Ruling on using tables based on the Chinese calendar to determine the sex of the foetus

These so-called “tables
based on the Chinese calendar” are a kind of soothsaying and charlatanry.
They claim that it is possible to determine the sex of the child by finding
out the mother’s age and the date the pregnancy began. By finding out the
mother’s age – although the mother has to add a year to her real age because
this is her age according to the Chinese calendar! – she can try to choose
the month to get pregnant when the foetus will be either male or female. So
there are two reservations concerning this: 

(i)Their claim that the woman
whose age is such and such and gets pregnant in a particular month, will
have a boy or a girl, according to the tables.

(ii)It can be used for one who is
already pregnant to find out the sex of her baby.

The mother’s age and the
date of conception have nothing to do with determining the baby’s sex in the
world of medicine. It seems that these tables have some connection to the
Buddhist religion and astrology and horoscopes. Finding out the sex of the
foetus before conception is a matter of the absolute unseen which no one
knows except Allaah.  

These tables have been
proven false on many occasions. If anyone has been deceived by them turning
out to be correct in a particular case, this is only because it happened to
coincide with the decree of Allaah, and there can only be two
possibilities.  Hence the likelihood of them being correct is high. Whether
the baby is male or female is knowledge of the unseen, and anyone who claims
to have knowledge of that is an evil liar, because the angel who is
commanded to breath the soul into it does not know what gender it is until
he receives the command from his Lord, so how can these people know its
gender before it has taken shape? 

The Chinese are in the
greatest need of these tables in order to determine the sex of their
children, because their government has forbidden them to produce more than
one child, and most of them want males. Abortion of females has become
widespread among them, because they do not want a pregnancy to continue
unless it is the gender they want. 

Our Lord has told us that
He alone, and no one else, is the One who gives what He wills of males and
females. He is the Sovereign of heaven and earth; He alone is the Creator,
with no partner or associate. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“To Allaah belongs the
kingdom of the heavens and the earth. He creates what He wills. He bestows
female (offspring) upon whom He wills, and bestows male (offspring) upon
whom He wills.

50. Or He bestows both
males and females, and He renders barren whom He wills. Verily, He is the
All‑Knower and is Able to do all things”

[al-Shoora 42:49, 50]

Undoubtedly the inventor of
these tables does not believe or think that Allaah is the One Who creates
whatever He wants and that He gives whatever He wills of males or females;
rather the one who invented them based them on his own mythical beliefs. 

There are several other
things wrong with these tables: 

(a)

They stipulate the ages of
mothers as being between 18 and 45 only! What about those who bear children
before or after those ages? 

(b)

What about the thousands of
women who get pregnant with twins or more? Oftentimes a mother gives birth
to twins, one boy and one girl. What do these tables have to say about
that?! It does not mention twins at all. 

The scholars of the
Standing Committee have issued a fatwa warning against being deceived by
these tables, and forbidding spreading them among people. 

The scholars of the
Standing Committee were asked: A piece of paper is being spread among some
women, on which there is what is called “the Chinese tables” (or tables
based on the Chinese calendar), which specifies the gender of the baby, male
or female, by finding out the mother’s age and the Gregorian month in which
the pregnancy began, according to the attached pictures. 

Can the doctors determine
this? And what is the shar’i ruling in your opinion on these tables and
others like them? 

They replied: 

Knowledge of whether the
foetus is male or female before it has takeb shape is something that no one
knows except Allaah. After it has taken shape, it may be found out by means
of ultrasound, which Allaah has enabled His creation to do. 

As for determining the
gender by means of the tables referred to here, this is a lie, because it is
claiming to have knowledge of the unseen which no one knows except Allaah.
These tables should be destroyed and not circulated among people. End
quote. 

Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez Aal
al-Shaykh, Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan, Shaykh ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Ghadyaan 

Fataawa al-Lajnah
al-Daa’imah, vol. 2 (2/17). 

And Allaah knows best.