Home

 Articles

 Op-ed

 Authors

 FAQ

 Leaving Islam
 Library
 Gallery
 Comments
 Debates
 Forum

 

 

Embryology and Quran


 

I've read more than one article about the way Quran described the development of the embryo and the Muslims claim that it resembles the modern discoveries in a way that make it impossible for any body else but god to be its author. 

Unfortunately I don't think those articles were strong enough in revealing the truth probably because at least one of their writers doesn't speak Arabic so, despite that I don't think I read enough about the subject but I still think that I can make a positive contribution. 

The Quran says in Arabic 23-13 and 14 "Thom khalaqna alnotfat alaqa, fakhalaqna alalaqat modegha, khalaqna almodghat azama, fakasawna alesazm lahma, thom anshanah khalqan akhr" 

The way we could put it in English is "Hence we (god), created the sperm into (or made it turn into) clot (or whatever it is) then created from it a lump then we created out of it bones (plural) then we covered the bones with flesh" 

Now, in addition to the fact that many thinkers for 1000's of years had theories and also some experience on the stages of embryo development, the above mentioned description is not more than what ordinary person could imagine, ...building the structure first then hang the other parts on it or cover it with them...just like erecting a tent. 

Now the clear fact that comes in many documents, out of which I could put my hands only on one of them is that, that is not the truth. 

The truth as in the following document (MS Encarta 1998) 

The implanted embryo consists of a hollow sphere, the blastocyst, containing a mass of cells, called the embryonic mass, attached by a stalk to one side of the encircling membrane. In a blastocyst less than two weeks old and measuring 1 mm (0.04 in) in diameter, the microscope reveals the amnion (a sac surrounding the embryo), chorion (a membrane that develops around the amnion and lines the uterine wall), yolk sac, and distinct germ layers.

In the third week a closed tube appears in which the brain and spinal cord are to develop. Another tube, folding on itself, is developing into the heart, and at about this stage a portion of the minute yolk sac is enclosed in the body of the embryo to form a part of the embryonic alimentary canal. At the beginning of its fourth week the embryo, now about 4 to 5 mm (about 0.16 to 0.2 in) long, has the rudiments of eyes and ears, and each side of the neck shows four gill clefts. A tail is also present.

Early in the second month the buds of the arms and legs appear. The major internal organs begin to take shape, and in about the sixth week bones and muscles begin to form. By the third month the embryo is recognizable as that of a primate, and is now called a fetus. It has a definite face, with the mouth and nostrils distinct, and the external ears are forming. By the end of the eighth week the tail has usually been incorporated in the body, and in the 11th or 12th week the external genitals become evident. The human embryo is especially vulnerable to the damaging effects of X rays, of disease viruses such as measles, and of certain drugs during the fourth to the eighth week of gestation. These agents can result in the death of the embryo or in the birth of a child with deformed limbs or other abnormalities. By the fourth month an embryo is clearly recognizable as a human being.  

The creation of the brain and the spine happens in parallel, (I think that the brain is neither flesh nor bones) and then long after the "BONES" of the arms starts developing which contradict the Quranic verses that tells us that all the bones are made first then it gets covered by flesh (only flesh as if we don't have members in our bodies!!!).

I think that the issue could be studied in more details but just wanted to clarify my view

 

Note: Read about A. E. disappointment with and departure from Islam in Testimonials.  

 

 

 

 

 

Articles Op-ed Authors Debates Leaving Islam FAQ
Comments Library Gallery Video Clips Books Sina's Challenge
 

  ©  copyright You may translate and publish the articles in this site only if you provide a link to the original page.