"Do they seek for other than the Religion of Allah.-while all creatures in the heavens and on earth have, willing or unwilling, bowed to His Will (Accepted Islam), and to Him shall they all be brought back."
Friday, January 29, 2010
The Scientific Miracles of the Holy Quran : The Quran on Human Embryonic Development
[Description: The miracle of embryonic
development is mentioned in the Quran in such minute detail, much of
which was unknown to scientists until only recently. It mentions the
first stages of life after conception, the second stage of life after
conception, and witnesses of scientists about these scientific facts of
the Quran.]
In the Holy Quran, God speaks about 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 alaqahmudghah (chewed substance)…” (Quran
23:12-14) into a
Literally, the Arabic word alaqah has three
meanings: (1) leech, (2) suspended thing, and (3) blood clot.
In comparing a leech to an embryo in the alaqah
stage, we find similarity between the two[1] as we can see in figure
1. Also, the embryo at this stage obtains nourishment from the blood of
the mother, similar to the leech, which feeds on the blood of others.[2]
Figure 1: Drawings illustrating the similarities in
appearance between a leech and a human embryo at the alaqah stage.
(Leech drawing from Human Development as Described in the Quran and Sunnah,
Moore and others, p. 37, modified from Integrated Principles of Zoology,
Hickman and others. Embryo drawing from The Developing Human, Moore and
Persaud, 5th ed., p. 73.)
The second meaning of the word alaqah is “suspended
thing.” This is what we can see in figures 2 and 3, the suspension of the
embryo, during the alaqah stage, in the womb of the mother.
Figure 2: We can see in this diagram the suspension of an
embryo during 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, we can see the
suspension of an embryo (marked B) during the alaqah stage (about 15
days old) in the womb of the mother. The actual size of the embryo is
about 0.6 mm. (The Developing Human, Moore, 3rd ed., p. 66, from Histology,
Leeson and Leeson.)
The third meaning of the word alaqah is “blood
clot.” We find that the external appearance of the embryo and its sacs
during the alaqah stage is similar to that of a blood clot. This
is due to the presence of relatively large amounts of blood present in the
embryo during this stage[3] (see figure 4). Also
during this stage, the blood in the embryo does not circulate until the end of
the third week.[4] Thus, the embryo at this stage
is like a clot of blood.
Figure 4: Diagram of the primitive cardiovascular system in
an embryo during the alaqah stage. The external appearance of the
embryo and its sacs is similar to that of a blood clot, due to the presence of
relatively large amounts of blood present in the embryo. (The Developing Human,
Moore, 5th ed., p. 65.)
So the three meanings of the word alaqah correspond
accurately to the descriptions of the embryo at the alaqah stage.
The next stage mentioned in the verse is the mudghah
stage. The Arabic word mudghah means “chewed substance.” If one
were to take a piece of gum and chew it in his or her mouth and then compare it
with an embryo at the mudghah stage, we would conclude that the embryo at the
mudghah stage acquires the appearance of a chewed substance. This is
because of the somites at the back of the embryo that “somewhat resemble teethmarks
in a chewed substance.”[5] (see figures 5 and 6).
Figure 5: Photograph of an embryo at the mudghah stage (28
days old). The embryo at this stage acquires the appearance of a chewed
substance, because the somites at the back of the embryo somewhat resemble
teeth marks in a chewed substance. The actual 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 comparing the appearance of an embryo at the
mudghah stage with a piece of gum that has been chewed, we find similarity
between the two.
A)
Drawing of an embryo at the mudghah stage. We can see here the somites at
the back of the embryo that look like teeth marks. (The Developing Human, Moore
and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 79.)
B) Photograph of
a piece of gum that has been chewed.
How could Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be
upon him, have possibly known all this 1400 years ago, when scientists have
only recently discovered this using advanced equipment and powerful microscopes
which did not exist at that time? Hamm
and Leeuwenhoek were the first scientists to observe human sperm cells
(spermatozoa) using an improved microscope in 1677 (more than 1000 years after
Muhammad). They mistakenly thought that the sperm cell contained a
miniature preformed human being that grew when it was deposited in the female
genital tract.[6]
Professor Emeritus Keith L. Moore[7] is one of the world’s most
prominent scientists in the fields of anatomy and embryology and is the author
of the book entitled The Developing Human, which has been translated into eight
languages. This book is a scientific reference work and was chosen by a
special committee in the United States
as the best book authored by one person. Dr. Keith Moore is Professor
Emeritus of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University
of Toronto, Toronto,
Canada. There, he
was Associate Dean of Basic Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine and for 8 years
was the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy. In 1984, he received the
most distinguished award presented in the field of anatomy in Canada,
the J.C.B. Grant Award from the Canadian Association of Anatomists. He
has directed many international associations, such as the Canadian and American
Association of Anatomists and the Council of the Union of Biological Sciences.
In 1981, during the Seventh Medical Conference in Dammam,
Saudi Arabia, Professor
Moore said: “It has been a great pleasure for me to help clarify statements in
the Quran about human development. It is clear to me that these
statements must have come to Muhammad from God, because almost all of this
knowledge was not discovered until many centuries later. This proves to
me that Muhammad must have been a messenger of God.”[8]
Consequently, Professor Moore was asked the following
question: “Does this mean that you believe that the Quran is the word of
God?” He replied: “I find no difficulty in accepting this.”[9]
During one conference, Professor Moore stated: “....Because
the staging of human embryos is complex, owing to the continuous process of
change during development, it is proposed that a new system of classification
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.”[10]
Footnotes:
[1]The Developing
Human, Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 8.
[2]Human Development
as Described in the Quran and Sunnah, Moore and others, p. 36.
[3]Human Development
as Described in the Quran and Sunnah, Moore and others, pp. 37-38.
[4]The Developing
Human, Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 65.
[5]The Developing
Human, Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 8.
[6]The Developing
Human, Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 9.
[7]Note: The occupations
of all the scientists mentioned in this web site were last updated in 1997.
[8]The reference for
this saying is This is the Truth (videotape). For a copy of this
videotape, please visit www.islam-guide.com/truth.htm
