“And when one of them is informed of the birth of a female, his face darkens and he suppresses grief.

He hide himself from the people because of the disgrace of the news. Shall he keep her in humiliation or bury her in the dust? Evil indeed is what they decide.” (Qur’an 16;58-59) 

The gender of a child is determined by the pair of chromosomes discharged by man into woman’s ovum. This is Allah’s wonder and no man can contest it.

With persistent reflection, one will observe, discover and appreciate many wonders of the creator – Allah (SWT). One of the wonders is the creation of everything in pairs. Among the human being, he created male and female. As if people are not mindful of these facts, it has been repeatedly observed that concentration of a particular sex in some families has become a source of concern, worry, and panic.

The tradition belief is that a baby’s sex is determined by the mother’s cells, or at least, the sex was determined by the combination of male and female sex. But the Quran elaborates that sex is determined by the sperm. Allah says: “he has created both sexes, male and female from a drop of sperm which has been ejected.” (The Qur’an, 53:45-46). This is also corroborated with research by Dr. Zakir Naik of the Islamic research foundation.

The sex of a foetus is determined by the nature of the sperm and not the ovum. Whether female or male, depends on whether the 23rd pair of chromosomes is ‘XX’ or ‘XY’ respectively. Primarily, sex determination occurs at fertilization and depends upon the type of sex chromosomes in the sperm that fertilizes an ovum. If it an ‘X’ bearing sperm that fertilizes the ovum, the foetus is a female and if it is ‘Y’ bearing sperm then the foetus is a male.

“That he did create in pairs – male and female, from a seed when lodged (In its place).” (Al-Qur’an 53:45-46). The Arabic word nutfah means a minute quantity of liquid and tumna means ejaculated and planted. Therefore nutfah specifically refers to sperm because it is ejaculated.

The Qur’an says: “was he not a drop of sperm emitted (in lowly form)? “Then did he become a clinging clot; Then did (Allah) make and fashion (him) in due proportion. “And of him, he made two sexes, male and female.” (Al-Qur’an 75:37-39). Again, this is an emphasis that a small (drop) quantity of sperm indicated by the words (nutfatan min maniyyin) which comes from the man is the determinant for the sex of the foetus.

Away from this another question is that, is the chromosomes formation or the type of sperm –‘X’ or ‘Y’ a man discharges into the ovum of his female counterpart in his making? The answer is no. If this and the above quotation are to be objectively considered, there is no doubt in the fact that Allah is the one and only who determines the sex of a child and all other features of the new arrival, man only plays his role as designed by Allah.

If the Qur’an and science attest that the male (without his control) fluid is responsible for the sex of a child! Therefore, no cause for holding concentration of a particular sex against anybody and there is no need to prefer one sex to another or punish a woman for giving birth a particular-mostly if female. Anyone who does this is like undermining the mightiness of Allah.