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Semen Production in the Quran: Difference between revisions
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[[Category:Islam and Science]] | [[Category:Islam and Science]] | ||
[[Category:Qur'an]] | [[Category:Qur'an]] | ||
{{QualityScore|Lead=4|Structure=4|Content=4|Language=4|References=3}}[[File:Hippocrates.jpg|thumb|280px|right|Qur'an 86:7 says that sperm originates from the backbones and the ribs, a theory similar to another (now known to be erroneous) theory proposed by Hippocrates in 5th century BC (1000 years before Islam). Hippocrates taught 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.<ref>Hippocratic Writings (Penguin Classics, 1983) pp. 317-318</ref>]]Towards the end of the 20th century and into the early 21st century, drawing on the work of a broad and largely Saudi-financed movement to demonstrate the concordance of [[Islam and Science|Islamic scriptures and modern science]], attempts have been made to defend the '''[[Quran|Qur'anic]] idea of semen production''' (found in {{Quran-range|86|6|7}}) from between the ''sulb'' (literally "backbone") and the ''tara’ib'' (literally "ribs"). Several specific interpretations have been proposed, critiqued, and withdrawn by modern Islamic scholars - none, however, have been welcomed by the professional scientific or historian community. | {{QualityScore|Lead=4|Structure=4|Content=4|Language=4|References=3}}[[File:Hippocrates.jpg|thumb|280px|right|Qur'an 86:7 says that sperm originates from the backbones and the ribs, a theory similar to another (now known to be erroneous) theory proposed by Hippocrates in 5th century BC (1000 years before Islam). Hippocrates taught 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.<ref>Hippocratic Writings (Penguin Classics, 1983) pp. 317-318</ref>]]Towards the end of the 20th century and into the early 21st century, drawing on the work of a broad and largely Saudi-financed movement to demonstrate the concordance of [[Islam and Science|Islamic scriptures and modern science]], attempts have been made to defend the '''[[Quran|Qur'anic]] idea of semen production''' (found in {{Quran-range|86|6|7}}) from between the ''sulb'' (literally "backbone"<ref>sulb - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume4/00000436.pdf Lane's Lexicon] page 1712</ref>) and the ''tara’ib'' (literally "ribs"<ref name="Lane Lexicon taraib2" />). Several specific interpretations have been proposed, critiqued, and withdrawn by modern Islamic scholars - none, however, have been welcomed by the professional scientific or historian community. | ||
The most common of these revisionary perspectives which advocate an interpretation of the Quran via its reconciliation with modern science include that of Drs. Maurice Bucaille and A. K. Giraud (according to which ''sulb'' and ''tara’ib'' refer to the sexual areas of the male and female); Ahmed A. Abd-Allah (according to which all acknowledged translations and tafsirs are in error, as ''sulb'' and ''tara’ib'' refer instead to to the male's “hardening” penis and the female's erogenous zones other than the vagina); Dr. Zakir Naik (according to which ''sulb'' and ''tara’ib'' refer to the backbone and ribs of both sexes and where the blood, nerve and lymphatic supply to the gonads are being described rather than the act of sexual reproduction); Dr. Jamal Badawi (according to which the verses refer not to semen production but to the blood of the aorta as the ‘gushing fluid poured forth’); Hamza Tzortzis (according to whom the Quran refers to childbirth from between a woman's backbone and ribs); Muhammad Asad (according to which ''sulb'' refers to the male's loins and ''tara'ib'' to the female's pelvic arch); Moiz Amjad (who adopts Naik's positions, and further claims that the ''sulb'' and ''tara'ib'' 'region' alluded to are special euphemisms for the sexual organs); and Yusuf Ali (according to which the backbone is only symbolically alluded to as a symbol of male strength where semen flows between the backbone and ribs). | The most common of these revisionary perspectives which advocate an interpretation of the Quran via its reconciliation with modern science include that of Drs. Maurice Bucaille and A. K. Giraud (according to which ''sulb'' and ''tara’ib'' refer to the sexual areas of the male and female); Ahmed A. Abd-Allah (according to which all acknowledged translations and tafsirs are in error, as ''sulb'' and ''tara’ib'' refer instead to to the male's “hardening” penis and the female's erogenous zones other than the vagina); Dr. Zakir Naik (according to which ''sulb'' and ''tara’ib'' refer to the backbone and ribs of both sexes and where the blood, nerve and lymphatic supply to the gonads are being described rather than the act of sexual reproduction); Dr. Jamal Badawi (according to which the verses refer not to semen production but to the blood of the aorta as the ‘gushing fluid poured forth’); Hamza Tzortzis (according to whom the Quran refers to childbirth from between a woman's backbone and ribs); Muhammad Asad (according to which ''sulb'' refers to the male's loins and ''tara'ib'' to the female's pelvic arch); Moiz Amjad (who adopts Naik's positions, and further claims that the ''sulb'' and ''tara'ib'' 'region' alluded to are special euphemisms for the sexual organs); and Yusuf Ali (according to which the backbone is only symbolically alluded to as a symbol of male strength where semen flows between the backbone and ribs). | ||
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'''Pickthal:''' ''that issued from between the loins and ribs.'' | '''Pickthal:''' ''that issued from between the loins and ribs.'' | ||
'''Sahih International:''' ''Emerging from between the backbone and the ribs.'' | |||
'''Arberry:''' ''issuing between the loins and the breast-bones.'' | '''Arberry:''' ''issuing between the loins and the breast-bones.'' | ||
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'''Malik:''' ''that is produced from between the loins and the ribs.'' | '''Malik:''' ''that is produced from between the loins and the ribs.'' | ||
'''Maulana Ali:''' ''coming from between the back and the ribs.'' | '''Maulana Ali:''' ''coming from between the back and the ribs.'' | ||
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Clarity on the matter is found in the authoritative Lane's Lexicon of Classical Arabic, whose definition for ''sulb'' involves the English word loins clearly in its primary, literal sense relating to the back:{{Quote|[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume4/00000436.pdf صلب Lane's Lexicon, page 1712]|and any portion of the back containing vertebrae: (S, MSB, TA:) [and particularly '''the lumbar portion; the loins''':] and the back [absolutely]}}Lane also quotes an Arab saying that features ''sulb'', translating and explaining it as follows (''sperma'' is a Late Latin word meaning seed, or semen):{{Quote|[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume4/00000436.pdf صلب Lane's Lexicon, page 1712]|''These are the sons of their loins:'' Because the sperma of the man is held to proceed from the sulb of the man}} | Clarity on the matter is found in the authoritative Lane's Lexicon of Classical Arabic, whose definition for ''sulb'' involves the English word loins clearly in its primary, literal sense relating to the back:{{Quote|[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume4/00000436.pdf صلب Lane's Lexicon, page 1712]|and any portion of the back containing vertebrae: (S, MSB, TA:) [and particularly '''the lumbar portion; the loins''':] and the back [absolutely]}}Lane also quotes an Arab saying that features ''sulb'', translating and explaining it as follows (''sperma'' is a Late Latin word meaning seed, or semen):{{Quote|[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume4/00000436.pdf صلب Lane's Lexicon, page 1712]|''These are the sons of their loins:'' Because the sperma of the man is held to proceed from the sulb of the man}} | ||
===Supporting evidence in other verses and hadiths=== | ===Supporting evidence in other verses and hadiths=== | ||
Independent corroboration that ''sulb'' in the Qur'an refers to the back or backbone is found in another verse on the same subject using a different Arabic word for back. {{Quran|7|172}} says that the offspring of the children of Adam are 'from their backs (loins)'. Instead of ''sulb'', the word here is ''thahr'', which means the back<ref>thahr - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume5/00000212.pdf Lane's Lexicon | Independent corroboration that ''sulb'' in the Qur'an refers to the back or backbone is found in another verse on the same subject using a different Arabic word for back. {{Quran|7|172}} says that the offspring of the children of Adam are 'from their backs (loins)'. Instead of ''sulb'', the word here is ''thahr'', which means the back<ref>thahr - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume5/00000212.pdf Lane's Lexicon] page 197</ref>, as is also the case in other verses such as {{Quran|6|31}}.{{Quote|{{Quran|7|172}}|'''Sahih International:''' And [mention] when your Lord took from the children of Adam - from their loins - their descendants and made them testify of themselves, [saying to them], "Am I not your Lord?" They said, "Yes, we have testified." [This] - lest you should say on the day of Resurrection, "Indeed, we were of this unaware." | ||
'''Arabic:''' مِنۢ بَنِىٓ ءَادَمَ مِن ظُهُورِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ | '''Arabic:''' مِنۢ بَنِىٓ ءَادَمَ مِن ظُهُورِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ | ||
'''Transliteration:''' min banee adama min thuhoorihim thurriyyatahum}} | '''Transliteration:''' min banee adama min thuhoorihim thurriyyatahum}} | ||
One other verse in the Qur'an uses the word ''sulb''. In this case there is no mention of ''tara'ib''. It is an example of the simple Arabic phrase mentioned in Lane's Lexicon (see above), based on the belief that the seed of men proceed from their backs.{{Quote|{{Quran|4|23}}|''' | One other verse in the Qur'an uses the word ''sulb''. In this case there is no mention of ''tara'ib''. It is an example of the simple Arabic phrase mentioned in Lane's Lexicon (see above), based on the belief that the seed of men proceed from their backs.{{Quote|{{Quran|4|23}}|'''Sahih International:''' Prohibited to you [for marriage] are your mothers, your daughters, your sisters [...] the wives of your sons who are from your [own] loins, and that you take [in marriage] two sisters simultaneously, except for what has already occurred. Indeed, Allah is ever Forgiving and Merciful}}Slightly more explicitly, a hadith in [[Sahih Bukhari]] (also in {{Muslim|39|6733}}) uses ''sulb'' to say that the source of Adam's future progeny was in his back from before they were conceived.{{Quote|{{Bukhari|8|76|562}}|The Prophet (pbuh) said, "Allah will say to the person who will have the minimum punishment in the Fire on the Day of Resurrection, 'If you had things equal to whatever is on the earth, would you ransom yourself (from the punishment) with it?' He will reply, Yes. Allah will say, 'I asked you a much easier thing than this while you were in the backbone of Adam, that is, not to worship others besides Me, but you refused and insisted to worship others besides Me."'}} | ||
This concept did not just apply to Adam. Another hadith confirms that ''sulb'' refers in this way even to the backbone of a specific man's father. | This concept did not just apply to Adam. Another hadith confirms that ''sulb'' refers in this way even to the backbone of a specific man's father. | ||
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Critics note that almost all the commonly available translations of the Qur'an refer to ''sulb'' as the backbone or loins. Even classical authorities such as Ibn Kathir accept the meaning of the word as "backbone". Additionally, ''Hans Wehr'', a dictionary of modern standard rather than classical Arabic, is an unreliable source for determining the meanings of words in the Qur'an. Lane's Lexicon, which is a lexicon based on classical Arabic dictionaries and sources, defines sulb singular as the backbone, as noted above, and as we also see in one of the hadiths quoted above. | Critics note that almost all the commonly available translations of the Qur'an refer to ''sulb'' as the backbone or loins. Even classical authorities such as Ibn Kathir accept the meaning of the word as "backbone". Additionally, ''Hans Wehr'', a dictionary of modern standard rather than classical Arabic, is an unreliable source for determining the meanings of words in the Qur'an. Lane's Lexicon, which is a lexicon based on classical Arabic dictionaries and sources, defines sulb singular as the backbone, as noted above, and as we also see in one of the hadiths quoted above. | ||
Critics also argue that Abd-Allah’s proposition is undercut by the definitions of ''tara’ib'' he provides. He does not show that the tafsirs and dictionaries explain ''tara’ib'' to mean vagina. ''Tara’ib'' is defined as the upper chest or ribs, or according to some sources can also mean the two legs, two arms or two eyes<ref name="Lane Lexicon taraib2">tara'ib - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume1/00000338.pdf Lane's Lexicon | Critics also argue that Abd-Allah’s proposition is undercut by the definitions of ''tara’ib'' he provides. He does not show that the tafsirs and dictionaries explain ''tara’ib'' to mean vagina. ''Tara’ib'' is defined as the upper chest or ribs, or according to some sources can also mean the two legs, two arms or two eyes<ref name="Lane Lexicon taraib2">tara'ib - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume1/00000338.pdf Lane's Lexicon] page 301</ref>. While erogenous zones are important in foreplay, the sexual act must be consummated through the vagina. | ||
Finally, critics argue that Abd-Allah’s reference to Ibn Kathir’s tafsir is misleading, as it includes only the half of the description which supports his case (i.e. that ''tara’ib'' refers to the woman) and excludes the other half that contradicts it (i.e. that ''tara’ib'' is the woman’s ribs). | Finally, critics argue that Abd-Allah’s reference to Ibn Kathir’s tafsir is misleading, as it includes only the half of the description which supports his case (i.e. that ''tara’ib'' refers to the woman) and excludes the other half that contradicts it (i.e. that ''tara’ib'' is the woman’s ribs). | ||
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8 Indeed, Allah, to return him [to life], is Able.}} | 8 Indeed, Allah, to return him [to life], is Able.}} | ||
Critics further note that the womb and fetus during pregnancy and childbirth are located | Critics further note that the womb and fetus during pregnancy and childbirth are obviously not located within the mother's ribcage, and therefore it is not plausible that the verse could be describing a child coming forth from between a woman's backbone and ribs. | ||
===Muhammad Asad - loins and pelvic arch=== | ===Muhammad Asad - loins and pelvic arch=== | ||
{{Quote||(5) LET MAN, then, observe out of what he has been created:<br>(6) he has been created out of a seminal fluid<br>(7) issuing from between the loins [of man] and the pelvic arch [of woman].<br> | {{Quote||(5) LET MAN, then, observe out of what he has been created:<br>(6) he has been created out of a seminal fluid<br>(7) issuing from between the loins [of man] and the pelvic arch [of woman].<br> | ||