THE IDENTITY IN THE FINGERPRINT


Everyone, including identical twins, has a unique fingerprint. In other words, people's identities are coded at their fingertips. This coding system may also be compared to the barcode system that is used today.

While it is stated in the Qur'an that it is easy for Allah to bring man back to life after death, peoples' fingerprints are particularly emphasized:

Yes, We are able to put together in perfect order the very tips of his fingers. (Qur'an, 75:4)

The emphasis on fingerprints has a very special meaning. This is because shapes and details on everyone's fingerprint are unique to each individual. Every person who is alive or who has ever lived in this world has a set of unique fingerprints. Furthermore, even identical twins having the very same DNA sequence have their own set of fingerprints.105

Fingerprints attain their final shape before birth and remain the same for a lifetime unless a permanent scar appears. That is why fingerprints are accepted as a very important proof of identity, exclusive to their owner. The science of fingerprints has been used as a non-erring identity determination method.

However, what is important is that this feature of fingerprints was only discovered in the late 19th century. Before then, people regarded fingerprints as ordinary curves without any specific importance or meaning. However in the Qur'an, Allah points to the fingertips, which did not attract anyone's attention at that time, and calls our attention to their importance. This importance has only been fully understood in our day.

The validity of the technique to establish identity by means of fingerprints (AFS) has been confirmed by various police organisations over the last 25 years and is a legally approved method. No technology of identity verification in our time gives such effective results as fingerprints. Using fingerprints to establish identity has been used in legal processes for the last 100 years and possesses international acceptance. “What is a Fingerprint?,” (www.ridgesandfurrows.
homestead.com/fingerprint.html.)

In his book Fingerprint Techniques A.A. Moenssens analyses the way that each individual has a unique set of fingerprints:

... no two fingerprints from different digits have ever been found to match exactly. Andre A. Moenssens, “Is Fingerprint Identification a ‘Science’?,” (www.forensic-evidence.com/site/
ID/ID00004_2.html#ID1.)

105. www.ridgesandfurrows.homestead.com/fingerprint.html.