The drop of fluid or semen
In a number of places we are informed that man is created from a drop of fluid (semen, seed ):
In the verses listed below ‘ nutfah’ is used when describing the fluid which gushes out during sexual intercourse and clearly this can only refer to semen.
16:4 He created man from a drop of fluid (Pickthall)
16:4 He has created man from a semen( sperm) -drop
32:8 He made his seed from a quintessence of despised fluid
35:11 ...then from a little fluid (Pickthall)
53:46 (he created) from a drop of seed when it is poured forth (Pickthall)
53:46 From a sperm-drop when lodged (in its place)
56:58 Have ye seen that which ye emit (Pickthall)
56:58 Do you then see? The (human Seed) that ye emit
75:37 Was he not a drop of fluid which gushed forth (Pickthall)
75:37 Was he not a drop of sperm emitted (in lowly form)?
76:2 We create man from a drop of thickened fluid (Pickthall)
76:2 We created Man from a drop of mingled semen (sperm)
80:19 From a semen-drop (sperm) He hath created him
Could any of this have been known to sixth-century Muslims at the time of Prophet Muhammed ? Surely that procreation involves the emission of a drop of fluid has been well known from the earliest days of civilization.
The verses which describe the origin of life as a drop of emitted fluid are therefore no more than a direct observation as to what is released during the act of sexual intercourse. We hardly need to rely upon divine inspiration to inform us of this fact. An illiterate man who never heard about Quran can tell about this ‘emitted fluid’ from male, or even a 12 year old boy can tell how and why child is created in the womb of a mother.
The Qur'an emphatically does not mention sperm or eggs; it simply says nutfah. This can reasonably be translated semen, or at best as germinal fluid - which was a term used as early as Hippocrates [1] who spoke of male and female reproductive fluids (but obviously could not have been aware of the cells contained in the fluids).
Prof. Moore by his wishful intention translated nutfah as germinal fluid, he inadvertently reinforces that the Qur'an is borrowing this term from the Greeks.
Borrowing erroneous Greek ideas
Sura- (86:6-7) "He is created from a drop emitted - proceeding from between the backbone and the ribs"
Sura- (7:172) "when thy Lord drew forth from the Children of Adam - from their loins - their descendants" or
Sura- (4:23) "prohibited to you (for marriage) are ... wives of your sons proceeding from your loins".
In the Quranic translation by Maulana Fazlur Rahman Munshi, the Ayat (86:6-7) were translated as: semen are produced from the back of a man and from the breasts (mammary glands) of an woman.
Sura 86:6-7 : is interesting since it claims that during the act of sexual intercourse before which a man is created, the "gushing fluid" or semen issues from between the loins and ribs. Semen is apparently coming out of the area around the kidneys and back, which is a real scientific mistake for we know that the testicles are the sites of sperm production (although the ancient Greeks were not so convinced. Aristotle for example amusingly believed that they functioned as weights to keep the seminal passages open during sexual intercourse [2]).
The Greek physician Hippocrates and his followers taught in the fifth century BC that semen comes from all the fluid in the body, diffusing from the brain into the spinal marrow, before passing through the kidneys and via the testicles into the penis [3]. Clearly according to this view sperm originates from the region of the kidneys, and although there is serious scientific error to this teaching today, it was well-known in the 7th century period, and shows how the Qur'an could contain such an erroneous statement. So this is an example of an incorrect ancient Greek idea re-emerging in the Qur'an.
Comments
To resolve the considerable guess works and ambiguity about what exactly we are made of , is like a Carpenter when he was asked about a wooden table how he made it, he (Carpenter) then answers: "This table was made out of wood, out of soil, out of water , out of air, out nitrogen and so on." Now, apologist can argue by saying that,, Tree grows in soil, needs water, nitrogen, air etc. so it is O.K. to answer all those (instead of saying I made it from wood). Or, insincere, blind-folded Mullahs can argue that, these were allegory, and not to be taken literally. Question is where is the key to decide those so called Allegories?
It is quite plausible to consider that, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) encountered (during the initial propagation of divine revelations) lots of questions (from sahabis), as to how, Allah created human beings, and those questions obviously made it necessary to bring those above mentioned Ayats regarding human origin. Now, question can be asked how an illiterate Prophet could gather such expert knowledge? In the future essays, I intend to postulate possible means through which Prophet could have received these knowledge.
