With the advancement of modern medicine and technology, it has become possible to determine the gender of an unborn child. What is meant here by determining gender is that the parents deliberately choose whether the child will be male or female.
A person’s desire to have a male or a female child—that is, an inclination of the heart toward one or the other—is a natural and innate tendency. However, intervening in this process signifies a lack of contentment with Allah’s will and decree and constitutes interference with divine determination. Such intervention is therefore not permissible.
Such measures may only be deemed permissible in cases of necessity. For example, if the parents carry a serious hereditary illness that affects only one gender, it is permissible in such a situation to make use of medical means to determine the gender of the child. This is because, in this case, the intervention assumes the character of medical treatment. Nonetheless, whether such a necessity or need truly exists must be carefully assessed, and expert medical opinions should be obtained.