A popular Islamic cleric, Dr. Sharafdeen Gbadebo, has warned Muslim couples against conducting DNA tests to determine the paternity of children, saying that such practice is forbidden under Islamic law.
The scholar’s remarks come amid the growing popularity of DNA testing in Nigeria, particularly in cases of suspected infidelity and paternity disputes.
Dr. Gbadebo who made the statement during a recent lecture delivered in Yoruba explained that Islam provides clear guidelines on paternity, making scientific methods like DNA testing unnecessary and un-Islamic.
“Why would you (Muslims) do DNA test? Islam does not allow us to doubt the paternity of a child conceived by a wife legally married. This is why it is said that the man who owns a wife owns the children she gives birth to. The position of Islam is that anybody that engages in fornication or adultery with a woman will be entitled to nothing,” he said.
He highlighted Lian, an Islamic procedure recognized when a husband questions the paternity of a child.
Under Lian, both husband and wife must take solemn oaths before God. The husband swears four times that the child is not his, invoking divine punishment if he lies, while the wife swears four times that the child belongs to her husband. Upon completion, the man permanently loses the right to claim the child, and the marriage is annulled.
“Let’s take for instance, two people engage in sex out of wedlock, and this led to giving birth to a child, is there any DNA test that would grant the man paternity of such a child in Islam? There is none. It is forbidden. That child will always be seen as a product of Zina,” Dr. Gbadebo added.
He emphasized that DNA testing, whether expensive or affordable, has no place in Islam, urging Muslims to follow religious guidance over scientific methods in such matters.
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