Parentage and Its Effects on Transference of Gamete after the Death of Couples from the Viewpoint of Islamic Schools of Thought

Transference of gamete after the death of couples that has actually come to realization thanks to technological advances and assisted-reproduction techniques is one of the recent developments in the field of medicine. In this technique, physicians use the gamete of the deceased person to fertilize the surviving person. Drawing on ijtihadic reasoning, leading Imamite and Sunnite jurists have argued that the legitimacy or illegitimacy of this act depends on the continuity of matrimony after death and have actually used this argument as a basis to determine if the afore-mentioned act is legally permissible or not. Regardless of the legitimacy or permissibility of the afore-mentioned act, determination of the lineage of the child resulting from Post-mortem insemination which actually has a significant effect on the child’s financial and non-financial rights such as inheritance, alimony, and custody, guardianship and privity (mahramiyyat), is of vital importance. Thus, in the present study attempts are made to explore the religious decrees issued in this regard from the perspective of Islamic schools of thought. Using library studies and adopting an analytical-descriptive approach, the researcher has finally concluded that insomuch as the permissibility or legitimacy of the aforesaid practice has no effect on the in-law relationships and given that this relationship is incipient in nature, a child born as result of Post-mortem insemination should be religiously subjected to relationship by blood and enjoy all the rights thereof.