: Does Islam Offer A Way Out Of The Stem-Cell Debate?

Bypassing the ethical debates in the West regarding stem-cell research and therapeutic cloning, which involve the use of cells taken from either miscarried/aborted fetuses or cloned embryos, Saudi Arabia is set to open a stem-cell research center that operates under Muslim religious law. Unlike religious Christian opposition in the US that wants all research on stem cells taken from human embryos banned, some Islamic scholars have ruled that embryos terminated for medical reasons used within 120 days of conception (Muslims believe the soul enters the body at this time) can indeed be used for research into life-saving treatments. Dr. Hamad Al-Omar, a hematologist at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, suggests that Saudi Arabia’s Fiqh Council on Ethics will eventually approve the use of therapeutic cloning as a life-saving treatment, which pending laws would forbid in both Canada and the United States.

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com.  He is based in London, England.