As I've taught so many new friends here, the Qur'an is full of hints about natural phenomenon that point to the existence of God. These in turn manifest the Miracle of the Qur'an in that it contains such information, yet was "written" by an "illiterate prophet" 1400 years ago. This is part of the proof or Signs which God sends to mankind, because He doesn't expect blind faith from us.
Let us proceed...
"It is We Who have created you. Why, then, do you not accept the Truth? Have you ever considered that (seed) which you emit? Is it you who create it? Or are We the Creator?"
(The Qur'an, 56:57-59)
Here, God is drawing our attention to sperm and its design. The miraculous aspect of the Creation of Man is mentioned on several occasions in the Qur'an, but I will restrict my text to the following features:
1. Only a VERY small portion of sperm is used to create a human being, the sperm!
2. The male determines the sex of the baby, not the mother as many believed.
3. The human embryo adheres to the mother's uterus like a leech.
4. The development of muscles over the bones.
5. The embryo develops in three dark regions in the uterus
1. The Sperm
Up to 250million sperm are ejected from a male at any one time. Yet he only needs 1 to survive. The essence of man then, is not the whole sperm, but the sperm itself:
"Does man reckon he will be left uncontrolled (without purpose)? Was he not once a drop of ejected sperm?"
(The Qur'an, 75:36-37)
Not only that, but the semenal fluid is composed of a mixture of things such as sugar, bases, etc etc.. This fact has only been revealed by modern science. Yet...
"We created man from a mingled drop to test him, and We made him hearing and seeing."
(The Qur'an, 76:2)
Again, God points out to His Power and how He not only Creates us from this mixture, but from an _extract_ of that mixture, ie: sperm:
"He who has created all things in the best possible way. He commenced the creation of man from clay; then He made his progeny from an extract of discarded fluid."
(The Qur'an, 32:7-8)
The arabic translated as _extract_ is "sulala", which means the "essential or best part of something". These Words come from a Will that knows the creation of man to its finest detail.
2. Sex of Babies
For ages, women were chastised for baring baby girls instead of boys for their husbands. Little did we know that the sex is actually determined by the SPERM and NOT the EGG! But the Qur'an tells us this:
"He has created both sexes, male and female from a drop of sperm which has been ejected."
(The Qur'an, 53:45-46)
Since men have XY chromosomes, and women have XX chromosomes, only male sex cells can be either X or Y. Women can only provide X. So since each sperm contains half the usual count of human chromosomes, they either have an X or a Y, and then meet up with an EGG which always has Y. SO THE SEX IS DETERMINED BY THE DROP OF sperm.
3. The Embryo Adheres to the Womb like a leech
Once a sperm fertalizes an egg, we have the formation of a "zygot", a single cell which will start to reproduce by dividing and eventually becoming a "piece of flesh", the embryo. We can only see these things with microscopes. The embryo of course, doesn't spend it's life in a void. It clings to the uterus like a tree plants roots into the ground firmly through which it gathers nutrients. We are made aware of this fact in the following verse:
"Recite: In the name of your Lord Who created man from Alaq. Recite: And your Lord is the Most Generous."
(The Qur'an, 96:1-3)
Here, the arabic word "Alaq" means "something which clings to some place". The word is literally used to describe how a human embryo attaches itself to the womb.
4. Muscles wrap over the bones
I will start by quoting the scientific publication Developing Human: "During the seventh week, the skeleton begins to spread throughout the body and the bones take their familiar shapes. At the end of the seventh week and during the eighth week the muscles take their positions around the bone forms". - Moore, Developing Human, 6. edition,1998
So the embryo forms a skeleton, then around that skeleton, the muscles wrap and take shape. This can only have been seen through microscopes in this century! Yet..
"(We) then formed the drop into a clot and formed the clot into a lump and formed the lump into bones and clothed the bones in flesh; and then brought him into being as another creature. Blessed be God, the Best of Creators!"
(The Qur'an, 23:14)
This verse not only tells us of how God creates man in stages and wraps the flesh around the bones, but also about some of the stages an embryo goes through. It starts as a drop of sperm that fertalizes an egg, which then becomes a zygot that divides into a bunch of cells, thus becoming a clot, the clot becomes a lump of cells, the lump forms the bones, the bones are covered with flesh. Can the Qur'an be any clearer?
5. The 3 stages of an embryo's development
In Basic Human Embryology, a fundamental reference text in the field of embryology, this fact is stated as follows: "The life in the uterus has three stages: pre-embryonic; first two and a half weeks, embryonic; until the end of the eight week, and fetal; from the eight week to labor." - Williams P., Basic Human Embryology, 3. edition, 1984, p. 64.
Pre-embryonic: zygot grows by dividing, then becomes a cell cluster that buries itself into the wall of the uterus. While they're growing, the cells organize themselves into three layers.
Embryonic: basic organs and systems of the body start to appear from the seperate cell layers.
Fetal: the distinctive characteristic of this stage is that the foetus looks just like a human being, with its face, hands and feet. Although it is only 3 cm. long initially, all of its organs have become apparent.
What does the Qur'an say?
"... He creates you stage by stage in your mothers' wombs in a threefold darkness. That is God, your Lord. Sovereignty is His. There is no god but Him. So what has made you deviate?"
(The Qur'an, 39:6)
CONCLUSION
One must be totally honest and sincere with himself in face of such Signs from God. Such information about embryo development in the mother's womb was not available until the second half of the 20th century, when microscopes were reliable and precise enough. Even if they had microsscopes in the 18th century, they could not be used in live environment inside the womb. Yet today we can take live pictures from the inside using fiber optics.
The fact that such detailed and accurate information was given in the Qur'an at a time when people had scarce information on medical matters is clear evidence that the Qur'an is not the word of man, but the Word of God.
Praise God, there is no god but Him.
Let us proceed...
"It is We Who have created you. Why, then, do you not accept the Truth? Have you ever considered that (seed) which you emit? Is it you who create it? Or are We the Creator?"
(The Qur'an, 56:57-59)
Here, God is drawing our attention to sperm and its design. The miraculous aspect of the Creation of Man is mentioned on several occasions in the Qur'an, but I will restrict my text to the following features:
1. Only a VERY small portion of sperm is used to create a human being, the sperm!
2. The male determines the sex of the baby, not the mother as many believed.
3. The human embryo adheres to the mother's uterus like a leech.
4. The development of muscles over the bones.
5. The embryo develops in three dark regions in the uterus
1. The Sperm
Up to 250million sperm are ejected from a male at any one time. Yet he only needs 1 to survive. The essence of man then, is not the whole sperm, but the sperm itself:
"Does man reckon he will be left uncontrolled (without purpose)? Was he not once a drop of ejected sperm?"
(The Qur'an, 75:36-37)
Not only that, but the semenal fluid is composed of a mixture of things such as sugar, bases, etc etc.. This fact has only been revealed by modern science. Yet...
"We created man from a mingled drop to test him, and We made him hearing and seeing."
(The Qur'an, 76:2)
Again, God points out to His Power and how He not only Creates us from this mixture, but from an _extract_ of that mixture, ie: sperm:
"He who has created all things in the best possible way. He commenced the creation of man from clay; then He made his progeny from an extract of discarded fluid."
(The Qur'an, 32:7-8)
The arabic translated as _extract_ is "sulala", which means the "essential or best part of something". These Words come from a Will that knows the creation of man to its finest detail.
2. Sex of Babies
For ages, women were chastised for baring baby girls instead of boys for their husbands. Little did we know that the sex is actually determined by the SPERM and NOT the EGG! But the Qur'an tells us this:
"He has created both sexes, male and female from a drop of sperm which has been ejected."
(The Qur'an, 53:45-46)
Since men have XY chromosomes, and women have XX chromosomes, only male sex cells can be either X or Y. Women can only provide X. So since each sperm contains half the usual count of human chromosomes, they either have an X or a Y, and then meet up with an EGG which always has Y. SO THE SEX IS DETERMINED BY THE DROP OF sperm.
3. The Embryo Adheres to the Womb like a leech
Once a sperm fertalizes an egg, we have the formation of a "zygot", a single cell which will start to reproduce by dividing and eventually becoming a "piece of flesh", the embryo. We can only see these things with microscopes. The embryo of course, doesn't spend it's life in a void. It clings to the uterus like a tree plants roots into the ground firmly through which it gathers nutrients. We are made aware of this fact in the following verse:
"Recite: In the name of your Lord Who created man from Alaq. Recite: And your Lord is the Most Generous."
(The Qur'an, 96:1-3)
Here, the arabic word "Alaq" means "something which clings to some place". The word is literally used to describe how a human embryo attaches itself to the womb.
4. Muscles wrap over the bones
I will start by quoting the scientific publication Developing Human: "During the seventh week, the skeleton begins to spread throughout the body and the bones take their familiar shapes. At the end of the seventh week and during the eighth week the muscles take their positions around the bone forms". - Moore, Developing Human, 6. edition,1998
So the embryo forms a skeleton, then around that skeleton, the muscles wrap and take shape. This can only have been seen through microscopes in this century! Yet..
"(We) then formed the drop into a clot and formed the clot into a lump and formed the lump into bones and clothed the bones in flesh; and then brought him into being as another creature. Blessed be God, the Best of Creators!"
(The Qur'an, 23:14)
This verse not only tells us of how God creates man in stages and wraps the flesh around the bones, but also about some of the stages an embryo goes through. It starts as a drop of sperm that fertalizes an egg, which then becomes a zygot that divides into a bunch of cells, thus becoming a clot, the clot becomes a lump of cells, the lump forms the bones, the bones are covered with flesh. Can the Qur'an be any clearer?
5. The 3 stages of an embryo's development
In Basic Human Embryology, a fundamental reference text in the field of embryology, this fact is stated as follows: "The life in the uterus has three stages: pre-embryonic; first two and a half weeks, embryonic; until the end of the eight week, and fetal; from the eight week to labor." - Williams P., Basic Human Embryology, 3. edition, 1984, p. 64.
Pre-embryonic: zygot grows by dividing, then becomes a cell cluster that buries itself into the wall of the uterus. While they're growing, the cells organize themselves into three layers.
Embryonic: basic organs and systems of the body start to appear from the seperate cell layers.
Fetal: the distinctive characteristic of this stage is that the foetus looks just like a human being, with its face, hands and feet. Although it is only 3 cm. long initially, all of its organs have become apparent.
What does the Qur'an say?
"... He creates you stage by stage in your mothers' wombs in a threefold darkness. That is God, your Lord. Sovereignty is His. There is no god but Him. So what has made you deviate?"
(The Qur'an, 39:6)
CONCLUSION
One must be totally honest and sincere with himself in face of such Signs from God. Such information about embryo development in the mother's womb was not available until the second half of the 20th century, when microscopes were reliable and precise enough. Even if they had microsscopes in the 18th century, they could not be used in live environment inside the womb. Yet today we can take live pictures from the inside using fiber optics.
The fact that such detailed and accurate information was given in the Qur'an at a time when people had scarce information on medical matters is clear evidence that the Qur'an is not the word of man, but the Word of God.
Praise God, there is no god but Him.
