S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 4 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 1 8 1 3 Monika Zaviš present or future. I have never considered Islamic authorities, such as those of seven centuries ago, to solve our present needs” (Tucaković 2017, 14). The current attitudes of Islamic scholars to the use of PGD have already been highlighted in our study in 2015 (Zaviš 2015, 190), where we have refered to a high positive PGD rating for eliminating the genetic causes of a child’s severe diseases, but also to a warning against the use of PGD for choosing the sex of the child and eliminating embryos of the undesirable sex. Islamic scholars consider it a particularly controversial question of the use of PGD in the creation of “rescue siblings”, whose life is justified only by the task of providing assistance in the form of donation of needed necessary body organ or a tissue to already living, but fatally ill sibling. A special place in this context have bioethical debates of Muslim scholars on the situations, when the elimination of the hereditary disease is conditioned by the choice of the sex of the embryo, as in the case of DMD (Duchenne muscular dystrophy), haemophilia A and B; in general, we can speak of a group of X-linked Mendelian recessive diseases, which can be prevented right by choosing a female embryo. Most Muslim scholars agree on the use of disease prevention. Already at the first international conference on bioethics in the Muslim world, which took place in 1991 in Cairo, the PGD was its main theme, and out of eight factual conclusions, directives, two (no. 4 & 5) relate directly to the subject of our analysis: Sex selection is allowed if a particular gender is predisposed to a serious genetic disability. One of the first couples to choose this technique was hoping that their child would avoid a lethal hydrocephalus disease that is conditioned by X-linked heredity that almost always affects only boys. Embryonal selection of sex allows the elimination of a variety of X-linked hereditary diseases including haemophilia, DMD and fragile chromosome X syndrome. PGD aimed at changing the hereditary features of pre-embryos (e.g. hair and eye color, intelligence, body height), including sex selection, is prohibited (Nordin 2012, 256). Sachedina, however, points out that, despite the positives of the PGD in the prevention of diseases, the phenomenon of medically unindicated sex selection of a child has been expanding in many countries, which he does not consider moral. The preference of boys in some cultures has led to the systematic destruction of female embryos, which is a disruption to the fundamental determination and respect of the dignity of human beings according to the Qur’an and Hadith, which apply to all human beings without the preference of one of the sexes. According to Sachedina in Islam, there is no justification for the selective abortion intervention based on the choice of the child’s sex (Sachedina 2009, 108). Sex-selective abortion is in Islam essentially in general strictly forbidden and therefore there is no need for further discussions on this topic (Dezhkam, Dezhkam, and Dezhkam 2014, 289). The ever-present preference of male offsprings in Muslim spouses who undergo PGD has been analysed in 2015 by the authors Chamsi-Pasha and Albar. They state the following preference criteria for male offspring: ensuring continuation of the family, support and care for aging parents, raising family standards, maintaining family assets, and possibility of making specific religious rituals. Fatwa released in 2007 by Islamic World League– Islamic World Association, however, prohibits sex selection practices for social reasons. Conversely, medically indicated sex selection is allowed. However, some Sunni scholars allow exceptions to the admissibility of medically unindicated sex selection, and that is in the case of a woman who has given birth to five or more daughters, while her husband still insists on a male offspring (Chamsi-Pasha and Albar 2015, 110). In Shi’ite Islam, which is open to new ARTs because of the greater flexibility of their theological-legal system than the Sunni one, it is even envisaged to provide third-party donation. Tappan points out that PGD is needed right in such cases because it is necessary to have knowledge of cardiologic, psychological, oncological diseases, diabetes, etc., to which the offspring has the right to be alerted to be able to count with their treatment. Tappan, however, based on his research in Iran, has concluded that none of the Iranian clinics had a genetic information storage system. He states: “If clinics are concerned about the archiving of donor information in case their child summoned to court on inheritance, this lack of information could have a detrimental effect on the lives of children” (Tappan 2012, 111). 5 Conclusion The Human Genome Project with an international effort to map and sequence the entire human genome in 2003 has alerted all religious and ethical commissions, authorities, because the first feelings that it has aroused in the public was the fear of abuse. A huge relief has provided information on the use of genetics to prevent and treat disease conditions before and after birth. Islam has welcomed and supported the idea of using the prevention of hereditary diseases, which can also be done by choosing the sex of the future child. Genetic prevention and genetic treatment (see Sabatello 2009,
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