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Embryology in the Quran: Difference between revisions
'alaqah section
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Some other common arguments used by proponents of QEP concerning the nutfah stage are debunked in the 2nd half of the article [[Greek and Jewish Ideas about Reproduction in the Quran and Hadith|Greek and Jewish Ideas about Reproduction in the Quran and Hadith]]. | Some other common arguments used by proponents of QEP concerning the nutfah stage are debunked in the 2nd half of the article [[Greek and Jewish Ideas about Reproduction in the Quran and Hadith|Greek and Jewish Ideas about Reproduction in the Quran and Hadith]]. | ||
It is particularly interesting that verses 77:20-22 strongly imply that it is semen that is stored in the womb and developed into the embryo, as the Jews and Greeks believed. | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|77|20-22}}|'''Sahih International:'''Did We not create you from a liquid disdained? And We placed it in a firm lodging For a known extent.}} | |||
Verses 20-21 closely parallel 23:14, which too refers to placing (jaAAalnahu) in a safe place (qararin makeen), and uses the word nutfah instead of maa' maheenin (liquid disdained). | |||
===The 'alaqah stage=== | |||
Those who claim that 'alaqah is used in the sense of a clinging thing in the Qur'an should consider that the embryo does not cease to be attached to the uterine wall when the musculo-skeletal system begins to develop around the 5th week. Yet the Qur'anic stages appear to describe a transition between a succession of states. | |||
Apologists who are fond of leech metaphors should consider that unlike a leech, which simply sucks blood from its host, the embryo circulates and exchanges blood and waste products with its mother.<ref>Barry Mitchell & Ram Sharma 2009. Embryology: An Illustrated Colour Text. Second Edition. Chruchill Livingstone ElSevier. Page 10-11</ref> A leech has many characteristics such as size, behaviour, shape, color, appearance. Why would the author use 'alaqah intending such a metaphorical meaning when his listeners could not be expected to know in what respect the analogy applies? It is a typical [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_sharpshooter_fallacy Texan Sharpshooter fallacy] of apologists to choose one characteristic, shape, to an arbitrarily very limited degree find a similarity with an embryo, and draw any conclusions, particularly as the early embryo passes through a wide range of shapes and is itself a biological organism. Moreover, such apologetics have to conveniently ignore the embryo's yolk sac when depicting the embryo. | |||
Given that one of the meanings of 'alaqah is congealed blood, which was also the understanding given in numerous tafsirs, it is most unwise to use a word with such a biological meaning to describe a biological process if that meaning was not the intention. A perfect author would avoid arousing any such suspicion of inaccurate biology with his choice of words. | |||
===The Dust Stage=== | ===The Dust Stage=== | ||