The Jurisprudential Ruling on Uterus Transplantation in the Foundations of the Two Major Islamic Traditions

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD Student in Jurisprudence and Islamic Law, Faculty of Humanities, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Theology, Faculty of Humanities, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran.

Abstract

Uterus transplantation is an emerging and innovative medical technique developed specifically to treat women with absolute uterine-factor infertility. It gives a recipient a functional uterus and, potentially, the capacity to carry a pregnancy. Unlike gamete donation or gestational surrogacy, the procedure can avoid many legal and religious difficulties because the embryo may be formed from the spouses’ own gametes and develops naturally in the wife’s transplanted uterus. The intervention nevertheless raises serious risks for the donor, recipient, and fetus and presents novel questions for Islamic jurisprudence: Does it constitute impermissible interference with divine creation? Is it rationally justified despite possible harm? Using a descriptive-analytical and critical method, and examining the primary sources and contemporary opinions of Muslim jurists, the study concludes that uterus transplantation possesses, in principle, conditional therapeutic legitimacy. Accordingly, its permissibility depends, among other requirements, on the embryo being formed from the spouses’ gametes, appropriate medical assessment, informed consent, and a favorable balance of benefit over harm. The procedure ultimately does not contradict divine will or thereby amount to prohibited alteration of creation.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

The Holy Qur'an.
Ibn Abī Jumhūr, Muḥammad ibn Zayn al-Dīn. (1362 SH [1983/1984 CE]). ʿAwālī al-laʾālī al-ʿazīziyyah fī al-aḥādīth al-dīniyyah (2nd ed.). Qom: Maṭbaʿat Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ. (in Arabic)
Ibn Bābawayh, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī. (1413 AH [1992/1993 CE]). Man lā yaḥḍuruhu al-faqīh (1st ed.). Qom: Daftār-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī Vābastah bih Jāmiʿah-ʾi Mudarrisīn-i Ḥawzah-ʾi ʿIlmiyyah-ʾi Qum. (in Arabic)
Ibn Ḥibbān, Muḥammad ibn Ḥibbān ibn Aḥmad. (1414 AH [1993/1994 CE]). Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān (1st ed.). Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Risālah. (in Arabic)
Ibn ʿĀbidīn, Muḥammad Amīn. (1423 AH [2002/2003 CE]). Radd al-muḥtār ʿalá al-Durr al-mukhtār (1st ed.). Beirut: Dār ʿĀlam al-Kutub. (in Arabic)
Ibn Qayyim, Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr. (1410 AH [1989/1990 CE]). Miftāḥ dār al-saʿādah wa-manshūr wilāyat al-ʿilm wa-al-irādah (1st ed.). Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah. (in Arabic)
Ibn Qayyim, Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr. (1411 AH [1990/1991 CE]). Iʿlām al-muwaqqiʿīn ʿan Rabb al-ʿālamīn (1st ed.). Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah. (in Arabic)
Ākhūnd Khurāsānī, Muḥammad Kāẓim. (1414 AH [1993/1994 CE]). Kifāyat al-uṣūl (2nd ed.). Qom: Muʾassasat al-Nashr al-Islāmī. (in Arabic)
Azharī Mālikī, Shihāb al-Dīn Nafrāwī. (1415 AH [1994/1995 CE]). Al-Fawākih al-dawānī (1st ed.). Beirut: Dār al-Fikr. (in Arabic)
Āṣafī, Muḥammad Muḥsin. (n.d.). Al-Fiqh wa-al-masāʾil al-ṭibbiyyah. (in Arabic)
Bāḥusayn, Yaʿqūb ʿAbd al-Wahhāb. (1987 CE). Rafʿ al-ḥaraj fī al-sharīʿah al-Islāmiyyah (1st ed.). Basra: Maṭbaʿat Jāmiʿat al-Baṣrah. (in Arabic)
Bahnas, Yāsir Ḥusayn. (2016 CE). Zirāʿat al-aʿḍāʾ al-bashariyyah bayna al-tajrīm wa-al-ibāḥah (1st ed.). Kuwait: Markaz al-Dirāsāt al-ʿArabiyyah lil-Nashr. (in Arabic)
Tirmidhī, Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsá. (1420 AH [1999/2000 CE]). Ṣaḥīḥ Sunan al-Tirmidhī (1st ed.). Beirut: Maktabat al-Maʿārif lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʿ. (in Arabic)
Taqavī, Nāzīlā, Ḥamīd Abharī, & Riḍā ʿUmānī Sāmānī. (1401 SH [2022/2023 CE]). Sharāyiṭ-i asāsī-yi ṣiḥḥat-i qarārdād-i payvand-i raḥim bā nigāhī bih ḥuqūq-i Islām [Essential conditions for the validity of uterine transplantation contracts from the perspective of Islamic law]. Muṭālaʿāt-i Ḥuqūq-i Taṭbīqī-yi Muʿāṣir, 13(27), 35–70. (in Persian)
Taqavī, Nāzīlā, Ḥamīd Abharī, & Riḍā ʿUmānī Sāmānī. (2022 CE). Mashrūʿiyyat-i payvand-i raḥim dar fiqh-i Imāmiyyah [The legitimacy of uterine transplantation in Imami jurisprudence]. Fiqh-i Pizishkī, 14(44), 1–20. (in Persian)
Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan. (1412 AH [1991/1992 CE]). Wasāʾil al-Shīʿah ilá taḥṣīl masāʾil al-sharīʿah (1st ed.). Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. (in Arabic)
Ḥusaynī Sīstānī, Sayyid ʿAlī. (1396 SH [2017/2018 CE]). Qāʿidah-ʾi lā ḍarar va lā ḍirār (taqrīrāt) (1st ed.). Tehran: Intishārāt-i Khursandī. (in Persian)
Ḥakīm, Sayyid Muḥammad Taqī. (1429 AH [2008/2009 CE]). Al-Qawāʿid al-ʿāmmah fī al-fiqh al-muqāran. Tehran: Al-Majmaʿ al-ʿĀlamī lil-Taqrīb bayna al-Madhāhib al-Islāmiyyah. (in Arabic)
Ḥakīm, Sayyid Muḥammad Taqī. (1979 CE). Al-Uṣūl al-ʿāmmah lil-fiqh al-muqāran. Beirut: Muʾassasat Āl al-Bayt. (in Arabic)
Ḥakīm, Sayyid Muḥsin. (1423 AH [2002/2003 CE]). Mustamsak al-ʿUrwah al-wuthqá (1st ed.). Qom: Intishārāt-i Āyat Allāh Marʿashī Najafī. (in Arabic)
Khumaynī, Sayyid Rūḥ Allāh. (1390 SH [2011/2012 CE]). Kitāb al-bayʿ (2nd ed.). Qom: Intishārāt-i Ismāʿīliyān. (in Arabic)
Al-Khūrī, Hind. (2011 CE). Taʾjīr al-arḥām fī al-fiqh al-Islāmī. Majallat Jāmiʿat Dimashq lil-ʿUlūm al-Iqtiṣādiyyah wa-al-Qānūniyyah. (in Arabic)
Dasūqī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad. (1345 AH [1926/1927 CE]). Ḥāshiyat al-Dasūqī ʿalá al-Sharḥ al-kabīr (1st ed.). Egypt: Al-Maṭbaʿah al-Azhariyyah. (in Arabic)
Dimashqī, ʿIzz al-Dīn ibn ʿAbd al-Salām. (1414 AH [1993/1994 CE]). Qawāʿid al-aḥkām fī maṣāliḥ al-anām (1st ed.). Cairo: Maktabat al-Kulliyyāt al-Azhariyyah. (in Arabic)
Raḥmānī Manshādī, Ḥamīd. (1387 SH [2008/2009 CE]). Mashrūʿiyyat-i raḥim-i jāyguzīn dar andīshah-ʾi fiqhī [Legitimacy of surrogacy in jurisprudential thought]. Faṣlnāmah-ʾi Akhlāq-i Pizishkī, 2(3). (in Persian)
Rashīd, Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. (1429 AH [2008/2009 CE]). Al-Ḥājah wa-atharuhā fī al-aḥkām (1st ed.). Riyadh: Dār Kunūz Ishbīlyā. (in Arabic)
Riḍāniyā Muʿallim, Muḥammad-Riḍā. (1383 SH [2004/2005 CE]). Bāvarī-hā-yi pizishkī az dīdgāh-i fiqh va ḥuqūq [Medical assisted reproduction from the perspective of jurisprudence and law] (1st ed.). Qom: Būstān-i Kitāb. (in Persian)
Zāriʿī Sharīf, Vaḥīd. (1388 SH [2009/2010 CE]). Barrasī-yi naẓariyyah-hā-yi ḥurmat va ḥilliyyat-i istifādah az raḥim-i jāyguzīn dar fiqh-i Imāmiyyah [A review of theories on the prohibition and permissibility of using surrogacy in Imami jurisprudence]. Pizhūhishnāmah-ʾi Fiqh va Ḥuqūq-i Islāmī, (3), 59–101. (in Persian)
Sayyid Murtaḍá, ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn. (1399 SH [2020/2021 CE]). Al-Dharīʿah ilá uṣūl al-sharīʿah (1st ed.). Mashhad: Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍavī, Bunyād-i Pizhūhish-hā-yi Islāmī. (in Arabic)
Ṣāliḥ Jamāl, Ḥasan. (2016 CE). Ḥaqq al-marʾah fī zirāʿat al-raḥim (1st ed.). Kuwait: Al-Munaẓẓamah al-Islāmiyyah lil-ʿUlūm al-Ṭibbiyyah. (in Arabic)
Ṣafāʾī, Suhaylā, & Maḥmūd ʿAbbāsī. (1394 SH [2015/2016 CE]). Aṣl-i āsīb-narisāndan dar fiqh va ḥuqūq-i Islāmī va kārburd-i ān dar fiqh-i zīst-pizishkī [The principle of non-maleficence in Islamic jurisprudence and law and its application in biomedical ethics]. Majallah-ʾi Akhlāq-i Zīstī, (17), 33–64. (in Persian)
Sayyūd, Iyād Muṭashshar. (2011 CE). Madá mashrūʿiyyat al-taṭwīʿ al-ʿilājī lil-jīnāt al-wirāthiyyah al-bashariyyah (1st ed.). Baghdad: Maktabat al-Sanhūrī. (in Arabic)
Ṭāhirkhānī, Sakīnah. (1399 SH [2020/2021 CE]). Payvand-i raḥim az manẓar-i uṣūl-i akhlāq-i zīstī [Uterine transplantation from the perspective of bioethical principles]. Majallah-ʾi Zanān, Māmāyī va Nāzāyī-yi Īrān, 23(11). (in Persian)
ʿAnān, Jamāl al-Dīn. (2018 CE). Zirāʿat al-raḥim fī al-sharīʿah al-Islāmiyyah: Dirāsah muqāranah maʿa qānūn al-ṣiḥḥah al-Jazāʾirī (1st ed.). Algeria: Jāmiʿat al-Wādī. (in Arabic)
Ghazzālī Ṭūsī, Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad. (1413 AH [1992/1993 CE]). Al-Mustaṣfá min ʿilm al-uṣūl (1st ed.). Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah. (in Arabic)
Fāḍil-i Tūnī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. (1399 SH [2020/2021 CE]). Al-Wāfiyah fī uṣūl al-fiqh (1st ed.). Qom: Majmaʿ al-Fikr al-Islāmī. (in Arabic)
Fahmī, Khālid Muṣṭafá. (2012 CE). Al-Niẓām al-qānūnī li-zarʿ al-aʿḍāʾ al-bashariyyah wa-mukāfaḥat jarāʾim al-ittijār bi-al-aʿḍāʾ al-bashariyyah (1st ed.). Egypt: Dār al-Fikr al-Jāmiʿī. (in Arabic)
Qarrah-Dāghī, ʿĀrif ʿAlī. (2011 CE). Qaḍāyā fiqhiyyah fī naql al-aʿḍāʾ al-bashariyyah (1st ed.). Malaysia: Silsilat Buḥūth Fiqhiyyah fī Qaḍāyā Muʿāṣirah, Al-Jāmiʿah al-Islāmiyyah al-ʿĀlamiyyah bi-Mālīziyā. (in Arabic)
Kāshif al-Ghiṭāʾ, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. (1422 AH [2001/2002 CE]). Taḥrīr al-Majallah (M. Sāʿidī, Ed.; 1st ed.). Qom: Surūr. (in Arabic)
Kamālī, ʿAlī, Ḥusayn Ṣābirī, & ʿAlī-Riḍā ʿĀbidī Sarāsiyā. (1402 SH [2023/2024 CE]). Barrasī-yi dalāyil-i ravāyī-yi Ahl-i Sunnat dar isbāt-i avlaviyyat-i dafʿ-i mafsadah bar jalb-i maṣlaḥat [An examination of Sunni narrative arguments in proving the priority of repelling harm over acquiring benefit]. Muṭālaʿāt-i Taṭbīqī-yi Madhāhib-i Fiqhī, 3(6), 61–88. (in Persian)
Kaylānī, Ḥamīd Ṣāliḥ. (2008 CE). Maqāṣid al-sharīʿah ʿinda al-Imām Abī Ḥāmid al-Ghazzālī (1st ed.). Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. (in Arabic)
Muḥaqqiq Dāmād, Muṣṭafá. (1397 SH [2018/2019 CE]). Qavāʿid-i fiqh [Jurisprudential maxims] (6th ed.). Tehran: Markaz-i Nashr-i ʿUlūm-i Islāmī. (in Persian)
Muṣṭafawī, Sayyid Muḥammad Kāẓim. (1421 AH [2000/2001 CE]). Miʾat qāʿidah fiqhiyyah (1st ed.). Qom: Jāmiʿah-ʾi Mudarrisīn-i Ḥawzah-ʾi ʿIlmiyyah-ʾi Qum. (in Arabic)
Manṣūr-ʿAlī, ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm Muḥammad. (2013 CE). Taʾjīr al-arḥām fī ḍawʾ qawāʿid al-ḥalāl wa-al-ḥarām (1st ed.). Egypt: Al-Maktab al-Jāmiʿī al-Ḥadīth. (in Arabic)
Mūsawī Sabzavārī, Sayyid ʿAbd al-Aʿlá. (n.d.). Mawāhib al-Raḥmān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Retrieved from Qanāt Maktabat Madrasat al-Fiqāhah. (in Arabic)
Nāʾīnī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. (1377 SH [1998/1999 CE]). Ajwad al-taqrīrāt (3rd ed.). Qom: Intishārāt-i Ṣāḥib al-Amr (ʿaj). (in Arabic)
Najafī, Muḥammad Ḥasan. (1401 AH [1980/1981 CE]). Jawāhir al-kalām fī sharḥ Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām (1st ed.). Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. (in Arabic)
Nasāʾī, Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. (1406 AH [1985/1986 CE]). Al-Sunan al-ṣughrá lil-Nasāʾī (1st ed.). Aleppo: Maktab al-Maṭbūʿāt al-Islāmiyyah. (in Arabic)
Nashmī, ʿUjayl. (2016 CE). Ḥaqq al-marʾah fī naql al-raḥim (1st ed.). Kuwait: Al-Munaẓẓamah al-Islāmiyyah lil-ʿUlūm al-Ṭibbiyyah. (in Arabic)
Nawjavān, Dāvūd. (1389 SH [2010/2011 CE]). Jāygāh-i qāʿidah-ʾi iḍtirār dar barrasī-yi fiqhī-yi darmān-i nābāvarī [The position of the rule of necessity in jurisprudential examination of infertility treatment]. Faṣlnāmah-ʾi Fiqh-i Pizishkī, 2(2), 59–80. (in Persian)
Nawawī, Abū Zakariyyā Muḥyī al-Dīn. (1412 AH [1991/1992 CE]). Rawḍat al-ṭālibīn wa-ʿumdat al-muftīn (1st ed.). Beirut: Al-Maktab al-Islāmī. (in Arabic)
Altawil, Z., & Arawi, T. (2016). Uterine transplantation: Ethical considerations within Middle Eastern perspectives. Developing World Bioethics, 16(2), 91–97.
Balayla, J., & Dahdouh, E. M. (2016). Uterine transplantation is not a good use of limited resources: Case of distributive justice and burden of disease. BJOG, 123(9), 1439.
Brännström, M., Wranning, C. A., & Altchek, A. (2010). Experimental uterus transplantation. Human Reproduction Update, 16(3), 329–345.
Bruno, B., & Arora, K. S. (2018). Uterus transplantation: The ethics of using deceased versus living donors. The American Journal of Bioethics, 18(7), 6–15.
Catsanos, R., Rogers, W., & Lotz, M. (2013). The ethics of uterus transplantation. Bioethics, 27(2), 65–73.
Farrell, R. M., & Falcone, T. (2014). Uterine transplant: New medical and ethical considerations. Lancet, 385(9968), 581–582.
Favre-Inhofer, A., Rafii, A., Carbonnel, M., Revaux, A., & Ayoubi, J. M. (2018). Uterine transplantation: Review in human research. Journal of Gynecology Obstetrics and Human Reproduction, 47(6), 213–221.
Flyckt, R., Davis, A., Farrell, R., Zimberg, S., Tzakis, A., & Falcone, T. (2018). Uterine transplantation: Surgical innovation in the treatment of uterine factor infertility. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada, 40(1), 86–93.
Kisu, I., Banno, K., Mihara, M., Suganuma, N., & Aoki, D. (2013). Current status of uterus transplantation in primates and issues for clinical application. Fertility and Sterility, 100(1), 280–294.
Lavoué, V., Vigneau, C., Duros, S., Boudjema, K., Levêque, J., Piver, P., et al. (2017). Which donor for uterus transplants: Brain-dead donor or living donor? A systematic review. Transplantation, 101(2), 267–273.
Lefkowitz, A., Edwards, M., & Balayla, J. (2012). The Montreal criteria for the ethical feasibility of uterine transplantation. Transplant International, 25(4), 439–447.
Lefkowitz, A., Edwards, M., & Balayla, J. (2013). Ethical considerations in the era of the uterine transplant: The ethical feasibility of uterine transplantation. Fertility and Sterility, 100(4), 924–926.
Ngaage, L. M., Ike, S., Elegbede, A., Vercler, C. J., Gebran, S., Liang, F., et al. (2020). The changing paradigm of ethics in uterus transplantation: A systematic review. Transplant International, 33(3), 260–269.
O’Donovan, L. (2018). Pushing the boundaries: Uterine transplantation and the limits of reproductive autonomy. Bioethics, 32(8), 489–498.
Peters, H. E., Juffermans, L. J., Lambalk, C. B., Dekker, J. J., Fernhout, T., Groenman, F. A., et al. (2020). Feasibility study for performing uterus transplantation in the Netherlands. Human Reproduction Open, 2020(2), hoz032.
Petrini, C., Gainotti, S., Morresi, A., & Costa, A. N. (2017). Ethical issues in uterine transplantation. In Transplantation Proceedings, 49(4), 707–710.
Testa, G., Koon, E. C., & Johannesson, L. (2017). Living donor uterus transplant and surrogacy. American Journal of Transplantation, 17(4), 912–916.
Studies of Islamic Jurisprudence and Basis of Law
Volume 20, Issue 53 - Serial Number 53
September 2026
Pages 101-129

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics