but rather whether there is sexual enjoyment from this boy. So how can we say that she need not observe a waiting period? At the very least, we should treat it like the case of seclusion. Yet this is the established position of the school.
Likewise, if she is not of an age at which she can bear a child—namely, if she is under nine years old, such as a wife who is eight years old—and her husband, though young, has reached an age at which he is able to have intercourse with her, and he has intercourse with her and derives pleasure from her, then leaves her, they say: She need not observe a waiting period, because she is not of an age at which she can bear a child. This is the third issue about which I have some reservation, because the verse has made the ruling contingent only upon touching. Nevertheless, we shall proceed with the author’s statement in order to build upon it what follows.
Thus, it is stipulated that the seclusion or intercourse be between one who is of an age at which he can father a child—the husband—and one who is of an age at which she can bear a child—the wife.
His statement, “or she becomes pregnant from the husband’s semen,” means that she seeks pregnancy through her husband’s semen; that is, she takes some of his semen, places it in her vagina, and becomes pregnant by it. This is permissible, because the semen belongs to her husband. This resembles what is known in our time as test-tube babies. So is it permissible to carry out this procedure? For sometimes a woman has weakness in the uterus and cannot become pregnant except by this means.
Some scholars are of the view that it is permissible for a woman to become pregnant from her husband’s semen, whether by an intermediary means or otherwise. However, issuing a legal verdict to this effect carries the danger of tampering with lineages. A man may be infertile, with semen that is unsuitable, and then purchase semen from someone else, by which the woman becomes pregnant. This does occur. There are now sperm banks, and this is not permissible. Therefore, we do not issue legal verdicts permitting this at all, because we fear such tampering.