Question:
Is it permissible to work as an embryologist?
Answer:
Dear questioner,
Thank you for your important question.
May Allah, Most High reward you for your desire to increase in knowledge.
The field of Islamic Bio-Ethics is one that is still evolving and expanding.
Working as an embryologist to help married Muslim couples dealing with IVF is not only permissible but an act of service to the community. The IVF treatment in reference is one that involves the sperm of the husband and egg of the wife.
However, helping anyone who is not married in accordance with the Sacred Law to conceive children is impermissible.
This is similar to the Prophetic Tradition discussing alcohol, wherein the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) says:
“Wine is cursed from ten angles: The wine itself, the one who squeezes it (the grapes, etc), the one for whom it is squeezed, the one who sells it, the one who buys it, the one who carries it, the one to whom it is carried, the one who consumes its price, the one who drinks it and the one who pours it.”
[Ibn Maja, al-Sunan]
Helping conceive children out of wedlock is absolutely impermissible, even if you are only aiding by way of forming the embryo.
Ask Allah, Most High to help you find an alternative job wherein you can use your skillset in a manner that pleases him.
Pray the ‘Prayer of Need’ and seek out the advice of other practicing Muslims in the medical field.
And Allah alone knows best,
[Ustadh] Omar Popal
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani