Short answer
Yes. Surrogacy, where another woman carries a couple's embryo, is haram in the Hanafi school and according to contemporary scholars of all four schools, whether it is paid or unpaid. It brings a third person into pregnancy and splits motherhood between two women.
Haram. A woman may carry only a child conceived from her own egg and her husband's sperm; placing a couple's embryo in another woman's womb is forbidden, and so is acting as a surrogate.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
The Quran says of mothers, "Their mothers are none but those who gave birth to them." Scholars note how closely motherhood is tied to pregnancy and birth. Surrogacy splits this between the woman whose egg was used and the woman who carried and delivered the child. Contemporary scholars even differ over which of the two is the mother in law, which shows the confusion it creates.
The other problems scholars list:
- a third party enters the most private part of a marriage, which the Prophet's ﷺ warning about watering another's crop speaks to
- the surrogate's womb is hired or lent, though the body is not something to be rented out
- the surrogate uncovers her awrah and takes the risks of pregnancy and birth without any need of her own
- disputes over the child, and the child's right to a clear mother and father
The ruling is the same whether the surrogacy is commercial or altruistic, done abroad or at home, or arranged with a relative. The four schools have no classical text on it, and contemporary councils from all of them agree it is forbidden.
If a child has already been born through surrogacy, the child is innocent. Ask a mufti about the child's lineage and who is mahram to the child. For couples who cannot carry a pregnancy, the permitted options are treatment within the marriage (see is IVF haram) and caring for a child in need through kafalah.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Mujaadila 58:2
ٱلَّذِينَ يُظَٰهِرُونَ مِنكُم مِّن نِّسَآئِهِم مَّا هُنَّ أُمَّهَٰتِهِمْ ۖ إِنْ أُمَّهَٰتُهُمْ إِلَّا ٱلَّٰٓـِٔى وَلَدْنَهُمْ ۚ وَإِنَّهُمْ لَيَقُولُونَ مُنكَرًۭا مِّنَ ٱلْقَوْلِ وَزُورًۭا ۚ وَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَعَفُوٌّ غَفُورٌۭ ﴿٢﴾
Those who pronounce thihar among you [to separate] from their wives - they are not [consequently] their mothers. Their mothers are none but those who gave birth to them. And indeed, they are saying an objectionable statement and a falsehood. But indeed, Allah is Pardoning and Forgiving.
Motherhood is tied to pregnancy and birth, which surrogacy separates from the egg.
Quran, Surah Al-Ahqaf 46:15
وَوَصَّيْنَا ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ بِوَٰلِدَيْهِ إِحْسَٰنًا ۖ حَمَلَتْهُ أُمُّهُۥ كُرْهًۭا وَوَضَعَتْهُ كُرْهًۭا ۖ وَحَمْلُهُۥ وَفِصَٰلُهُۥ ثَلَٰثُونَ شَهْرًا ۚ حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا بَلَغَ أَشُدَّهُۥ وَبَلَغَ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةًۭ قَالَ رَبِّ أَوْزِعْنِىٓ أَنْ أَشْكُرَ نِعْمَتَكَ ٱلَّتِىٓ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَىَّ وَعَلَىٰ وَٰلِدَىَّ وَأَنْ أَعْمَلَ صَٰلِحًۭا تَرْضَىٰهُ وَأَصْلِحْ لِى فِى ذُرِّيَّتِىٓ ۖ إِنِّى تُبْتُ إِلَيْكَ وَإِنِّى مِنَ ٱلْمُسْلِمِينَ ﴿١٥﴾
And We have enjoined upon man, to his parents, good treatment. His mother carried him with hardship and gave birth to him with hardship, and his gestation and weaning [period] is thirty months. [He grows] until, when he reaches maturity and reaches [the age of] forty years, he says, "My Lord, enable me to be grateful for Your favor which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents and to work righteousness of which You will approve and make righteous for me my offspring. Indeed, I have repented to You, and indeed, I am of the Muslims."
Carrying and delivering a child is part of what the Quran honours in the mother.
Sunan Abi Dawud 2158
Graded hasan... لا يحل لامرئ يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر أن يسقي ماءه زرع غيره ...
"It is not lawful for a man who believes in Allah and the Last Day to water another man's crop with his own water."
Placing a man's offspring in a woman who is not his wife is forbidden.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Resolutions of the Islamic Fiqh Academy (OIC), Resolution on test-tube babies. Placing the couple's embryo in another woman's womb is forbidden.
- Jadid Fiqhi Masa'il (Khalid Saifullah Rahmani), Chapter on test-tube babies. Surrogacy is not permissible.
This answer is pending review by the scholars on our team. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.