The Holy Quran on Human Embryonic Formation
In the Holy Quran, God speaks in regards to the stages of man’s embryonic development:“We created man from an extract of clay. Then We made him as a drop in a place of settlement, firmly fixed. Then We made the drop into an alaqah (leech, suspended thing, and blood clot), then We made the alaqah into a mudghah (chewed substance)…” (Quran 23:12-14)
Practically, the Arabic word alaqah has three definitions: (1) leech, (2) suspended thing, and (3) blood clot.
In contrasting a leech to an embryo within the alaqah stage, we find likeness between the two as we can see in figure 1. Also, the embryo during this period obtains nourishment from the blood of the mother, much like the leech, which feeds on the blood of others.
Figure 1: images illustrating the similarities in features between a leech and a human embryo during the alaqah stage. (Leech drawing from human being Development as Described in the Quran and Sunnah, Moore as well as others, p. 37, altered from Integrated Principles of Zoology, Hickman yet others. Embryo drawing through the Developing Human, Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 73.)
The 2nd meaning of the term alaqah is “suspended thing.” This is that which we can see in figures 2 and 3, the suspension system of the embryo, during the alaqah stage, in the womb of the mother.
Figure 2: you will notice in this diagram the suspension of an embryo throughout the alaqah stage in the womb (uterus) of the mother. (The Developing Human, Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 66.)
Figure 3: In this photomicrograph, you will see the suspension of an embryo (marked B) while in the alaqah stage (about 15 days old) in the womb of mother. The actual sized the embryo is about 0.6 mm. (The Developing Human, Moore, 3rd ed., p. 66, from Histology, Leeson and Leeson.)
The 3rd concept of the word alaqah is “blood clot.” we discover that the external visual appeal of the embryo and its sacs during the alaqah stage is comparable to that of a blood clot. This is because of the presence of fairly large amounts of blood contained in the embryo during this stage[3] (see figure 4). Also with this stage, the blood in the embryo doesn't circulate until the termination of the third week. Thus, the embryo at this stage is just like a clot of blood.
Figure 4: Diagram for the primitive cardiovascular system in an embryo throughout the alaqah stage. The outside appearance of the embryo and its sacs is comparable to that of a blood clot, due to the existence of relatively large levels of blood present in the embryo. (The Developing Human, Moore, 5th ed., p. 65.)
So three of the meanings of the word alaqah correspond precisely to the explanations of the embryo during the alaqah stage.
The next phase mentioned in the verse is a mudghah stage. The Arabic term mudghah means “chewed substance.” If a person were to take some gum and chew it in his or her mouth then compare it with an embryo at the mudghah stage, we might conclude that the embryo in the mudghah stage acquires the perception of a chewed substance. Simply because of the somites at the rear of the embryo that “somewhat resemble teethmarks in a chewed substance.”(see figures 5 and 6).
Figure 5: image of an embryo at the mudghah level (28 days old). The embryo at this point acquires the look of a chewed substance, considering that the somites at the rear of the embryo somewhat resemble teeth marks in a chewed material. The specific size of the embryo is 4 mm. (The Developing Human, Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 82, from Professor Hideo Nishimura, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.)
Figure 6: when you compare the appearance of an embryo at the mudghah stage with some gum that has-been chewed, we find similarity amongst the two.
A) Drawing of an embryo during the mudghah stage. We become aware of here the somites at the rear of the embryo that seem like teeth mark. (The Developing Human, Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 79.)
B) image of a piece of gum that's been chewed.
How could Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, have possibly identified all of this 1400 years ago, when experts have only recently discovered this using sophisticated equipment and powerful microscopes that did not exist at that moment? Hamm and Leeuwenhoek had been the first scientists to look at human sperm cells (spermatozoa) utilizing an improved microscope in 1677 (more than 1000 years after Muhammad). They wrongly thought that the sperm cell included a miniature preformed human being that grew with regards to got deposited in the female genital tract.
Prof Emeritus Keith L. Moore is among the world’s most noticeable scientists in the fields of physiology and embryology and is the writer of the book entitled The Developing Human, that has been translated into eight languages. This book is really a scientific reference work and was selected by a special committee in the usa as the best book authored by an individual. Dr. Keith Moore is Professor Emeritus of Anatomy and Cell Biology at University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. There, he was Associate academic administrator of Basic Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine as well as 8 years was the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy. In 1984, he was given the most distinguished award introduced in the field of anatomy in Canada, the J.C.B. Grant Award through the Canadian Association of Anatomists. He's got directed many international associations, for instance the Canadian and American Association of Anatomists and also the Council of the Union of Biological Sciences.
Back in the early 1980s, during the Seventh Medical meeting in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Professor Moore said: “It's been a great pleasure for me to help clarify statements in the Quran about human development. It is obvious to me that these statements must-have come to Muhammad from God, simply because almost all of this knowledge wasn't discovered until many centuries later. This proves to me that Muhammad must-have been a messenger of God.”
Therefore, Professor Moore was asked the following question: “Does this mean which you believe that the Quran is the word of God?” He answered: “I find no trouble in accepting this.”
During one seminar, Professor Moore stated: “....Because the staging of human embryos is complex, owing to the continuous process of change during development, it is suggested that a new system of category could be developed using the terms mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah (what Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, said, did, or approved of). The proposed system is simple, comprehensive, and conforms with present embryological knowledge. The intensive studies of the Quran and hadeeth (reliably transmitted reports by the Prophet Muhammad’s companions of what he said, did, or approved of) in the last four years have revealed a system for classifying human embryos that is amazing since it was recorded in the seventh century A.D. Although Aristotle, the founder of the science of embryology, realized that chick embryos developed in stages from his studies of hen’s eggs in the fourth century B.C., he did not give any details about these stages. As far as it is known from the history of embryology, little was known about the staging and classification of human embryos until the twentieth century. For this reason, the descriptions of the human embryo in the Quran cannot be based on scientific knowledge in the seventh century. The only reasonable conclusion is: these descriptions were revealed to Muhammad from God. He could not have known such details because he was an illiterate man with absolutely no scientific training."
EmoticonEmoticon