The highest religious authority for Sunni Muslims, Al Azhar, has issued a fatwa – a religious ruling – banning women from acting as surrogate mothers, or receiving frozen sperm from a dead husband, according to press reports.
A committee of Azhar clerics and experts headed by Azhar chief, Mohammad Sayyed Tantawi, responded to a controversial fatwa issued recently by the dean of an Azhar university faculty, allowing what the press termed as “leasing wombs.”
Another fatwa was issued by the mufti of Egypt, Fareed Wassel, who said it was illegal to use the sperm of a dead husband to inseminate his widow.
The fatwa by the Azhar’s committee, the Islamic Research Assembly, agreed with Wassel but slammed the dean, Abdul Mu’ti Bayoumi.
Having the highest religious authority, the committee’s unanimous decision is final – Albawaba.com
