A Reflection on the Heritability of Human Behavioral Traits: An Interdisciplinary Qur’anic Study

A Reflection on the Heritability of Human Behavioral Traits: An Interdisciplinary Qur’anic Study

Document Type : Original Article

Abstract

The Holy Qur’an, the sacred scripture of Muslims, is the primary source of Islamic teachings and a comprehensive guide for human life. It has consistently shaped worldviews, doctrinal principles, and moral outlooks, addressing fundamental questions that concern humans across multiple domains. Since antiquity, the transmission of traits from one generation to the next has been an important subject in both scientific and religious discourse. In the sciences— especially genetics—research has empirically documented the inheritance of physical characteristics and certain behavioral tendencies via genes. By contrast, the transmission of spiritual traits and religious beliefs is more complex than the inheritance of purely biological attributes. This study investigates the heritability of beliefs understood as traits intimately connected to the human soul and psyche. Although the Qur’an does not explicitly discuss modern genetics, several of its central concepts—particularly those concerning creation and the transmission of characteristics—can be read in ways that resonate with contemporary hereditary theory. Notable Qur’anic passages that offer insight in this regard include Sūrat Nūḥ (71:27), Sūrat Zukhruf (43:28), and Sūrat alBaqarah (2:124); these verses are examined in greater depth in the present study. It may therefore be argued that the Qur’an contains implicit references to the intergenerational transmission of religious disposition, references that could provide a hermeneutical basis for interdisciplinary research by scholars in theology, philosophy, and the empirical sciences.

Keywords

Quran and science

scientific exegesis

heredity

genetics

Subjects