Human Embryonic Development
We created the human being from an extract of clay. Then We made him a tiny drop of semen in a secure lodging. ~ Quran 23:12-13
Then We created from the tiny drop of semen an aalaqah (leech-like structure), then We created from the aalaqah a mudghah (chewed-shaped lump), then We created from the mudghah bones, then We covered the bones with flesh, then We produced him as another creation. So blessed be God, the best of creators.
~ Quran 23:14
The words "aalaqah" and "mudghah" carry great scientific content. The word "aalaqah" literally means "something that clings", like a leech or a bloodsucker. This is an appropriate description of the human embryo from days 7-24 when it clings to the endometrium of the uterus, in the same way that a leech clings to the skin.
..then We created from the aalaqah a mudghah..
~ Quran 23:14
The word "mudghah" literally means "chewed substance” or “chewed lump". Towards the end of the fourth week, the human embryo looks like a chewed lump of flesh, not different from the marks on a chewing gum.
The chewed appearance results from the somites which resemble teeth marks. The somites represent the beginnings (primordial) of the vertebrae.
The stages of embryonic development were only known after the invention of the microscope and ultrasound technology, which was invented in the late 1590's. Incredibly, nine centuries earlier, the Quran details the complete stages of the embryo.
O people, if you have any doubt about resurrection, (remember that) we created you from dust, and subsequently from a tiny drop, which turns into a hanging (embryo), then it becomes a fetus that is given life or deemed lifeless. We thus clarify things for you. We settle in the wombs whatever we will for a predetermined period. We then bring you out as infants, then you reach maturity. While some of you die young, others live to the worst age, only to find out that no more knowledge can be attained beyond a certain limit..
~ Quran 22:5
The miscarriage rate drops enormously after the embryo becomes a fetus at the end of the first trimester. “..then it becomes a fetus that is given life or deemed lifeless.” God truly is the Almighty Creator of the human being and He controls all things, including who of the women will miscarry and who will give birth.
He created you from a single self, then from it He created its mate. He brought down to you eight pairs of livestock. He creates you in your mothers' wombs, creation after creation, in three realms of darkness. Such is God your Lord. To Him belongs the sovereignty. There is no other god besides Him, so how come you deviate?
~ Quran 39:6
The phrase "three realms of darkness" was not fully understood and was taken to be merely a poetic phrase, however it is now understood to contain very accurate scientific information. The three separate realms of darkness which enclose the foetus are: (l) the anterior abdominal wall; (2) the uterine wall; and (3) the amniochorionic membrane.
Professor Keith Moore, one of the world's prominent scientists in the fields of anatomy and embryology confirms the accuracy of the Quran:
"Muhammad could not have known these facts about human development in the 7th Century, because most of them were not discovered until the 20th Century. Muslims and others are justified in concluding that these facts could have only been revealed to Muhammad by the One Known, who knows all about us, not only about how were developed, but about how we live and function."
- Keith Moore
View full version video of Professor Keith Moore here.
Peace & God Bless