Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2006 Dec;30(4):427-50.
doi: 10.1007/s11013-006-9027-x.

Making Muslim babies: IVF and gamete donation in Sunni versus Shi'a Islam

Marcia C Inhorn  1
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Making Muslim babies: IVF and gamete donation in Sunni versus Shi'a Islam

Marcia C Inhorn. Cult Med Psychiatry. 2006 Dec.

Abstract

Medical anthropological research on science, biotechnology, and religion has focused on the "local moral worlds" of men and women as they make difficult decisions regarding their health and the beginnings and endings of human life. This paper focuses on the local moral worlds of infertile Muslims as they attempt to make, in the religiously correct fashion, Muslim babies at in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics in Egypt and Lebanon. As early as 1980, authoritative fatwas issued from Egypt's famed Al-Azhar University suggested that IVF and similar technologies are permissible as long as they do not involve any form of third-party donation (of sperm, eggs, embryos, or uteruses). Since the late 1990s, however, divergences in opinion over third-party gamete donation have occurred between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims, with Iran's leading ayatollah permitting gamete donation under certain conditions. This Iranian fatwa has had profound implications for the country of Lebanon, where a Shi'ite majority also seeks IVF services. Based on three periods of ethnographic research in Egyptian and Lebanese IVF clinics, this paper explores official and unofficial religious discourses surrounding the practice of IVF and third-party donation in the Muslim world, as well as the gender implications of gamete donation for Muslim marriages.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. None
    2. Appadurai Arjun (1996). Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
    1. None
    2. Clarke Morgan (2006) Shiite Perspectives on Kinship and New Reproductive Technologies. ISIM Review 17:26–27
    1. None
    2. Cole Juan (2002) Sacred Space and Holy War: The Politics, Culture and History of Shi’ite Islam. I. B. Tauris, London
    1. None
    2. Freeman Carla (2000). High Tech and High Heels in the Global Economy: Women, Work, and Pink-Collar Identities in the Caribbean. Duke University Press, Durham, NC
    1. None
    2. Haeri Shaela (1989). Law of Desire: Temporary Marriage in Shi’i Iran. Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, NY

Publication types