Anonymous egg donation

Q: My husband and I are trying to fall pregnant. Can we use an anonymous egg donor?

A: This is haraam and forbidden in Islam. There are two main reasons due to which the impermissibility could be understood.

Firstly, in the process of acquiring the egg and inserting it into the womb of the wife, the satr area of two women will have to be exposed ( the satr of the egg donor as well as the wife). Exposing the satr area for this purpose - even before a female - is haraam.

Secondly, there will be confusion in regard to the lineage of the child after birth.

In Shari'ah, the child is always attributed to the woman who gave birth to the child. However, in this case, the egg belongs to one person, while the mother delivering the child is another person. 

Hence, this leads to confusion regarding the true lineage of the child.

After salaah, recite the following dua and beg Allah Ta'ala to bless you and your husband with pious and healthy offspring.

رَبِّ هَبْ لِي مِن لَّدُنْكَ ذُرِّيَّةً طَيِّبَةً

And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.

عن رويفع بن ثابت الأنصاري قال كنت مع النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم حين افتتح حنينا، فقام فينا خطيبا فقال لا يحل لامرئ، يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر أن يسقي ماءه زرع غيره ولا أن يبتاع مغنما حتى يقسم ولا أن يلبس ثوبا من فيء المسلمين حتى إذا أخلقه رده فيه، ولا يركب دابة من فيء المسلمين حتى إذا أعجفها ردها فيه (مسند أحمد رقم 16990)

Answered by:

Mufti Zakaria Makada

Checked & Approved:

Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)