Cloning plants

A question about cloning plant cells and multiplying them to make juices and food additives, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that using cloning techniques in plants is unobjectionable, provided they are shown not to harm the consumer or disrupt the plant ecosystem. ¹

The questioner asked about the ruling on cloning plants, a process of taking a cell and multiplying it many times under set conditions to make juice and substances added to food. ¹

The Department answered that scholars define plant cloning as a biological process forming a group of cells that yields a plant with improved output which reproduces without any change to its genetic content, and that the earth and what is on it were made subservient for human benefit, with humans commanded to set it right and avoid corrupting it. ¹ It said the scope the Sharia allows for non-human cloning is set by two words: securing benefits and warding off harms, with the judgment of these referred to experts and specialists; if the process improves the plant and its output without harm to the consumer or disruption of the plant ecosystem, there is no objection, but if it leads to harm to people or disrupts the plant ecosystem, it is not permitted. ¹ It cited the resolution of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy at its tenth session in Jeddah in 1997 that cloning and genetic engineering techniques may be used for microbes and other micro-organisms, plants and animals within the limits of the Sharia's controls. ¹ It concluded that using cloning techniques in plants is unobjectionable, provided they are shown not to harm the consumer or disrupt the plant ecosystem. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 4010, dated 6 October 2025. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.