~ Qur’an on Human Embryonic Phases ~

Quranic Scientific Explanations

Allah says regarding the stages the fetus goes through:

((And indeed We created man (Adam) out of an extract of clay (water and earth). Thereafter We made him (the offspring of Adam) as a Nutfah (mixed drops of the male and female sexual discharge) (and lodged it) in a safe lodging (womb of the woman). Then We made the Nutfah into a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood), then We made the clot into a little lump of flesh, then We made out of that lump of flesh bones, then We clothed the bones with flesh, and then We brought it forth as another creation. So blessed be Allah, the Best of creators. After that, surely, you will die. Then [again], surely, you will be resurrected on the Day of Resurrection.)) (23:12-14)

The stages a human passes through are:

• Extract of Clay: Adam the father of humankind, was created from clay. This verse does not agree with the theory of evolution which science disproves. This indicates that humans are a distinct creation. Humankind did not evolve from other species.
  
• Mixed sperm: In this stage male and female discharge mix in the womb, the result of which the egg may become fertilized or die by the will of Allah. If the egg becomes fertilized the first stages of creation would commence.
  

Allah says:

((Indeed, We created man from a sperm-drop mixture that We may try him; and We made him hearing and seeing.)) (76:2)

The Begining of Human Development

Diagram illustrating fertilization, the procession of

events beginning when the sperm contacts the

secondary oocyte’s plasma membrane and ending

with the intermingling of maternal and paternal

chromosomes at metaphase of the first mitotic

division of the zygote. A, secondary oocyte

surrounded by several sperms, two of which

have penetrated the corona radiate.

(Taken from Dr. Keith Moore, The Developing

Human, pg. 34 – 7th edition)

If the sperm fails to fertilize the ovum, it would be cast out of the womb along with it, but if it fertilizes the egg and creates a zygote, it would cling to the side of the womb in the form of a blastula. If Allah wills that it clings to the womb, it would move onto the Alaqah stage (i.e. a leech like, suspending thing).

Allah says:

((O people, if you should be in doubt about the Resurrection, then [consider that] indeed, We created you from dust, then from a sperm-drop, then from a clinging clot, and then from a lump of flesh, formed and unformed – that We may show you. And We settle in the wombs whom We will for a specified term, then We bring you out as a child, and then [We develop you] that you may reach your [time of] maturity. And among you is he who is taken in [early] death, and among you is he who is returned to the most decrepit [old] age so that he knows, after [once having] knowledge, nothing. And you see the earth barren, but when We send down upon it rain, it quivers and swells and grows [something] of every beautiful kind.)) (22:5)

• Blood Clot/Clinging Thing: It is described as such, since it clings to the womb; in a manner similar to a leech which feeds off the blood of other creatures.

Lateral view of an embryo (24 to 25 days). B. Drawings

illustrating the similarities between a leech and a

human embryo at the ‘Alaqah’ stage.

(Taken from Dr. Keith Moore, The Developing Human,

pg. 71 – 7th edition )

Diagram of the primordial cardiovascular system in

an embryo of about 21 days, viewed from the left side.

Observe the transitory stage of paired symmetrical

vessels. (Keith Moore). Each heart tube continues

dorsally into a dorsal aorta that passes caudally.

The external appearance of the embryo and its sacs is

similar to that of a blood clot, due to the presence of

relatively large amounts of blood present in the embryo.

Section of an implanted embryo (about 21 days). In this

diagram we can see the suspension of an embryo during

the ‘Alaqah’ stage in the womb of the mother.

Chewed substance: It is described as such since the

embryo is similar in appearance to a chewed substance.

Macrophotograph of a stage 13, 4 1/2 week human embryo.

(Keith Moore) Actual size 4.5 mm

The embryo in this stage is similar in appearance to a chewed substance, because the somites at the back of the embryo

somewhat resemble teeth marks in a chewed substance.

Figure: Look at the similarities between a piece of chewed gum and an actual photo of an embryo. How is it possible that an unlettered man give such explicit details on the embryo? Indeed it is but a revelation from God!

• Formation of bones.
• Covering of bones with flesh.
• Development of the embryo into a different form, wherein the proportioning of the body takes place and life is breathed into it.

The human embryo goes through a number of stages within three darknesses as

Allah says:

((He created you (all) from a single person (Adam); then made from him his wife [Hawwa' (Eve)]. And He has sent down for you of cattle eight pairs (of the sheep, two, male and female; of the goats, two, male and female; of the oxen, two, male and female; and of the camels, two, male and female). He creates you in the wombs of your mothers, creation after creation in three veils of darkness, such is Allah your Lord. His is the kingdom, Lâ ilâha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He). How then are you turned away?)) (39:6)

This verse states that the embryo is covered in three coverings, referred to as “darknesses” in this verse. Water, air, light and heat cannot penetrate these coverings,nor can they be seen with the naked eye.

Dr. Maurice Bucaille21 said:

‘Modern interpreters of the Qur’an see in this verse the three anatomical layers that protect the infant during gestation: the abdominal wall, the uterus itself, and the surroundings of the fetus (placenta, embryonic membranes, amniotic fluid).’22

Drawing of a sagittal section of a gravid uterus at 4 weeks

showing the relation of the fetal membranes to each other

and to the deciduas and embryo.

The embryo is also placed in a safe place. Allah says:


((Did We not create you from a liquid disdained? And We placed it in a firm lodging [i.e. the womb] for a known extent [determined by gestation]. And We determined [it], and excellent [are We] to determine.)) (77:20-23)


Dr. Gary Miller:23 ‘A reporter asked Professor Keith Moore:24 “Don’t you think that maybe the Arabs might have known about these things - the description of the embryo, its appearance and how it changes and grows? Maybe they were not scientists, but maybe they did some crude dissec-tions on their own - carved up people and examined these things.”


The professor immediately pointed out to him that he [i.e., the reporter] had missed a very important point. All of the slides of the embryo that had been shown and had been projected in the film had come from pictures taken through a microscope. He said, “It does not matter if someone had tried to discover embryology fourteen centuries ago, they could not have seen it!”

All of the descriptions in the Qur’an of the appearance of the embryo are of the item when it is still too small to see with the eye; therefore, one needs a microscope to see it. Since such a device had only been around for little more than two hundred years, Dr. Moore taunted: “Maybe fourteen centuries ago someone secretly had a microscope and did this research, making no mistakes anywhere. Then he somehow taught Muhammad and convinced him to put this information in his book. Then he destroyed his equipment and kept it a secret forever. Do you believe that? You really should not unless you bring some proof because it is such a ridiculous theory.”

When he was asked: “How do you explain this information in the Qur’an?”

Dr. Moore’s reply was: “It could only have been divinely revealed!”’

Dr. Gerald C. Goeringer25 said: “In most, if not all, instances, this description antedates by many centuries the recording of the various stages of human embryonic and fetal development recorded in the traditional scientific literature.”