Are we playing God? Medical technology and the change in God's creation from the perspective of Shi'ite Islam

Abstract

Shi'ite Islam posits that medical technologies such as cloning or genetic engineer- ing are not a change in God's creation and cannot be forbidden for this reason. The study presents the main religious-legal arguments for this opinion and the difference between the view of Shi'ite theology and jurisprudence in the interpretation of the term “change in God's creation”. Jurisprudence emphasizes the spiritual nature of change (deviation from monotheism) over physical change and supports it with other methodological principles. This definition excludes the analysed medical techniques, and therefore jurisprudence does not consider them a change in God's creation. The conclusions are supplemented by specific legal arguments concerning the most discussed areas, i.e. cloning, genetic en- gineering, gender reassignment and cosmetic surgeries, and briefly compared with the Sunni position.