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Embryology in the Quran: Difference between revisions
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Given that one of the meanings of 'alaqah is congealed blood, which was also the understanding given in numerous tafsirs, it would be most unwise to use such a word with a specific biological meaning to describe a biological process (embryology) if that meaning was not the intention. For the same reason it would be foolish even to use clotted blood merely as a visual metaphor. A perfect author would avoid arousing any such suspicion of inaccurate biology with his choice of words. | Given that one of the meanings of 'alaqah is congealed blood, which was also the understanding given in numerous tafsirs, it would be most unwise to use such a word with a specific biological meaning to describe a biological process (embryology) if that meaning was not the intention. For the same reason it would be foolish even to use clotted blood merely as a visual metaphor. A perfect author would avoid arousing any such suspicion of inaccurate biology with his choice of words. | ||
The poet al-Nabigha alja'di النابغة الجعدي (died c.670 AD) | The poet al-Nabigha alja'di النابغة الجعدي (died c.670 AD) was a contemporary of Muhammad. One of his poems about Allah further underlines this suspicion: | ||
{{Quote|| | {{Quote|| | ||
الخـالق البـارئ المصـور في الأرحام ماء حتى يصير دما | الخـالق البـارئ المصـور في الأرحام ماء حتى يصير دما | ||
The creator, the maker, the fashioner, in the wombs | The creator, the maker, the fashioner, in the wombs water until it becomes blood<ref>{{cite web|url= http://poetsgate.com/poem_14021.html|title= الحمد لله لا شريك له|publisher= PoetsGate (Arabic)|author= |date= February 15, 2007|archiveurl= http://archive.is/6XW6e|deadurl=no}}</ref>}} | ||
Water (maa') is used here as a euphemism for semen, just as we sometimes find in the Qur'an and hadiths (see above). This poem also perhaps shows some influence in 7<sup>th</sup> century Arabia of the ideas of the Greek physician, Galen, whose works were studied at that time by groups in Alexandria and Syria. Indeed, other similarities between Galenic embryology and that of the Qur'an are well known. | |||
===The Mudghah Stage=== | ===The Mudghah Stage=== | ||