well-known fact that Islamic religious or cultural events are often segregated by gender? So how are the young North American Muslims supposed to meet and marry each other?

“Young American Muslims have come up with creative solutions to dating–and they fall into roughly three categories. The first group is “Strict Muslims” who date halal (in an Islamically permissible style). The second group I call “Eid Muslims,” because many are not strict in practice and attend mosques only on holidays. While technically they are dating haram (unlawfully in Islam), without chaperones, they’re keeping physical intimacy to a minimum and parental involvement at a maximum. The third group dates “Sex and the City”-style (definitely haram), openly and freely leading a non-Islamic lifestyle, having premarital sex sometimes in a series of monogamous relationships. ” (2)

“This “Sex and the City” group consists mostly of Muslim men who date non-Muslim women. These non-Muslim women sometimes convert to Islam and marry their Muslim boyfriends. But some are unceremoniously dumped when the man’s parents arrange a halal marriage. The woman’s family is naturally upset at how she has been treated, resulting in a misconception that Muslim men treat women poorly. Ironically, the “Sex and the City” Muslim man can date freely without risking his standing in the community, while a Muslim woman with the same dating pattern would not only gain a bad reputation but risk losing a good arranged marriage proposal. This double standard and poor treatment of women is not endorsed by Islam but by a general patriarchy that pervades many world cultures, including America. ” (3)

“Upon getting serious with a woman they’re dating, though, some of these “Sex and the City” men suddenly reassert their strict Wahhabi upbringing. They insist that their girlfriends, with whom they once openly had sex, will now have to wear a cover and stay at home, and that their dating relationship was haram. A friend of mine who had such an experience broke off the engagement with the Muslim man but retained her commitment to Islam. She said many of her friends were surprised that she didn’t return to the party-girl lifestyle once her Muslim fiancé was out of the picture. But she told me she is now committed to waiting to have sex again till she marries.” (4)

“My friend wants to engage in halal dating–a practice gaining much popularity in the American Muslim community both among Strict Muslims and Eid Muslims. Halal dating is the first cousin of arranged marriage, with young people finding their own mates–within the guidelines of Islam–instead of their parents arranging marriages for them. Because the Qur’an advocates equality between the sexes, it does not permit premarital sex–since all the negative consequences fall upon the woman, including pregnancy, the social stigma, and the raising of the child. Premarital sex is also forbidden for other reasons, including learning to discipline oneself and practice self-control. Under Islam, when a man has sex with a woman to whom he is not married, he is being disrespectful of her, whether she is consensually participating or not. So young Muslims who engage in halal dating seek a commitment first and are vigilant about staying true to their religion.” (5)

“For both Strict and Eid Muslims, couples are introduced to each other, either by parents or friends. (Less often they meet at school or in their local community.) They spend time talking over the phone or on the Internet and even going on dates, though for Strict Muslims, a chaperone is always present. Once they have decided they like each other, the couple is married under Islamic law by signing a marriage contract. This event, called the nikah, is as binding as a marriage. However, the couple is seen as engaged in most Islamic cultures and in American-Islamic culture. The signing of the agreement allows them to spend more time together. Strict Muslims still have a chaperone present and do not even hold hands.” (6)

Halal dating fosters a clear understanding between the man and the woman that they are committed to marrying each other. One views the other as a life partner, not a hot prom date. Eventually they will marry in a ceremony attended by their friends and family members.
Sometimes, though, the betrothal may break up, but, because the couple was engaged in halal dating, no disgrace attaches to them. Many Muslims marry non-Muslim women who convert as a result of halal dating. Another example of halal dating that resulted in marriage is that of a divorced non-Muslimah, who met a Muslim of Pakistani descent in her medical school class. The Pakistani husband even adopted her daughter from a previous marriage.

“Islamic law itself can be fluid in matters of the heart, depending on who is wielding the gavel. Many non-Muslims see Islam as a gigantic, static monolith, when, in fact, Islam can be very dynamic. Shi’ite Muslims, for instance, sometimes use the device of muta to facilitate dating. A muta is a temporary marriage recognized under Shi’ite practice. An agreement, oral or written, is created between the man and woman, securing for the woman certain rights in the event of pregnancy or at the termination of the marriage. I recently heard of a young Muslim couple living together before their formal wedding ceremony. Their parents could not bear their children living together unmarried so they secured a muta fatwa [an Islamic legal ruling that a temporary marriage was taking place between them] for them. Their living together was then halal. “As for me, I look at it this way: Whether the use of muta is right or wrong, whether halal dating is indeed halal or not isn’t the issue. In the end, we Muslims believe that God will decide, as He is the final judge of us all. ” (7)

Problems of Muslim Marriages in Britain

In Great Britain, Muslim youth intermingle freely and happily with most of their non-Muslim friends. When they have friends of the opposite sex, they are almost always non-Muslims. What is the reason for this? Because there is no shame whatsoever at the school in mixing freely and exchanging views and feelings – but there is enormous suspicion placed upon young Muslim men and women who try to mix freely and exchange views as friends. This is true in the Masaajids also.

“We partly have the problem of those Muslims who simply regard this as a strict no-no, and feel teenagers of the opposite sex must be kept apart at any price. Usually all that happens here is that they are kept apart from other Muslims, but mix pretty freely with non-Muslims. Others take the line that if a Muslim sees someone of the opposite sex, one glance is allowed but then the eyes must be cast down modestly, thus making normal conversation a difficult matter, to say the least. Perhaps it is time to consider the real importance of those words – modest BEHAVIOUR, and the duty of a young Muslims adult not to ‘eyeball’ members of the opposite sex. In other words, seeing someone is not forbidden, but using the eyes in a certain way is. Our conversations with members of the other sex must not be sexually inviting or flirtatious in order to stir up feelings it is difficult to control, especially in the young.” (8)

Elderly Muslims prevent the young Muslim adults from mixing freely. But this could result in the following major problems.

“(i) Young Muslim adults don’t actually know anyone of the opposite sex as friends.

(ii) Young Muslim women don’t actually like young Muslim men very much, for they are not making the same efforts to be charming and helpful towards them as the non-Muslim friends are.

(iii) In situations where young Muslim men and women have become friends, they are expected to treat themselves as brothers and sisters, and a ‘love’ relationship then seems out of the question.” (9)

How to correct this ludicrous state of affairs. It is forbidden in Islam to seek privacy with someone of the opposite sex without a third party present. When that happens, there are grounds for suspicions, criticism, affronts to family honor and so forth. The world is witnessing male members in some Muslim countries committing murder of their young women (honor killing) for the slightest of suspicions – a matter regarded as totally un-Islamic in view of the highly stringent rules for four competent witnesses to actual acts of full sexual intimacy, otherwise people will be flogged with 80 lashes for false or unproven accusations.

“Incidentally, the laws of Islam which allow females to be alone with mahrem males has unfortunately been much abused, and girls need to be warned that sometimes even their male relatives are not safe to be alone with. The incidence of fathers, uncles and brothers (and teachers and pir-sahibs) sexually abusing Muslim girls is sadly on the increase – or, at least, is being increasingly reported. What we need is firstly to recognize that there is nothing at all wrong with young people meeting in situations where intimacy cannot occur because of witnesses; and secondly to create occasions in which they can meet safely in halal ways, so that they CAN get to know each other. The more of these occasions we can organize, whether family events or mosque events or conference events, the better. I also heartily recommend that males and females find at least some opportunities for sitting together at meals, and conversing afterwards.

We also have the problem that the type of young Muslim man or woman most praised by many Muslim elders is the ultra-serious, committed, ritualistic type of Muslim, whose Islam runs the danger of being judged by their ability to memorize Arabic passages (with or without understanding), or the growth of beard or school-uniform type of hijab, or the number of hours spent in prayers and Qur’anic study. Needless to say, I have no wish whatsoever to denigrate the efforts of these admirable people – quite the contrary. Please let that be clearly understood. However, having said that, Muslims of that type do not always make the best of husbands or wives, for they have that ascetic streak and zealousness of commitment that is beyond the reach of the majority.

May Allah grant us the grace to think seriously about the plight of our youngsters seeking good life-partners, especially our girls – many of whom may feel they are ‘condemned’ to marry Muslim men rather than look forward with joy to the prospect. Our young people of both sexes need to see beyond the facades, and to appreciate the nobility and talents of each other, so that they may move forward with confidence and not have a hopeful marriage collapse in trauma and dismay.” (10)

Every knows that in Saudi Arabia most marriages are arranged. It is also well known that couples who once engaged to each other, are allowed to dine out together and to go to other places provided they had a responsible chaperone with them. Obviously this could be classified as a type of Halal dating or Islamic dating.

Currently in North America a Muslim family enquires, discusses, and suggests prospective candidates to their children of marriageable age. They consult with each other to narrow down potential prospects. Usually the father or mother approaches the other family to suggest a meeting. In the majority of cases the prospective bridegroom visits the bride’s place with his family or alone. The prospective candidates meet and talk to each other in the presence of a chaperone. If it clicks in the first meeting, the dating process continues by telephonic conversations, FAXes, E-mail communications, Videoconferences, etc. This type of focused courtship helps ensure the strength of the marriage, by drawing upon family elders’ wisdom and guidance in this important life decision. Family involvement in the choice of a marriage partner helps assure that the choice is based not on romantic notions, but rather on a careful, objective evaluation of the compatibility of the couple. That is why these marriages often prove to be successful.

REFERENCES

(1) Muzammil Siddiqui, www. Pakistan Link.com/religion/2000

(2) Asma Gull Hasan, Halal Dating, August 1, 2002, www.altmuslim.com

(Asma Gull Hasan is the author of “American Muslims: The New Generation”.)

(3) Ibid

(4) Ibid

(5) Ibid

(6) Ibid

(7) Ibid

(8) Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood, http://members.aol.com/Ruqaiyyah/article.htm

(9) Ibid

(10) Ibid

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Menopause

by Ibrahim B. Syed, Ph. D.
President
Islamic Research Foundation International, Inc.
7102 W. Shefford Lane
Louisville, KY 40242-6462, USA
E-mail: IRFI@INAME.COM
Website: http://WWW.IRFI.ORG

“Such elderly women as are past the prospect of marriage, there is no blame on them if they lay aside their (outer) garments, provided they make not wanton display of their beauty; but it is best for them to be modest; and Allah is One Who sees and knows all things”. Qur’an, Surah An-Nur, 24:60.

Older Muslim women who are past the prospect of marriage are not required to wear “the outer garment.” Here the women who are past the prospect of marriage refer to those women who have attained menopause and who cannot bear children.

Menopause is defined as the time when a woman stops having her monthly menstrual cycle. The period from menopause until death when a woman is no longer able to conceive a child because her ovaries have stopped releasing eggs and estrogen is called “Climacteric.“ Almost 220 million Muslim women are presently in the postmenopausal or climacteric stage of their lives.

Natural menopause can occur as early as age 38 or as late as age 60, the average being 50 years. Women whose ovaries or uterus have been removed surgically or whose ovaries have been irradiated with large doses of X-rays or gamma- rays will experience their menopause immediately after the operation and sometime later in the case of irradiation.

Menopause is a gradual process, which in most women lasts about two years. It is a normal event in every woman’s life and should not be thought of as a disease.

It is now known that most women continue to produce small amounts of estrogen often up to thirty years after their menopause, although the ovaries do not secrete it directly. The estrogen is manufactured in glands other than the ovary, in the brain and bone and especially in fat tissue in the postmenopausal woman’s body.

Symptoms of Menopause

No two women experience the menopause in the same way or at the same time. It is not known what exactly triggers the “change of life, even though it is probably related to hormone levels that are adjusting to general aging process in the body. Changing hormone levels account for hot flashes, a symptom that about half of menopausal women experience. A hot flash usually lasts a few minutes and is preceded by a chill followed by heavy sweating. Sometimes, rapid heart beating, numbness and tingles also occur. Only about one in twenty women have hot flashes that are extremely debilitating. These women are unable to sleep at night and may be very tired, nervous or irritable because of the discomfort of the flashes. Luckily most women have hot flashes that are mild, and infrequent and do not disturb their life to any significant degree. One should not forget that a woman’s experience of menopausal symptoms could be influenced by a number of personal and social factors, such as how she feels about aging, her general health and her involvement with activities that enable her to feel productive and worthwhile. Hot flashes are not life threatening and, in most women they go away without treatment such as estrogen therapy.

Another problem that some menopausal women experience is vaginal dryness, which is caused by the thinning of the cells in the vagina. This condition may cause pain during sexual intercourse. As with the hot flash symptom, there is great variation among women in their encounter of vaginal dryness. These changes often do not occur until a woman reaches her late sixties or seventies. Much lower doses of estrogen are needed to relieve vaginal dryness than to relieve hot flashes. In majority of cases, vaginal dryness can be remedied using a non-irritating lubricant before sexual intercourse.

Depression

Emotional problems in the menopause, such as anxiety, depression and nervousness are based on social and cultural factors rather than changes in estrogen levels. Fortunately Muslim women do not consider middle age to be a stressful time in their lives and do not become especially anxious or irritable around the time of the menopause.

Some psychiatrists have, in. the past, implied that menopausal depression is due to hormonal changes by defining a type of mental illness which is allegedly caused by shrinking breasts and vaginas in menopausal women. This diagnosis contributes to the fear that women have traditionally had about the menopause

There is no scientific evidence to justify the use of hormone therapy for those psychological difficulties that may arise during the menopausal years. Estrogen

cannot give a woman self-confidence or emotional self-control. Loneliness, lack of energy, tension and crying spells may occur at anytime in a person’s life; estrogen therapy cannot relieve menopausal women from such feelings. Acknowledging these feelings and talking about them with a sympathetic family member, friend or doctor may provide increased self-understanding and relief from these “bad” feelings.

Hormone Therapy

Hormone therapy (HT) for the management of menopausal symptoms and as a preventive measure to guard against health problems of older age, has dominated discussions about menopause in recent years. Hormone ‘replacement’ therapy has been around since earlier this century. It was first developed as estrogen only, but it was found to cause cancer of the endometrium (the lining of the uterus) and fell from grace. More recently progestin was added to the estrogen in order to make the therapy safer. At menopause hormone levels drop as part of the natural process, so the concept of ‘replacing’ them is misleading. Giving hormones at or after menopause treats menopause as an estrogen deficiency disease rather than as a natural occurrence in a woman’s life. For accuracy, the term ‘hormone therapy’ will be used in this article.

The quandary that many women find themselves in when trying to make a decision about whether or not to use HT at menopause is understandable. There are conflicting reports and claims made about the risks and benefits. Physicians of different persuasions have very differing views about the safety and efficacy of HT. Women often tell that their family physicians urge them to use HT but make light of the side effects and women’s concerns about them. Many women feel their Family Physicians doesn’t have the time to offer much information and discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of HT. Women are being encouraged to take HT, often without being given adequate information and the opportunity to explore their feelings. Many women value the opportunity to explore the pros and cons in a neutral environment without the pressure of having to make a decision then and there. There is rarely any urgency about making the decision of whether or not to use HT.

What is HT?

Hormone therapy is a medication prescribed to add hormones when the amount normally produced by the ovaries decreases as part of the process of menopause. The two main types of hormones in HT are estrogens and progestins. They are produced artificially and attempt to resemble the hormones produced naturally by a woman’s body. In HT these hormones may be prescribed together or alone. Women who have their uterus intact are prescribed combined therapy of estrogen and progestin. Women who have had a hysterectomy are prescribed only estrogen.

Testosterone is another hormone, which is occasionally used. In women, this hormone occurs naturally in small quantities. Its use remains controversial, as there is limited research into its short term and long-term effects.

Hormone therapy is very effective in reducing those symptoms of menopausal women that are related to the decreasing body levels of estrogen. Taking hormones for a short time while the body adjusts to its new hormone level frequently helps women with severe hot flashes or vaginal dryness problems. Hormones do not cure the menopause; they simply help some women who have disabling symptoms get through it more easily.

Hormone therapy, however, may prove to be helpful in. slowing one aspect of the aging process. As bones age, they become less dense and more brittle. This condition is known as osteoporosis, can lead to excessive fractures and broken bones. Bone fractures are a very significant health problem in elderly women. One-­fourth of all postmenopausal women in the United States develop an unhealthy degree of bone loss. It is difficult to predict, however, which women will experience these bone changes. Women who are chronically disabled or bedridden may indeed have bone loss problem that could be helped by hormone therapy. If hormone therapy is to be of any benefit in. preventing osteoporosis and its complication, it must be given early in the menopause before a significant amount of bone is lost since hormone therapy will not cause new bone material to be produced over the long term. Many other factors, in addition to estrogen, are important for healthy bones in postmenopausal women, such as other hormones, vitamin D, calcium, genetics, body weight, exercise and diet. Because of the difficulty in identifying women who would benefit, the doctor cannot recommend that postmenopausal women routinely receive estrogen therapy to prevent osteoporosis.

Side effects

The common side effects of Hormone Therapy (HT) include: sore breasts, nausea, weight gain, headaches, feeling bloated, depression or mood swings, irregular bleeding or spotting.

These side effects, while uncomfortable, are not considered medically dangerous. Often they subside within a few weeks of taking HT. If the side effects continue beyond a few weeks, an adjustment of the dosage may be required. Sometimes women need the dosage adjusted several times before finding the right combination. This may take several months or sometimes longer to sort out.

While the side effects mentioned above may not be considered dangerous in a medical sense, many women find them unacceptable. Numerous women are not prepared to feel the way they might have when they were premenstrual. Unwanted weight gain is also a worry for some women. For many, going back to having a monthly bleed is something they do not want. Only the woman concerned can decide whether any unwanted effects of taking HT are acceptable.

Serious side effects

Serious side effects include increase in the size of fibroids, activation of endometriosis, especially if located deep in the pelvic area, increased risk of developing breast cancer (numerous studies show this to be the case after 5 years of HT use). increased risk of developing endometrial cancer even when combined HT is used, thromboembolism (blood clot in the blood stream). Women should see their doctor immediately if they have any problems, particularly any abnormal bleeding, a breast lump, or any swelling and pain behind the knee or in the calf as this may be a sign of thromboembolism.

Contraindications

Women should not consider taking hormone therapy if they have any of the following health problems: irregular bleeding; cancer of the uterus, breast or kidney; liver disease; a history of heart disease, gall bladder disease and stroke; or a history of heavy smoking. Women who are obese or diabetic and those who have high blood pressure or migraine headaches cannot take hormones safely. When her doctor checks a woman before receiving a prescription for hormone therapy, she should receive a complete physical, including a thorough history and breast and pelvic exams to rule out any of these health problems.

Hormone therapy is not recommended for women who have any of the following: pregnancy and lactation, estrogen dependent cancer, cancer of the breast or endometrium, undiagnosed urogenital bleeding, undiagnosed breast changes, blood clotting disorders, liver disease, uncontrolled high blood pressure. From the list of contraindications, it is clear that HT affects many organs of the body. Women are wise to carefully consider the risks and benefits before commencing HT.

Estrogen wonder drug?

Unfortunately, the case for Estrogen as a woman’s “fountain of youth” has been greatly exaggerated. Many books and articles in women’s magazines suggest that estrogens prevent everything from wrinkles and depression to heart attacks and sexual problems. Menopausal women have been pictured as sexually unattractive and useless- ­with facial hair, deepened voices and shrinking vaginas. Even some doctors have recommended hormone therapy to prevent dry skin, weak muscles, sagging breasts and chins, and breast cancer. Millions of postmenopausal women in America took hormones as a routine, long-­term basis as a cure-all for aging skin, emotional difficulties and as a preventive measure against heart disease and cancer. It is now known that estrogen is not a wonder drug. It cannot slow the aging process or restore youth, vitality or sensuality. In addition, estrogens do not prevent heart disease or breast cancer.

Advice About Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy

While many questions remain, the new WHI(The National Institutes of Health (NIH) established the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) in 1991 to address the most common causes of death, disability and impaired quality of life in postmenopausal women. The WHI will address cardiovascular disease, cancer, and osteoporosis. The WHI a 15 year multi-million dollar endeavor, and one of the largest U.S. prevention studies of its kind.)

findings provide the basis for some advice about the use of postmenopausal hormone therapy. Here it is, along with advice for short-term hormone use to relieve menopausal symptoms:

Short-term estrogen alone or estrogen plus progestin therapy

“Short-term” means the shortest time needed to manage menopausal symptoms. The benefits of such use could outweigh any risks. Most women use the hormone therapy for 2 to 3 years. However, some may require a longer period of treatment. Women should talk with their health care provider about their personal risks and needs.

Long-term estrogen plus progestin therapy:

Estrogen plus progestin therapy should not be used to prevent heart disease. The new findings show that it doesn’t work. In fact, the therapy increases the chance of a heart attack or stroke. And it increases the risk of breast cancer and blood clots.

What can be done instead? The health care provider will guide the patient about other ways to prevent heart disease and stroke that have been proven to be safe and effective. These include lifestyle changes and such drugs as cholesterol-lowering statins and blood pressure medications. Lifestyle changes include: not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, being physically active, and managing diabetes.

Another key part of this is to follow a healthy eating plan that has a variety of foods and is low in saturated fat and cholesterol and moderate in total fat. In addition, limiting how much salt and other forms of sodium you eat will help keep your blood pressure at a healthy level.

Long-term postmenopausal hormone therapy should not be used if one already has heart disease. Such use increases the risk of blood clots. It also increases the risk of heart attack in the first year of therapy.

To prevent osteoporosis, the health care provider should be consulted with regard to personal risks and benefits that come from estrogen plus progestin therapy. Benefits should be weighed against the risk of heart disease, stroke, and breast cancer. Alternate approaches that are considered safe and effective in preventing osteoporosis and fractures should be considered. These include oral biphosphonates, such as alendronate (or Fosamax) and risedronate (or Actonel), and selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs), such as raloxifene (or Evista). SERMs are also known as designer estrogens. They are substances that have estrogen-like effects on some tissues and anti-estrogen effects on others.

Other steps to prevent osteoporosis include consuming enough calcium and vitamin D, (being physically active, especially with weight-bearing exercises (such as walking, jogging, playing tennis, and dancing), not smoking, and limiting consumption of alcoholic beverages Smoking and drinking alcohol increase the risk of osteoporosis.

Long-term estrogen-only therapy:

The WHI has not yet issued findings about the health risks and benefits of long-term use of estrogen-only therapy.

General advice:

Whether or not a woman decides to use postmenopausal hormone therapy, she should keep regular schedule of mammograms, and breast and clinical exams. In addition to having regular mammograms, she should protect her health by having certain other tests done too. These include tests for high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, high blood glucose (sugar), bone mineral density, and overweight. If a woman stops taking hormone therapy and her menopausal symptoms return, she should consider alternative treatments. Be aware that some of these remedies have not been proved effective or safe.

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Family Planning

by Ibrahim B. Syed, Ph. D.
President
Islamic Research Foundation International, Inc.
7102 W. Shefford Lane
Louisville, KY 40242-6462, USA
E-mail: IRFI@INAME.COM
Website: http://WWW.IRFI.ORG

The Qur’an does not prohibit birth control. The authority to forbid anything belongs only to Allah (SWT). No one can declare anything forbidden without clear evidence from the Qur’an or the Sunnah. Therefore, anyone who claims that birth control is forbidden must produce his evidence.

“Do not kill your children in fear of poverty. It is Us who feed you and the child as well.” (Al-An`aam 6: 151)

We know that Allah provides sustenance for everyone of His creation. It is up to the breadwinner of the family to make use of the opportunities that Allah provides for him.

“And do not kill your children for fear of poverty: We give them sustenance and yourselves (too): surely to kill them is a great wrong.” (17:31)

Muslim scholars have generally based their opinion of the prohibition of birth control on these verses. However, these verses are not related to birth control or planning a family.

A close look at these verses shall show that they refer to the prohibition of killing one’s child due to the fear of poverty. Planning a family or planning the birth of a child can, by no means, be termed as “killing a child”. Therefore, the directive of these verses cannot and should not be extended to the prohibition of birth control or planning a family.¹

Maududi in his book “Birth control” argued against birth control being “the” policy of a state; but he said that birth control at the individual or family level is acceptable.

Birth control is permissible according to Islam. The sexual act is more than just a means of procreation and even there is a Sawab for this act when performed between married couples.

Various birth control techniques have been known since the dawn of time. Methods of contraception which are safe and do not affect the health of the mother are permissible.

During the time of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the most commonly practiced method of birth control was ‘azl or the withdrawal method. ‘Azl is technically called coitus interruptus. According to the ulama (scholars), withdrawal is permissible but generally thought to be makruh (reprehensible), since it deprives the woman of her right to be able to have sexual satisfaction and to bear children if she so desires, so therefore the conclusion reached by most scholars is that withdrawal should not be practiced unless the woman agrees to it, in other words by mutual consultation. If repeated pregnancies have weakened the woman’s body or becoming pregnant would threaten her life, such birth control may be construed as a necessity, and not makruh.

Some of Prophet’s (pbuh) companions resorted to coitus interruptus, which was the only method of family planning known to them, and the Prophet was aware of what they did. He did not instruct them to stop, nor did he tell them that what they did was forbidden.

Contraception & sterilization ²

The institution of marriage and the want to have children was the custom of the best of creation, viz., the prophets and messengers chosen by Allah. Allah says about them:

“And indeed We sent messengers before you and made for them wives and offspring” (al-Raad 38)

Islam has forbidden celibacy, monasticism and castration for such purposes. The Prophet (saw) made this clear when he told those companions who were considering acetic forms of life: “I pray and I sleep; I fast and I break my fast; and I marry women. Whoever turns away from my way of life is not from me.”

Birth Control: Through sterilization ³

Sterilization, which involves a surgical operation, is a special case. Unlike other methods of contraception it is permanent. Therefore it has to be viewed separately. Preventing pregnancy by surgery is known as sterilization, which can be performed for either the husband or the wife. It is perhaps more accurate to say that we cannot make a general, sweeping statement in order to say that such an operation is either forbidden or permissible. Any surgery may be considered, from the strictly religious point of view, as required, recommended, discouraged or forbidden, according to the different circumstances of its person. In the case of sterilization, what we have to look for is the effect of pregnancy on the health of the mother. If a competent doctor determines that every pregnancy is likely to pose a real threat to the life of the mother or to cause serious threats to her health and that other methods of contraception may also have a bad effect on her health, then the woman may have such an operation without any qualm of conscience. It is permissible in her case. On the other hand, for a woman who asks her doctor to perform such an operation for cosmetic purposes such as to maintain her figure or other ulterior motives, then such an operation is forbidden.

Needless to say, proper spacing between pregnancies is perfectly acceptable from the Islamic point of view, as long as it is done through legitimate means. When sterilization of either man or woman is done for compelling health reasons or to protect a person’s life, then it is acceptable.

Modern scholar Shaykh Ahmad al-Sharabassi of Egypt has pronounced the following as genuine reasons for practicing contraception:

1. So that the woman may rest between pregnancies.

2. If either partner has a transmittable disease.

3. For the sake of the woman’s health. For example if she is already breast-feeding a child it would be damaging for both her and the child to have another pregnancy.

4. If the husband cannot afford to support any more children.

THE CONTRACEPTIVE METHODS ^{4,5, 6, 7}

The contraceptive methods during our time work in different ways. For the medical opinion about the reliability or any side effects of these methods, the reader must consult his or her physician.

1. Oral Contraceptives:

Birth control pills prevent conception by inhibiting ovulation. The pills alter hormonal levels and suppress the hormonal signal from the gland for the ovaries to release an ovum. These pills are taken orally on a precise schedule for 20 or more days during each menstrual cycle. Since all such pills inhibit ovulation, there is absolutely no problem in using them. However, the individual must consult the physician about possible side effects.

There are some pills, which work after the intercourse has taken place, for example, the ‘morning-after pill’ or the recently developed RU486 pill. Since in our definition, pregnancy begins at implantation, use of any pill, which may prevent implantation, is all right. Therefore, the pills like the ‘morning-after’ and RU486 may be taken after the intercourse BUT not after feeling or knowing that pregnancy has already occurred.

2. Depo-Provera:

Depo-Provera works exactly like the pills, but instead of taking it orally it is injected once every three months. This and other similar contraceptive methods by injection are also permissible.

3. Intrauterine Devices (IUD):

IUDs are plastic or metal objects, in a variety of shapes that are implanted inside the uterus. The medical experts do not exactly know how IUD works. Presently there are two opinions: one says that IUD prevents fertilization; and the other says that it prevents the fertilized ovum from implantation onto the uterus. According to the shari’ah pregnancy begins at implantation, there is no problem in using IUD as a birth control device irrespective of the above differences among the medical experts.

4. Barrier Devices:

All barrier devices prevent the sperm from entering the uterus. This is done by sheathing the penis with a condom, or by covering the cervix with a diaphragm, cervical cap, or vaginal sponge. The use of spermicidal substances, which kill the sperm before reaching the ovum, is also a barrier device. There is absolutely no problem in using these contraceptives either.

5. Abstinence During Fertile Period:

There are three basic procedures to predict ovulation so that sexual intercourse can be avoided during the approximately six days of a woman’s most fertile monthly phase. These three methods are as follows:

(a) Ovulation Method: A woman learns to recognize the fertile time by checking the difference in the constitution of the cervical mucus discharge. The cervical mucus discharge signals the highly fertile period; and thus avoiding sex during the fertile days prevents pregnancy.

(b) Rhythm Method: A method similar to the first, but it depends on observing the monthly cycles for a whole year to determine the fertile days.

(c) Temperature: In this method, besides keeping a calendar record of her cycle, a woman also takes her temperature daily to detect ovulation. She can know her ovulation whenever her basal body temperature increases.

6. Withdrawal (Coitus Interruptus):

Coitus interruptus means withdrawing the penis just before ejaculation. This was the most common method of birth control before the invention of modern devices.

The majority of our mujtahids believe that coitus interruptus is allowed but makruh without the wife’s consent. (Sharh Lum’a, vol. 2, p. 28; al-’Urwah, p. 628; Minhaj, vol. 2, p. 267)

All methods mentioned above do not involve surgical operation and they are also reversible. A woman (or man) using these methods can stop using them at anytime in order to have a child.

7. Sterilization:

Sterilization involves surgical operation.

Sterilization in men, known as vasectomy, means the severing or blocking of the tube in the male reproductive tract. This tube or duct passes sperm from the testes to the prostate and other reproductive organs.

Sterilization in women, known as tubal ligation, involves the blocking or severing of the fallopian tubes, which transport the ovum.

The permissibility of sterilization depends on whether or not it is reversible. At present, the rate of reversibility (40%) is not good enough to make sterilization permissible. Greater success may be achieved with improved micro surgical techniques. And until we achieve at least 80 percent reversibility, it is difficult to permit sterilization.

Abortion ⁴

Islam’s approach to the issue of birth control and abortion is very balanced. It allows women to prevent pregnancy but forbids them to terminate it. Abortion after the implantation of the fertilized ovum in the womb is absolutely forbidden and is considered a crime against the law of God, and the fetus.

In case of rape the woman should use the morning after pill or RU486 immediately after the sexual assault in order to prevent the possible implantation of a fertilized ovum

Modern technology (like ultra sound scan) has made it possible to know whether or not a child has a defect long before he is born. Some people justify the abortion of a defective fetus.

The shari’ah allows abortion only when doctors declare with reasonable certainty that the continuation of pregnancy will endanger the woman’s life. This permission is based on the principle of the lesser of the two evils known in Islamic legal terminology as the principle of al-ahamm wa ‘l-muhimm (the more important and the less important). The Prophet said, “When two forbidden things come [upon a person] together, then the lesser will be sacrificed for the greater.” In the present case, one is faced with two forbidden things: either abort the unborn child or let a living woman die. Obviously, the latter is greater than the former; therefore, abortion is allowed to save the live person. ⁴

^{Permissibility of Abortion 8}

“And do not kill your children for fear of poverty: We give them sustenance and yourselves (too): surely to kill them is a great wrong.” (17:31)

The abortion of a fetus from the mother’s womb is a different issue, since the sperm and egg have already met and fertilized what could become a human being. The scholars all agree that abortion is forbidden after the first four months of pregnancy, since by that time the soul has entered the embryo but it would allow the use of RU486 (the “morning-after pill”), as long as it could be reasonably assumed that the fertilized egg has not become implanted on the wall of the uterus. Most scholars say that abortion is legal under Islamic shari’ah (law), when done for valid reasons and when completed before the soul enters the embryo. To abort a baby for such vain reasons as wanting to keep a woman’s youthful figure, are not valid.

“…And do not slay your children for (fear of) poverty — We provide for you and for them — and do not draw nigh to indecencies, those of them which are apparent and those which are concealed, and do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden except for the requirements of justice: this He has enjoined you with that you may understand.” (6:151)

While planning to raise a family, a man and a woman should consider all the variables in their lives that may affect the life of the mother, the child as well as that of the father.

If a person should – and must – plan sensibly for things like quality of life, then it is more than obvious that planning a child – giving life to another human being – deserves much more attention and consideration on our part. Moreover, it is not just the child, but also the mother whose health and other related conditions should be considered.

Qur’anic verses misinterpreted ⁹

There are, however, some Qur’anic verses which prohibit infanticide and these are used by some Muslims to discourage birth control.

“And do not kill your children for fear of poverty: We give them sustenance and yourselves (too): surely to kill them is a great wrong.” (17:31)

But contraception does not amount to killing a human being. These verses in fact were revealed to forbid the pre-Islamic Arab practice of killing or burying alive a newborn child (particularly a girl) on account of the parents’ poverty or to refrain from having a female child. Perhaps in those days, people did not know safe methods of contraception and early abortion.

Embryonic development was central to the Muslim arguments on abortion. According to Muslim scholars, it is lawful to have an abortion during the first 120 days, but after the stage of ensoulment (after the soul enters into the fetus), abortion is prohibited completely except where it is imperative to save the mother’s life. After ensoulment, however, abortion is prohibited absolutely and is akin to murder.

The Hanafi scholars, who comprised the majority of orthodox Muslims in later centuries, permitted abortion until the end of the four months. According to them, a pregnant woman could have an abortion without her husband’s permission, but she should have reasonable grounds for this act. One reason, which was mentioned frequently, was the presence of a nursing infant. A new pregnancy put an upper limit on lactation, and the jurists believed that if the mother could not be replaced by a wet-nurse, the infant would die.

Conclusion

Family planning, understood by Islam, is not opposed to marriage or to the begetting of children, nor does it’s concept imply disbelief in the doctrine of fate and Divine dispensation–for Allah Almighty has bestowed reason upon man to enable him to distinguish between the useful and the harmful, and to help him follow the path that would assure him happiness in this world as well as in the world to come.

REFERENCES:

1. Birth Control on line at WWW.ISLAMICINSTITUTE.ORG

2. Birth control: Contraception & sterilization. On line at www.muslimindia.com

3. Family Planning in Islam by Alyssa http://www.unh.edu/msa/familyp.htm

4. Marriage and Morals in Islam. Chapter 4: contraceptives and Abortion. Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi, Pub. By Islamic Education and Information Center, Scarborough, Ont. Canada.

5.“Contemporary Jurisprudence Research Journal,” 15th Ed., 4th yr., Oct. & Nov. & Dec. 1992, pp. 57-59,

6. “Biomedical Issues Islamic Perspective,” Abul Fadl Mohsin Ebrahim,

7. “The New Birth Control Book,” by Howard I. Shapiro, M.D.,

8. www.understanding-Islam.com 1^st March 1999

9.Family Planning and Islam: A Review by Khalid Farooq Akbar Hamdard Islamicus Vol. 17, No. 3, 1974

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Contemporary world

by Ibrahim B. Syed, Ph. D.
President
Islamic Research Foundation International, Inc.
7102 W. Shefford Lane
Louisville, KY 40242-6462, U.S.A.
E-mail: IRFI@INAME.COM
Website: http://WWW.IRFI.ORG

“O my dear son! Establish worship and enjoin kindness and forbid iniquity, and persevere whatever may befall thee. Lo! That is of the steadfast heart of things.”

…..Qur’an, Luqman, 31: 17.

The Muslims in America constitute about 6 million out of a total population of nearly 300 million. That is about 2 per cent. The Muslims are a tiny Island in the Ocean of America where the majority has non-Islamic values.

The world is plagued by all sorts of problems: social unrest, political instabilities, mass poverty and destitution, prostitution, homosexuality, sexual assaults on children, homicides, killings, drug addiction, alcoholism, domestic violence, family break-ups, juvenile delinquency, gun violence in schools and in the public, suicides and the so-called Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Aids).

In the United States, one million teen-age girls give birth to children out of wedlock per year. How many Muslim teen-age girls give birth to children out of wedlock?

Jahiliyyah Period

(REF: The Life of Muhammad by Abdul Hameed Siddiqui)

The moral and socio- economic scene of today’s world is uncannily similar to seventh century Arabia before the advent of Islam.

The tribes of Arabia held once a year, a general assembly, at ‘Ukaz a place between Nakhlah and Ta’if. This fair, however, revived the scenes of Rome’s greatest glory in gaiety (fun or joviality) and licentiousness (recklessness or decadence). Warriors of all tribes, sworn blood enemies for generations sat in open-air cafes and taverns (pub or saloon). Wine goblets were filled and emptied with alarming rapidity. Amidst this merrymaking the poets recited their poetical compositions, contending and vying (competing or contesting) with each other for the coveted (well-liked or in demand) first honour. A poet made a name for himself here or nowhere.

Drinking had in fact become a second nature with the Arabs. Wine and woman go together, and as a result of licentious drinking, fornication was very rampant (widespread or unchecked). Imported slave girls from Syria and Iraq who afforded vast opportunities of sensual pleasures to the rich with their dancing and singing and all corruption, which usually goes with them.

Polytheism and idol worship were rampant (widespread or unchecked) in Arabia, so was tribalism and unrestrained pursuit of wealth and power. Most Arabs were nomads, with the tribal structure assuring them security. This stability was based largely on the tradition of “blood vengeance,” which invariably resulted in an endless cycle of revenge. Society seemed even harsher in the cities. There were only a few cities like Makkah, Yathrib (later Madinat an-Nabi, city of the Prophet or for short Madinah), and Ta’if. A small number of rich and powerful families controlled the economy. Many of the poor were eternally entangled in a web of usury (riba). This system of riba turned them into virtual slaves. Slavery itself was commonplace. Women’s status was also extremely deplorable and they were treated largely as chattel (disposable commodity or property or slaves), which was essentially another form of slavery. Marriage, inheritance, and divorce laws reflected the chauvinistic attitudes prevalent in the society. For example unlimited polygamy was widespread, primogeniture (first born of the family) was the rule and sons often inherited their father’s wives. A husband could stop conjugal relations with his wife and abdicate all responsibilities toward her without divorcing her and letting her go free. This cruel treatment of wives called zihar (turning your back on something) was widely practiced.
Although females were oppressed and abused routinely, female infanticide was commonplace, and male progeny was a source of pride and status in society, the majority of deities were female. The three major deities, al-Lat, al’-Uzza, and al-Manat were considered the daughters of Allah. (Astaghfirullah)!

Decency and modesty had been swept away from the society by these drinking revelries (celebrations), so common and so frequent, and by the absence of any social discipline; the heathen Arabs had little regard for the sanctity of matrimonial relations. They took pride in flouting them and describing publicly their adulterous adventures.

It is difficult to resist drawing analogies between the seventh century world and the state of the human morality in today’s world at the turn of the new millennium. The nuclear man-woman, two-parent family, as a core unit of society has eroded seriously in the West. Brazen sexual exploitation in the media is commonplace and illicit sex condoned and even accepted. Violence at home, against women, children, and violence in the streets, is frightfully routine. Substance abuse is widespread, with United States as the largest consumer of drugs in the world. Alcoholism is rampant, especially among college students, with only feeble attempts being made to address the problem. The lessons from the AIDS epidemic are being swept under the rug of political correctness. African- Americans have been liberated as slaves for a century and a half, yet many are still trapped in an unending cycle of poverty and discrimination, which is in a way a form of economic slavery.
The unraveling (straightening out) of the moral fabric in today’s society must weigh heavily on the minds of individuals with insight. They can draw personal solace and inspiration from the life of Prophet Muhammad (SAS).

It is said that while he was young as a herdsman Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had a companion whom he asked to take over his duties while he (young Muhammad (SAS)) spent the night in town in some recreation (such as liquor bars or Disco bars) as other youths were wont (established custom) to do in those days. Before he reached his destination, however, Muhammad’s (pbuh) attention was arrested by a wedding in one of the houses on the way. He stopped there to listen to the sounds emanating from the house and fell asleep. He came back to Makkah on another occasion for the same purpose, and again on the way his attention was arrested by the sound of beautiful music. He sat down on the street to listen, and again fell asleep. The temptations of Makkah had no power over the disciplined soul of Muhammad (SAS) whose prime concern was contemplation. This is not surprising. Far lesser men than Muhammad (SAS) have also overcome these temptations. He led a life far removed from vice and immorality, and found his pleasures in immersing himself in thought and contemplation.

The Arab tribal society of the Seventh century, whose structure was based on greed, debauchery, and violence, was changed in a very short time, by the Prophet (pbuh), into a society with one of the highest moral standards in history. Compassion, humility, devotion to God and egalitarianism (social equality) replaced the old well-entrenched tribal attitudes of pride in wealth, family and class, cruelty toward fellow humans and self-centered behavior. Women, for the first time in history, had rights and dignity, and the vulnerable and weak sections of the society were protected. Sexuality was removed from public prurience (that which incites lasciviousness (Driven by lust. Preoccupied with or exhibiting lustful desires) or lust) and became private and wholesome. Wealth was re-circulated so that even the smallest capillaries of the society were infused with energy and indigence (poverty or destitution) became nearly extinct.

EVERYTHING IS FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR, but not in ISLAM.

Alcohol in Soft Drinks

It is well known that some soft drinks, such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, contain among their ingredients a tiny amount of alcohol, which is used to dissolve some constituents of the drinks such as color, flavor, etc. Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola, for example, contain different types of flavors, considered to be secrets of the trade, these flavors dissolve in alcohol, which is no more than two to three parts in one thousand (0.03-0.02 %) in these drinks

Such soft drinks are considered to be permissible halal from the Islamic point of view, according to the rules for eating and drinking in the Islamic legal law.

The concept behind these rule is that if a small amount of a prohibited substance X is mixed with a dominant permissible substance Y till substance X loses all its attributes such as taste, color, and smell, substance x loses the qualifications of being impure and prohibited by having being dissolved in substance Y.

This conclusion is supported by a ruling by Ibn Taymmiah in his Fatawa (21/502), and by the recommendations of the ninth Medical Fiqh Seminar of the Islamic Medical Science Organization, which met in Aldar Albayda’ in Morocco in June 1997.

The Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA)

Natural and artificial flavors containing alcohol.

In the food industry, alcohol is the second common solvent after water. Some of the flavors like vanilla cannot be made without alcohol. One cannot imagine foods and drinks like, ice cream, cakes and cookies, soft drinks. Etc. without the use of alcohol. IFANCA (The Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America) considers alcohol as an unavoidable impurity in the food systems. Muslim countries, which import food products, accept foods containing small quantities of alcohol.

We have established two levels of control points for alcohol in foods and ingredients:

Less than 0.1 per cent in the food items.

Less than 0.5 per cent in food ingredients.

At the above levels, one cannot detect the presence of alcohol by taste, smell or sight.

These guidelines are for the food industry to make halal certified products, however, where should one draw the line, is up to the individual Muslim consumer based on the available knowledge and his or her own commitment.

The Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America

IFANCA
5901 N. Cicero Ste. 309, Chicago, IL 60646
TEL: (773) 283-3708
FAX: (773) 283-3973

(Reference: www.isna.net/fiqh)

Nation of Islam

Why Afro-Americans want to join the Nation of Islam?

The answer is to lead a moral life, a life of temperance a life of Tee-totallers. To be dignified members of the society.

Life Magazine of May 1979 issue pictorially depicted the reformation of Muslim inmates in a San Francisco prison. The Muslim inmates were free from Drugs and Alcohol and never practiced Homosexuality.

Story of an Atheist from a communist country

A man from the former Soviet Union immigrated to the United States when he was young. When he became old, he was worried about life after death or life hereafter, although he was an atheist. He studied the following religions thoroughly.

Hinduism

Buddhism

Judaism

Islam

Christianity

Finally he became a Christian, as the Christian priest assured him Paradise if he believed in Jesus Christ as his savior. As a Christian he studied the problems of Christian society and developed second thoughts and was inclined towards Islam for its five pillars of faith and the disciplined life of a Muslim.

Corruption in Muslim countries and World’s most corrupt countries

In a developing Muslim country the following corruptions are found.

· Water in pot before milking the cow.

· Drug tampering

· Coffee tainted with tamarind powder

· Ghee (melted butter) tainted with Crisco

· Cereals, like rice and wheat tainted with pebbles to weigh more

· One Muslim by the name of Abdul Sattar (not his real name) has registered an organization called “Abdul Sattar Academy for Islam Research” D.B.U. (doing business as ) “Academy for Islamic Research”. Peddling or marketing the business in the name of Islam. THIS IS HARAM.

A list of the world’s most corrupt countries has been released recently by Transparency International a Berlin-based voluntary organization claiming to be fighting corruption all over the world by exposing corrupt practices everywhere. Topping the list are four Islamic countries namely Bangladesh (in 2001 and 2002 it is listed first), Nigeria (used to be Number One), Indonesia and Azerbaijan. Pakistan is a close seventh with many other Muslim countries following it. Nigeria, Bolivia and Colombia are rated the most corrupt countries, and Denmark, Finland and Sweden the least corrupt, in an index published by Transparency International, a non-government pressure group. In the year 1997 Transparency International, found Bangladesh occupying the fourth position among the corrupt countries. Being among the top ten on any account was news indeed. Bangladesh has since made incredibly tremendous progress in this particular field. Transparency International again came out with the astounding disclosure that Bangladesh topped the list of 91 countries it surveyed in 2001.

These countries are Muslim countries that have been bestowed with a religion that puts so much emphasis on honesty, truth, righteousness and other attributes of personal behaviour. Then why is the Muslim Umma so weak in its moral fiber? One reason that comes to mind is probably that our Ulama or religious preachers do not stress upon the importance of a righteous character or sound personal character.

They, in fact, indirectly connote that acts like offering or accepting bribe, adulterating foodstuff and medicines, hoarding, black marketing, exploiting the helpless, indulging in nepotism, defeating merit and justice, are but small vices which can be condoned by saying an extra prayers, by extra fasting or by going for Hajj. The result is that the Islamic Ummah is in a deep abyss of moral decadence.

The need of the hour is that the Ulama or religious preachers should stress upon the fact that God does not forgive deliberate acts of sin just by saying extra prayers, extra fastings or by performing a religious rite.

The Ulama or religious Preachers must emphasize the need for ‘Jihad-e-Akbar’, that is, jihad against personal desires, lust and greed. And that is the service Islam needs most, today. DO NOT JUDGE A CAR BY ITS DRIVER.

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Can Human beings be Cloned?

by Ibrahim B. Syed, Ph. D.
President
Islamic Research Foundation International, Inc.
7102 W. Shefford Lane
Louisville, KY 40242-6462, U.S.A.
E-mail: IRFI@INAME.COM
Website: http://WWW.IRFI.ORG

Cloning humans ‘easier’ than animals (1)

In the middle of the year 2001 a group of scientists said cloning humans might be easier than cloning animals. They were optimistic based on the research carried out into human genetics. However experts in Britain criticized their conclusions. An Italian fertility doctor, Dr. Severino Antinori announced his intention to clone humans, so that he can help infertile couples to have children. Many scientists were dismayed and scientists involved in animal cloning warned of the many practical problems in cloning. For example many clones die early or they are born with genetic deformities, and develop terminal illnesses such as cancer.

Genetic difference

Scientists at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina say the reason of all these problems may be one specific gene, which is responsible for controlling the way in which cells grow. When this gene is not working properly, cells can grow in an uncontrolled way to cause cancer tumors to develop.

In normal sexual reproduction a copy of this gene is passed from each parent to the offspring. But in many animals other than humans, one of these genes is turned off.

The cloning process affects the remaining active gene; it cannot work properly, and so the cloned embryo grows in an uncontrolled way.

Ageing Dolly

For example, in sheep less than one embryo in 300 develops normally. Even the world’s most famous sheep clone, Dolly, who died recently suffered from problems linked to this gene. Also she aged rapidly and was overweight.

Dr. Randy Jirtle of Duke University told that he and his colleagues found this genetic difference while looking at the evolution of genes. According to them this difference arose about 70 million years ago to help control the size of babies in the wombs of very early human ancestors. The researchers also say finding that the gene works in a different way in humans from animals such as rats and mice has raised questions about large areas of medical research. One example they say is that many drugs are rejected because they cause cancer in these animals. Medical Research should take a look at it t again.

‘Dangerous’ information

The findings are published in the journal Human Molecular Genetics, but have been criticized in Britain. “It seems that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and the authors have allowed themselves to over-interpretate their interesting results,” said Professor Ian Wilmut of the Roslin Institute, in Edinburgh, leader of the team, which cloned Dolly the sheep. “I hope that this will not be used to give encouragement to those who wish to clone humans,” he said.

Dr John Parrington, a cloning expert at University College London, pointed out that more than one gene behaved in a way that might cause problems in a growing cloned human embryo. “You can’t say, taking this information in isolation, that it’s easier to clone primates and humans,” he said.

Problems in Cloning People (2)

On April 11, 2003, Washington Post Staff Writer, Rick Weiss, reported “New research suggests that it may be a lot harder to clone people than to clone other animals, an unexpected scientific twist that could influence the escalating congressional debate over human cloning and embryo research.”

Researchers Find Replicating Primates Is Harder Than for Other Mammals

“The new work by scientists in Pittsburgh provides an explanation for why hundreds of attempts to clone monkeys have all failed despite successes in several other mammals. The scientists said they suspect that similar roadblocks exist for all primates — the evolutionary grouping that includes monkeys and humans.”

In the light of this information, Congress could settle for less stringent restrictions on embryo cloning studies, which scientists favor. The newly discovered obstacle makes it more likely than ever that rogue scientists’ recent claims to have created cloned babies were fraud.

But opponents of human embryo research were afraid that the new research not only identifies previously unrecognized hurdles to human cloning, but also points the way to overcoming those hurdles. They noted that the scientists could come up with a potential way to get around the problem.

“This report is bad news for the unethical charlatans who have been preying on people by claiming they are able to clone people’s loved ones,” said Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, who led the new study in April 11, 2003 issue of the journal Science.

Scientists want to make cloned human embryos to get embryonic stem cells, which live inside early embryos and have the potential to cure a wide array of diseases. Many in Congress support a proposed ban on such research, however, in part because of fears that a cloned human embryo, once made, might be transferred to a woman’s womb to develop into a cloned baby. But this will not be so easy. The team discovered a major roadblock to primate cloning by studying what went wrong in their more than 700 attempts to make cloned monkey embryos — each of which failed spectacularly in the earliest stages of embryo development.

They started out using standard cloning methods, in which a single cell from the monkey to be cloned was fused to a monkey egg cell whose own DNA had been removed. In sheep, mice and other successfully cloned animals, substances inside the egg cell act upon the DNA in the fused cell, reprogramming the genes in a way that makes the cell “think” it is an embryo cell. That cell then begins to divide, one into two, then two into four, eventually forming a new embryo that is genetically identical to the animal that donated the original cell.

Although Schatten’s monkey embryos looked normal on the outside, they always failed to develop after the first few cell divisions. Only on close inspection did the cause become apparent: Instead of each cell having a normal number of chromosomes — the sausage-shaped collections of DNA found in every cell — some cells had lots of chromosomes and others had few or none.

Schatten’s group found that the spindle proteins and molecular motors in monkey egg cells are so closely bound to those cells’ DNA that scientists had been inadvertently removing many of them when they extracted the eggs’ DNA in the first stage of cloning. As a result, the “tightropes” became chaotic and chromosomes drifted unevenly to the daughter cells.

Similar studies on cloned human embryos in Britain suggest the same phenomenon is at work in humans, Schatten said.

Even if scientists overcome the chromosome problem, it is unlikely that cloned monkeys or humans would develop normally. Most cloned animals — even those with normal numbers of chromosomes in their cells — die in the womb or soon after birth because of other problems, which remain unsolvable today, they said.

Because cloned human embryonic stem cells have so much medical promise, scientists favor legislation that would allow them to make cloned human embryos and outlaw only the creation of cloned babies.

Cloning: The Time is Near (3)

Dr. Panayiotis M. Zavos, the former University of Kentucky fertility expert who is hard at work trying to develop techniques that will lead to the full, reproductive cloning of human beings, claims he created a cloned human embryo from the cell of a patient who wants a child and that it grew to eight to 10 cells before he froze it for further study. Writing an essay, ”Human Reproductive Cloning: The Time is Near.” for the June issue of Reproductive BioMedicine Online, Panayiotis Zavos said ”our team of scientific and medical experts has created the first human cloned embryo for reproductive purposes.”

The Raelians, a religious group that believes humans are clones of extraterrestrial beings, made a similar claim last winter but offered no proof. Most scientists believe their claim to be a hoax.

The non-controversial cloning research is therapeutic cloning aimed at using a person’s own cells to develop treatments for degenerative and fatal diseases.

REFERECNES:

(1) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1491056.stm) Wednesday, 15 August, 2001

(2) Rick Weiss, Washington Post Staff Writer, WASHINGTON POST. April 11, 2003.

(3) The Courier-Journal, April 11, 2003, Louisville, Kentucky

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Organ Donation Problems

by Ibrahim B. Syed, Ph. D.
President
Islamic Research Foundation International, Inc.
7102 W. Shefford Lane
Louisville, KY 40242-6462, U.S.A.
E-mail: IRFI@INAME.COM
Website: http://WWW.IRFI.ORG

Organ donation is the charitable act or gift of an organ to help someone who needs a transplant. Americans are not donating their organs to be used after they die, and hence there are over 78,000 men, women, and children waiting for organ transplants in America, and 14 of these people die every day while waiting to receive an organ transplant. There are more than five people waiting for every organ made available by donation. An estimated two in three Americans have not indicated their wishes about donation. The United Network for Organ Sharing found slow growth in the number of organs from deceased donors. Kidneys from living donors are more likely to survive than those from deceased donors. In 1999, there were a total of 21,715 transplants performed in the United States, up 44 percent from 1990.

Some people have religious or cultural objections to donate organs. Living donors–those who volunteer a kidney or parts of their liver or lungs–are understandably reluctant: they must undergo potentially life-threatening surgery and put their own future health at risk.

More and more people with HIV and/or hepatitis B and/or hepatitis C are going to need organ transplants, particularly liver transplants. Europe and Singapore have what is called a Presumed Consent organ collection system. That means that when an accident occurs to a person who has not opted out, and brain death is declared, his or her organs can be taken immediately without the time.

First transplants

Thousands of people have their sight restored by donated corneas. A cornea was first transplanted in 1905. In 1918 Blood transfusion became established and the first successful kidney transplant took place in 1954. Christian Barnard in Cape Town, South Africa performed the first heart transplant in 1967.

Deaths on Waiting List

The number of deaths on the waiting list has also more than tripled—from 1,958 in 1990 to 6,125 in 1999. In 2001 more than 6,000 people in the U.S. died while waiting for an organ transplant. The dire shortfall of organs compared with patient demand is growing as the population ages and more people experience organ failure. New

Immunosuppressive drugs have helped bridge the gap by allowing surgeons to transplant an organ that is a less than perfect match; even then, there just aren’t enough organs available.

There were 5,849 cadaveric, or dead, donors in 1999 an increase of 30 percent from 1990. Each donor can give 3 to 4 organs. Among cadaveric donors, 85 percent died due to head trauma or stroke. There were 4,712 living donors in 1999, more than twice the number in 1990. Of living donors, 35 percent were siblings, 18 percent were parents and 20 percent came from people who were not related.

Survival Rates

89 percent of kidneys taken from a cadaver and 95 percent of the patients who received them survived at least one year after transplant. Among those who got kidneys from living donors, 95 percent of kidneys and 98 percent of patients were alive a year later. 81 percent of livers and 88 percent of liver transplant patients survived at least a year. 85 percent of hearts and 86 percent of heart transplant patients survived at least a year.

What organs are transplanted?

Kidneys, heart, liver, lungs, pancreas, small bowel, corneas, heart valves and bone can all be transplanted. Skin can be used to treat patients with severe burns. Techniques are improving all the time and it may soon be practical to transplant other parts of the body. An individual can donate heart, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, liver and small bowel.

Tissue that can be donated includes corneas, skin, bone and heart valves. Corneas can be transplanted to restore the sight of a person who has a severe eye disease or injury. Bone and tendons are used for reconstruction after an injury or during joint replacement surgery. A bone transplant can prevent limb amputation in patients suffering from bone cancer.

Heart valves are used to help children born with heart defects and adults with diseased or damaged valves. Skin grafts are used as protective dressings to help save the lives of people with severe burns.

Most people can donate tissue. Unlike organs, tissue can be donated up to 24 hours after a person has died and can be stored for longer periods.

Reproductive organs and tissue are not taken from dead donors.

Who can be a donor?

A person under sixteen can donate an organ provided the parents or guardian agree to donation. Older people can donate in the case of cornea and some other tissue, age does not matter. For other organs it is the person’s physical condition, not age, which is the deciding factor. Doctors decide in each case which organs/tissue are suitable. Organs from people in their seventies and eighties are transplanted successfully.

Color of the Skin

Color of the skin of the donor does not matter. However, organs are matched by blood group and tissue type and the better the match, the greater the chance of a successful result. Patients from the same ethnic group are more likely to be a close match. It is important that people from all ethnic backgrounds to donate organs. Successful transplants are carried out between people from different ethnic groups wherever the matching criteria are met.

The organ shortage has led various policymakers to propose radical steps. U.S. policy makers are proposing to provide financial incentives to living donors or to the families of deceased donors. One approach, which has been instituted in Pennsylvania and is supported by the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, offers families who donate a loved one’s organs $300 in food and lodging expenses. Medical journals are advocating the program assert that the amount of money is intentionally small to “express appreciation” for the donation but not to serve as a payment. It is similar to the token coffee mug or umbrella one receives after donating to public radio or television. More important, some are agonized that these programs would mark the first step in encouraging an inhumane and delicately coercive market for spare body parts. In Islam, buying and selling of human organs for transplantation is prohibited. It should be done only as Sadaqah.

Although the outright purchase of organs is illegal in nearly every country in the world, a number have black markets for living-donor organs, and the results have been frightening. A study of 305 living kidney donors in Madras (Chennai), India, found that 96 percent sold a kidney to pay off debts, receiving Rs.50, 000 or US $1,070 a piece. But 75 percent of the respondents soon faced debt and destitution once again, and 79 percent would not recommend organ selling to others. Permitting trade in organs has already led to the exploitation of the poor.

A multitude of bills now in Congress would create a “medal of honor” for donors, offer medical leave for living donors. Living donors will have life and disability insurance in case they experienced unconstructive side effects. There is a need for an expanded public education campaign that would explain the need for organ donation and throw light on the process. Physicians and hospital personnel also require more training in encouraging organ donation

It was shown that more than 95 percent of families would consent to organ donation if they knew it was the wish of their loved one. The unusual tactic of appealing to people’s better natures may not be the only way to raise the number of organs available for transplantation, but it is the best method to start.