Cloning!
By
Naguib Mahfouz
There are some stories that seem destined to occupy the headlines of the international press, as newspapers around the world take an interest in them, and one such story is that the first cloned baby is likely to born early next year. And while I know some may find cloning a disturbing prospect I cannot help but feel that scientific experiments should proceed unfettered, for they are ultimately in the interest of all humanity. Some countries have agonised over the issue to the point of banning the practice, as did the United States. Yet, the scruples typically voiced about cloning often miss the point, and certainly seem to disregard the inestimable benefits that might accrue from the process.
Cloning is not against nature or God's will. God has created man, and cloning is only a medical process, not unlike in vitro fertilisation. Cloning involves the addition of the genetic material of one person into an unfertilised egg. As such, it is just a medical procedure to allow a human being to come into the world. Birth is miraculous, divine, and will remain so, regardless of how it happens or what the mechanical processes of conception may be.
One often wonders whether it is nurture or nature that is decisive in determining the people we become. We might do well to remember that Hitler was an art student in Austria before he became a fearsome dictator. If we were to clone him what would emerge: would we bring into being an artist or the monster that Hitler ultimately became?
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.
