S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 4 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 1 8 1 1 Monika Zaviš Ibn Qayyim al Yawziyyah has analyzed in his work Tuḥfatul Mawdūd fī Ahkām al-Mawlūd also the questions of formation of embryo with male or female sex and has tried to explain this phenomenon by using Qur’an, Hadith, and thoughts of the antique writingDe victu. He argues, that creation of a child is based exclusively on the copulation of male and female. This model, continuity, which was determined by Allah for all humankind was not disrupted by exceptions, which are Adem and Hava (Adem was created from the soil and by breathing the soul, while Hava was drawn from him) and Messiah (Eesa ibn Maryam was created from Maryam’s water and malak’s air blasting). Ibn Qayyim has mentioned in Hadith, which is repeatedly introduced by Sahih al-Buchārī, Sahih Muslim, Sahih al-Tirmidhi, and Sahih al-Nasa’i: “The male’s seed is white and dense, and the woman is watery and yellow. Which of them overcomes and prevails, the child will look like him” (El-Dževzijje 2011, 166). So, according to Ibn Qayyim, there are two kinds of semen: the male and the female. They are of different colors and consistency. He also counts on two different power relations between male and female semen: overriding and overpowering. In the case of overriding of one type of semen, that will be a reason, why a child resembles mother or father. In the case of overpowering of one type of semen, the result is a child of the sex of more powerful semen. Ibn Qayyim argues, that there is no reasonable explanation for the predomination of one type of the semen and that there is no natural cause. He attributes this overall to the will of Exalted Creator. The sex of the child is Allah’s gift and depends on His will, knowledge and power (El-Dževzijje 2011, 169–170). Ibn Qayyim has taken the folk conceptions in the question of prettiness or ugliness of child, e.g. if a mother during the sexual intercourse thinks on persons she loves and misses them, a conceived child will look like them: “Nature is being transmitted, and that is the fact that everyone knows” (El-Dževzijje 2011, 173). He refers to Hippocrates and his Book on Children in Mothers’ Wombs without mentioning its title and paraphrases its content as follows: “If there will be more male seed than female seed, the child will look like the father. If there will be more female seed than male seed, the child will look like the mother. He says: the seed descends from all body organs. From the healthy goes healthy seed, and from the ill ill. He says: Bald-headed give birth to bald-headed. The wise give birth to wise, and powerful to powerful” (El-Dževzijje 2011, 172). When compared the attitudes of Ibn Qayyim and those attributed to Hippocrates, we can see a difference in the conception of power versus number of semen, which decides of which sex or resemblance will a child be. Further observations connected to Ibn Qayyim’s linking-up to the writingDe victu will be presented in the Discussion. Regarding genetic research there are current guidelines in Islam issued in Kuwait in 1998: “Islam must move to the fore in genetic research. Recourse to genetics to cure hereditary or acquired pathologies does not contradict the acceptance of divine will. Research treatment and diagnoses on the genetic condition of a person must be performed with the previous and free consent of the individual concerned [2] or, if incapable, of the guardian. If consent cannot be obtained, the research may be carried out if it brings about a clear benefit for the health of the person. Every genetic diagnosis must be treated with confidentiality. Genetic research must never have priority over the rules of the Shari’a and respect for human rights” (Atighetchi 2007, 239). In the context of today’s embryology and genetic engineering is the question of the sex of the offspring formulated in connection with medical indication of sex selection, but also in relation to non-medical individual wishes of future parents to have their offsprings of balanced male and female sexes [3] or they want to choose a specific sex because of personal sympathy or fulfillment of the religious requirement of keeping the genealogy through a male offspring. In antiquity and continually and in the Middle Ages, there was a conception, that a particular sex in the semen of men and women predominates (semen of man and women combine to form the embryo of a particular sex); we could in the context of today’s possibilities of PGD talk about its analogy in Ericsson’s method (Beernik, Dmowski, and Ericsson 1993, 382– 386), which also works with some thoughtful dominance of elements of complex genetic material: “In Ericsson as sperm passes trough albumin gradient, the differences in mass between the X and Y chromosomes cause the females dragged down by the weight of the extra ‘leg’ of the X sex chromosome. The method has a 70–72 % success rate [4] for boys and a 69– 75 % success rate for girls” (Dezhkam, Dezhkam, and Dezhkam 2014, 289). Use of isolated sperm in women who were taking clomiphene citrate resulted in about 70 % female births. The other method to select the sperm sex is Micro Sort method. According to Shia jurisprudence there are no obstacles to use PGD and Ericsson method, which are accepted by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Authors Dezhkam L., Dezhkam H., and Dezhkam I. see the only problem when dealing with the use of Micro Sort and Ericsson method, and that is the possibility of committing the sins of unlawful sight and unlawful touch (Dezhkam, Dezhkam, and Dezhkam 2014, 290).
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