Can anyone please recommend a good article or book outlining the foetus development in the womb? Especially in regards to when the soul comes in? etc etc!!
ps: I am not sure if this is the right forum or not so mods please feel free to move it around as necessary!
Re: books about foetus development???
Peace Gemini the Great,
I can post an article about Embryology in the light of Quranic verses, if u would like it.
Re: books about foetus development???
please do... thanks
Re: books about foetus development???
Salams GTG…
We may have to combine a few different texts to give you what you are looking for here. The reason is that there are two aspects when trying to understand the islamic view of fetal development. One is the in depth translation and correlation required to mate the terms used in science to the terms used in the Quran and Hadith. And the second is the understanding the of the hadith that explains the part about the periods in the womb and how the angels are deputed to take care of the foetus.
First lets take a look at the hadith Reported by al-Bukhaari, al-Fath, no. 3208 and by Muslim, no. 264. And this is an authentic hadith.
hadeeth of Ibn Mas‘ood (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: "The Messenger of Allah (Peace & Blessings of Allaah be upon Him), whose truthfulness is confirmed, said: ‘The way that each of you is created is that he is gathered in his mother’s womb for forty days as a sperm drop, and then for a similar length of time as a blood-clot, and then for a similar length of time as a lump of flesh. Then an angel is sent and he breathes the spirit into (the foetus), and is charged with four commands: to write down his provision, his life-span, his actions, and whether he will be wretched or happy…(till the end of the hadith)
So from the above we see that in a period of 4 months - which would fall b/w the 1st and 2nd trimesters is when the soul is blown into the foetus.
Now lets examine the terminologies. For this inshallah there is a research posted in scribd.com
You can read it here -
however to download it you will need to create an account on scribd.
Also this is a good compilation here..
http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Embryology_in_Islamic_Scripture
I hope this helps you somewhat inshallah!
Re: books about foetus development???
Peace Gemini the Great,
Man is created from ‘Alaq - A leech-like substance’.
A few years ago a group of Arabs collected all information concerning embryology from the Qur’an and followed the instruction of the Quran:
And We sent not before you, [O Muhammad], except men to whom We revealed [the message], so ask the people of the message if you do not know. [Surah Al Nahl 16:43 and Surah Al Anya 21:7]
All the information from the Qur’an so gathered, was translated into english and presented to Prof. (Dr) Keith Moore, who was the Professor of Embroyology and Chairman of the Department of Anatomy at the University of Toronto, in Canada. At present he is one of the highest authorities in the field of Embryology.
He was asked to give his opinion regarding the information present in the Qur’an concerning the filed of embryology. After carefully examining the translation of the Quranic verses presented to him, Dr. Moore said that most of the information concerning embryology mentioned in the Qur’an is in perfect conformity with modern discoveries in the field of embryology and does not conflict with them in any way. He added that there were however a few verses on whose scientific accuracy he could not comment. He could not say whether the statements were true or false, since he himself was not aware of the information contained therein. There was also no mention of this information in modern writings and studies on embryology.
One such verses is:
Recite in the name of your Lord who created - Created man from a clinging substance. [Surah Al Alaq 96:1-2]
The word Alaq besides meaning a congealed clot of blood also means something that clings, a leech-like substance. Dr. Keith Moore had no knowledge whether an embryo in the initial stages appears like a leech. To check this out he studied the initial stage of the embryo under a very poweful microscope in his laboratory and compared what he observed with a diagram of a leech and he was astonished at the striking resemblance between the two. In the same manner, he acquired more information on embryology, that was hitherto not known to him from the Qur’an.
Dr. Moore answered about eighty questions dealing with embryological data mentioned in the Quran and Hadith. Nothing that the information contained in the Quran and Hadith was in full agreement with the latest discoveries in the field of embryology, Prof. Moore said, “If i was asked these questions thirty years ago, I would not have been able to answer half of them for lack of scientific information”.
Dr. Keith Moore had earlier authored the book, "The Developing Human’. After acquiring new knowledge from the Quran, he wrote, in 1982, the 3rd edition of the same book, ‘The Developing Human’. The book was the recipient of an award for the best medical book written by a single author. This book has been translated into several major languages of the world and is used as a textbook of embrylogy in the first year of medical studies.
In 1981, during the Seventh Medical Conference in Damman, Saudi Arabia, Dr. Moore said, “It has been a great pleasure for me to help clarify statements in the Qur’an about human development. It is clear to me that these statements must come to Muhammad 
from God of Allah, because almost all of this knowledge was not discovered until many centuries later. This proves to me that Muhammad must have been a messenge of God or Allah”.
Dr. Joe Leigh Simpson, Chairman of the Department of Obstectrics and Gynaecology, at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA proclaim: “these Hadiths, sayings of Muhammad could not have been obtained on the basis of the scientific knowledge that was available at the time of the writer (7th century). It follows that not only is there no conflict between genetics and religion (Islam) but in fact religion (Islam) may guide science by adding revelation to some of the traditional scientific approaches…there exist statements in the Quran shown centuries later to the valid wich support knowledge in the Quran having been derived from God”.
Man Created from a drop emitted from between the back bone and the ribs
So let man observe from what he was created. He was created from a fluid, ejected, Emerging from between the backbone and the ribs. [Surah At Tariq 86:5-7]
In embryonic stages, the reproductive organs of the male and female, i.e. the testicles and the ovaries, begin their development near the kidney between the spinal column and the eleventh and twelfth ribs. Later they sescend; the female gonads (ovaries) stop in the pelvis while the male gonads (testicles) continue their descent before birth to reach the scrotum through the inguinal canal. Even in the adult the descent of the reproducctive organ, these organs receive their nerve supply and blood supply from the Abdominal Aorta, which is in the area between the backbone (spinal column) and the ribs. Even the lymphatic drainage and the venous return goes to the same area.
Human being created from Nutfah (Minute Quanitity of Liquid)
The Glorious Quran mentions no less than eleven times that the human being is created from nutfah, which mean a minutes quantity of liquid or a trickle of liquid which remains after emptying a cup. This is mentioned in several verses of the Quran including 22:5 and 23:13 (same also mentioned in Quran at 16:4, 18:37, 35:11, 36:77, 40:67, 53:46, 75:37, and 80:19).
Science has confirmed in recent times that only one out of an average of three million sperms is required for fertilising the ovum. This means that only a 1/three millionth part or 0.00003% of the quantity of sperms that are emitted is required for fertilisation.
Human beings created from Sulalah (Quintessence of liquid)
Then He made his posterity out of the extract of a liquid disdained. [Surah As Sajda 32:8]
The Arabic word Sulalah means quintessence or best part of a whole. We have come to know now that only one single spermatozoon that penetrates the ovum is required for fertilization, out of the several millions produced by man. That one spermatozoon out several millions, is referred to in the Quran as sulalah. Sulalah also means gentle extraction from a fluid. The fluid refers to both male and female germinal fluids containing gametes. both ovum and sperm are gently extracted from their environments in process of fertilization.
Man Created from NUTFATUN AMSHAAJ (Mingled liquids)
Consider the following Quranic verse:
Indeed, We created man from a sperm-drop mixture that We may try him; and We made him hearing and seeing. [Surah Al Insaan 76:2]
The Arabic word nutfatin amshaajin means mingled liquids. According to some commentators of the Quran, mingled ligquids refers to the male or female agents or liquids. After mixture of male and female gamete, the zygote still remain nutfah. Mingled liquids can also refer to spermatic fluid that is formed of various secretions that come from various glands.
Therefore nutfatin amsaj, i.e. a minute quanitity of mingled fluids refers to the male and female gametes (germinal fluids or cells) and part of the surrounding fluids.
SEX Determination
The sex of a foetus is determined by the nature of the sperm and not the ovum. The sex of child, whether female or male, depends on whether the 23rd pair of chromosomes is XX or XY respectively.
Primarily sex determination occurs at fertilization and depends upon the type of sex chromosome in the sperm that fertilizes an ovum. If it is an ‘X’ bearing sperm that fertilizes the ovum, the foetus is a female and if it is a ‘Y’ bearing sperm then the foetus is a make.
And that He creates the two mates - the male and female - From a sperm-drop when it is emitted [Surah An Najm 53:45-46]
The Arabic word nutfah means a minute quanitity of liquid and tumna means ejaculated or planted. Therefore Nutfah specifically refers to sperm because it is ejaculated.
The Quran says:
Had he not been a sperm from semen emitted? Then he was a clinging clot, and Allah ] created [his form] and proportioned [him] And made of him two mates, the male and the female. [Surah Al Qiyamah 75:37-39]
Here again it is mentioned that a small quanitity (drop) of sperm (indicated by thw word nutafatan min maniyyin) which comes from the man is responsible for the sex of the foetus.
Some Mother-in-Laws, by and large prefer having male grandchildren and often blame their daughter-in-law if the child is not of the desired sex. If only they knew that the determining factor is the nature of the male sperm and and not the female ovum. If they were to blame anybody, they should blame their sons and not their daughters-in-law since both the Qur’an and Science hold that it is the male fluid that is responsible for the sex of the child.
Foetus Protected by Three Veils of Darkness
He created you from one soul. Then He made from it its mate, and He produced for you from the grazing livestock eight mates. He creates you in the wombs of your mothers, creation after creation, within three darknesses. That is Allah , your Lord; to Him belongs dominion. There is no deity except Him, so how are you averted? [Surah Az Zumar 39:6]
According to Prof. Keith Moore these three veils of the darkness in the Quran refer to:
Embryonic Stages
And certainly did We create man from an extract of clay. Then We placed him as a sperm-drop in a firm lodging. Then We made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and We made the clot into a lump [of flesh], and We made [from] the lump, bones, and We covered the bones with flesh; then We developed him into another creation. So blessed is Allah , the best of creators. [Surah Al Muminum 23:12-14]
In this verse Allah SWT states that man is created from a small quantity of liquid which is placed in a place of rest, firmly fizxed (well established or lodged) for which the Arabic word qararin makin in used. The uterus is well protected from the posterior by the spinal column supported firmly by the back muscles. The embryo is further protected by the amniotic sac containing the amniotic fluid. Thus the foetus has a well protected dwelling place.
This small quantity of fluid is made into alaqah, meaning something which clings. It also means a leech-like substance. Both descriptions are scientifically acceptable as in the very early stages the foetus clings to the wall and also appears to resemble the leech in shap. It is also behaves like a leech (blood sucker) and acquires its blood supply from the mother through the placenta.
The third meaning of the word alaqah is a blood clot. During this alaqah stage, which spans the third and fourth week of pregenancy, the blood clots within closed vessels. Hence the embryo acquires the appearance of a blood clot in addition to acquiring the appearance of a leech.
In 1677, Hamm and Leeuwenhoek were first scientists to observe human sperm cells (spermatozoa) using a microscope. They thought that a sperm ccell contained a miniature human being which grew in the uterus to form a newborn. This was known as the perforation theory. When scientists discovered that the ovum was bigger than the sperm, it was thought by De Graf and others that the foetus existed in a miniature form in the ovum. Later, in the 18th century Maupertuis propagated the theory biparental inheritance.
The alaqah is transformed into mudghah which means ‘something that is chewed (having teeth marks)’ and also something that is tacky and small which can be put in the mouth like gum. Both these explanations are scientifically correct. Prof. Keith Moore took a piece of plaster seal and made it into the size and shape of the early stage of foetus and chewed it between the teeth to make it into a ‘Mudgha’. He compared this with the photographs of the early stage of foetus. The teeth marks resembled the ‘someites’ which is the early formation of the spinal column.
This mudghah is transformed into bones (izam). The bones are clothed with intact flesh and muscles (lahm). The Allah makes it into another creature.
Prof. Marshall Johnson is one of the leading scientists in US, and in the head of the Department of Anatomy and Director of the Daniel Institute at the Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia in US. He was asked to commets on the verses of the Quran dealing with embryology. He said that the verses of the Quran describing the embryological stages canot be a coincidence. He said it was probable that Muhammad has a powerful microscope. On being reminded the Quran was revealed 1400 years ago, and microscopes were invented centuries after the time of Prophet Muhammad , Prof. Johnson laughed and admitted that the first microscope invented could not magnifry more than 10 times and could not show a clear picture.
Later he said: “I see nothing here in conflict with the concept that Divine intervention was involved when Muhammad recited the Quran.”
According to Dr. Keith Moore, the modern classification of embryonic development stages which is adopted throughout the world, is not esily comprehensible, since it identifies stages on a numerical basis i.e. stage I and stage II etc. The divisions revealed in the Quran are based on distinct and easily identifiable forms or shapes, which the embryo passes through. These are based on different phases of prenantal development and provide elegant scientifice descriptions that are comprehensible and pratical.
Similar embryological stages of human development have been described in the following verses:
Had he not been a sperm from semen emitted? Then he was a clinging clot, and Allah ] created [his form] and proportioned [him]
And made of him two mates, the male and the female. [Surah Al Qiyamah 75:37-39]
Who created you, proportioned you, and balanced you? In whatever form He willed has He assembled you. [Surah Al Infitar 82:7-8]
Embryo Partly formed and Partly unformed
At the mugdhah stage, if an incision is made in the embryo and the internal organ is dissected, it will be seen that most of them are formed while the others are not yet completely formed.
According to Profl Johnson, if we describe the embryo as a complete creation, then we are only sescribing that part which is already created. If we describe it as an incomplete creation, then we are only that part which is not yet created. So, is it a complete creation or an incomplete creation? there is no better description of this stage of embryogenesis that the Quranic description, “partly formed and partly unformed”, as in the following verse:
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.
Scientifically we know tha tat this early stage of development there are some cells which are differentiated and there are some cells that are undifferentiated - some organs are formed and yet others unformed.
Sense of Hearing and Sight
The first sense to develop in a developing human embryo is hearing. The foetus can hear sounds after the 24th week. Subsequently, the sense of sight is developed and the 28th week, the retina becomes sensitive to light.
Consider the following Quranice verses related to the development of the sense in the embryo:
In all these verses of the sense of hearing is mentioned before that of sight. Thus the Quranic description matches with the discoveries in modern embryology.
Then He proportioned him and breathed into him from His [created] soul and made for you hearing and vision and hearts; little are you grateful.[Surah As Sajdah 32:9]
Indeed, We created man from a sperm-drop mixture that We may try him; and We made him hearing and seeing.[Surah Al Insaan 76:2]
And it is He who produced for you hearing and vision and hearts; little are you grateful.[Surah Al Mu’minum 23:78]