ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Biography of Imam `alĪ Ibn AbĪ-tĀlib Family and Pedigree It is the law of nature that the traits of the ancestors are transferred to the progeny. Every individual is a reflection and inheritor of the qualities of his forbears. Although uninitiated person may not be able to fathom the subtle transfer of traits from the previous generations to the latter, only a trained physiognomist can do it.

By looking at a person and hearing him, they can make an educated guess as to the place of his residence and the tribe he belongs to. Certain tribes in Arabia excelled in their incredible capability of determining the origin of a person by just a cursory look at him. They would say who is the son of which person and belongs to which family not having met him anytime in the past!

The author of ‘al-Mustatraf’ writes about the physiognomic skills of the tribes of Banū-Lahab and Banū-Mudlaj that if there was any doubt about the parentage of a child, it would be presented before any member of these tribes. By looking at the child and the men in the group, he would point out the person who had fathered the baby!

Once a trader’s son passed through the abode of one of these tribes astride a camel… One person from the tribe looked at the boy and his slave walking in front of the camel and expressed surprise over the resemblance between the two of them. When the boy heard this, doubts entered his mind. When he returned home, he talked to his mother and learned that his natural father was the slave.

Once Zayd and his son Usamah were taking rest lying in the al-Masjid al-Nabawi (the Holy Prophet’s Mosque) with their faces covered. Majzaz ibn A`war, a person from the tribe of Mudlaj saw their exposed feet and correctly determined as to which were the feet of the father and those that belonged to the son. The person, though, had never met and known either Zayd or Usamah. This natural instinct is not there only in some humans, but it is also evidenced in several fauna and flora.

One Australian Pastor, Mendel, conducted trials on animals and plants. He crossed the seeds of long and short growing varieties of peas. The crop that resulted was all of long grown peas. He again sowed the seeds from this crop and the result was that seventy-five percent were long growing and the rest were short growing. Similarly, Mendel made trials by crossing white rooster having black spots with a black hen.