Jesus Is Borg The Truth Shall Set You Free.

March 7th 2003

On the question of whether a clone will have a soul: Embryo cloning is similar to the natural processes that generate identical twins. Members of some religious groups believe that a soul enters the body at the instant of conception, and that the fertilized ovum is in fact a human person with full human rights. Dividing that "baby" in half during an embryo cloning procedure would interfere with God's intent. Yet, with the exception of the ancient Hawaiians, nobody questions whether both identical twins have souls.

A 1997 conference was organized in Casablanca by The Islamic Fiqh Council. A consensus was reached "that cloning does not bring into question any Islamic belief in any way.
Allah is the Creator of the universe but He has established the system of cause-and-effect in this world. Sowing a seed in the ground is the cause but only Allah produces the effect from it in the form of a plant. Similarly cloning is a cause and only through Allah's Will it can produce the effect.
Just as the person sowing the seed is not the creator of the resulting plant, so the cloning technician is not the creator of the resulting animal. Allah alone is the Creator and all creation takes place solely through His Will."

Most attendees concluded that cloning is permissible for plants and animals, but not humans.
"The extension of cloning to human beings would create extremely complex and intractable social and moral problems."
Were they saying that they will leave this one for grownups to think about?