A prominent Islamic cleric, Dr. Sharafdeen Gbadebo, has cautioned Muslim couples against using DNA tests to determine the paternity of children, describing the practice as forbidden under Islamic law.
Delivering a recent lecture in Yoruba, Dr. Gbadebo emphasized that Islam provides clear guidance on paternity, making scientific methods like DNA testing unnecessary and un-Islamic.
“Why would you (Muslims) do DNA tests? Islam does not allow us to doubt the paternity of a child conceived by a legally married wife. The man who owns a wife owns the children she gives birth to,” he said.
The cleric highlighted the Lian procedure, an Islamic practice invoked when a husband questions the paternity of a child. Under Lian, both husband and wife take solemn oaths before God: the husband swears four times that the child is not his, while the wife swears four times that the child belongs to her husband. Following this, the man loses the right to claim the child, and the marriage is annulled if paternity is disputed.
Dr. Gbadebo further clarified that children born from extramarital relations, referred to as products of Zina, cannot be legitimized through DNA testing under Islamic law.
Contrasting the religious stance, a medical expert, Miss Aisha Ahmad of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, affirmed the **scientific reliability of DNA tests