Praise be to
Allah.
Artificial insemination, or what is
known as test-tube babies, takes many forms, some of which are permissible and
some are haraam. The permissible forms include cases
in which the sperm is taken from the man and the egg is taken from his wife,
and fertilisation takes place externally, then the
embryo is implanted in the wife’s uterus.
In this case it is essential to take
precautions and look for trustworthy doctors, for fear of tampering, because
some doctors may use sperm that does not come from the husband when they
already know that the husband’s sperm is not suitable for fertilisation;
and there are other problems and evil consequences that may occur. See the
answer to question no. 98604
It is not permissible to keep eggs or
embryos, and the fertilization of eggs must be limited to the required number
so as to avoid having an excess of fertilized eggs. If there is an excess of
fertilized eggs, they should be left without any care to die naturally.
That is because keeping embryos or eggs
may lead to them being mixed with others as time goes by, either by mistake or
deliberately, as has happened in many cases. Some of them may be taken and
placed in the uterus of another woman, which leads to confusion of lineages,
which is a serious evil which outweighs the interests which the couple may
think are served by keeping embryos to save money and use for fertilization
later on.
The Islamic Fiqh
Council belonging to the Organization of the Islamic Conference has issued a
statement on this matter. The text follows:
1- In the light of
what has happened of the possibility of keeping unfertilized eggs to be used
later on, when fertilizing eggs it must be limited to the required number for
implantation each time, to avoid an excess of fertilized eggs.
2- If there are any
extra fertilized eggs – for any reason – they should be left without medical
care until they die naturally.
3- It is haraam to use fertilized eggs in another woman, and
sufficient precautions must be taken to prevent using fertilized eggs for an
illegitimate pregnancy.
End quote from Majallat Majma’ al-Fiqh al-Islami, issue no. 7,
vol. 3, p. 563.
Based on that, what you have to do is
dispose of the frozen embryos; it is permissible for you to undergo further
artificial insemination even if that is costly or difficult, because that harm cannot
be compared to the possibility of embryos being mixed up, especially since this
length of time has passed.
And Allah knows best.