Fatwa of the Day #8

The website of Dar Al-Ifta Al-Masriya (the Egyptian House of Issuing Fatwas) is a popular online database, which logs millions of Fatwas in the form of Q&A. Muslims from all over the world submit an inquiry about a certain personal, familial or social issue; and religious scholars respond with a ruling. According to this article, the “Dar” has issued 465,000 Fatwas in 2010 alone! I chose the one below from a huge compilation of absurd topics.

The Question:

This Fatwa is divided into two parts. The first question was whether a divorcee woman is allowed to have the fertilized egg, which she had stored in a fertility clinic prior to her divorce, planted in her womb. The second question is the same except that it inquires about a widow rather than a divorcee.

For the first part, Dr. Ali Goma Mohammed (the “GRAND Mufti”) explains that in the case of a divorcee whether the divorce is irrevocable or not is crucial. In other words, if a man says to his wife “I divorce you” three times, it is an irrevocable divorce. If he says “I divorce you” once, it is revocable. In the latter case, [the woman] can be taken back” by the husband, and marital bonds are not broken.

The Ruling:

In the case of an irrevocable divorce the ex-wife is prohibited from planting egg because now that marital bonds are broken “she becomes foreign to [the ex-husband]”; and in Sharia Law, planting the egg of another female or an egg fertilized by a man other than her husband is considered “unlawful”.
In the case of a revocable divorce, the woman is allowed to plant the egg, only if the husband gives permission.

As for a widow, the same “reasoning” applies. A woman is prohibited from planting her own egg, fertilized by her dead husband, because, according to Sharia Law, death breaks marital relations and therefore the husband becomes a stranger to the wife.

Older Fatwa of the Day articles:

Fatwa of the day #1 — Fatwa of the day #2 — Fatwa of the day #3 — Fatwa of the day #4 — Fatwa of the day #5 — Fatwa of the day #6 — Fatwa of the day #7