Note: This article was written in May 2013 and focuses primarily on an article written by Hamza Tzortzis. A lot has changed since then and Hamza Tzortzis has withdrawn his arguments. Concluding that the scientific miracles in the Qur’ān narrative is incoherent. However, the claims of Quran containing scientific knowledge which can only be explained by its divine origin is an often repeated one and thus, this article has not lost its relevance. I hope Mr. Tzortzis' article on the matter would encourage a discussion on the matter, and help Dr Naik and his fans to change their minds.
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However, when we consider the following verse:
Had he not been a sperm (nutfah) from a semen (maniyyin) emitted? 40
It is easily seen that the meaning sperm cannot be correct as the sperm only contains a half of genetic blueprint of a person. The other half is in the ovum therefore ‘He’ had never been a sperm.
The sperm will not give the same person if it fertilizes another ovum. So the translation of ‘nutfah’ as sperm will mean that the Quran is wrong. So, mingled fluid is the only translation which will not lead the Quran to contradict modern science.
Now, if we translate ‘nutfah’ as mixed sexual fluids of male and female, the fact that embryo develops from mixed sexual fluids of males and females was already known to early Greek physicians like Hippocrates,Aristotle and Galen. Aristotle's understanding of reproduction involved two concepts: form and matter. He compared the male element, semen, to an artisan shaping the raw material provided by the female into a product.
In Addition to the above verses several verses are mentioned in the article in quranandscience.com. These verses are analysed below.
References:
[1]Embryology In The Quran By Hamza Tzortzis
[2]On The Natural Faculties by Galen
[3]A History of Embryology
[4]Timeline of human development
[5]The virtual Human Embryo
[6]Notochord
[7]Fetal circulation
[8]Transport across the placenta
[9]History of optical devices
[10]Magnifying glass
[11]History of abortion
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In this article we will examine the claims that the Quran contains an accurate description of the stages of development of a human embryo. We are analyzing a paper by Hamza Andreas Tzortizis and the claims of the article on embryology in the website quranandscience.com
For the sake of brevity we are moving on straight to the analysis of the verses referring to embryology of quran.
1) "Then We placed him as a drop in a place of rest." (Quran 23:13) (quranand science.com, Hamza Andreas Tzortzis )
The article in Quran and science says that the word ‘nutfah’ can be interpreted as a sperm but a zygote will be a more meaningful interpretation (without taking the trouble to explain the reason why).
Hamza Tzortzis’s article mentions that ‘nutfah’ can either mean a minute quantity of semen or a singular entity out of a large group or it could mean mingled sexual fluids of a male or a female.
However, when we consider the following verse:
Had he not been a sperm (nutfah) from a semen (maniyyin) emitted? 40
It is easily seen that the meaning sperm cannot be correct as the sperm only contains a half of genetic blueprint of a person. The other half is in the ovum therefore ‘He’ had never been a sperm.
The sperm will not give the same person if it fertilizes another ovum. So the translation of ‘nutfah’ as sperm will mean that the Quran is wrong. So, mingled fluid is the only translation which will not lead the Quran to contradict modern science.
Now, if we translate ‘nutfah’ as mixed sexual fluids of male and female, the fact that embryo develops from mixed sexual fluids of males and females was already known to early Greek physicians like Hippocrates,Aristotle and Galen. Aristotle's understanding of reproduction involved two concepts: form and matter. He compared the male element, semen, to an artisan shaping the raw material provided by the female into a product.
2) "Then We made the drop into a leech-like structure." (Quran 23:14) (quranandscience.com)
Then We made that drop of fluid into a clinging form (ᶜalaqah) ( Hamza Tzortis )
The description of the embryo as a leech like structure at 23-24 days is highly inaccurate. By the 3rd week (15-17days) the notochordal process starts indicating that the embryo will develop into a chordate and not an annelid like a leech which lacks a notochord.
At no stage of its development an embryo ingests blood like a leech, there is an exchange of nutrition and oxygen between the foetus and the mother’s blood through the process of diffusion. It should also be noted that at this stage of development the embryo obtains its nutrition from the yolk sac and not through sucking maternal blood, as suggested in the articles. Maternal blood does not cross the placental barrier under normal circumstances. The yolk sac is deliberately removed from the picture giving the embryo a misleading leech like appearance. The yolk sack remains attached to the embryo till the 6th – 10th week which is well past the ‘mudghah’ stage at 4 weeks
The description of the embryo as a clot is also mentioned by Galen.The superficial resemblance of an embryo at this stage to a leech or worm is visible to the naked eye. Both Quranandscience.com and Hamza Tzortzis wrongly asserts that the embryo at this stage is not visible to the naked eye. At this stage the embryo is about 3-5 mm in size which is about as large as a pinworm and is easily visible without the aid of an optical instrument. At no stage after fertilization an embryo is smaller than 0.1 mm which is the smallest size visible to the naked eye.
Both Hamza Tzortzis and quranandscience.com say that lenses and optical microscopes were not available at the time of the revelation of the quran. And there was no means to properly observe the foetus at this stage. They are wrong again; the earliest evidence of a magnifying device was from 424 BC. Aristophenes used a glass globe filled with water as a lens. Seneca wrote that it could be used to read letters no matter how dim or small. It is not inconceivable that such devices were in use long before the birth of Mohammad and widely used to observe tiny objects.
3) "Then of that leech-like structure, We made a chewed lump." (Quran 23:14) (quranandscience.com)/
and then We made that form into a lump of flesh (mudghah)(Hamza Tzortzis)
This is really curious. The Quran mentions chewed fleshy lump and the best thing they can find to demonstrate that the embryo fits the description is chewing gum (which can be molded by hand to resemble anything). Are they trying to imply that the prophet was in the habit of chewing sugar-free gum in 6th century AD. Why chewing gum of all substances. This clearly exposes the cheap tricks these guys are up to.In any case by this time (26 day) the embryo is already about half a centimeter in size and easily visible to the unaided eye. And its fleshiness can easily be felt through touch.
4)"Then We made out of the chewed lump, bones, and clothed the bones in flesh." (Quran 23:14)
"Then We developed out of it another creature." (Quran 23:14)
This is highly inaccurate as it implies that there is a stage in development of the fetus where the bones are not clothed in flesh. At all stages the bones remain clothed in flesh.
An examination of the relevant verses shows that the claims of modern embryology in the Quran are highly exaggerated and by no means superior to the embryological knowledge which was already in existence at the time. In the article Hamza Tzortzis he continues to ask questions like is the prophet a liar and did the prophet plagiarize the Greeks. These are nothing but an appeal to emotion. Even though an accusation of plagiarism cannot be made on the prophet it is very likely that he was exposed to the knowledge. Now, the question is would God be so insincere as to ‘miraculously’ reveal knowledge which is by no means superior to the knowledge that was already available at the time ?
Hamza Tzortzis goes on to address the problem that the quran states that the sperms come from between the ribs and the backbone by saying that the most of the semen is from the seminal vesicles located between the backbone and the ribs. This is unacceptable because the fluid from seminal vesicle cannot fertilize an egg. The substance that ‘creates’ life comes from the testes. Any intellectual dialogue is meaningless when one party is willing to stoop to such levels of intellectual dishonesty.
In Addition to the above verses several verses are mentioned in the article in quranandscience.com. These verses are analysed below.
5)"He makes you in the wombs of your mothers in stages, one after another, in three veils of darkness." (Quran 36:6) (quranandscience.com )
The article goes on to assert that it is unknown when humans realized that the embryo underwent development in the womb (uterus) and the earliest known illustration of a foetus in uterus was by Leonardo da Vinci. Which is simply untrue, Galen (2nd century) was aware of the fact that the embryo developed in the womb. Mahabharata talks of Abhimanyu learning martial skills in the womb of his mother. So it is clear that the knowledge that the fetus developed in the womb is much older than the article claims it to be.
The article continues on to assert that it was not known that the embryo developed in stages; which again is untrue. The earliest records documenting abortion are in the Codes of Hammurabi 1760 BCE, while the first record of an induced abortion is from the Egyptian Ebers Papyrus in 1550 BCE. Abortions were practiced by the ancient Chinese and the Greeks and it can be said with certainty that they came into contact with foetuses in various stage of its development. Aristotle, the Greek Philosopher is known to have stated “Not at once is the animal a man or a horse, for the end is last attained; and the specific form is the end of each development."
The article mentions the three veils of the darkness to be (1) the anterior abdominal wall; (2) the uterine wall; and (3) the amniochorionic membrane and explains “Although there are other interpretations of this statement, the one presented here seems the most logical from an embryological point of view.” I wonder why the layers of the skin epidermis, dermis and hypodermis have been left out from the ‘layers of darkness’ increasing the number of layers of darkness to six. It is evident that this is a pathetic attempt to tailor religious teachings to fit modern science.
6)"And He gave you hearing and sight and feeling and understanding." (Quran 32:9)
There is no reason to conclude that this verse gives the order in which the senses develop and not simply stating that allah has given the above mentioned senses to humans.
7)"Then out of a piece of chewed flesh, partly formed and partly unformed." (Quran 22:5)
This is not surprising as the foetus is already visible to the naked eye by this stage and the physicians of the time obviously observed partially formed human and non human embryos.
8)"And We cause whom We will to rest in the wombs for an appointed term." (Quran 22:5)
This too was well known that not all pregnancies complete its full term and many are terminated and it is not surprising the decision of termination of a pregnancy was attributed to God, like everything else including flight of a bird for example. Why is being asserted again and again that only a “Divine Source” could be the source of this, when people back to the age of Galen and Aristotle already knew this?
After examining the verses we can conclude that the claims of knowledge of embryology in the Quran are highly exaggerated. The Quran does not contain any knowledge which is by any means superior than the knowledge already existing at the time of its revelation.
P.S: This excellent Blog thoroughly debunks Hamza Tzortzis' "Lexical Analysis" of the verses on embryology in the Quran. I would request the readers of my blog to read it if they have the time or to watch this short video.
P.S: This excellent Blog thoroughly debunks Hamza Tzortzis' "Lexical Analysis" of the verses on embryology in the Quran. I would request the readers of my blog to read it if they have the time or to watch this short video.
References:
[1]Embryology In The Quran By Hamza Tzortzis
[2]On The Natural Faculties by Galen
[3]A History of Embryology
[4]Timeline of human development
[5]The virtual Human Embryo
[6]Notochord
[7]Fetal circulation
[8]Transport across the placenta
[9]History of optical devices
[10]Magnifying glass
[11]History of abortion
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