Importance of Evidence of DNA in Perspective of Islamic Jurisprudence

DNA or Genetic fingerprinting technology is the topic of the day. It has revolutionized the forensic science. Islamic Jurisprudence has its own procedure and priorities of evidences, which mainly depend upon eyewitness, personal evidence and testimony. It was introduced in 1984. It is used in the identification of parentage, forensic sciences, treatment and diagnosis of diseases. The sequence of base pairs varies from person to person and the relativity of persons is identified by identifying the matching of base pairs. The Contemporary International Institutions of Collective Ijtih฀d have launched heavy discussions on this new evidence and reviewed relevant serious law making efforts based on it, which results in very valuable Fat฀w฀ and resolutions, regarding the use of DNA techniques, as evidence in criminal cases and its limitations and scope in Islamic Jurisprudence. This article discusses and concludes that the genetic fingerprinting technique should be used for the attestation of the cases related to it, along with the traditional way to acquire evidences, even though, it does not have self-sustaining priority, but depends upon other evidences for making a judicial verdict. Like other forensic evidences, it has also errors and intervening factors that limit its accuracy. Therefore, the decisions of crimes liable to ฀ud฀d, Qi฀฀฀ and Diyyat should not depend only upon DNA fingerprinting. Thus, we can say that in the absence of stipulated evidences, rebuking punishment may be sentenced on the basis the evidence of DNA.

Effect of Pelvic Floor Muscle Training Among Pregnant Black African Population on the Risk of Postpartum Urinary Incontinence, a Single Blind Randomized Control Trial

Trial registration: The study was registered at the Pan African Clinical Trial Registry and a unique identification number issued PACTR201407000850309. Background: Pelvic Floor Muscle Training (PFMT) in the antenatal period has been found to be an effective primary prevention intervention in the Caucasian population in reducing the risk of postpartum Urinary incontinence. Objective: This study was primarily designed to determine the effect of PFMT introduced in the second trimester amongst pregnant black African population on the risk of six weeks postpartum Urinary Incontinence. Secondary objectives included investigating the risk of postpartum Urinary Incontinence, the effect of mode of delivery on the risk of six weeks postpartum Urinary Incontinence and determining contributory factors in this population on the risk of postpartum Urinary Incontinence. Study design: The study was a single blind Randomized Control Trial. Intervention: PFMT was conducted by a Physiotherapist and a Continence Nurse from recruitment to 37 completed weeks of gestation, with the control group receiving standard Antenatal care. Assessment of urinary incontinence status: Data collection was done primarily by administering a validated questionnaire (ICIQ-UI Short Form) at recruitment in the Antenatal clinic and in the postpartum period at the six week postnatal visit. Main findings: Intention to treat analysis was undertaken using the SPSS Statistics 17.0 software package. The primary outcome of the study was an estimate of the risk of 6 week postpartum Urinary Incontinence as a proportion for the treatment and control groups. The risk in the treatment group was found to be 6% while in the control group was 36%. The Risk Ratio was found to be 0.17 (95% Confidence Interval; 0.04, 0.69) and the Relative Risk Reduction was found to be 83%. Comparison of proportions was done using the Chi-square test to compare the two groups for any statistically significant difference. Χ2 (1) = 9.07, P= 0.003 which was considered statistically significant. The null hypothesis was rejected. There was a statistically and clinically significant difference in the risk of postpartum Urinary Incontinence between PFM trained pregnant black African population and those given standard Antenatal Care.