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The [[hadith]] contain many statements about fluids from both the man and woman that were believed to form the human embryo. The [[Qur'an|Qur’an]] too says that the embryo is formed from emitted fluid, and in one verse perhaps indicates a mingling of male and female fluids.This article will trace the origins of each of these ideas at least as far back as the Jewish Talmud and the ancient Greek physicians. | The [[hadith]] contain many statements about fluids from both the man and woman that were believed to form the human embryo. The [[Qur'an|Qur’an]] too says that the embryo is formed from emitted fluid, and in one verse perhaps indicates a mingling of male and female fluids.This article will trace the origins of each of these ideas at least as far back as the Jewish Talmud and the ancient Greek physicians. | ||
The Prophet [[Muhammad]], who had been a well-traveled merchant, had extensive interactions with Jews in Arabia, and almost certainly with Nestorian Christians, who had large communities in Najran in the south and Hira to the north of the Arabian Peninsula.<ref>J. Stewart, "Nestorian Missionary Enterprise", p.70-74, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1928</ref><ref>Cyril Glasse, “The New Encyclopedia of Islam”, p.342-343, CA, USA: Altamira, 2001.</ref> Guillaume says of the Nestorians, “Such men were a familiar sight on all the caravan routes of Arabia”.<ref>Alfred Guillaume, “Islam”, p.15, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1990 (Reprinted)</ref> The Nestorians were based in | The Prophet [[Muhammad]], who had been a well-traveled merchant, had extensive interactions with Jews in Arabia, and almost certainly with Nestorian Christians, who had large communities in Najran in the south and Hira to the north of the Arabian Peninsula.<ref>J. Stewart, "Nestorian Missionary Enterprise", p.70-74, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1928</ref><ref>Cyril Glasse, “The New Encyclopedia of Islam”, p.342-343, CA, USA: Altamira, 2001.</ref> Guillaume says of the Nestorians, “Such men were a familiar sight on all the caravan routes of Arabia”.<ref>Alfred Guillaume, “Islam”, p.15, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1990 (Reprinted)</ref> The Nestorians were based in Syria, where they already possessed and studied the works of Galen, the hugely influential 2<sup>nd</sup> century Greek physician.<ref>Allen O. Whipple, “[{{Reference archive|1=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1965836/pdf/bullnyacadmed00860-0027.pdf|2=2012-07-23}} Role of the Nestorians as the connecting link between Greek and Arab medicine]”, Annals of Medical History 8 (1936) 313-323</ref> While this does not necessitate that the creators of the Qur’an and hadith directly copied from these works, it seems likely that they were, at the very least, indirectly influenced by these widespread ideas. | ||
==History of Embryology== | ==History of Embryology== | ||
Before commencing the specific topic of this article, the following timeline summarises existing theories of embryology, which may be compared with the wider content of [[Embryology in Islamic Scripture|Islamic embryology]]. Some argue that the vague statements of [[Embryology in the Quran|Qur'anic embryology]] have similarities with these theories, most conspicuously the incorrect ideas of Galen. | Before commencing the specific topic of this article, the following timeline summarises existing theories of embryology, which may be compared with the wider content of [[Embryology in Islamic Scripture|Islamic embryology]]. Some argue that the vague statements of [[Embryology in the Quran|Qur'anic embryology]] have similarities with these theories, most conspicuously the incorrect ideas of Galen. | ||
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{{Quote|Babylonian Talmud, Nidda 31a|R. Isaac citing R. Ammi stated: If the woman emits her semen first she bears a male child; if the man emits his semen first she bears a female child;<ref name="Nidda 31a">[http://halakhah.com/niddah/niddah_31.html Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Niddah (Nidda 31a)] - Halakhah.com, accessed July 23, 2012</ref>}} | {{Quote|Babylonian Talmud, Nidda 31a|R. Isaac citing R. Ammi stated: If the woman emits her semen first she bears a male child; if the man emits his semen first she bears a female child;<ref name="Nidda 31a">[http://halakhah.com/niddah/niddah_31.html Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Niddah (Nidda 31a)] - Halakhah.com, accessed July 23, 2012</ref>}} | ||
The same thing is reported in Berakoth 60a.<ref name="Berakoth 60a"></ref> Notice also a two-semens theory again. In most versions of this hadith the determining factor in resemblance is whose water (m<U>a</U>a i.e. semen) preceded (sabaqa) the other person’s water. In other versions it is whose water is on or upon (‘ala) the other’s, which is closer to various Greek theories in which resemblance or gender is caused by semens prevailing upon each other.<ref>Iain M. Lonie, “The Hippocratic Treatises ‘On generation’, ‘On the nature of the child’, ‘Diseases IV’”, pp.125-126, Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 1981</ref><ref>See Galen’s description of Strato’s theory of sex determination in “On Semen”, p.183, and De Lacy’s notes on p.242. Galen postulates a semen prevailance theory of resemblance on p.179-181.</ref> In one case (Sahih Muslim, Book 3, number 614), it is gender rather than resemblance that is determined in this way and maniyy is used rather than m<U>a</U>a. | The same thing is reported in Berakoth 60a.<ref name="Berakoth 60a"></ref> Notice also a two-semens theory again. In most versions of this hadith the determining factor in resemblance is whose water (m<U>a</U>a i.e. semen) preceded (sabaqa) the other person’s water. In other versions it is whose water is on or upon (‘ala) the other’s, which is closer to various Greek theories in which resemblance or gender is caused by semens prevailing upon each other.<ref>Iain M. Lonie, “The Hippocratic Treatises ‘On generation’, ‘On the nature of the child’, ‘Diseases IV’”, pp.125-126, Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 1981</ref><ref>See Galen’s description of Strato’s theory of sex determination in “On Semen”, p.183, and De Lacy’s notes on p.242. Galen postulates a semen prevailance theory of resemblance on p.179-181.</ref> In one case (Sahih Muslim, Book 3, number 614), it is gender rather than resemblance that is determined in this way and maniyy is used rather than m<U>a</U>a.{{Quote|1=Aristotle (d. 322 BC) in ''[https://www.google.com/books/edition/De_Generatione_Animalium/WhRDAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 De Generatione Animalium]'', 764a 6 as quoted in {{citation|page=191|editor=Philip Wheelwright|publisher=Macmillan|year=1966|title=The Presocratics|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Presocratics/B9QDAQAAIAAJ?hl=en}}|2=T 22. Democritus of Abdera says that it [gender] is determined in the womb whether the offspring is to be male or female. He denies, however, the theory [of Empedocles] that heat and cold are what make the difference; it depends, he thinks, upon which of the two parents' generative fluids prevails--i.e., that part of the fluid which has come from the distinctively male or female parts [rather than the part which has come from the body as a whole]. Of the two theories that of Democritus is the better; for he is trying to discover and specify the exact way in which the sexes become differentiated; but whether he is right or not is another matter. (''De Generatione Animalium'' 764a 6)}} | ||
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=== “Not from all the sperm a fetus is created…” === | |||
Searching for some kind of reference to sperm (rather than merely semen), which was not discovered until the 17<sup>th</sup> century, some Islamic apologists point to the following hadith: | Searching for some kind of reference to sperm (rather than merely semen), which was not discovered until the 17<sup>th</sup> century, some Islamic apologists point to the following hadith: | ||
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{{Quote|Babylonian Talmud, Nidda 31a|It teaches that man is not fashioned from all the drop but only from its purest part.<ref name="Nidda 31a"></ref>}} | {{Quote|Babylonian Talmud, Nidda 31a|It teaches that man is not fashioned from all the drop but only from its purest part.<ref name="Nidda 31a"></ref>}} | ||
==See Also== | ==See Also== | ||
[[Embryology in the Quran]] | [[Embryology in the Quran]] | ||
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[[Category:Islam and Science]] | [[Category:Islam and Science]] | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:Apologetics]] | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:Reproductive sciences]] | ||
[[Category:Sex]] | [[Category:Sex]] | ||