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Rebuttals to "It is Truth"
Responses to "It is Truth"
Chapter 3
Stages of the Creation of Man (A)
This chapter begins with theology and metaphysical claims concerning
Muhammad which have nothing to do with science. The authors of this
chapter attempt to extricate Muhammad from the fact that he, according
to the Qur'an, did not perform any miracles. He also did not provide
us with any prophecies (detailed predictions of future events), at
least none that actually came true. The last hope that Muslims have,
to convince non Muslims of the truth claims of Muhammad, is the
"miracle" of the Qur'an. The literary "eloquence" of the Qur'an is
considered, by many Muslims, to be miraculous. When many non Muslims
(including myself) read translations of the Qur'an they are not
usually impressed with its style or substance. Our Muslim friends
then tell us that the Qur'an can only be read properly in the Arabic
language. This raises two problems. First, there is no reason why
foreign literature, when translated into other languages, cannot
retain its eloquence, style, and substance if properly translated.
Second, if the Qur'an is the message for all of mankind, as the
authors claim in this chapter, the message of the Qur'an should have
eloquence, as well as a spiritual impact, regardless of the language
into which it is translated.
Therefore, proving the existence of the "scientific miracle" of
the Qur'an is the last best hope of Muslims to prove the divine
origins of the book. The favorite "scientific miracle" that Muslims
most often cite is the Qur'an's discussion of embryology. That is
why this topic covers five chapters in this book!
If we ask a Jew or Christian to show us the miracles of prophet
Musa (Moses) or Isa (Jesus), may the blessings and peace of Allah
be upon them all, they both would submit that it is not within
human power to redemonstrate any of those miracles now. Moses'
cane cannot be created nor can prophet Jesus be invoked to raise
people from the dead. For us today, these miracles are nothing
more than historical reports. But if a Muslim is asked about the
greatest miracle of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu `alaihi
wa sallam), he can readily show his book, the Qur'an.
In passing, one would like to give credit where credit is due. It
is the daily experience of millions of Christians that God answers
prayers and demonstrates His love to us in ways that can only be
described as miraculous. Indeed, just as the Muslim might claim that
the Qur'an is an ever-present miracle, so the Christian can point
to the enduring love of God and the salvation which He offers us
as being ever-present miracles too.
Professor Keith Moore
We present Professor Emeritus Keith Moore, one of the world's
prominent scientists of anatomy and embryology. We asked Professor
Moore to give us his scientific analysis of some specific Qur'anic
verses and prophetic traditions [Ahadeeth] pertaining to his field
of specialization.
Our first expert is Professor Moore, a retired professor of anatomy
and the author of a number of medical textbooks... We will examine
his claims in this chapter.
He has published many books on clinical anatomy and embryology,
eight of them are used as reference works in medical schools and
have been translated into six languages.
Professor Moore's book The Developing Human, 3rd edition,
has two different editions: the standard edition which is used in the
west, and the "Islamic" edition which is used in some Muslim colleges.
Comparing the two editions, it seems that not even Prof. Moore is
sufficiently convinced by the scientific "facts" in the Qu'ran to
risk his reputation as a prominent academic in the Western world. The
Islamic edition (also in the 3rd edition) of his textbook is not even
available in the British Library, nor can it be found in the US Library
of Congress, nor in medical libraries in Western countries, presumably
because he is aware that not only do the Islamic contributions to it
contradict known science, but they also contradict what he himself
has written in the standard version of his textbook. Perhaps Prof.
Moore's desire to sell his textbooks overseas was greater than his
desire to seek the scientific truth?
When we asked Professor Moore to give us his analysis of the
Qur'anic verses and prophetic statements, he was amazed. He wondered
how the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam), fourteen
centuries ago, could describe the embryo and its development phase
in such detail and accuracy, which scientists have come to know
only in the last thirty years. Very quickly, however, Professor
Moore's amazement grew into admiration for this revelation and
guidance. He introduced these views to intellectual and scientific
circles. He even gave a lecture on the compatibility of modern
embryology with the Qur'an and Sunnah where he stated:
It has been a great pleasure for me to help clarify statements
in the Qur'an about human development. It is clear to me that these
statements must have come to Muhammad from Allah, or God, because
almost all of this knowledge was not discovered until many centuries
later. This proves to me that Muhammad must have been a messenger
of Allah.
Consider what this well-known and respected scientist of embryology
declared upon studying the Qur'anic verse related to his discipline,
and his conclusion that Muhammad (sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam),
must have been a Messenger from Allah.
That is very interesting. In the bibliography for the first chapter,
"A History of Embryology" (in both the standard and Islamic versions),
Professor Moore refers to J. Needham's definitive work: The History
of Embryology. Dr. Needham, who has been recognized by most of
the scientific community as a leading expert on the history of human
embryology, was unimpressed with the Arabic claims of embryology.
After writing over 60 pages about ancient Greek, Indian and Egyptian
embryology he dismissed the entire Arabic tradition in less than one
page, concluding that:
"Arabic science, so justly famed for its successes in certain
fields such as optics and astronomy, was not of great help to
embryology." (J. Needham (Cambridge, 2nd edition), A History
of Embryology, p. 77)
After listing some of the verses in the Qur'an about embryology he
dismissed them as merely:
"a seventh-century echo of Aristotle and the Ayer-veda",
in other words a mixture of Greek and ancient Indian teachings.
Another expert is the medical historian Arthur Meyer. In his book
The Rise of Embryology, which is also listed in the Bibliography
section of Prof. Moore's 1983 edition of "The Developing Human"
he summed up the whole of the Arabic embryological tradition when he
said that it:
"depended largely upon Greek sources, which would seem to imply
that he could obtain little from the Arabs. Moreover, since Aristotelian
and Galenical teaching survived side by side for over a thousand years
without a known Arabic counterpart, it is doubtful if the latter existed."
(A. W. Meyer (Stanford), The Rise of Embryology, p. 27)
Alaqah
Allah says in the Qur'an about the stages of the creation of man:
Man we did create from a quintessence (of clay); Then we placed
as (a drop of) sperm (nutfah) in a place firmly fixed; Then we made
the sperm into a clot of congealed blood (`alaqah); Then of that
clot we made a (fetus) lump (mudghah); then we made out of that lump
bones and clothed the bones with flesh; then we developed out of it
another creature. (Qur'an 23:12-14).
The Arabic word `alaqah has three meanings. The first meaning
is "leech". The second is "a suspended thing". The third meaning is
"a blood clot".
Comments: Firstly, there are many different meanings given for the
word alaqa, from blood clot to the pully hanging over a well!
The claim that this word has a highly precise scientific meaning
is laughable. There are many other problems with Prof. Moore's
interpretation of the Qur'an. For example: if the Qur'an is giving
us a highly detailed scientific account of human development, why does
it only mention two of the stages, alaqa and mudghah?
Dr. Moore lists 13 stages in the inside front cover of his book between
fertilization and day 28, by which time the alaqa and mudghah
are supposed to have taken place. Why does the Qur'an say nothing about
these stages? The essence of this dilemma is that the more ambiguous
the meanings of the Arabic terms, the more they lose their precision
as scientific terms.
The Arabic word `alaqah has three meanings. The first
meaning is "leech". The second is "a suspended thing". The third
meaning is "a blood clot".
Apparently, it means whatever we want it to mean! In fact, Dr Torki
goes so far as to say that alaqa is "a chain-like structure" -
and then interprets this to mean a DNA double helix (B. Torki (1979),
L'Islam Religion de la Science, p. 178)! If we apply Torki's
meaning to the whole of sura 23:14 we find that God "... made you
from a drop of sperm, then from that a gene code, then from that a
little lump of flesh...." How ridiculous!
In comparing the fresh-water leech to the embryo at the `alaqah
stage, Professor Moore found a great similarity between the two.
He concluded that the embryo during the `alaqah stage acquires an
appearance very similar to that of leech. Professor Moore placed
a picture of the embryo side by side with the picture of a leech.
He presented these pictures to scientists at several conferences.
Well, that is debatable. If you consider the side view, the developing
umbilicus (which is genetically a part of the embryo), it is almost as
big as the "leech-shaped" part. Also, the placenta is much larger than
the fetus! Dr. Moore claims that ancient peoples could not have been
able to see an embryo about 3mm long and describe it as leech-like.
However, Aristotle correctly described the function of the umbilical
cord, by which the embryo "clings" to the uterus wall in the fourth
century B.C.! (Aristotle (English trans. A. L. Peck, Heinemann, 1953), Generation of Animals, 740a)
Did Aristotle receive divine revelations also?
The second meaning of the word `alaqah is "a suspended thing",
and this is what we can see in the attachment of the embryo during
the `alaqah stage to the uterus (womb) of the mother.
But the embryo and foetus "clings", via the placenta, to the wall
of the uterus for the entire 9 months of gestation! The existence of
the placenta and amniotic fluid were well known facts long before
Muhammad was born. Mankind, at this point in history, did not need
divine revelations to tell us the observable and obvious!
The third meaning of the word `alaqah is "a blood clot". It is
significant to note, as Professor Moore stated, that the embryo
during the `alaqah stage goes through well known internal events,
such as the formation of blood in closed vessels, until the
metabolic cycle is completed through placenta. During the `alaqah
stage, the blood is caught within closed vessels and that is why
the embryo acquires the appearance of a blood clot, in addition
to the leech-like appearance. Both descriptions are miraculously
given by a single Qur'anic word `alaqah.
Interestingly this is contradicted by Prof. Moore himself in "The
Developing Human, with Islamic Additions". He defines the alaqa
stage as being days 24 and 25. Yet he also says that the primitive
heart and blood vessels have already begun to form by the end of the
third week (before day 21). Blood cells do not start forming in the
embryo until the fifth week (the prototype blood cells form initially
in the embryo's "yolk sac") so how can the embryo take on the
appearance of a blood clot? And after day 26, when the alaqa
stage is over but the cirulatory system is becoming ever more
developed, why is the embryo no longer called a blood clot? If we
translate alaqa as "clot" it means that the Qur'an is
completely wrong about human development, since there is absolutely
no stage during which the embryo consists of a clot. The only
situation in which an embryo might appear like a clot is during a
miscarriage, in which case the clotted blood which is seen to emerge
(mostly maternal in origin) is solidified and by definition no longer
alive. So if ever an embryo appeared like a clot it would never
develop any further into a human; it would be a dead mass of bloody
miscarried flesh.
How could Muhammad (sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam) have possibly
known that by himself? Professor Moore also studied the embryo at
the mudghah (chewed-like substance) stage. He took a piece of raw
clay and chewed it in his mouth, then compared it with a picture
of the embryo at the mudghah stage. Professor Moore concluded that
the embryo at the mudghah stage acquires the exact appearance of
a chewed-like substance.
Muhammad could easily have known these things because this was
common knowledge long before Muhammad was born - and it is wrong.
The Greek physician Galen (150 AD) believed that the embryo developed
in four stages which are almost identical to those of the Qur'an.
Let us divide the creation of the foetus overall into four periods
of time. The first is that in which, as is seen both in abortions
and in dissection, the form of the semen prevails (Arabic nutfah)
... But when it has been filled with blood (Arabic alaqa),
and heart, brain and liver are still unarticulated and unshaped
yet have by now a certain solidarity and considerable size, this
is the second period; the substance of the foetus has the form of
flesh and no longer the form of semen. The third period follows
on this, when, as was said, it is possible to see the three ruling
parts clearly and a kind of outline, a silhouette, as it were,
of all the other parts (Arabic mudghah). You will see the
conformation of the three ruling parts more clearly, that of the
parts of the stomach more dimly, and much more still, that of the
limbs. Later on they form "twigs", as Hippocrates expressed it,
indicating by the term their similarity to branches. The fourth
and final period is at the stage when all the parts in the limbs
have been differentiated; and at this part Hippocrates the marvelous
no longer calls the foetus an embryo only, but already a child, too
when he says that it jerks and moves as an animal now fully formed"
(Arabic "a new creation"). [Corpus Medicorum Graecorum: Galeni de
Semine (Galen: On Semen) (Greek text with English trans. Phillip
de Lacy, Akademic Verlag, 1992) section I:9:1-10 pp. 92-95]
Lest the reader be in any doubt about the clear link described here
between the Galenic and the Qur'anic stages, it may be pointed out that
it was early Muslim doctors, including Ibn-Qayyim, who first spotted
the similarity. Basim Musallam concludes
"The stages of development which the Qur'an and Hadith established
for believers agreed perfectly with Galen's scientific account...
There is no doubt that medieval thought appreciated this agreement
between the Qur'an and Galen, for Arabic science employed the same
Qur'anic terms to describe the Galenic stages". (B. Musallam
(Cambridge, 1983) Sex and Society in Islam, p. 54)
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