Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
1- In vitro fertilization (IVF) is permissible as long as the semen and ovum are from a husband and wife who are legally married and the fertilization takes place during their marriage, not after divorce or the death of the husband.
2- It is not allowed to introduce an egg or sperm from a third person.
In responding to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
IVF is permissible in Islam only on condition that both sperm and egg involved in the process originate from a man and a woman who are married to each other.
To introduce an egg or sperm from a third person to the equation is akin to sharing the marriage bed with someone else.
It is, therefore, considered no different from zina (adultery) in Islam. A child born through such a procedure is born of zina in Islam.
Since it is undoubtedly reprehensible and utterly sinful, no Muslim should ever entertain such a possibility for conceiving a child.
A Muslim should accept what Allah has chosen for him or her. To accept Allah as a Sovereign Lord and Creator means to believe in His will and ultimate wisdom. Allah says: {To Allah belongs the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth. He creates whatever He wills. He grants daughters to whom He wills, and sons to whom He wills; or He gives both sons and daughters to whom He wills and makes barren whom He wills. Indeed He is Knowing, Able.} (Ash-Shura 42:49-50)
So continue to pray to Allah to grant you offspring while resorting to all available treatments you can possibly afford. If it is Allah’s will, He will certainly grant your prayer; if on the other hand, should He not choose to do so, simply accept the will of the All-Wise, and All-Knowing.
May Allah make us all contented with His decree, and grant us all the true joy of submitting to His inscrutable will, amen.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.