Muslims not prepared to declare cloning 'halal'

The country’s Muslim clerics and food experts said they were not yet prepared to adopt a ruling on whether or not to declare as “halal,” which means permissible or lawful, experimental animal cloning.

The Muslim Mindanao Halal Certifying Board Inc. (MMHCBI), which is composed of muftis (guardians of the House of Opinion) from the country’s six Muslim-populated provinces, and food scientists and technologists, said it was still reviewing a “fatwa” (opinion) rendered by the Islamic Fiq Academy of Pakistan.

MMHCBI has admitted receiving a copy of the ruling on animal cloning, which was translated to English from the Urdu language by Khalid Baig, a Muslim scholar from Pakistan.

The ruling, a copy of which was obtained by the Inquirer, said in part: “Regarding the question of permissibility, the majority of the Academy members after discussion reached the conclusion that cloning is permissible in case of plants as well as in case of animals except human beings.”

It added: “The extension of cloning to human beings would create extremely complex and intractable social and moral problems. Therefore cloning of human beings...