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Does Ultrasound Gender Detection Contradict Quran 31:34? — Hadith, Scholars & Embryology Answer

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“He Knows What Is in the Wombs” — Does Medical Gender Detection Contradict the Qur’an?

Table of Contents

The Issue Under Consideration

The Doubt That Confuses Many Muslims If Allah, the Almighty, says in Surat Luqman:

“Indeed, Allah has knowledge of the Hour. He sends down the rain and knows what is in the wombs. And no soul perceives what it will earn tomorrow, and no soul perceives in what land it will die. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.” — Luqman: 34

And if the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, says as in the two Sahihs and others on the authority of Ibn Umar: “In five matters of the unseen that no one knows except Allah,” then he recited: “Indeed, Allah has knowledge of the Hour…” — the verse.

So how do we reconcile this with what we see of doctors’ knowledge of the fetus’s maleness or femaleness?

The Answer — Three Key Points

Summary of the Answer
  1. The reason for the confusion is ignorance of the Sunnah and the understanding of the commentators.
  2. The knowledge of what is in the wombs is not specified in the verse as male or female.
  3. The inability to know the gender of the fetus except after the angel forms it, i.e. after creation.

Detail 1 — The Verse Is Not Limited to Male or Female

The Verse Is Comprehensive — Not Limited to Gender The knowledge of what is in the wombs is not specified in the verse as male or female as these people understand, but rather it is comprehensive knowledge of everything related to the fetus — whether it is miserable or happy, its work, its provision, and all its affairs — which no one knows except the Creator, the Almighty.

The Hadith of Hudhayfah al-Ghifari — Sahih Muslim 2645

Sahih Muslim 2645 — Hudhayfah al-Ghifari I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say:

“The sperm falls into the womb for forty nights, then the angel forms it… Zuhayr said: I thought he said the one who creates it says: O Lord, is it male or female? Allah makes it male or female. Then he says: O Lord, am I normal or abnormal? So Allah makes him normal or abnormal. Then he says: O Lord, what is his provision? What is his life span? What is his creation? Then Allah makes him miserable or happy.”

What This Hadith Makes Clear From this hadith it becomes clear to the ignorant before the knowledgeable that the conditions of the fetus in its mother’s womb are not limited to whether it is male or female only. And even the angel assigned to write the record of this fetus does not know its gender, nor its provision, nor its life span until Allah the Most High informs him of this, so he writes what Allah has commanded him. Consequently the matter is no longer unseen, and it has entered the world of testimony — and this alone is sufficient to remove ambiguity from this issue.

Ibn Kathir on the Keys of the Unseen

Ibn Kathir “These keys of the unseen are known only to Allah, and no one knows them except after Allah informs him of them. So the sending down of rain is known only to Allah, but if He commands it, the angels assigned to do so and whomever Allah wills of His creation know about it.

Similarly, no one knows what is in the wombs except Allah, but if He commands it to be male or female, or miserable or happy, or rich or poor — the angels assigned to do so and whomever Allah wills know about it from His creation.”

Detail 2 — Gender Cannot Be Known Before the Angel Forms the Fetus

The Correct Understanding It is clear from the above that the angel himself does not know about the matter of the fetus — even whether it is male or female — except after Allah informs him of it, so it is no longer unseen.

It is possible, after the angel forms the fetus as male or female in the womb, for whomever Allah wills to know that from among the humans using x-rays, analyses, or any other technology. However, before the angel creates the fetus — after Allah informs him of its gender — there is no way for any human being or the angel himself to know that.

The Miraculous Hadith — Abu al-Tufayl — Sahih Muslim 2645

Sahih Muslim 2645 — Abu al-Tufayl Amir ibn Wathilah al-Kinani “When forty-two nights have passed over the sperm, Allah sends an angel to it. He shapes it and creates its hearing, sight, skin, flesh, and bones. Then he says: O Lord! Male or female? Your Lord decrees what He wills. The angel writes. Then he says: O Lord! His life span. Your Lord says what He wills and the angel writes. Then he says: O Lord! His provision. Your Lord decrees what He wills and the angel writes. Then the angel comes out with the scroll in his hand. He does not add to what he was commanded nor does he subtract from it.”

Fatwa of Ibn Uthaymeen

Fatwa of Ibn Uthaymeen “Since the verse indicates an unseen matter that is related to Allah’s knowledge in these five matters, and the unseen matters in the case of the fetus are: the length of its period in its mother’s womb, its life, its work and provision, its misery or happiness, and whether it is male or female — before it is created.

However, after it is created, knowledge of its maleness or femaleness is not from the knowledge of the unseen, because with its creation it has become from the knowledge of the seen, except that it is hidden in the three darknesses, which if removed, its matters would become clear.

It is not far-fetched that among the rays that Allah Almighty created are strong rays that penetrate this darkness until it becomes clear whether the fetus is male or female.

The verse does not explicitly mention knowledge of maleness or femaleness, and the Sunnah does not mention that either.” — http://www.ahlalhdeeth.com/vb/showthread.php?t=179909

Has Science Been Able to Know What Is in the Wombs? The answer, of course, will be negative from those with peaceful minds — because science has not and will not know what is in the wombs unless Allah reveals His knowledge to whomever He wills.

Up until now, man has not been able to know with his knowledge whether this fetus is:

  • Miserable or happy
  • Blind or seeing
  • Deaf or hearing
  • Rich or poor
  • Tall or short

But the angel entrusted with writing the record of this fetus has learned these characteristics after Allah revealed His knowledge to him.

And even knowledge of who is in the wombs — i.e. whether the fetus is male or female — this will not happen unless Allah commands it to be male or female, i.e. after this fetus is created within a period of time that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, has specified from 40 to 45 days, as stated in the authentic hadiths.

Detail 3 — What Science Actually Confirms

Science Confirms What the Messenger Said The fetus is neutral before the sixth week — 42 days. And science comes to confirm what the Messenger of Allah said, as all medical references agree that the gender of the human fetus remains neutral until the sixth week — 42 days.

Scientific Sources on Fetal Gender Neutrality

Source 1 — University of Hawaii “IN HUMAN EMBRYOS, THE EFFECT OF THIS HERITAGE USUALLY DOES NOT BE MANIFEST UNTIL THE SIXTH OR SEVENTH WEEK IN UTERO. PRIOR TO THIS TIME, THE HUMAN FETUS CAN BE REGARDED AS APPEARING NEUTER OR INDIFFERENT. IT IS INDIFFERENT IN INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL APPEARANCE (PHENOTYPE), CONTAINING NEITHER TESTES NOR OVARIES, BUT ONLY UNDEVELOPED GONADS LOCATED NEAR THE KIDNEYS.”

Translation: In the human fetus, this genetic influence is usually not evident in the womb until after six or seven weeks. Before this time, the human fetus is considered neutral or undifferentiated — in sex — and is not distinct in internal or external appearance, and does not contain testicles or ovaries, but only contains reproductive glands located near the location of the kidney. — Source: http://www.hawaii.edu/PCSS/biblio/ar…undations.html

Source 2 — Longman Medical Embryology (Approved for Medical Colleges Worldwide) — Page 337 Germ cells reach the gonads of the reproductive glands only in the sixth week. If these cells do not reach the gonads at the appropriate time, the process of sexual development aimed at determining the sex of the newborn will not be completed.

With the arrival of these cells at the end of the fifth week and the beginning of the sixth week, there is no difference between the fetus that will later turn into a female or a male. The sex cannot be determined during this period, as they are completely similar. Because of the impossibility of differentiation, the gonads are known as “indifferent gonads.”

Source 3 — Endotext.org “Müllerian regression, the first sign of male differentiation of the genital tract, occurs in 55 to 60 day-old human embryos in the area where the ducts are closest to the caudal pole of the testis.”

Here: sex determination comes after the seventh week. — http://www.endotext.org/pediatrics/p…ricsframe7.htm

Source 4 — eMedicine “The external genitalia of both sexes are identical during the first 7 weeks of gestation.” — http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic1492.htm

Methods of Gender Detection and Their Timeframes

Method 1 — Dissecting the Deciduous Fetus This method occurs in the seventh week at least. Before this week, it cannot be distinguished, and this is because the reproductive glands (the testes in the male and the ovaries in the female) are completely similar. — Source: HUMAN EMBRYOLOGY PG 338/400, Fourth Edition.
Method 2 — Examining the Amniotic Fluid (Amniocentesis) This procedure is performed sometime between the 18th and 20th weeks of pregnancy. — Source: http://arabia.babycenter.com
Method 3 — Ultrasound Devices (Sonar) Used in the period from week 14 to week 20 of pregnancy, depending on the type of device used. — Source: http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_5022566_de…pregnancy.html
The Key Point on All Detection Methods All methods that determine the sex of the fetus before it is born do not occur until after the fetus is created. Before this point, it cannot be distinguished — and this is precisely what the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said 1,400 years ago.

Conclusion

Three Conclusions 1. The Qur’anic verse “And He knows what is in the wombs” does not explicitly mention knowledge of maleness and femaleness, and the Sunnah did not mention that either.

2. However, knowledge of whether the fetus is male or female is a mystery that only God knows before creation — which is what science has supported.

3. However, if God sends the angel after forty-two days, God knows the sex of the newborn, and the angel does not make it a mystery. Then, whoever God wills among His servants can see it by ultrasound or otherwise.

This would be like someone who said in the time of the Messenger: “I challenge God’s knowledge of what is in the wombs,” so he went to a pregnant woman, cut open her belly, and saw what was in it. There is no difference between that and the doctor who sees what is in the woman’s belly after the sixth week with X-rays when the angel creates the fetus as male or female. After that, it does not become a mystery.