In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful
THE QUR’AAN AND BLOOD CIRCULATION IN HUMAN BODY
In Sura 96, Verse 2 (Q: 96.2), the Qur’aan says, "Khalaqal insaana
min alaq" which means, "(Allah) created a human being from
`alaq'". The accepted meaning of `alaq' is that initial embryonic stage,
when it is in the form of a leech-like clot of blood clinging to or suspended
from the wall of the uterus. At this stage, although there is a rudimentary
formation of the human cardiovascular (blood circulatory) system, the heart has
not started beating and the embryo has not yet acquired distinct human
characteristics.
2. In a later-revealed Sura (Sura #86), however, the Qur’aan speaks of
another ingredient or raw material, other than 'alaq', which has gone into the
making of 'insaan'. Verses 5 to 8 of this Sura run as follows:
"Falyanzuril insaanu minma khuliq. Khuliqa minmaain daafiq. Yakhruju
minbainis sulbi wattaraaib. Innahu alaa raj'eihi laqadir." ['Insaan'
should then consider by what (means) he/she has been created. He/she has been
created by (means of) gushing fluid. Which (fluid) comes out from between the
spine and the ribs. Verily indeed capable of its return.]
3. I am aware that the translation I have given in the above paragraph
is not the orthodox one. But then, as anybody can see, the orthodox translation
has deviated from the plain meaning of the words used in the Qur’aan to suit
the translators' own ideas about the message, the verses are conveying.
4. The preconceived idea of the translators is that the gushing fluid,
referred to in the above-quoted verses of Sura #86, is semen that spurts out of
the male organ, penis, during the sexual act. But with this preconceived idea,
the translators had a problem. Semen, obviously, does not gush out from between
the backbone and the ribs; nor, for that matter, is it produced there. Then, is
the Word of Allah, na'auzubilLah, wrong? NO, explain the translators, the
semen-producing organs are originally embedded, in the foetus, between the
backbone and the ribs, but they gradually descend, until birth of the child, to
their position, at birth, between the legs.
5. Even an adolescent can say that the translators' above explanation is
nothing but stretching of their imaginations in a vain bid to justify their
interpretation of the Divine Verses. [There are other explanations given, which
are equally un-convincing.] Such justifications cannot but cast doubts on the
veracity of the Qur’aan being the Word of Allah. And Allah says of the Qur’aan:
"Zalikal kitabu la raiba feehi" (This is the book wherein there is no
doubt) [Q: 2.2]!
6. The Qur’aan itself says that the meanings of some of the verses may
not be clear to mankind initially for some period of time because of the limits
of its (mankind's) knowledge. But, "soon will We show them Our Signs in
the regions, and in their own souls, until it becomes manifest to them that
this (Qur’aan) is the Truth" [Q: 41.53]. It is therefore imperative for
true believers to stick to the plain meaning of Qur’aanic Verses and refrain
from devious interpretations, even when the plain meaning is not
understandable. The expanding sphere of human knowledge may make the meaning
clear at some future point of time.
7. The plain meaning of the Verses under consideration [Q: 86.5 to 7] is
that Allah created `insaan' by means of the fluid that gushes out from the
cavity enclosed by the back on one side and the ribs on the other. At the time,
in the seventh century A.D., when these Verses were revealed, people could not
understand the full implication of the Verses. The level of their knowledge
about the intricacies of the human body was too low. They could not then
understand as to what fluid could gush out of the said cavity. It was only ten
centuries later, when the English physician, William Harvey*, announced his
discovery of blood circulating around the body in a closed circuit, that
mankind became aware of blood gushing out of the heart located in the cavity
formed by the ribs and the backbone. Now we know how the pumping action of the
heart makes the blood gush out into the aorta. So now we know what fluid it is
that gushes out from the exact place described in the Qur’aan. The fluid is
nothing but blood. Why, then, do we, the people of the modern age, not accept
this simple truth? Why do we still insist that the fluid is semen, when deep
down in our hearts, we know that semen does not spurt out from the spot in the
human body, so exactly described in the said Verses?
8. After the creation of the first man and woman by Allah, semen of
course is the source derived from man for the creation of Adam and Eve's
succeeding progeny. But semen is not the only source. The other source is the
female egg. Neither of these two sources, however, can be said to be the
ready-to-use materials from which 'insaan' is created. After fertilization, the
two sources together have to undergo numerous changes till the formation in the
uterus of what Allah calls 'alaq'. Now this 'alaq' is the ready-to-use material
with which 'insaan' is created as stated by Allah Himself [Q: 96.2 cited
above].
9. With the tremendous advances made in human knowledge during the last
14 centuries since the revelation of the Qur’aan, we now know that 'alaq' or
the leech-shaped embryo in the mother's womb has the rudimentary (undeveloped)
forms of the heart and the network of blood vessels. The rudimentary heart and
blood-vessel-network is even filled with blood (the tiny embryo's own
distinctive blood and not the mother's), but there is no heartbeat and no
consequent circulation of the blood. 'Alaq' is thus merely the source from
which a human being is to be created, but it is not an 'insaan' yet. Except for
the cardio-vascular system, no other organ system has reached a functional
state therein. In fact, there is not even a rudimentary formation of any other
distinctly human organ at this stage.
10. The Qur’aan (Q: 96.2) says, I repeat, that 'alaq' is the material
from which 'insaan' is created. But 'alaq' is not 'insaan'; it is only a raw
material for the latter. Something else, other than 'alaq', is therefore
logically required for the creation of 'insaan'. It is my humble submission
that the Verses (Q: 86.5 to 8) provide a clue to the other thing required. This
other thing cannot be semen for the obvious reason that semen has already gone
into the making of 'alaq'.
11. As explained in para 7 above, the gushing fluid referred to in
Verses (Q: 86.5 to 8) could only be blood. One may, however, ask, how could
blood be the thing, other than 'alaq', from which a living 'insaan' is created,
when blood might be part of 'alaq' itself? Yes, it is not blood, per se, which
is the other thing required, but it is the gushing fluid (blood), together with
the motive force behind it, which is required to convert 'alaq' into a living
thing, 'insaan'.
12. When blood stops gushing out of the heart, life ceases to exist. As
a necessary corollary to this statement of fact, one has to admit that life
begins when the heart in the embryo starts ticking and blood starts gushing out
therefrom at the beginning of the 4th week after conception. It is with this
gushing blood that primitive organs are formed and the embryo takes distinctly
human shape by the end of the 8th week. Without this gushing blood, the embryo
would not develop into the infant, capable of coming out into the world and
continuing to live therein. Even after birth, the creating and developing work
of the gushing blood continues till the infant turns into a fully developed
'insaan'. It is this gushing blood which sustains every cell of the body by regularly
supplying oxygen and nourishment to it and draining out wastes therefrom.
Without this gushing blood, the cells would all be dead, life would cease to
exist, and there would be no 'insaan'.
13. In the light of the above discussion, is there any doubt now that
along with 'alaq', it is the blood gushing out of the heart by means of which
'insaan' has been created and sustained? Is there any doubt now that the
gushing fluid referred to in the Verses, (Q: 86.5 & 6) is not semen but
blood gushing out of the heart? Is there any doubt now that the said Verses had
revealed a scientific truth in the seventh century, when the truth dawned on
the scientific world only over a thousand years later? Is there any doubt now
that the Qur’aan is the book of Allah? Only those will have doubts who are
"deaf, dumb, blind and therefore do not understand" (Q: 2.171).
14. The Verse, (Q: 86.8), is generally so translated as to mean that
Allah is capable of resurrecting `insaan' on the day of judgement, after his
death in this world. The crucial word in the Verse is 'raj'eihi'. 'Raj'ei', of
course, means return. But what does 'hi', meaning 'his/its' pertain to - to
'insaan' or to 'gushing fluid' both referred to in the preceding Verses? In the
traditional translation, of course, 'hi' has been taken to mean 'his' and is
construed to pertain to 'insaan', occurring in the earlier Verse #5. But the
interpretation of Verse #8, thus made, appears to be rather contrived. This
'contrivance' was naturally to be expected from interpreters/translators at the
time of the revelation of the Verses, and for centuries later, because of the
limitation of human knowledge about the intricacies of the human body, at that
time. If the Verse were to be then interpreted to mean that the gushing fluid
was capable of return to where it originated from, it would make no sense to
the people living then. But now, this interpretation would not only make sense,
but would be a natural corollary to the interpretation given to the immediately
preceding Verses above, in this write-up.
15 Look at the implication of this interpretation: The Holy Qur’aan had
revealed the fact of blood circulation in the human body, long back in the
seventh century, whereas the world of science came to know of it about a
thousand years later! *
16. But, alas, most
of humanity would persist in being "summunm, bukmun, umyun, fahum la
yaqiloon" (Q: 2.171)!
*Note: It has come to my knowledge, after I first wrote the above piece, that blood circulation was first discovered, not by William Harvey, but by a Muslim, Ibn Nafees, in the twelfth century AD itself. But, even then, the fact remains that blood circulation was first revealed, earlier, in the Qur’aan.
Friday, the 5th
of April 2019.
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