Embryology in the Quran: Difference between revisions

[[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]]. The Quran is considered by believers, to be [[Islam|Islam's]] holy book and the verbatim word of [[Allah]] (God).<ref>Lambert, Gray (2013). ''The Leaders Are Coming!''. WestBow Press. p. 287. <nowiki>ISBN 9781449760137</nowiki>.</ref><ref>Roy H. Williams; Michael R. Drew (2012). ''Pendulum: How Past Generations Shape Our Present and Predict Our Future''. Vanguard Press. p. 143. <nowiki>ISBN 9781593157067</nowiki>.</ref> [[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 divinity. However, critics claim the [[Ayat|verses]] to be plagiarized and flawed summaries from Greek scientists which had been available at the time.

The interpretations of these verses began in earnest when books were published by non-Muslim medical experts [[Dr.]] [[Dr. Keith Moore and the Islamic Additions|Keith Moore]] (alongside his co-author Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, a [[Wahhabism|Wahhabi]] cleric) and Dr. [[Bucailleism|Maurice Bucaille]].<ref name=":0">A Scientist's Interpretation of References to Embryology in the Qur'an

'''Keith L. Moore, Ph.D., F.I.A.C.''' </ref> The article titled, "A Scientist's Interpretation of References to Embryology in the Quran" does not claim to verify the scientific accuracy or significance of the Quranic claims. Instead it aims to be a comparative analysis to modern medicine.<ref name=":0" /> However, some critics believe Moore was only paying lip service to his hosts and investors, as he worked with the Embryology Committee of King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah.<ref>Keith L. Moore and Abdul-Majeed A. Zindani, The Developing Human with Islamic Additions, 3rd ed. (Philadelphia: Saunders with Dar al-Qiblah for Islamic Literature, Jeddah, 1983, 1982). page viii insert c.</ref> It is important to also note that Moore's article also cites the similarities to the work of Greek scientist Galen, who wrote extensively on embryology roughly 500 years before Islam.<ref name=":0" /> The praise in Moore's article of Islamic claims have been repeated in talks by Dr. [[Zakir Naik]], [[Harun Yahya]], and other [[apologists]]. Critics, like Dr. P.Z. Myers, believe the Quranic verses that mention embryology are incomparable and unacceptable to scientific standards.<ref>[https://pandasthumb.org/archives/2011/11/islamic-embryol.html Islamic embryology: overblown balderdash]

Dr. P.Z. Myers</ref>

Many have written about the remarkable similarities between Quranic embryology and that taught by Galen. He was a highly influential Greek physician (b. 130 CE), whose works were studied in Syria and Egypt during Muhammad's time<ref>Marshall Clagett, “Greek Science in Antiquity”, pp.180-181, New York: Abelard-Schuman, 1955; Dover, 2001</ref>. Some of the most obvious links with Galen (and also with the Talmud) are in statements about the nutfah stage of embryology in the Quran, and even more so in the hadith. See the article [[Greek and Jewish Ideas about Reproduction in the Quran and Hadith|Greek and Jewish Ideas about Reproduction in the Quran and Hadith]] for the compelling evidence. Striking similarities exist between the other Quranic embryo stages and Galen too. However, while interesting and very probable, these influences cannot be proven for the Quran, and it is in any case unnecessary when exposing the weaknesses in the Quranic descriptions. Thus this article will concentrate solely on showing that Quranic embryology is incorrect, and that Islamic websites and public figures make false, illogical or unproven assertions in its defence.

==Terms used in Quran==

#Alaqah - leech and certain creatures that cling and suck blood, or blood, thick blood or clotted blood<ref name="LLalaqah">عَلَقَةً alaqah - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume5/00000419.pdf Lane's Lexicon] Volume 5, page 2134</ref>

#'Itham - bones, especially of the limbs<ref name="LLitham">عِظَٰمًا 'itham - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume5/00000372.pdf Lane's Lexicon] Volume 5, page 2087</ref>

#Lahm - flesh<ref name="LLlahm">لَحْمًا lahm - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000262.pdf Lane's Lexicon] Suppliment, page 3008 and [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000263.pdf page 3009]</ref>

[[File:Empirical Cycle.svg.png|thumb|250x250px|Empirical cycle - A.D. de Groot]]

A number of verses collectively demonstrate a belief that the earliest, nutfah stage of development is made of semen, perhaps mixed with a female fluid, which is placed in the womb for a known term, and where it undergoes various stages of development (as also taught by Galen and in the Jewish Talmud). See [[Greek and Jewish Ideas about Reproduction in the Quran and Hadith|this article]] for the most comprehensive explanation and evidence. Futhermore, there is no sign that the author of the Quran was aware of the female egg (ovum).

The embryo is then congealed blood. All the classical tafsirs (commentaries) understood the meaning of 'alaqah to be blood or congealed blood, and clotted blood is a definition of the word in classical Arabic dictionaries. Regardless of alternative meanings for this arabic word, it would be very foolish even to use a word whose main definitions include an explicit biological meaning (clotted blood) in a description of a biological process (embryology) if that meaning was not the one you intended. The choice of word now causes a well justified suspicion of inaccuracy, and for centuries misled people into thinking that the embryo is at one stage congealed blood (an actual embryo is at no point blood or a clot of blood). Similarly, for the same reason it would also be foolish to use this word while intending blood clot as a mere visual analogy.

Bones are formed before being clothed with flesh. In fact cartilage models of the bones start to form at the same time as and in parallel with surrounding muscles, and this cartilage is literally replaced with bone.

The author of the Quran imagined a sequence of stages, which when examined without the false definitions and arbitrary assumptions made by apologists, clearly has no resemblance to the actual development process of a child in the womb. Someone with a modern, scientific knowledge of embryology can instead marvel at the exquisite complexity that results from a process of co-ordinated cell differentiation and signalling, encoded in our genetic instruction set by millions of years of evolution.

== Relevant Quotations ==

{{Quote|{{Quran-range|32|7|8}}|'''Pickthall:'''Who made all things good which He created, and He began the creation of man from clay [teenin طِينٍ]; Then He made his seed from a draught of despised fluid;}}{{Quote|{{Quran|15|26}}|'''Yusuf Ali:'''We created man from sounding clay [salsalin صَلْصَٰلٍ], from mud [hamain حَمَإٍ] molded into shape;}}

{{Quote|{{Quran|22|5}}|O mankind! if ye are in doubt concerning the Resurrection, then lo! We have created you from dust [turabin تُرَابٍ], then from a drop of seed [nutfatin نُّطْفَةٍ], then from a clot [alaqatin عَلَقَةٍ], then from a little lump of flesh [mudghatin مُّضْغَةٍ] shapely and shapeless [mukhallaqatin waghayri mukhallaqatin مُّخَلَّقَةٍ وَغَيْرِ مُخَلَّقَةٍ], that We may make (it) clear for you. And We cause what We will to remain in the wombs for an appointed time, and afterward We bring you forth as infants, then (give you growth) that ye attain your full strength. And among you there is he who dieth (young), and among you there is he who is brought back to the most abject time of life, so that, after knowledge, he knoweth naught. And thou (Muhammad) seest the earth barren, but when We send down water thereon, it doth thrill and swell and put forth every lovely kind (of growth).}}  

{{Quote|{{Quran|40|67}}|He it is Who created you from dust [turabin تُرَابٍ], then from a drop (of seed) [nutfatin نُّطْفَةٍ] then from a clot [alaqatin عَلَقَةٍ], then bringeth you forth as a child, then (ordaineth) that ye attain full strength and afterward that ye become old men - though some among you die before - and that ye reach an appointed term, that haply ye may understand.}}

===The Formation of Bone and Clothing with Flesh===

====Bone and Muscle Formation According to Medical Science====

In order to compare with science the Quranic statement that Allah makes the lump of flesh bones ('ithaman<ref name="LLitham" />) and then clothes (fa-kasawna<ref name="LLkasawa" />) the bones with flesh (lahman<ref name="LLlahm" />), first we should see what science has discovered about the process of bone and muscle formation. Here is a brief description for both of them, without any detail on the relative timing of parallel processes. The section that follows afterwards contains numerous cited scientific sources stating the timing of these processes. Finally we will compare this with the Quran.

[[w:Mesoderm|Mesoderm]] is the middle of the three layers of the early embryo. Some of the mesoderm cells ([[w:Paraxial_mesoderm|paraxial mesoderm]]) form a series of blocks called [[w:Somite|somites]] either side of the neural tube (this tube will eventually form the spinal cord and brain). These somites will differentiate into sclerotome and myotome, which form the cartilage 'models' (or 'templates') and become connective tissues (including muscles) respectively of the future [[w:Axial_skeleton|axial skeleton]] (i.e. everything except the limbs, shoulders and pelvis). The myotome differentiates and migrates as the sclerotome is condensing into mesenchyme, which will produce cartilage. Each process occurs segmentally down the somites in a cranio-caudal sequence (head to tail).

Another area of mesoderm (lateral plate mesoderm) proliferates especially quickly in certain positions to form the limb buds. There, mesenchyme cells condense into distinct masses within the limb buds. These mesenchyme cells differentiate into chondrocytes, which secrete the cartilage matrix and are embedded in it. Thus cartilage models of the future limb bones gradually form ([[w:Chondrogenesis|chondrification]]). Once the cartilage models have formed and while they are still growing, the cartilage is literally replaced with actual bone by osteoblasts ([[w:Endochondral_ossification|ossification]]) working outwards from centres of the cartilage models. Osteoclasts remove the remnants of the mineralized cartilage. Ossification also starts in the axial skeleton some time after it has begun in the limbs, except for the upper and lower jaw, which start to ossify slightly earlier.

Meanwhile, the process of limb muscle formation begins as soon as the limb buds appear. Myoblast cells migrate from somites to populate the limb buds. They aggregate into distinct masses, differentiating and fusing into muscle fibres, as the condensing mesenchyme starts to chondrify, and before the resulting cartilage models begin to ossify.

====The Timing of These Processes====

Here is the scientific evidence for the contemporaneous development of cartilage/bone and muscles.  

A very detailed account of musculo-skeletal development in the human limb by clinical-geneticist Robert Jan Galjaard can be read online.<ref>Galjaard, R.J.H. [http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/10474/030924_Galjaard,%20Robert-Jan%20Harmen.pdf Mapping Studies of Congenital Limb Anomalies]. Ablasserdam: Haveka, B.V., 2003, page 16 [http://www.webcitation.org/6lFwBQq9z webcitation archive link]</ref> It details that muscle precursor cells migrate from the somites into the limb buds (ca. day 26), well before the condensing core of mesenchyme has started to chondrify into cartilage bone models in the upper part of the upper limb (ca. day 37), followed by the lower part (ca. day 41). The myoblasts have grouped into distinct masses by this stage and are differentiating into muscle fibres. The upper limbs later start to ossify (ca. day 54). Chondrification of mesenchyme, the grouping of myogenic masses, and ossification all occur in a proximal-distal order (upper to lower part of each limb). The digits of the hands only start to chondrify ca. day 51.

Professor Peter Law confirms that myoblasts are found in the limb buds day 26.<ref>Law, Peter et al., ''Pioneering Human Myoblast Genome Therapy as a Platform Technology of Regenerative Medicine.'' In: Stem Cell Therapy. Erik Greer (Editor). Nova Science Publishers, Inc. 2006. Page 3.</ref>

Myoblasts have aggregated into ventral and dorsal masses in the upper limb by day 36 and the start of chondrification.<ref>Sivakumar, B. et. al. ''Congenital Hand Differences'' in Farhadieh, R. et. al. (ed.) Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery: Approaches and Techniques, Chichester: Wiley, 2015, p.660 [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=tCq9BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA660#v=onepage&q&f=false Google books preview]</ref>

A detailed account by Walker and Miranda, including useful diagrams, explains that after day 35, the premuscle regions of the limb containing myoblasts and fibroblasts become distinct, and by day 45 have started to fuse together to become myotubes (which form muscle fibres). With axial musculo-skeletal development, myotomes have migrated (these form axial muscle) and sclerotomes have started to condense into mesenchyme (which will form cartilage) in the 5th week.<ref>Walker, U. A., and Miranda, A. F. ''Muscle Metabolism in the Fetus and Neonate'' in Cowett, R. M. (ed.) Principles of Perinatal-Neonatal Metabolism, 2nd Edition, Volume 1, New York: Springer, 1998, pp.642-643 [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eoy-BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA642#v=onepage&q&f=false Google Books preview]</ref>

According to Rugh, Building blocks are present for 40 pairs of muscles, which are located from the base of the skull to the bottom of the spinal column by day 28<ref>Conception to Birth Roberts Rugh, Ph.D., Landrum B. Shettles, Ph.D., M.D. Harper & Row, (New York), 1971, p.35</ref> (these are the myotomes of the somites). Muscles appear in the pelvis day 31<ref>ibid. p.43</ref>. Movement of the muscles is being controlled by the nervous system by the 6th week <ref>ibid. p.34</ref>. All of the muscle blocks have appeared by day 36 after conception<ref>ibid. p.46</ref>.

In the 10th edition (2016) of the Developing Human, Keith Moore says that ossification of the long bones begins in the 8th week, starting with the upper limbs, followed by the lower limbs and pelvis<ref>Keith L. Moore, Ph..D., FIAC, FRSM T.V.N. Persaud, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc., FRCPath W.B., The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, , 10th Edition, Philadelphia: Elseiver, 2016, p. p.349 [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=pmKGBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA349#v=onepage&q&f=false Google Books preview]</ref> (which concurs with Galjaard cited above).

It is apparent from the above that muscle masses have started to form around the mesenchyme condensations around the same time as they begin to chondrify into cartilage models of the limb bones, and long before they have even begun to ossify. Similarly, the process of muscle and cartilage formation begins at the same time for the axoskeleton. Muscles and cartilage, and bone that replaces it, continue their formation in parallel with each other.

Firstly, proponents of Quranic embryology have to explain why the author of the Quran was incorrect in their description and mentioned not cartilage (ghudhroof)<ref name="LLghudtroof">غضروف ghudhroof, alternatively spelt غرضوف ghurdoof - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000032.pdf Lane's Lexicon] Volume 6, page 2248</ref>) but only bone ('itham)<ref name="LLitham" />, which starts to form well after muscles.

Secondly, muscle and bone (or their precursors) develop contemporaneously, although the parallel processes start when muscle begins developing around condensations of mesenchyme that have only just begun to diffentiate into cartilage. Therefore, there is no scientific basis for the Quranic claim of a stage in which bone is later covered with flesh after its own formation. The prefix fa before kasawna means "and then", indicating an uninterrupted sequence.<ref>فَ fa - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000105.pdf Lane's Lexicon] Volume 6, page 2322</ref>

Even if we were to accept that the Quran was only referring to precursor cartilage models of the bones and not bone itself, even though it used the Arabic word for bone ('itham), and not cartilage (ghurdoof), the embryology is still wrong as shown above. Even if, with further and unjustifiable generosity, we suppose that the Quran means only the very beginning of the formation of the cartilage (chondrification) before they are in any sense complete shapes and the beginning of the formation of muscles, even this happens at the same stage (around day 41). Going back earlier still, it can even be pointed out that the precursors of muscles (myoblasts) and precursors to the cartilage (mesenchyme) are present in the limb bud as soon as it arises.  

Of course, the natural reading of verse 23:14 is that the bones have some sort of meaningful shape, and can meaningfully be called bones. This is certainly not the case when the condensed mesenchyme has merely started to produce cartilage. Furthermore, the natural reading of verse 23:14 is that all the bones have some meaningful presence worthy of the label 'bones' before Allah clothes them with flesh. As noted in the evidence above, fingers only start to even chondrify after muscle formation is already well underway in the upper part of the limbs.

We have more evidence that 23:14 refers to things already recognisable as bones being clothed with muscles or flesh elsewhere in the Quran. Verse 2:259 uses the same Arabic words as does 23:14 for 'bones', 'clothed' and 'flesh' to describe the resurrection of a donkey which had been dead for 100 years. The main embryology passages, such as verse 22:5 (see quote above) suggests that embryological development has similarities with resurrection.<ref>O mankind! if ye are in doubt concerning the Resurrection, then lo! We have created you from dust, then from a drop of seed, then from a clot, then from a little lump of flesh shapely and shapeless, that We may make (it) clear for you. And We cause what We will to remain in the wombs for an appointed time, and afterward We bring you forth as infants, then (give you growth) that ye attain your full strength. And among you there is he who dieth (young), and among you there is he who is brought back to the most abject time of life, so that, after knowledge, he knoweth naught. And thou (Muhammad) seest the earth barren, but when We send down water thereon, it doth thrill and swell and put forth every lovely kind (of growth)

The concensus in the tafsirs for the embryology verses was that 'alaqah meant blood. In numerous tafsirs it is variously described as blood (al dam الدم), congealed blood (al dam al jamid الدم الجامد), or simply, red 'alaqah ('alaqah hamra علقة حمراء). Nevertheless, in modern times some Muslims, especially those who know that this contradicts the biological reality, have tried to reinterpret the word using some of the other dictionary definitions for 'alaqah or 'alaq. Each of these alternatives is problematic, as indeed is the mere fact that 'alaqah has clotted blood<ref name="LLalaqah" /> as one of its main meanings.

Those who claim that 'alaqah is used in the sense of a clinging thing in the Quran 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 5^th week. Yet the Quranic stages appear to describe a transition between a succession of states. Moreover it would be self-evident from aborted fetuses that at some stage the embryo becomes attached to something.

[[File:Fraternal_twins_in_womb-4_weeks.jpg|right]]

Various studies of placentas and ultrasound scans have found that between 26% and 53% of implantations occur on the anterior (frontal) wall of the uterus (like the lower twin in the diagram).<ref>Benirschke, K. & Kaufmann, B. 2000. Pathology of the Human Placenta. 4th Edition. Springer-Verlag, New York. Page 399 - 400</ref> Clearly apologists should expect better of the Quran's author than to say that as early embryos, humans are "hanging things" when such a description is untrue for a significant percentage of the population, not even a general rule.

The word mudghah meant a bite sized morsel of meat suitable for chewing<ref name="LLmudghah" />. Islamic websites frequently claim, without citing any evidence, that it means a piece of meat that has actually been chewed, or even that has teeth marks on it. They do this, quite laughably, so that they can invite the reader to admire the supposed similarities between an image of the somites of an embryo next to a piece of chewing gum with a row or two of teeth marks. The problems with this ridiculous argument, which highlights the poverty of Islamic apologetics, include:

===The Beginning of the Fetal Stage===

Proponents of Quranic embryology also claim that it correctly denotes the start of the Fetal stage by referring to the creation of ‘another creation’ after the 'itham/lahm stage (bone clothed with flesh), which supposedly occurs at week eight.<ref name=":1">Then placed him [jaAAalnahu جَعَلْنَٰهُ] as a drop (of seed) [nutfatan نُطْفَةً] in a safe lodging [qararin makeenin قَرَارٍ مَّكِينٍ];

[https://quranx.com/23.13?Context=3 Qur'an 23:13]</ref>

Confusion is sometimes caused by statements about dust (tubarin تُرَابٍ), mud (hamain حَمَإٍ), clay (teenin طِينٍ), or sounding clay (salsalin صَلْصَٰلٍ) in the Quranic embryology verses. Clarification is provided in Quran that this refers to the creation of Adam only, and that the subsequent statements relate to the development of humans since then.<ref>Who made all things good which He created, and He began the creation of man from clay [teenin طِينٍ]; Then He made his seed from a draught of despised fluid;

[https://quranx.com/32.7-8 Qur'an 32:7-8]</ref> This was also the opinion of classical scholars such as ibn Kathir.

The word translated “seed” in Pickthall’s translation is nasl, which means progeny (i.e. descendants).<ref>نسل nasl - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000286.pdf Lane’s Lexicon] Suppliment, page 3032</ref>

These verses clearly state that the first [[Creation of Humans from Clay|man was made ''from'' clay]] (min مِّنْ means 'from' or 'of'), and that clay was a building material, that was moulded and shaped, and not a catalytic compound, as some apologetics claim in an attempt to link the Quran with one theory about the origin of all life on Earth.

While again not strictly related to embryology, another claim on some Islamic websites is that clay and humans have similar compositions. The Chambers Dictionary of Science and Technology defines clay as, "a fine textured, sedimentary, or residual deposit. It consists of hydrated silicates of aluminum mixed with various impurities". The essential elements in clay are thus silicon, aluminum, hydrogen and oxygen. Silicon and Aluminum have extremely limited, if any, roles to play in the maintenance of life.<ref>Fenchel, Tom 2003. The origin and Early Evolution of Life. Oxford University Press. Page 27.</ref> Other human-required elements (such as nitrogen, sodium etc) are only found in trace amounts in clay and can be regarded as contaminants. There is no similarity between the compositions of clay and humans.

===The Nutfah (Semen) Stage and the Missing Female Ovum===

The first stage of Quranic embryology is the nutfah stage. The word nutfah<ref name="LLnutfah" /> literally meant a small amount of liquid, and was a euphemism for semen. The Lisan al Arab dictionary of classical Arabic gives these definitions as "a little amount" usually of water remaining at the end of a container, but can also be referred to semen.<ref>A 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; semen is called nutfah for its small amount

[http://www.baheth.info/all.jsp?term=%D9%86%D8%B7%D9%81 Lisan al Arab]</ref> An example of nutfah usage can be found in a pre-Islamic poem where it is used to mean “the small quantity of wine that remained in a wineskin”.<ref>Irfan Shahid, “Byzantium and the Arabs in the sixth century. Volume 2, Part 2”, p.145, Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 2009</ref>

Verses 80:18-19, and 77:20-22 together with 23:13 strongly imply that it is semen that is stored in the womb and developed into the embryo, as confirmed in the hadiths and previously believed by the [[Greek and Jewish Ideas about Reproduction in the Quran and Hadith|Jews and Greeks]].<ref>From what thing [shayinشَىْءٍ] doth He create him? From a drop of seed [nutfatin نُّطْفَةٍ]. He createth him and proportioneth him

[https://quranx.com/80.18-19 Qur'an 80:18-19]</ref><ref>Did We not create you from a base fluid [ma-in maheenin مَّآءٍ مَّهِينٍ]? Which We laid up [jaAAalnahu جَعَلْنَٰهُ] in a safe abode [qararin makeenin قَرَارٍ مَّكِينٍ], For a period (of gestation), determined (according to need)?

[https://quranx.com/77.20-22 Qur'an 77:20-22]</ref><ref name=":1" />

Verses 77:20-21 closely parallel 23:13 quoted below, which too says "We placed it (jaAAalnahu) in a safe abode (qararin makeen)", and uses the word nutfah instead of maa' maheenin ('water distained' - maa' was another euphemism for semen). The 'hu' ending to jaAAalnahu can mean him or it, and probably means the former in 23:13 ('We placed him'). However, 77:20 uses the 2nd person "you", so the latter meaning, 'it' is clearly intended in the next verse, in reference to the liquid ('We placed it').<ref name=":1" />

The Quran doesn't explicitly explains how and if the female parent contributes genetic material. It is an assumption by apologists that 'nutfatun amshajin' (amshajin means mixed<ref>أَمْشَاج Amshajan  - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume7/00000245.pdf] Volume 7 Page 2717</ref>).

The term ‘nutfatun amshaajin’ in verse 76:2<ref><nowiki>'''</nowiki>Yusuf Ali:<nowiki>'''</nowiki> Verily We created Man from a drop of mingled sperm [nutfatin amshajin نُّطْفَةٍ أَمْشَاجٍ], in order to try him: So We gave him (the gifts), of Hearing and Sight.

[https://quranx.com/76.2?Context=3 Qur'an 76:2]</ref> refers to the sperm-menstrual blood union of Aristotle and the ancient Indian embryologists, or the two semens hypothesis of Hippocrates and Galen, or even the readily observed mingling of semen and vaginal discharge during sexual intercourse. In other words, the fact the Quran does not explicitly state that ‘nutfatun amshaajin’ contains the ovum, together with the existence of other possible explanations, means that it is illogical to assume the former and not the latter.  

The insistence that it explains the former is pure conjecture devoid of evidence, and constitutes the [[Logical Fallacy|logical fallacy]] of equivocation, and its adoption is merely wishful thinking or 'reinterpretation after the fact.’

Some critics argue that in fact, the Quran itself provides the evidence of its doctrinal omission or rejection of the role of the ovum in procreation, for verse 2:223 states that wives are tilth. This is saying they are like the earth, which contributes nutrients only, receiving the seed from the male.<ref>Your women are a tilth for you (to cultivate) go to your tilth as ye will, and send (good deeds) before you for your souls, and fear Allah, and know that ye will (one day) meet Him. Give glad tidings to believers, (O Muhammad).

[https://quranx.com/2.223?Context=3 Qur'an 2:223]</ref>

Some claim that verses 35:11 and 53:45-46 show knowledge that gender is determined by sperm cells (which contain either an x or y chromosome to go with the x chromosome of the female ovum).<ref>Allah created you from dust [tubarin تُرَابٍ], then from a little fluid [nutfatin نُّطْفَةٍ], then He made you pairs [azwajan أَزْوَٰجًا](the male and female). No female beareth or bringeth forth save with His knowledge. And no-one groweth old who groweth old, nor is aught lessened of his life, but it is recorded in a Book, Lo! that is easy for Allah.

[https://quranx.com/35.11 Qur'an 35:11]</ref>

However, in Verses 75:37-39 the Quran states that gender is determined after the 'alaqah stage. Both 53:45 and 75:39 use the exact same phrase as 35:11 which makes this claim.<ref>And that He createth the two spouses, the male and the female [alzzawjayni alththakara waalontha ٱلزَّوْجَيْنِ ٱلذَّكَرَ وَٱلْأُنثَىٰ], From a drop (of seed) when it is poured forth [nutfatin itha tumna نُّطْفَةٍ إِذَا تُمْنَىٰ];

[https://quranx.com/53.45-46 Qur'an 53:45-46]</ref><ref>Was he not a drop [nutfatan نُطْفَةً] of fluid [manayin مَّنِىٍّ] which gushed forth [yumna يُمْنَىٰ]? Then he became a clot [alaqatan عَلَقَةً]; then (Allah) shaped and fashioned And made of him a pair, the male and female [alzzawjayni alththakara waalontha ٱلزَّوْجَيْنِ ٱلذَّكَرَ وَٱلْأُنثَىٰ].

[https://quranx.com/75.37-39 Qur'an 75:37-39]</ref>

If 53:45 is taken literally as indicating 'when' gender is determined, it would still be inaccurate, because millions of sperm are emitted, some with an x chromosome, some with a y chromosome. Gender is determined not when the semen is emitted, but when the egg is fertilized by one of the sperm cells, which can take anything from half an hour to 12 hours for the first of them to reach the egg, and then more time for one of the many that arrive to successfully penetrate it.

It should be noted that the evidence is unanimous that nutfah means a small quantity of fluid, a euphemism for semen – there is no indication of sperm cells within the fluid.

Furthermore, there are hadith even more explicit than Quran 75:37-39 which say that gender is decided after the 'mudghah stage:<ref>Narrated Anas bin Malik:

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "At every womb Allah appoints an angel who says, 'O Lord! A drop of semen, O Lord! A clot. O Lord! A little lump of flesh." Then if Allah wishes (to complete) its creation, the angel asks, (O Lord!) Will it be a male or female, a wretched or a blessed, and how much will his provision be? And what will his age be?' So all that is written while the child is still in the mother's womb."

[https://quranx.com/Hadith/Bukhari/USC-MSA/Volume-1/Book-6/Hadith-315 Sahih Bukhari 1:6:315]</ref>

Others interpret 75:39 to mean that the external genitalia and gonads are formed after the 'alaqah stage. This is a more plausible interpretation, but still problematic. For the gender of the child has already been determined genetically at the moment of conception as stated above.

The word butun (بطن)<ref>بطن butun - [[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume1/00000257.pdf Lane's Lexicon] Volume 1, page 220</ref> means belly/abdomen/midriff, though some translators like to use the more specific word "womb". Tafsirs interpreted the "three darknesses" as the placenta, womb (uterus) and belly. There are in fact many more layers in the human body such as the endometrium, myometrium, perimetrium, peritoneum, besides the cervix uteri, corpus uteri, abdomen (with walls), and placenta (with layers). The idea of three membranes around the fetus ([[w:Chorion|chorion]], [[w:Allantois|allantois]], and [[w:Amnion|amnion]]) was taught by the highly influential Greek physician, Galen. Perhaps the Quranic author is simply repeating this idea, which applies only to the embryonic membranes.

Another claim is that the Quran correctly states that the least period of conception is 6 months. This claim is based on two Quranic verses.<ref>And We have commended unto man kindness toward parents. His mother beareth him with reluctance, and bringeth him forth with reluctance, and the bearing of him and the weaning of him is thirty months, till, when he attaineth full strength and reacheth forty years, he saith: My Lord! Arouse me that I may give thanks for the favour wherewith Thou hast favoured me and my parents, and that I may do right acceptable unto Thee. And be gracious unto me In the matter of my seed. Lo! I have turned unto Thee repentant, and lo! I am of those who surrender (unto Thee).

[https://quranx.com/46.15?Context=3 Qur'an 46:15]</ref><ref>And We have enjoined upon man concerning his parents. His mother beareth him in weakness upon weakness, and his weaning is in two years. Give thanks unto Me and unto thy parents. Unto Me is the journeying.

[https://quranx.com/31.14 Qur'an 31:14]</ref>

Even assuming the arbitrary claim by Drs Al-Ghazal and Abdul Rehman of 22 weeks, being the ‘most cases’ scenario (which is false according to medical statistics – see below), one is left with the conclusion that the Quran is still in error as six lunar months is 24 weeks, not 22 weeks.  

Thus, it can be seen that the minimum period of fetal viability has changed, at least in recent history. It was never 22 weeks or 6 lunar months prior to the era of modern medicine, being likely to have been at least 30 weeks. Now, it has shrunk to only 19 weeks in countries with advanced pediatric medicine. We would suggest the minimum period of fetal viability in many third-world countries would still be around 30 weeks. Thus, Quranic embryology's proposition of the least period of conception is false.

Some proponents of Quranic embryology state that the mudghah stage, which is described in one verse, "partly formed and partly unformed" or "shaped and shapeless" refers to the incomplete cell differentiation observed in this stage.<ref>O mankind! if ye are in doubt concerning the Resurrection, then lo! We have created you from dust, then from a drop of seed, then from a clot, then from a little lump of flesh shapely and shapeless, …

[https://quranx.com/22.05?Context=3 Qur'an 22:05]</ref>

However, this claim does not have any scientific basis. The mudghah stage occurs before the 'itham (bones) stage, so it must occur before week six, when the progeny is still in the “embryo” stage. However, modern embryologists know that cell differentiation occurs well before the ‘mudghah’ stage and well into the “fetal” stage. Hence the Quranic embryology claim must be incorrect.

*[[Quran Describes Gender Determination By Sperm|Quran Describes Gender Determination By Sperm]]

*[{{Reference archive|1=http://web.archive.org/web/20060214032231/http://www.geocities.com/freethoughtmecca/embryo.html|2=2012-06-11}} Quranic Embryology] ''- Dr. Yusuf Needham and Dr. Butrus Needbeer, FreeThought Mecca''

*[{{Reference archive|1=http://answering-islam.org/Quran/Science/embryo.html|2=2012-06-11}} Embryology in the Quran] ''- Dr. Lactantius, Answering Islam''

*[{{Reference archive|1=http://mukto-mona.com/wordpress/?p=1166|2=2012-06-11}} Islamic embryology: overblown balderdash] ''- Dr. PZ Myers' response to Hamza Andreas Tzortzis’ paper, Embryology in the Quran''