AL-MAHANI, 2 February 2007 — It’s a dilemma that King Solomon could appreciate. A Shariah court in this southern Saudi city is currently faced with two men who are claiming paternity of an 11-year-old boy. The problem goes back to a doctor who, 11 years ago delivered a boy and a girl to two women at about the same time. The baby girl died for some undisclosed reason. The doctor informed the parents, but was so taken aback by the father’s outrage that he left the room and returned later to say, in fact, he was mistaken and that their child didn’t die. As the allegations go: The doctor had switched the children and informed the other couple that their baby girl had died, giving the first couple the boy that didn’t belong to them. However, according to the report and the allegations made by the couple who was told their girl died in childbirth, the father had dreams that in fact he had a son and the son was alive and living with another family. Based on this dream, the couple decided to sue the hospital. Fortunately, thanks to modern technology, King Solomon’s offer to cut the child in half isn’t necessary: A little DNA test should be able to clear up this issue once and for all.