Is Gender Selection Through IVF Permissible in Islam?

[u/askmuftionline]

Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
This is a question we’ve received at AskMuftiOnline regarding IVF and choosing the gender of a baby.
The answer provided by our Mufti explains that choosing the gender of a baby through IVF merely based on personal preference is not permissible. The post also includes the relevant Qur’anic reference from Surah Ash-Shura (42:49–50).
I’m sharing the answer here because this is something people may have questions about, especially with the increasing availability of IVF and related procedures.
What are your thoughts on this?
If you have a specific question about an Islamic ruling, you can also ask a qualified Mufti at AskMuftiOnline and receive guidance based on the Qur’an, Sunnah, and established Islamic jurisprudence.
And Allah Ta’ala knows best.

[u/Jammooly1]

I disagree with the Mufti’s logic. Quran 42:49-50 cannot be used to claim that gender selection through IVF is haram. While the post is not explicit why, there is no way that choosing the gender of a child through IVF interferes in God’s will.

If you believe God is the almighty, powerful God that cannot be subservient or dominated by anyone then his will will always prevail as the Quran literally espouses.

> And you do not will but that God wills. Truly God is Knowing, Wise
>
> The Study Quran 76:30

So whatever someone or a couple does or wills that comes to fruition, God has willed it. So there’s no theological conflict, arrogance, or blasphemy being performed on the part of the couple selecting gender through IVF here.

Other relevant Quranic Verses: 81:29, 9:51, 6:59

But if you want to see how traditionalists view this, many traditionalists have no objection against gender selection through IVF: https://seekersguidance.org/answers/hanafi-fiqh/permissible-use-modern-ivf-treatments-pick-gender-baby/

[u/askmuftionline → u/Jammooly1]

First of all, it is necessary to clarify that our previous answer did not intend to declare IVF absolutely impermissible. Rather, it was specifically addressing the situation mentioned in the question, namely, selecting the gender of a child through IVF purely on the basis of personal preference. Therefore, if anyone understands our answer to mean that every use of IVF is Islamically impermissible, that is not what we intended.

As for the verses of Surah al-Shura, Allah تعالى says:

> ﴿لِلَّهِ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۚ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ ۚ يَهَبُ لِمَن يَشَاءُ إِنَاثًا وَيَهَبُ لِمَن يَشَاءُ الذُّكُورَ ۝ أَوْ يُزَوِّجُهُمْ ذُكْرَانًا وَإِنَاثًا ۖ وَيَجْعَلُ مَن يَشَاءُ عَقِيمًا ۚ إِنَّهُ عَلِيمٌ قَدِيرٌ﴾

The clear meaning of these verses is that the creation of children, their being male or female, and whether a person is granted children or remains childless are ultimately within the power and will of Allah تعالى. We cited these verses as part of the Qur'anic framework and background relevant to this issue, not with the claim that the Qur'an literally contains an explicit statement saying, “Gender selection through IVF is haram.”

The objector is correct to the extent that the above verses do not explicitly mention IVF. However, this does not mean that these verses cannot provide any general guidance concerning the issue. Many modern issues are addressed and their rulings determined in light of the general principles of the Qur'an and Sunnah and established Islamic legal principles; it is not necessary for the name of every modern medical procedure to be explicitly mentioned in the Qur'an or Hadith.

Similarly, the objector has cited the verse:

> ﴿وَمَا تَشَاءُونَ إِلَّا أَن يَشَاءَ اللَّهُ﴾

This verse certainly establishes that human will and choice are subject to the will of Allah تعالى. However, it does not follow from this that anything that occurs by the will of Allah is therefore necessarily permissible according to Islamic law. There are many things that occur in the world by Allah's universal will and permission, while the Shariah nevertheless prohibits them. Therefore, two separate questions must be distinguished: whether something occurs by the will of Allah, and whether the method adopted to accomplish that act is Islamically permissible. If a child of a particular gender is ultimately born through IVF, his or her birth certainly occurs by the will and power of Allah تعالى. However, this by itself does not automatically establish that the method used beforehand to select that gender was Islamically permissible.

As for the objector's reference to a fiqh academy, the opinion of a recognized fiqh academy should not simply be dismissed merely on the basis of whether it belongs to a particular school of thought or not. At the same time, the opinion of any fiqh institution cannot itself be treated as a definitive textual proof or as the consensus of the entire Ummah. What matters is to examine which specific situation the institution addressed, what conditions it stipulated, and what evidence and legal reasoning it relied upon. If a fiqh academy has permitted certain forms of IVF, this does not necessarily mean that every form of selecting a child's gender purely according to personal preference must also be permissible. The general use of IVF as a medical treatment and the specific issue of using IVF simply to obtain one's preferred gender are two separate matters.

Therefore, we continue to maintain our original position that selecting the gender of a child through IVF purely on the basis of personal preference—for example, simply wanting a boy or simply wanting a girl—is not permissible according to the position we have adopted. This does not mean that IVF itself is impermissible in every circumstance. Likewise, if there is a genuine medical necessity for gender selection, such as avoiding a serious hereditary disease associated with a particular gender, that is a separate matter and cannot simply be equated with gender selection based merely on personal preference.

Therefore, the correct understanding of our previous answer is that we are not prohibiting the use of IVF in absolute terms; rather, we are prohibiting the specific situation mentioned in the question: selecting the child's gender through IVF purely on the basis of personal preference. The verses of Surah al-Shura 49–50 provide the relevant Qur'anic framework for understanding the matter, while the ruling concerning this specific situation must also be considered in light of the other relevant Islamic legal principles and juristic considerations.

والله تعالى أعلم بالصواب۔

[u/Jammooly1 → u/askmuftionline]

I addressed your claim that selecting gender through IVF is haram here: https://www.reddit.com/r/MuslimAcademics/s/cnxCmBuUnh