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Embryology in the Quran: Difference between revisions
embryo does not exchange blood with its mother
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[[File:Human Embryo.jpg|thumb|Photo of Human Embryo (7 weeks)]] | [[File:Human Embryo.jpg|thumb|Photo of Human Embryo (7 weeks)]] | ||
The concept of '''Embryology in the Quran''' claims that a scientifically accurate account of embryological development is available in the [[Qur'an|Quran]]. [[Apologists]], Sheikhs, and the larger Muslim community regard the mention of embryological stages in the Quran to be a [[Islam and Science|scientific miracle]] of Islam and evidence of claims to its divine origin. However, critics claim the [[Ayat|verses]] to be scientifically inaccurate and influenced by Greek theories which had been available at the time. | The concept of '''Embryology in the Quran''' claims that a scientifically accurate account of embryological development is available in the [[Qur'an|Quran]]. [[Apologists]], Sheikhs, and the larger Muslim community regard the mention of embryological stages in the Quran to be a [[Islam and Science|scientific miracle]] of Islam and evidence of claims to its divine origin. However, critics claim the [[Ayat|verses]] to be scientifically inaccurate and influenced by Greek theories which had been available at the time. | ||
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====Leech==== | ====Leech==== | ||
Many apologists claim that 'alaqah in the Quran means a leech (in a metaphorical sense), and that this is similar to an embryo. However, unlike a leech, which simply sucks blood from its host, the embryo circulates and exchanges | Many apologists claim that 'alaqah in the Quran means a leech (in a metaphorical sense), and that this is similar to an embryo. However, unlike a leech, which simply sucks blood from its host, the embryo circulates and exchanges gases, nutrients and waste products with its mother. Most significantly, the placental membrane or barrier ensures that the embryo does not take from or exchange blood with its mother, who may have a different blood type.<ref>Barry Mitchell & Ram Sharma 2009. Embryology: An Illustrated Colour Text. Second Edition. Churchill Livingstone ElSevier. Page 10-12</ref> Furthermore, a leech attaches itself directly to the surface of its host. In contrast, the [[w:Blastocyst|blastocyst]] stage embryo implants into the uterine wall ([[w:Endometrium|endometrium]]) by means of an outer cell layer surrounding it, called the [[w:Syncytiotrophoblast|syncytiotrophoblast]]. It is the syncytiotrophoblast which invades the endometrium, burying the entire embryo within the wall (unlike a leech), establishes a circulatory connection, and will later form the outer layer of the [[w:Placenta#Development|placenta]]. | ||
A leech has many characteristics such as size, behaviour, shape, color, appearance. It makes no sense for the author to have used 'alaqah in a metaphorical sense when his listeners could not be expected to know in what respect the analogy applies. It is no more than a Texan Sharpshooter fallacy<ref>"The Texas sharpshooter fallacy is an informal fallacy in which pieces of information that have no relationship to one another are called out for their similarities, and that similarity is used for claiming the existence of a pattern. This fallacy is the philosophical/rhetorical application of the multiple comparisons problem (in statistics) and apophenia (in cognitive psychology). It is related to the clustering illusion, which refers to the tendency in human cognition to interpret patterns where none actually exist. The name comes from a joke about a Texan who fires some shots at the side of a barn, then paints a target centered on the biggest cluster of hits and claims to be a sharpshooter."<br>{{cite web|url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_sharpshooter_fallacy|title= Texas sharpshooter fallacy|publisher= Wikipedia|author= |date= accessed August 13, 2013|archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FTexas_sharpshooter_fallacy&date=2013-08-13|deadurl=no}}</ref>, typical of Islamic miracle claims, to choose one characteristic - shape - which to a very and arbitrarily limited degree has similarity with that of an embryo (in their eyes) and to then draw any conclusions. This is particularly so given that the early embryo passes through a wide range of shapes and that both a leech and human embryo are biological organisms. Moreover, when depicting the embryo such apologetics have to conveniently ignore the embryo's yolk sac, which gradually becomes incorporated into its developing gut. | A leech has many characteristics such as size, behaviour, shape, color, appearance. It makes no sense for the author to have used 'alaqah in a metaphorical sense when his listeners could not be expected to know in what respect the analogy applies. It is no more than a Texan Sharpshooter fallacy<ref>"The Texas sharpshooter fallacy is an informal fallacy in which pieces of information that have no relationship to one another are called out for their similarities, and that similarity is used for claiming the existence of a pattern. This fallacy is the philosophical/rhetorical application of the multiple comparisons problem (in statistics) and apophenia (in cognitive psychology). It is related to the clustering illusion, which refers to the tendency in human cognition to interpret patterns where none actually exist. The name comes from a joke about a Texan who fires some shots at the side of a barn, then paints a target centered on the biggest cluster of hits and claims to be a sharpshooter."<br>{{cite web|url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_sharpshooter_fallacy|title= Texas sharpshooter fallacy|publisher= Wikipedia|author= |date= accessed August 13, 2013|archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FTexas_sharpshooter_fallacy&date=2013-08-13|deadurl=no}}</ref>, typical of Islamic miracle claims, to choose one characteristic - shape - which to a very and arbitrarily limited degree has similarity with that of an embryo (in their eyes) and to then draw any conclusions. This is particularly so given that the early embryo passes through a wide range of shapes and that both a leech and human embryo are biological organisms. Moreover, when depicting the embryo such apologetics have to conveniently ignore the embryo's yolk sac, which gradually becomes incorporated into its developing gut. | ||