Can religion be replaced by science with genetic cloning and various scientific developments?
People who do not believe in Allah, religion and metaphysics or people with a weak belief, are waiting for the day that science will take religions place, the prophecy which was put forward by Auguste Comte years ago. When scientists make an invention or science and technology together realize an event like mans landing on the moon, they get excited and start to ask if that day has come or if they have found a proof to get rid of religion, and some of them start to scream "Eureka!, Eureka!".
Lately, we saw the similar moods and excitements when a sheep and a monkey got cloned genetically. A feminist lady proclaimed From now on we do not need men for having a child and we got one step closer to our complete freedom and equality. Those men and women think that inseminating an already created cell with an ovum freed of DNA in a special environment and thus having a similar sheep is the act of creating. Similarly, they think that when the need for mans sperm is eliminated, the need for the family life is eliminated, too.
Somebody who dares to compete with the creation of Allah must bring forth something out of nothing, not from an existing being. Changing physical, biological or chemical order of an existing being is not creating but only copying or cloning as they name it.
Almost all women consider men as equal in humanity, complementary in realizing the social life, culture and civilization. Men and women respect each other as the two genders of the human beings and see themselves as the irreplaceable basic elements of the family life.
Having a copy of an animal which carries the same features genetically may be welcomed –though it must be thought thoroughly and discussed- but if you dare to apply it to mankind there arises many problems:
It is not possible to know and to estimate even scientifically how genetic cloning will affect the humane characteristics of man related to his brain especially his mind. Experiments are carried out on animals; human beings are not animals.
The only way to know the results of that operation on man is making the experiments on man but neither ethics nor religion nor law permits it.
If Allah wishes, He can create a man without sperm or ovum; in fact, Hazrat Adam was created this way. If He wishes, He can create a woman without an ovum; in fact, Hazrat Eve was created this way. If He wishes, He can create a man without sperm; in fact, Hazrat Eesa (Jesus) was created this way. If He wishes, He can give a child to an old couple (to Prophet Zacharia) who did not have sperm and ovum because they got old; in fact, Hazrat Yahya (John the Baptist) was born this way.
Note:
The religion of Islam is not against science because it gives importance to reason and encourages mankind to think about many physical occurrences such as bees, mosquitoes, stages of the fetus in the womb, trees returning to life every spring etc. And the prophets showing the most outer borders of the science with their miracles show us that Islam encourages the mankind to make progress in science. For instance, Jesus (pbuh) used to bring the dead to life. Even though mankind cannot reach this point, he should try to reach it.
Another aspect of the subject is:
Allah, who created animals to perform predefined tasks by designing their physical and logical structures to allow it, made mankind master of the earth and encouraged him to put forward new things and work on whatever area he wants by giving him the freewill. Whatever the mankind puts forward in the name of science, it is due to this ability and freedom that was bestowed on him. Every invention or progress of the mankind in science depends on this divine authorization. So, such a mans challenging religion with a scientific invention he made is ungratefulness and not knowing his place or going too far.
- Eve Hypothesis
- What is the difference between test-tube baby and human cloning? If human cloning is possible then can the absence of the sprit be true as it is claimed? If everything has a record in DNA, then can man reach immortality by cloning himself?
- Is it impossible for man to have been created through evolution? Is it contrary to Islam? How is the creation of man narrated in the Quran?
- Is it permissible to have a test tube baby? What are the conditions of having a test tube baby? Are the methods of determining the gender of the baby permissible?
- Is sperm, which is the essence of semen, meant in verse 8 of the chapter of at-Tawba?
- Question 63: Does the first synthetic bacterium that scientists produced in Craig Venter Institute and its transfer to a bacterial cell of mycoplasma species have anything to do with creating something out of nothing? What is its place in Islam?
- Question 4: What is the difference between a test tube baby and cloning a sheep?
- Knowing the Creator and understanding Creation through Questions
- We find the shape, color and smell of the fruits very suitable for our body. That is why we praise Allah. These arguments may collapse if artificial selection is true, those arguments might fail. Is artificial selection true?
- Question 11: A friend of mine opposed the information “man was created from a sperm drop”in the Quran. He said it was something that could be known by anybody in the era when the Quran was sent down