When I wrote on the issue of gender selection for the first time, I had no idea how popular the concept is in our country. In fact, I was not even aware that you could actually decide whether your baby’s gonna be an XX or an XY. Over the year I received considerable traffic from surfers looking for sex selection. I decided to speak again on the topic keeping in mind those who land on my blog looking for some sort of ‘help’ in acquiring such services. This time what triggered off the post was an SMS I recieved around two weeks back. It said:
Baby boy
InshaAllah!
Son or Daughter you can choose with natural and Islamic method, 95% success rate, call 03334268*** or visit www.rightchoice.net.ms
Although the message says you could choose a son or a daughter , the attraction ‘Baby Boy’ is enough to comprehend what this organization is actually trying to do – Luring all you desperate parents to design that XY combination. And honestly , none of you would be THAT desperate for a girl. The right choice people know that. Hence the right choice for a starting- Baby Boy.
What really pissed me off about the promotion was the use of ‘Islam’ to justify something so disgusting. If the terrorists were not enough for defaming the relgion , the ‘butchers’ are the latest to join the force.
So the day I received the sms , I wrote two emails to understand this forced connection with Islam. I wrote one to the people propagating this ‘great cause’ asking them how they call it Islamic. They never replied back. What would they come up with any way.
I wrote another one to an Islamic organization to confirm my belief regarding the issue. I received the following reply:
Respected Brother/Sister in Islam
Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakaatuh
It is the prerogative of Allah alone to determine the gender of a child. No person has the right to decide the gender of the child besides Him. Allah says in the Holy Qur’an:
لِلَّهِ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ يَهَبُ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ إِنَاثًا وَيَهَبُ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ الذُّكُورَ
“To Allah alone belongs the skies and the earth. He creates whatever He wishes. He grants to whomsoever he desires female offspring and he grants to whomsoever he wishes male offspring” ( Surah ash-Shura, Verse: 49)
The practice of determining the gender of the child with certainty before birth is un-Islamic and should be avoided.
We are unable to access the website you have referred us to in your email.
And Allah Knows Best.
Wassalaam.
I understand the obsession with producing a male offspring in this country. And why this country only, the issue is common to the whole region and I may not be making a ‘sweeping generalization’ here by saying the whole world. From infanticide to wife torture to polygamy, a woman has to pay the price for what a man is responsible in this illiterate part of the world. It’s the sperms after all.
Those who are educated enough to not blame the women and are not willing to accept it as God’s wish either then form a ‘market’. So when there is a market’ there is a marketer. And the marketer tends to choose anyway possible for making his product successful. Even if it means declaring a war against God by using His religion to justify such practices.
I don’t expect a clamp down on such clinics . The newspapers are full of such promotions and yet nobody seems to be doing anything about the problem. So I’d rather use my webspace to tell all you thankless creatures to be happy with what you have. And if you’re getting any SMSes calling the service ‘Islamic’ and you’re happy that you’ve got a certification from God to carry on with this sick attitude , you’re highly MISTAKEN!
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Exactly. Like whats the point of gender selection? What will too many boys going to give the parents? Muslims in our region are obsessed with bringing islam in every san eor insane matter. Islam has nothing to do with it … if yes, then probably Allah would’ve given us this option naturally.
Ain’t we going to create a polarized society with too many boys and too few girls if everyone starts following it?
Totally ditto your post here. These things should be snubbed.
Something is being mixed up somewhere I think. If my English serves me right..to ‘determine’ means to know/find..am I right? Assuming I am ,I proceed.The Quranic ayat is 100% correct,no doubt.It implies that only ‘He’can/will decide/choose the sex of the offspring. I think the religious scholar sends a mixed response/signal and as I understood it,in his explanation after the verse,he might also be implying that to ‘find out’ the sex of a child in the belly of the mother is also not allowed.If my wife goes for an ultra sound to the clinic and I ask her afterwards,..”has the sex been determined?”.Will that be meaning,”Is it a boy or a girl?”.If yes,then the word determining has been used in the wrong context.Finding out the ‘sex’ of a child before he/she comes out of the womb,is totally different from ‘choosing’which one to have.The topic is about CHOSING the sex and not FINDING out what it is. Maybe I am wrong…”Angrezi ka masla hai..not my mother’s JEEB”;)
I had those thoughts as well. As per the ayah that he used as the source, the choosing matter is clear. Determine was perhaps not the right choice of word. But the scholar also says ‘No person has the right to decide the gender of the child besides Him.’
Also let me clarify that it is not prohibited to find out about the gender of the child through an ultrasound scan.
Case closed.
Informative post. Would like to see Right wingers, Mullah or this word which is quite popular on tribune and other circles “Ghairat” brigade doing the rally and plan action against those who are giving these kind of service in the name of religion. If people are self educated, i am not sure they can be trapped in this business, though that depends on education which budget has been slashed by current democracy(33 billion) as compared to previous regime to incorporate BISP(50 billion).
Definitely there are things that are best left upon Allah and His divine will. Human’s intervention into such natural processes can only prove to be disastrous.
Looking at the subject from a different standpoint, considering such a possibility whereby a person is given a ‘choice’ regarding gender selection, imagine the kindda disparity and paradox it is going to create!?
As you’ve pointed out, given such a choice, most of the parents in all likelihood would opt for prospective males eventually resulting in enormous disproportion between male / female ratio creating serious social disorder and imbalance.
The verse quoted here, in my opinion, is lucid and being seemingly categorical settles any debate whatsoever.
I talk to Right Choice people on phone and ask about gender selection method they use, and I convince, they are not choosing sex but they only inform us about how nature is helping us and what nature is doing, they use this information only, All is in the hands of GOD, every thing natural. THEY ARE BIOLOGIST working How NATURE work on Gender Selection. they use this information only rest every thing go natural nobody interfere in any stage of birth.
First of all , I am convinced you are from right choice and not some random customer who talked to them on phone to enquire about their methods. You never replied me through email? Anyways, please tell me what ‘right choice’ means if it’s not about ‘choosing’. And also what is right and what is wrong? :)
Indeed everything IS in God’s hands. Their is no reason for organizations like yours to exist except for squeezing out money from some desperate couples.