Did the Quran copy Ancient Greek Embryology?

A look over the ancient perception of Embryology

Let's take a look over the ideas of ancient people about the fetus and its development.

The references of science, medicine, and philosophy at the time of the mission of prophet Muhammad  were Aristotle, Hippocrates, and Galen.


So, it was just enough for a person to have them as their references.

In Aristotle's book "The History of Animals", Aristotle says that the fluid of male (semen) falls on the menstrual blood of female which is stored in the womb and freezes this blood. Then the fetus begins to develop from the menstrual blood. That was the prevalent belief of people at that time.

Of course today; we know for certain that this idea is just a myth, as that menstrual blood stops completely once a woman gets pregnant and is not being stored in the womb.

Let's then move to Galen (the father of systematic medicine at that time). He claimed that the fluid of female nourishes the semen of male. After that,  a dwarf fetus which already exists in the semen of male begins to grow gradually inside the uterus.

So, there was scientific approval at that time that woman have no role in reproduction process, rather, in both cases, she was just a container for the fetus.

The Noble Quran then was revealed during that era correcting this primitive view and clarifying to us that the fetus is created from a sperm-drop mixture which means both the sperm of male and the ovum of female.

Almighty God says (Interpretation of the meaning of Quran): 

"Indeed, we created man from sperm-drop mixture" (76 : 2)


And 


“Then he made his offspring out of the extract of an insignificant fluid” (32:8)

We can see that the fetus comes only from an insignificant part of male fluid not all of the fluid - which was later known as the sperm - as Aristotle imagined.

So, the fetus begins to develop from only a part of the fluid of male with a part of the fluid of female altogether.


This widespread notion of the dwarf fetus (performation) has been proved by the Quran to be a myth since it is formed from a sperm-drop mixture that later enters different stages of development.

Almighty God says (Interpretation of the meaning of Quran): 


 "He created you in the wombs of your mothers, creation after creation" (39 : 6)


First,  it is a sperm- drop, then a clinging clot, then a lump of flesh, and then the organs appear and so on.


Let's go through some details

 The first embryonic stage as mentioned in the Quran is the sperm-drop. This sperm-drop then turns into a clinging clot (leech)

Almighty God says  (Interpretation of the meaning of Quran): 


"Then we made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot(leech)" (23:14)

 What is the meaning of leech? 

 This is a wonderful, magnificent, distinctive, and amazing Quranic word: 


Leech is a small organism that attaches to the skin and sucks blood through it. 


The Quran has amazinly described this embryonic stage as “leech stage”.


It was recently discovered that at this stage; the fetus is similar to the leech in terms of external appearance and functionality. 

The fetus attaches to the uterus in order to absorb blood ( nutrition) from it with no presence of menstrual blood or a dwarf fetus that grows over time . The Quran has not mentioned any of these myths that were widespread during that era.

 After the leech phase, the fetus turns into the next stage; “the flesh lump phase”.

Almighty God says (Interpretation of the meaning of Quran): 


"Then we made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot(leech), and we made the clot into a lump of flesh”.(23:14)

 What is the flesh lump?

 It is something like a chewed piece of flesh. It becomes larger than the leech, the tissues appear on it as chewed food, and the fetus carries what looks like dental marks as those found on chewed food. Can then this accuracy be denied except by an arrogant??! 

Many more myths

Aristotle and Galen also claimed that the male fetus exists on the right of the womb, while the female is located on the left of the womb. 


The Quran has not mentioned this notion as well


The Quran has not also conveyed the notion that the upper half of the fetus appears before the lower half . 

To add,  the Quran has not declared the notion that the male comes from the right testicle, while the female comes from the left testicle as claimed by Galen and Hippocrates. 


The Quran has not even stated the notion that semen is white blood as imagined by Galen. 

All these myths were abundantly widespread among the world and remained prevalent for many centuries,  but the Noble Quran did not agree with any of them. 

Rather, it remained infallible,  and it exclusively declared facts that Science has only discovered recently. 

To sum up; The Holy Quran has provided unprecedented statements,  statements that are considered today as an axiom of contemporary medicine, simply proving that it is a Divine Revelation.