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Islam and Science: Difference between revisions
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===Zamzam water and health=== | ===Zamzam water and health=== | ||
{{Main| | {{Main|Zamzam Well#Zamzam Water and Health}} | ||
Millions of Muslims visit the Zamzam well in Mecca each year while performing the Hajj or Umrah pilgrimages in order to drink from its water and, in many cases, to take home some of its water for distribution among friends and relations due to what are believed to be the water's miraculous properties. In May 2011, a BBC investigation found that genuine Zamzam water taken from the well contained arsenic levels three times the legal limit, something which could contribute to increasing people's risk of cancer. In addition to the dangerous arsenic levels, the holy water contained high levels of nitrate and potentially harmful bacteria. | Millions of Muslims visit the Zamzam well in Mecca each year while performing the Hajj or Umrah pilgrimages in order to drink from its water and, in many cases, to take home some of its water for distribution among friends and relations due to what are believed to be the water's miraculous properties. In May 2011, a BBC investigation found that genuine Zamzam water taken from the well contained arsenic levels three times the legal limit, something which could contribute to increasing people's risk of cancer. In addition to the dangerous arsenic levels, the holy water contained high levels of nitrate and potentially harmful bacteria. | ||
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The details of embryology as reflected in the Qur’an and the hadith can be summarized as follows; the embryo spends 40 days as a drop of sperm or seed, the embryo then spends another 40 days as a “clot” or a “leech-like clot” of blood, the embryo then spends another 40 days as a “lump of flesh” during which the gender of the child is assigned by an angel at Allah’s direction. | The details of embryology as reflected in the Qur’an and the hadith can be summarized as follows; the embryo spends 40 days as a drop of sperm or seed, the embryo then spends another 40 days as a “clot” or a “leech-like clot” of blood, the embryo then spends another 40 days as a “lump of flesh” during which the gender of the child is assigned by an angel at Allah’s direction. | ||
=== Quranic theory of semen production === | |||
{{Main|Quran and Semen Production}}Qur'an 86:7 says that sperm originates from the backbones and the ribs, a theory similar to another erroneous theory proposed by Hippocrates in 5th century BCE. | |||
{{Quote|{{quran-range|86|6|7}}|He [man] is created from a gushing fluid<br> | |||
That issued from between the loins and ribs.}} | |||
Many Muslims scholars have in recent times declared the Quranic theory of semen production to be an instance of miraculous scientific foreknowledge; much criticism has been forthcoming. | |||
===Sources of Islamic theories of reproduction=== | ===Sources of Islamic theories of reproduction=== | ||
{{Main|Sources of Islamic Theories of Reproduction}} | {{Main|Sources of Islamic Theories of Reproduction}} | ||
The hadith contain many statements about fluids from both the man and woman that were believed to form the human embryo. The Qur’an | The hadith contain many statements about fluids from both the man and woman that were believed to form the human embryo. The Qur’an likewise says that the embryo is formed from emitted fluid, and in one verse perhaps indicates a mingling of male and female fluids. The origins of each of these ideas go at least as far back as the Jewish Talmud and the ancient Greek physicians. While none of the historical theories in this respect can be considered valid in light of modern science, the influence of ideas from ancient cultures and scientists upon the theories presented in the Quran and hadith is clear. | ||
===Cousin Marriage in Islam=== | ===Cousin Marriage in Islam=== | ||
{{Main| | {{Main|Cousin Marriage in Islamic Law#Science and Statistics}} | ||
Cousin marriage is explicitly | Cousin marriage is explicitly permitted in verse 23 of the 4th chapter of the Quran ({{Quran|4|23}}). Muhammad himself married his cousins. Zaynab bint Jahsh, one of Muhammad's wives, was the daughter of his father's sister as well as the former wife of Muhammad's adopted son Zayd ibn Haritha. Muhammad also allowed the marriage of his daughter, Fatimah, to his cousin, [[Ali ibn Abi Talib]], who would later go on to become the fourth [[Rashidun Caliphs|Rightly-guided]] [[Caliph]] of Islam. The second Caliph, [[Umar ibn Al-Khattab|Umar ibn al-Khattab]], also married his cousin, Atikah bint Zayd ibn Amr ibn Nufayl. | ||
Modern cultures strongly discourage cousin marriage due to the higher than normal consanguinity rate among close relatives which results in an increased chance of sharing genes for recessive traits and birth defects. The British geneticist and professor Steve Jones, giving The John Maddox Lecture at the 2011 Hay Festival, stated in relation to Muslim inbreeding, "It is common in the Islamic world to marry your brother’s daughter, which is actually [genetically] closer than marrying your cousin." Statistical estimates show that close to half of all living Muslims are the offspring of cousin marriages and are, according to scientific standards, inbred. | |||
==Islamic cosmology== | ==Islamic cosmology== | ||