Three Errors in Islamic Embryology

4. Three Errors in Islamic Embryology

Quran’s and the hadith’s description of embryonic and fetal development has at least three errors:

Error 1

Quran 23:14 gives the order of embryonic development but says flesh comes after bones.

“Then We made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and We made the clot into a lump [of flesh], and We made [from] the lump, bones, and We covered the bones with flesh; then We developed him into another creation. So blessed is Allāh, the best of creators.” Quran 23:14

But there is never a point where an embryo is just a skeleton without flesh.

Scholarly Explanations (Islamic Scholars)
“There is an interval of forty days between each stage of creation. {Then We clothed the bones with flesh} - meaning, We covered them.” Tafsir al-Baghawi on 23:14 (d. 1122 AD)
“Then He fashioned the lump of flesh into bones - varying in size, shape, and function - forming the foundation upon which this remarkable structure stands; thereafter, He clothed the bones with flesh, serving them just as a robe does the wearer.” Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuhfat al-Mawdud (d. 1350 AD)
“{Then We created the nutfa [drop] into an alaqa [clot]} - that is, congealed blood - by transforming the white drop into a red clot; {then We created the alaqa into a mudgha [chewed lump]} - that is, a piece of flesh lacking distinct features or differentiation; {then We created the mudgha} - meaning the greater part, the majority, or the entirety of it - {into bones} by hardening it and making it the structural framework of the body, arranged in specific forms and positions dictated by Divine Wisdom; {then We clothed the bones} - the aforementioned ones - {with flesh} - derived from the remainder of the mudgha or generated upon them by Our power - meaning We clothed each of those bones with the flesh befitting it.” Tafsir Abu al-Su’ud on 23:14 (d. 1574 AD)
Bones and Muscles Develop Together

Muscle and skeletal development occur together. Muscle differentiation starts in the 5th week and bone formation begins in the 6th week.

“Myogenesis [muscle formation] occurs immediately adjacent to, and concurrent [at the same time] with, the development of the skeleton during embryogenesis.” DiGirolamo et al. (PMC/NIH)
“During intrauterine development, bone and muscle cells share a common mesenchymal precursor … so that bone and muscle develop synchronously [at the same time].” Bonewald (PMC/NIH)
“During the fifth [5th] week the myotomes give rise to a dorsoventral mass of developing muscle tissue.” Hill (UNSW Textbook)
“Bone ossification, or osteogenesis, is the process of bone formation. This process begins between the sixth [6th] and seventh [7th] weeks of embryonic development.” Breeland et al. (NCBI)
From Galen (2nd Century Physician)
“And now the third period of gestation has come. After nature has made outlines of all the organs and the substance of the semen is used up, the time has come for nature to articulate the organs precisely and to bring all the parts to completion. Thus it caused flesh to grow on and around all the bones, and at the same time, sucking the fattest part out of them, it made them earthy and brittle and completely without fat; and causing the viscous matter that it drew from them in each case to grow out, it made at the ends of the bones ligaments that bind them to each other, and along their entire length it placed around them on all sides thin membranes, called periosteal, on which it caused flesh to grow.” Galen, “On Semen I 10,12-13,” p. 101 (c. 170 AD)

Error 2

Sahih (authentic) hadiths say women have a “thin and yellow” discharge and that the child resembles whoever discharges first or the most during intercourse.

“The water of the man is thick and white and the water of a woman is thin and yellow. Whichever of them comes first or predominates, the child will resemble (that parent).” Sunan Ibn Majah 601 Sahih Muslim 311
“If a man has sexual intercourse with his wife and gets discharge first, the child will resemble the father, and if the woman gets discharge first, the child will resemble her.” Sahih Bukhari 3329

But women have no “thin and yellow” discharge that contributes to the child’s resemblance.
And the child’s resemblance is based on genetics not who discharges first.

Quran Support
“Indeed, We created man from a sperm-drop mixture that We may try him; and We made him hearing and seeing.” Quran 76:2
Scholarly Explanations (Islamic Scholars)
“The likeliest of these statements to be correct is the statement of him who said: the meaning of from a mingled sperm-drop is the man’s sperm-drop and the woman’s sperm-drop.” Tafsir al-Tabari on 76:2 (d. 923 AD)
“From a sperm, meaning the semen of the man and the semen of the woman, mixed together, the singular of which is mashj or mashij, like khidn and khudin. Ibn Abbas, Al-Hasan, Mujahid, and Al-Rabi’ said: It means the man’s fluid and the woman’s fluid mix in the womb, and from them the child is formed. The man’s fluid is white and thick, and the woman’s fluid is yellow and thin, so whichever prevails will determine resemblance.” Tafsir al-Baghawi on 76:2 (d. 1122 AD)
“The man’s water, which is white and thick, mixes with the woman’s water, which is yellow and thin, and the child is created from them. What is sinew, bone and strength is from the man’s water, and what is flesh, blood and hair is from the woman’s water.” Tafsir al-Qurtubi on 76:2 (d. 1273 AD)
“This refers to the male and female fluids when they meet and mingle; it then transitions from one stage to another, from one state to another, and from one color to another. This is the view expressed by ‘Ikrimah, Mujahid, Al-Hasan, and Al-Rabi‘ ibn Anas.” Tafsir Ibn Kathir on 76:2 (d. 1373 AD)
Do Women Get Wet Dreams? Yes, Their Discharge Is Why Sons Resemble Their Mothers.
“Um-Sulaim came to Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) and said, ‘Verily, Allah is not shy of (telling you) the truth. Is it necessary for a woman to take a bath after she has a wet dream (nocturnal sexual discharge?)’ The Prophet replied, ‘Yes, if she notices a discharge.’ Um Salama, then covered her face and asked, ‘O Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ)! Does a woman get a discharge?’ He replied, ‘Yes, let your right hand be in dust (An Arabic expression you say to a person when you contradict his statement meaning “you will not achieve goodness”), and that is why the son resembles his mother.’” Sahih Bukhari 130
Ibn Hajar’s Authoritative Commentary: Six Categories of Child Resemblance

Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, the authoritative classical commentator on Sahih Bukhari, systematized the “who discharges first” doctrine into six categories in his commentary on Sahih Bukhari 3938:

This divides into six categories:

  1. The man’s fluid precedes and is more in quantity - the child is male and resembles the man.
  2. The opposite - the woman’s fluid precedes and is more - the child is female and resembles her.
  3. The man’s fluid precedes, but the woman’s fluid is more - the child is male but resembles the woman.
  4. The opposite - the woman’s fluid precedes, but the man’s fluid is more - the child is female but resembles the man.
  5. The man’s fluid precedes and they are equal - the child is male but without specific resemblance.
  6. The opposite.
Ibn Hajar, Fath al-Bari 7/273
Also From Galen (2nd Century Physician)
“Indeed it would have been much better to trust the visible evidence that the semen of females exists and to inquire by reasoning what its power is. The visible evidence was given before and will now be given again. Spermatic ducts, full of semen, secrete this semen apart from the union of female with male, females experiencing effusions in sleep as males do” Galen, “On Semen II 1,33-34,” p. 153 (c. 170 AD)
“Even if the semen is homoeomerous, of such a nature as to fashion all parts of the animal from every part of itself, the parts (of the semen) at least could differ in this way: the first semen to be emitted might be thicker or with a greater share of pneuma or stronger, and what follows in the second or third ejaculation thinner or colder or weaker or with a smaller share of the substance of connate pneuma, just as, conversely, the first might be weaker or cold or pneuma-like, and that of the second or third or fourth emission its opposite; so then in the mixture the semen of the male might dominate in some parts, that of the female in others, and wherever it dominates, that part could come to resemble the dominator.” Galen, “On Semen II 5,4,” p. 181 (c. 170 AD)
Since Hippocrates (5th Century BC Physician)
“(6) Now here is a further point. What the woman emits is sometimes stronger, and sometimes weaker; and this applies also to what the man emits. In fact both partners alike contain both male and female sperm (the male being stronger than the female must of course originate from a stronger sperm). Here is a further point: if (a) both partners produce a stronger sperm, then a male is the result, whereas if (b) they produce a weak form, then a female is the result. But if (c) one partner produces one kind of sperm, and the other another, then the resultant sex is determined by whichever sperm prevails in quantity. For suppose that the weak sperm is much greater in quantity than the stronger sperm: then the stronger sperm is overwhelmed and, being mixed with the weak, results in a female. If on the contrary the strong sperm is greater in quantity than the weak, and the weak is overwhelmed, it results in a male.” Hippocrates, “On Generation” 6, tr. Lonie (c. 400 BC)
“Hippocrates of Kos (460–377 BCE), hypothesized that “minute particles from every part of the body entered the seminal substance of both parents, and by their fusion gave rise to a new individual exhibiting the traits of both of them” (Orel, 1996). In this respect, both parents produced “semen” or seminal fluids that intermingled to create the embryo. Mixed traits were explained by the blending of male and female seminal fluids, and the sex as well as characters of children to be born were thought to be determined by whether the paternal or maternal “seed” became “dominant” during the mixing that followed copulation.” Poczai and Santiago-Blay (Frontiers in Genetics)

Error 3

Sahih (authentic) hadith says embryos are a clot of blood from 40-80 days and a piece of flesh from 80-120 days.

  • “a human being is put together in the womb of the mother in forty days [0-40 days],
  • and then he becomes a clot of thick blood for a similar period [40-80 days],
  • and then a piece of flesh for a similar period [80-120 days]”
Sahih Bukhari 3208

Between days 40-80, embryos aren’t a blood clot - they develop fingers and toes.
Between 80-120 days, embryos aren’t a lump of flesh - they develop bones.

You Remain a Sperm Drop in the Womb for 40 Days

Sahih (authentic) hadiths and Ibn Kathir’s commentary also say embryos remain a sperm drop in the womb for 40 days.

“Allah’s Messenger as saying: The semen stays in the womb for forty [40] nights.” Sahih Muslim 2645c
“When the nutfah (drop of semen) settles in the womb, it remains a nutfah (drop of semen) for forty [40] nights.” Al-Mu’jam al-Saghir 16
“This is because when the nutfah (drop of semen) settles in the womb of the woman, it remains for forty [40] days in that state.” Ibn Kathir commentary

By day 40, embryos aren’t just a drop of sperm - they have developing organs and a heartbeat.

Photograph of the English translation of Sahih Muslim, Volume 7, hadith 6726/2645, with two passages highlighted: 'enters upon the Nutfah (sperm drop) after it has settled in the womb for forty or forty-five nights' and 'When forty-two nights have passed for the Nutfah (sperm drop), Allah sends an angel to it.'
Sahih Muslim 2645c
Sex Is Decided After the Lump of Flesh Stage
“At every womb Allah appoints an angel who says, ‘O Lord! A drop of semen, O Lord! A clot. O Lord! A little lump of flesh.” Then if Allah wishes (to complete) its creation, the angel asks, (O Lord!) Will it be a male or female, a wretched or a blessed, and how much will his provision be?’” Sahih Bukhari 318
“In humans, chromosomal sex is determined at fertilization when a sperm contributes either an X or Y chromosome to the X chromosome in the oocyte.” Aatsha et al. (NCBI)
Also From Galen (2nd Century Physician)
“But let us take the account back again to the first conformation of the animal; and in order to make our account orderly and clear, let us divide the creation of the fetus overall into four periods of time. The first is that in which, as is seen both in abortions and in dissections, the form of the semen prevails. At this time Hippocrates too, the all-marvelous, does not yet call the conformation of the animal a fetus; as we heard just now in the case of the semen voided in the sixth day, he still calls it semen. But when it has been filled with blood, and heart, brain, and liver are (still) unarticulated and unshaped yet have by now a certain solidity and considerable size, this is the second period; the substance of the fetus has the form of flesh and no longer the form of semen.” Galen, “On Semen I 9,1-4,” p. 93 (c. 170 AD)
“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. You will see the conformation of the three ruling parts more clearly, that of the parts at 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” Galen, “On Semen I 9,6-9,” p. 95 (c. 170 AD)
Quran Says Semen Emerges From Backbone and Ribs
“So let man observe from what he was created. He was created from a fluid, ejected, emerging from between the backbone and the ribs.” Quran 86:5-7
Scholarly Explanations (Islamic Scholars)
“from between the man’s backbone and the woman’s ribs, and the ribs are the place of the necklace. As for the man’s water, it is white and thick, from it come the sinew and the bone; and as for the woman’s water, it is yellow and thin, from it come the flesh, the blood and the hair.” Tafsir Muqatil ibn Sulayman on 86:7 (d. 767 AD)
“From the man’s water, which comes out of his backbone, are created the bone and the sinew; and from the woman’s water, which comes out of her ribs, the flesh and the blood.” Tafsir al-Qurtubi on 86:7 (d. 1273 AD)
“It emerges from between the backbone of the man and the chest of the woman.” al-Tafsir al-Muyassar, King Fahd Complex (pub. 1997 AD)
Since Plato (4th Century BC)
“The view that semen was derived from the spinal cord was old enough to be denied by Alcmaeon in the sixth century bc, but Plato and Hippocrates subscribed to it. Plato in his Timaeus considers the brain and spinal ‘marrow’ as but a special form of bone marrow (Timaeus, 73) in which ‘God implanted his divine seed’. This spinal marrow passes down the back and communicates its ‘universal seed stuff’ to the genitalia for the purpose of procreation.” Noble et al. (PMC/NIH)
“they bored a hole into the condensed marrow which comes from the head down by the neck and along the spine, which marrow, in our previous account, we termed ‘seed.’” Plato, Timaeus 91a-b (c. 360 BC)
One-Liners
  • The Miami/LA Analogy: If I say, “I will stay in Miami for 40 days, and in Los Angeles for a similar period,” my stay in Los Angeles can’t happen during the first 40 days, because I am still in Miami. The stages are sequential.
  • The “Call Me Sperm” Reductio: Your origin was semen but I can’t call you a sperm drop today. Likewise, you can’t save “remains a sperm drop for 40 days” by calling later embryonic stages semen.