Is the statement “A human being is the product of seventy percent genetics + thirty per cent environment” true? Are genetic codes effective in unbelief?

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A Brief Description of the Question: 

Is the statement “A human being is the product of seventy percent genetics + thirty per cent environment” true? Are genetic codes effective in unbelief?

The Answer: 

The statement “A human being is the product of seventy percent genetics + thirty per cent environment” is not true because the scientific data we have today are not enough to make a definite judgment.   

According to what experts state, there is a DNA molecule resembling a rope ladder in each chromosome. The DNA molecule consists of thousands of units that are connected to each other like the links of a chain. The hereditary information is hidden in the special arrangement of those units. That arrangement is called “genetic code”. There really exists a code in each arrangement of the units in the DNA molecule showing what protein the cell will produce. The part of the cell that produces chemicals can decode the password and produce the protein necessary for the living thing.

As it can be understood from the explanations above, the genetic code is a mechanism that is designed by the divine power and wisdom and that is related to arranging the biological needs of the living body. Testing is related to the spirit, mind, consciousness and free will, which are spiritual mechanisms.  

“The genetic coding” that the exact sciences have discovered today is a wise reflection of the divine instinct and the instinct of destiny. The testing that Allah has prepared for human beings is related to consciousness and it addresses the mind. Therefore, when man directs those natural motives toward a wrong way through a wrong intervention, his conscious free will can interfere and turn it to the true path.

Therefore, “genetic codes” do not direct man toward good deeds or bad deeds by force, as it is wrongly assumed, because man’s free will can stop that motive. Besides, the duty of the free and conscious will is to function as a brake like that. The realization of an equitable testing depends on that free will. For instance, a man who is hungry cannot say, “I feel hungry; so, I can steal something.”

For an equitable testing, there needs to be two opposite poles – one demanding good deeds, the other demanding bad deeds – in the inner world of man. The mechanism consists of the heart, mind and the lofty feelings that like good deeds and the soul, blind and mean feelings that like good deeds. The realization of those opposite desires depends on the free will of man. Man prefers one choice and does it; then, he is punished or rewarded depending on it.

The views that there exists a genetic coding that suspends man’s free will and directs it toward bad deeds are nothing but speculations; they are the products of an approach that overlooks the divine justice that is necessary for testing. There may be some factors that symbolize goodness and badness but it is not right to, think that they are so effective as to eliminate man’s free will completely.    

It is said that an important part of the genetic codes is inherited. However, the fact that the son of the Prophet Noah preferred unbelief and that Ikrima, the son of Abu Jahl, who was one of the leading figures of unbelievers, chose belief is enough to show that it is a controversial view. The proverb, “A bad child is born out of a good person and a good child is born out of a bad person” shows that the issue of inheritance in testing is exaggerated.

The presence of Moses in the palace of the Pharaoh, who claimed to be a god, and the existence of the Pharaoh’s wife, Asiya, who preferred belief and the fact that many members of the religious families prefer unbelief or debauchery and members of bad families prefer belief and Islam show clearly that the environment alone is not a forcing element in testing. The fact that many non-Muslims chose Islam through their free will by using their minds throughout history indicates clearly that there exists an equitable testing.

“Every child is born with a natural belief in Allah and an inborn inclination toward Islam; then his parents and his environment make him a Jew, a Christian or a fire-worshipper.”

The hadith above points out that one single traffic sign that shows a compulsory direction is not in question. The fact that some children of sinners become righteous people and the some children of righteous people become sinners is an irrefutable fact proving it. 

“Say "The Truth is from your Lord": let him who will, believe, and let him who will, reject (it).”(al-Kahf, 18/29)

In the verse above and in similar verses, the clear decree of Allah that man always has the right to make a preference based on his free will is stated; so, the scientific theories that are always disputable and the words of materialistic scientists and philosophers who always use those theories against the truths of religion have no significance at all.

ALLAH Knows Best.