Journal - International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine

Haitham IDRISS HISTORY OF GENETICS IN ISLAM: ABOUT COLOUR,
STATURE AND CAMELS
Figure 1. A diagram showing the seven traits in peas studied by Mendel.
have and advised us which of these would confirm
the husband’s or the wife’s allegations. In genetical
terminology one may say, he mentioned certain phenotypes
the child may have and advised which phenotype
may be inherited from the husband and which
clearly may not. Therefore, red colour and small size
would indicate inheritance from the husband. Yet a
child with black eyes and large buttocks would indi-
Figure 2. An illustrative diagram showing a karyotpe of chromosomes
from a human cell. The cell nucleus consists of 23 pairs of
homologous chromosomes (one from each parent), giving a total
of 46 chromosomes. The last pair of chromosomes is said to
define sex (XX in females and XY in males).
cate the wife had conceived pregnancy through extramarital
intercourse, which apparently proved to be
the case.
This Hadeeth portrays the knowledge that messenger
of Allah had about hereditary which made him
able to deduce phenotypic possibilities that would
manifest in the child had he been conceived through
a marital or extramarital affair, having seen the husband
and presumably knew of the third party. Apart
from the matrimonial judicial aspects of this hadeeth,
Figure 3. A diagram of a eukaryotic cell undergoing mitotic cell
division. The homologous chromosomes are stained dark blue
and are shown to clearly separate on the red stained microtubule
spindle.
26 JISHIM 2004, 3