Islamset - Fetal Development

Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Fetal Development

That the fetus is formed by the fusion of a male and a female gamete contributing equally to its sturcture is a fairly recent fact, discovered only in the nineteenth century. An ancient theory maintained that the fetus was maternal inorigin and that the role of insemination was to stimulate it to grow. Thistheory was supplanted with the theory of paternal origin, which proclaimed that the seed of the male was implanted in the woman just like plant seeds are implanted in the soil, to grow and bear fruit. When the spermatozoa were discovered and actually seen under the microscope, it was thought to be a human being in miniaature and old books showed its diagrammatic representation with the topography of various regions the body illustrated.

When prophet Mohammad peace be upon him was asked bya jew from waht a human being was created, the prophet answered:

"He is created from both...from the nutfa (little drop) of the man and the nutfa of the woman." (Imam Ahmad)

The Quranic reference to this dual creation of the human being is given in the following verse:

"Verily We created man from a drop (nutfa) of a mixed nature in order to try him, so we gave him the gifts of hearing and sight." (76:2)

It is noteworthy that whenever God mentions the two senses of hearing and sight, hearing consistently is mentioned before sight, in keeping with the fact discovered only by modern embryology that the auditory system precedes the visual apparatus in structure and function. The following other verses are illustrative examples:

"Or who is it that has power over hearing and sight? And who is it that brings out the living from the dead and dead from the living?(10:31)

"And pursue not that of which you have no knowledge, for every act of hearing or of seeing or of (feeling in) the heart will be enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning)." (17:36)

"It is He who has created for you (the faculties of) hearing, sight, feeling and understanding little thanks it is that you give." 23:78)

"Then He fashioned him (man) in due proprotion and breathed into him from His spirit, and He gave you hearing and sight and feeling. Little thanks do you give." (32:9)

"Say: It is He who has created you and made for you the hearing, seeing and feeling little thanks it is you give."(67:23)

"And we have endowed them with hearing, seeing, heart and intellect: but of no profit to them were their hearing, sight and heart and intellect when they went on rejecting the signs of God, and they were encircled by that which they used to mock at." (46:26)

"Say: imagine if God took away your hearing and your sight and sealed up your hearts who a god other than God could restore them to you?" (6:46)

"You did not seek to hide yourselves lest your hearing, your sight and your skins should bear witness against you. But you did think that God knew not many of the things you used to do." (41:22)

The Quran presents the sequential development of the fetus through various stages of well defined features, at a time when human knowledge had no notion about embryology, and in a sequence which is in keeping with modern scientific views. The seminal nutfa (little drop) and th emixed nutfa of mixed male and female origins have been referred to. This is followed by the stage of 'alaqa' (in Arabic the leech is called alaqa since the verb alaqa means to stick or to attach to), which is a precise description of the blastocyst as it attaches itself to the lining membrane of the uterine cavity, preparatory to actually burrowing its way into it in the process of nidation or implantation. The mass of cells inside the blastocyst the inner cell mass-embarks on a series of divisioin and differentiation, shaping up to abody with a head and a tail end, and furrowed by a series of grooves on either side. These furrows demarkate the body to consecutive paris of 'somites', and th egeneral morphology then resembles a masticated bolus of food (or meat) with the molar teeth markings groovingit: hence the Quranic terminology of "modgha" which is a chewn bolus of food.

Inside the "modgha" the prodromata of the boney skeleton are set. But the boney skeleton is in fact a series of lever arms with the axes of the levers at the joints. These lever arms require energy to pull on them to effect various movements, and so mesenchymal tissue is tranformed to muscle tissue around the bones which is suitably attached to the bones on either side of the joint hinge so that when the muscle contracts movementt occurs at the joints. All this sequence was revealed to Mohammad in the Quran some fifteen centureis ago to await its direct exegesis in the recent science of embryology over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

We do acknowledge that the Quran was not meant to be a book of science, although it did ordain on the human mind and challenged it to seek to discover the 'tradition of God in HIs creation" ie 'scientific research' in modern terminology. The Quran is replete with verses pushing man to use his brain and pursue knowledge, and we here give a few examples; starting with the first words of the Quran ever revealed:

"Read! in th ename of your Lord who created...created man out of a sticky material (alaq)... Read! and your Lord is the most Bountiful. Who taught with the pen taught man that which he knew not." (96:15)

"God will raise up to higher ranks those of you who believe and who have been granted knowledge." (58:11)

"And say: O my Lord! Advance me in knowledge." (20:114)

"We will show them our signs in the horizons and in their own selves until it beocmes manifest to them that this is the truth." (41:53)

"On the earth are signs for those of assured faith. And also in your own selves: will you not then see?" (51:20-21)

"Are those equal: those who know and those who do not know? It is those endued with understanding that receive admonition." (39:9)

"Among His servants it is those who have knowledge who truly fear His most." (35:28)

And yet it seems that the Quran bears more miracles than its linguistic inimitability. The latter at the onset of Islam overwhelmed the Arabs whose only pride was their literary excellence. Staunch enemies of Islam would listen to the Quran and immediately feel spellbound by its divine language. No less a person than Umar ibn al Khattab, who was in extremely for midable figure amongst the enemies of Islam, would hear that his sister had embraced Islam and wnt to punishe her, and upon listening to a few lines from the Quran he promptly embraced Islam. Those people were our reliable indictors concerning the divine nature of the Quran, just as litmus paper is a reliable indicator of the acidity or alkalinity of aliquid. At our present age of scientific advancement, yet another miracle addresses the scientific mind of the ttwentieth century, as more and more scientific facts are revealed and the present day scientist stands astounded as he realizes that the Quran makes direct reference to them. This seems to be the scientific miracle of the Quran, starting to unfold after so many centuries. It is no wonder that some of the most imminent scientists of our time were amongst the many Europeans and Americans who lately embraced Islam (such as Roger Garaudy, Maurice Beaucaille and Arthur Ellis).

On the subject of the development of the human fetus we will present some relevant verses of the Qur'an without any Comment of note. We do not feel the need to go at any length in stretching the exegesis or manipulating the words to make the text appear to coincide exactly with what is written in works on embryology. It is our opinion that exegists of the past and Islamic scientists of today need not and should not over do it in a sometimes desperate attempt to prove that "God knows!"

"O mankind! If you have a doubt about the resurrection, (Consider) that We created you out of dust, then out of a nutfa (little drop of semen then of double composition), then out of a leech-like clot (alaqa), then out of a chewn morsel of flesh (modgha) partly formed and partly unformed, in order that We might manifest (Our power) to you, and We cause whom We will to rest in the wombs for an appointed term, then We bring you out as bades, then (foster you) that you may reach your age of full strength, and some of you are called to die, and som e are sent back to the feeblest old age, so that they know nothing after having known (much)." (22:5)

"It is He who has created you from dust, then from nutfa, then from a leech-like clot (alaqa), then does He get you out as a child; then lets you reach your age of full strength, then lets you become old; though of you there are some who die before, and lets you reach a time appointed, in order that you may learn wisdom." (40:67)

"We did create man from a sulala (this word fits two meanings: 1. quintessence, 2. genealogy) of clay, then we placed him as a nutfa (little drop semen then sperm cum ovum) in a firmly secure sanctuary, then We made the nutfa into alaqa (sticky leech-Iike being), then We made the alaqa into a mudgha (chewn morsel), then We made out of that lump bones and clothed the bones with flesh. Then we set it in another creation. So blessed be God. ..the best to create."(23:13-14)

The verses are quite striking to the modern scientist even if we refrain from over-exegesis that is sometimes exercised, and the prescribed way for further knowledge is to pursue hard work in further research in the laboratory or otherwise, in accordance with the criteria of scientific research humanity has come to formulate, without preconceived conclusions and avoiding over-zeal. It was this honest scientific research that eventually revealed the marvels of the Quran and will continue to do so in the future. We quote as an example the Quranic verse that reads:

"He makes you in the wombs of your mothers in stages, one after another, in three veils of darkness. .." (39:6)

Several views have been expressed defining those three veils of darkness by old as well as contemporary exegists. The only difference is the resort of the latter to the achievements of scientific discoveries. and-with equal confidence the three darknesses have been explained as ammion. chorion and uterus; placenta, uterus and maternal abdominal wall: lack of sight hearing and intellect; insecurity about prenatal. intranatal and postnatal existance and so on while the simple and honest answer in our view is to say that we do not know for sure what God specifically meant by those three darkncsses. and be confident that our ignorance will not under-mine the Quran in the least or reflect negatively on our prestige as a learned people. In our present era of Islamic revival great care is needed to avoid emotionalism and confusion. We have witnessed a few muslim scholars going far out of the way in order to connect a statement in the Quran with some modern scientific discovery. We remain convinced that the proper place of Muslim scientists is their laboratories and research institutions playing their proper role the hard way as their forebears did in the era of Islamic civilization and as their peers in today's scientific world do. This is certainly the only effective way to live Islam, benefit humanity and serve the Quran.