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Sources of Islamic Theories of Reproduction: Difference between revisions
Sources of Islamic Theories of Reproduction (view source)
Revision as of 10:20, 31 July 2024
, 31 July→Evidence of influence: Added another motif parallel with humans made from dust, then seminal fluid, from Syriac Christian writers.
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(→A mingled drop: Added in a strong parallel and scholarly references for similarity of the (incorrect) Quranic embryo stages to coincide with Galen's theories.) |
(→Evidence of influence: Added another motif parallel with humans made from dust, then seminal fluid, from Syriac Christian writers.) |
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In both cases, the “place of rest, firmly fixed” (qararin makeenin) obviously refers to the womb, with 77:22 adding that it is for a “period determined” (and certainly does not mean the female ovum, which is only penetrated by a single sperm cell and not the “fluid (held) despicable”). | In both cases, the “place of rest, firmly fixed” (qararin makeenin) obviously refers to the womb, with 77:22 adding that it is for a “period determined” (and certainly does not mean the female ovum, which is only penetrated by a single sperm cell and not the “fluid (held) despicable”). | ||
=== From dust, then seminal fluid === | |||
We are told humans are created from dust, then from a drop of seminal fluid (who's origins are discussed above). | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|22|5}}|O people! If you are in doubt about the resurrection, [consider that] <b>We created you from dust, then from a drop of [seminal] fluid <i>(nuṭfah)</i>,</b> then from a clinging mass, then from a fleshy tissue, partly formed and partly unformed, so that We may manifest [Our power] to you. We lodge in the wombs whatever [fetus] We wish for a specified term, then We bring you forth as infants, then [We rear you] so that you may come of age. [Then] there are some of you who are taken away, and there are some of you who are relegated to the nethermost age, such that he knows nothing after [having possessed] some knowledge. And you see the earth torpid, yet when We send down water upon it, it stirs and swells, and grows every delightful kind [of plant].}}{{Quote|{{Quran|18|37}}|His companion said to him, as he conversed with him: ‘Do you disbelieve in Him <b>who created you from dust, then from a drop of [seminal] fluid <i>(nuṭfah)</i>,</b> then fashioned you as a man?}} | |||
In both cases, the word 'nuṭfah' is used, meaning; little water; a little water remaining in a waterskin; a little water remaining in a bucket; pure water, a little or a lot; the water of the man etc;<ref>[http://arabiclexicon.hawramani.com/search/%D9%86%D8%B7%D9%81%D8%A9 نطفة] - The Arabic Lexicon</ref> semen is called nuṭfah<ref>[https://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000288.pdf نطفة] - Lane’s Lexicon Vol. 8 p.3034</ref> for its small amount seminal fluid. | |||
This motif is found in pre-Islamic writings, and in more contemporary works,<ref>Eich & Doroftei, 2023. [https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.5771/9783987400650-19/teil-i-zur-entwicklung-der-adamsgeschichte-bis-zum-7-jahrhundert?page=1 ''Adam and Embryo. A contribution to the study of the story of Adam in Jewish, Christian and Islamic texts up to the end of the first millennium.''] pp. 94 - 97.</ref> with parallels recorded using a similar Syriac word (nuṭptā). For example, this image is documented in Ephraim the Syrian (d. 373): | |||
{{Quote|Eich & Doroftei, 2023. <i>Adam and Embryo. pp. 95.</i> A contribution to the study of the story of Adam in Jewish, Christian and Islamic texts up to the end of the first millennium.|"He is very foolish and blind; for he is also enclosed together with all - in the hollow hand of the Creator. A single grain of dust, - a single drop of water (nuṭptā), which formed together - became the human form through the mercy of the Creator."}} | |||
And Babai the Great (c.551–628CE), an early church father of the Syriac Church of the East, also known as the Assyrian Church.<ref>Amar, J. P. ''Babai the Great (c.551–628).'' 2011. Wiley. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470670606.wbecc0106</nowiki></ref> | |||
{{Quote|Eich & Doroftei, 2023. <i>Adam and Embryo. pp. 97.</i> A contribution to the study of the story of Adam in Jewish, Christian and Islamic texts up to the end of the first millennium.|"And they do not understand the works of their Maker, which are formed like a drop of water (nuṭptā) and a grain of dust in the hollow of His incorporeal hand."}} | |||
=== The four stages of embryo development === | === The four stages of embryo development === | ||