سورة آل عمران

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): هُوَ الَّذِی یُصَوِّرُکُمْ فِی الْأَرْحامِ کَیْفَ یَشاءُ [He it is Who shapes you in the wombs as He likes]; the meaning is being male and female, black and white and red, healthy and sick.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Two drops of semen contend in the womb, and whichever is greater brings a likeness; if the woman's is greater, it brings a resemblance to the maternal uncles, and if the man's is greater, it brings a resemblance to the paternal uncles. He said: "The semen circulates in the womb for forty days; whoever wishes to supplicate to Allah the Mighty and Majestic should do so during these forty days, before the child is created." Then Allah sends the angel of the wombs, and he takes it and raises it up to Allah, and he stands for as long as Allah wills, and says: "O my Allah! Is it male or female?" Allah reveals to him whatever He wills of that, and the angel records it.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The womb has four passages, and from whichever one the semen enters, one child comes; if it enters from two, they are twins; from three, triplets; and from four, quadruplets — and from one passage there is no more than one.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The womb has four chambers; the newborn from the first chamber resembles the father, from the second the mother, from the third the paternal uncles, and from the fourth the maternal uncles.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): When Allah wills to create someone, He gathers the image of his father [and forefathers] back to Adam (peace be upon him), and creates him in the image of one of them; so no one shall say, "He does not resemble me, nor does he resemble any of my forefathers."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): When Allah wills to create a drop of fluid from which He took the covenant in the loins of Adam (peace be upon him) and to place it in the womb, He moves the man to intercourse and inspires the womb: "Open your door so that My creation, My effective decree and My destiny may enter you." The womb opens its door and the drop reaches the womb and revolves in it for forty days; then it becomes a clot ('alaqa) for forty days; then it becomes a lump of flesh (mudgha) for forty days; then it becomes flesh in which intertwined veins run. Then Allah sends two creator angels who fashion in the wombs whatever Allah wills, and they enter the belly of the woman through the mouth of the woman and reach the womb, in which is the ancient spirit that has been transferred through the loins of men and the wombs of women, and they breathe into it the spirit of life and continuance, and they open for it the hearing, the sight, all the limbs and everything in the belly, by the permission of Allah the Exalted. Then He reveals to that angel: "Write upon him My decree, My destiny and My effective command, and stipulate for Me bada' (the possibility of change) in what you write." They say: "O Lord, what shall we write?" Allah the Mighty and Majestic reveals to them: "Raise your heads towards his mother's head." They raise their heads and suddenly a tablet strikes his mother's forehead so that they may look into it and see his form, his lifespan, his covenant, whether he is wretched or blessed, and all his description, He said.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Abdullah ibn Sinan narrated from one of the Shia from Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): A man from the Ansar came with his wife into the presence of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family). He said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! This woman is my cousin and my wife, a pure and chaste woman. She has borne me a child whose face is black, whose nostrils are wide, whose hair is curled, whose nose is flat! In short, a child has been born with all the racial features of an Abyssinian. There is no one like this child in my family or among my paternal or maternal ancestors." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) asked the woman: "What do you say?" [The woman] swore that from the time I became this man's wife, I have not been with anyone else. The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), like one lost in thought, lowered his head and then raised it and opened his eyes to the sky. Then he turned to the husband and said: "Between every human being and Adam there are ninety-nine veins, all of which are active in the making of the child. When a drop of fluid settles in the womb, the veins are set in motion and all ask Allah that a child resembling them be made. This child who is unlike you is from those distant veins which have no precedent in your ancestors or the ancestors of your ancestors. Take the child, he is your son." The woman said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! You have untied the knot [of my affair] and freed me from grief."