Semen Production in the Quran: Difference between revisions

{{QualityScore|Lead=4|Structure=4|Content=4|Language=4|References=3}}[[File:Hippocrates.jpg|thumb|280px|right|Qur'an 86:7 says that sperm originates from the backbones and the ribs, a theory similar to another (now known to be erroneous) theory proposed by Hippocrates in 5th century BC (1000 years before Islam). Hippocrates taught that semen comes from all the fluid in the body, diffusing from the brain into the spinal marrow, before passing through the kidneys and via the testicles into the penis.<ref>Hippocratic Writings (Penguin Classics, 1983) pp. 317-318</ref>]]Towards the end of the 20th century and into the early 21st century, drawing on the work of a broad and largely Saudi-financed movement to demonstrate the concordance of [[Islam and Science|Islamic scriptures and modern science]], attempts have been made to not only defend the '''[[Quran|Qur'anic]] idea of semen production''' (found in {{Quran-range|86|6|7}}) from between the ''sulb'' (literally "backbone") and the ''tara’ib'' (literally "ribs"), but also to demonstrate it as an instance of divinely inspired scientific foreknowledge, or, as more commonly referred to, a [[Scientific Miracles in the Quran|scientific miracle of the Quran]]. Several specific [[Tafsir|interpretations]] advocating the miracle have been proposed, critiqued, and withdrawn - none, however, have been welcomed by the professional scientific or historian community.<ref>Sam Shamoun has, for example, considered some of these ideas in the articles found [http://answering-islam.org/Quran/Science/semenproduction.htm here] and [http://www.answeringislam.info/Shamoun/wonders.htm here].</ref>

 

The most common of these revisionary perspectives which advocate a miraculous interpretation of the Quran via its reconciliation with modern science include that of Drs. Maurice Bucaille and A. K. Giraud (according to which ''sulb'' and ''tara’ib'' refer to the sexual areas of the male and female), Ahmed A. Abd-Allah (according to which all acknowledged translations and tafsirs are in error, as ''sulb'' and ''tara’ib'' refer instead to to the male's “hardening” penis the female's erogenous zones other than the vagina), Dr. Zakir Naik (according to which ''sulb'' and ''tara’ib'' refer to the backbone and ribs of both sexes and where only the gonads in the embryonic stage are being described rather than a male and female in the act of sexual reproduction), Dr. Jamal Badawi (according to which the verses refer not to semen production but to the blood of the aorta as the ‘gushing fluid poured forth’), Muhammad Asad (according to which ''sulb'' refers to the male's loins and ''tara'ib'' to the female's pelvic arch), Moiz Amjad (according to which ''sulb'' and ''tara'ib'' refer to the blood supply for the testes emanating from the backbone and ribs, where only the gonads in the embryonic stage are being described rather than a male and female in the act of sexual reproduction, and where the ''sulb'' and ''tara'ib'' 'region' alluded to are special euphemisms for the sexual organs), and Yusuf Ali (according to which the backbone is only symbolically alluded to as a symbol of male strength where semen flows between the backbone and ribs).

There is relatively little disagreement over the proper translation of {{Quran|86|6}}. The only recurrent disagreement between translations is over whether the word ''maa'' should be translated literally as 'water' or generalized to 'fluid'. Most translations opt for the former translation, which is accurate to the Arabic text, as opposed to the latter, which amounts to a metaphorical interpretation. No scholar has expressed disagreement with the fact that the word for water (''maa'') was the standard Arabic euphemism for 'semen' - many translations have included this point in their footnotes on the verse.{{Quote|{{Quran|86|6}}|'''Arabic:''' خُلِقَ مِن مَّآءٍ دَافِقٍ<br>'''Corpus translation (literal):''' He is created from a water [''maa'', the word 'water' was the standard Arabic euphemism for semen], ejected,<br>'''Transliteration:''' ''Khuliqa min main dafiqin''}}As can be seen in the competing translations listed below, there is significant disagreement among Islamic translations and controversy surrounding the translation of the subsequent verse, {{Quran|86|7}}.{{Quote|{{Quran|86|7}}|'''Arabic:''' يخرج من بين الصلب والترائب<br>'''Corpus translation (literal):''' Coming forth from between the backbone and the ribs.<br>'''Transliteration:''' ''Yakhruju min bayni alssulbi waalttara-ibi''}}{{Quote|{{Qtt|86|7}}|'''Yusuf Ali:''' ''proceeding from between the backbone and the ribs.''

Many Islamic translations opt to translate the word ''sulb'' in {{Quran|86|7}} as 'loins', evoking the euphemistic sense of the word 'loins' which alludes to the reproductive organs of a male. This sense of the word 'loins' is secondary to its primary sense, which refers to the lumber portion of the back (hence the word ''sirloin'', which refers to '(a piece of) meat from the back of an animal near the tail or from the top part of the back legs').<ref>[https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/loin "Loin", Cambridge Dictionary]</ref> Both senses of the word are accounted for in the Oxford English Dictionary.{{Quote|"Loin", Oxford English Dictionary|Loin, n.<br>1. a. In the living body. Chiefly pl. The part or parts of a human being or quadruped, situated on both sides of the vertebral column, between the false ribs and the hip-bone.<br>2. Chiefly Biblical and poet. This part of the body, regarded: a. as the part of the body that should be covered with clothing and about which the clothes are bound; so, to gird (up) the loins (lit. and fig.), to prepare for strenuous exertion.}}The Lane's Lexicon of Classical Arabic definition for ''sulb'' includes the following:{{Quote|[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume4/00000436.pdf صلب Lane's Lexicon, page 1712]|and any portion of the back containing vertebrae: (S, MSB, TA:) [and particularly '''the lumbar portion; the loins''':] and the back [absolutely]}}Lane also quotes an Arab saying that features ''sulb'', translating and explaining it as follows (''sperma'' is a Late Latin word meaning seed, or semen):{{Quote|[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume4/00000436.pdf صلب Lane's Lexicon, page 1712]|''These are the sons of their loins:'' Because the sperma of the man is held to proceed from the sulb of the man}}

Independent corroboration that ''sulb'' in the Qur'an refers to the back or backbone is found in another verse on the same subject using a different word for back. {{Quran|7|172}} says that the offspring of the children of Adam are 'from their backs (loins)'. Instead of ''sulb'', the word here is ''thahr'', which means the back<ref>thahr - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume5/00000212.pdf Lane's Lexicon Book I page 197]</ref>, as is also the case in other verses such as {{Quran|6|31}}.{{Quote|{{Quran|7|172}}|'''Sahih International:''' And [mention] when your Lord took from the children of Adam - from their loins - their descendants and made them testify of themselves, [saying to them], "Am I not your Lord?" They said, "Yes, we have testified." [This] - lest you should say on the day of Resurrection, "Indeed, we were of this unaware."

 

'''Transliteration:''' min banee adama min thuhoorihim thurriyyatahum}}One other verse in the Qur'an uses the word ''sulb''. In this case there is no mention of ''tara'ib''. It is an example of the simple Arabic phrase mentioned in Lane's Lexicon (see above), based on the belief that the seed of men proceed from their backs.{{Quote|{{Quran|4|23}}|'''Corpus:''' Forbidden to you (are) your mothers and your daughters and your sisters [...] And wives (of) your sons, those who (are) from your loins and that you gather together [between] two sisters except what has passed before.}}Slightly more explicitly, a hadith in [[Sahih Bukhari]] (also in {{Muslim|39|6733}}) uses ''sulb'' to say that the source of Adam's future progeny was in his back from before they were conceived.{{Quote|{{Bukhari|8|76|562}}|The Prophet (pbuh) said, "Allah will say to the person who will have the minimum punishment in the Fire on the Day of Resurrection, 'If you had things equal to whatever is on the earth, would you ransom yourself (from the punishment) with it?' He will reply, Yes. Allah will say, 'I asked you a much easier thing than this while you were in the backbone of Adam, that is, not to worship others besides Me, but you refused and insisted to worship others besides Me."'}}

===Maurice Bucaille===

===Ahmed A. Abd-Allah===

===Zakir Naik===

===Jamal Badawi===

===Muhammad Asad===

Critics argue that if Asad's definition of ''sulb'' as the male loins (in the modern sense of the word loins, rather than its old and primary meaning of the lower back) as well as his definition of ''tara'ib'' are accepted, his proposition that sexual reproduction is the consequence of a union between the male loins and the female pelvic arch is still inaccurate.

====Hamza Tzortzis====

===Moiz Amjad===

===Tahir Ul-Qadri===

===Yusuf Ali===

Critics often note that the many modern re-readings of {{Quran|86|7}} are conflicting and mutually-exclusive, such that if any one is correct, the remainder must be incorrect. For instance, Ibn Kathir refers to ''tara’ib'' as a female organ, while other tafsirs claim it belongs to the man.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20030918233810/http://www.montazar.net/eng/menu/1/quran/tafseer/tafseer-of-holy-quran/light/html/086/86_1-10.htm|title= Sura Tariq (The Night) no.86 (verses 1-10)|publisher= Montazar.net|author= |date= September 18, 2003|archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=https%3A%2F%2Fweb.archive.org%2Fweb%2F20030918233810%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.montazar.net%2Feng%2Fmenu%2F1%2Fquran%2Ftafseer%2Ftafseer-of-holy-quran%2Flight%2Fhtml%2F086%2F86_1-10.htm&date=2014-02-09|deadurl=no}}</ref> Another conflict is the definition of ''sulb'' to mean either the backbone, the "hardening", or the loins. To critics, these varying interpretations confirm the essential ambiguity of the scriptural texts.