- Maj Aamir Zia (R)
In an age when ultrasound screens flicker in every maternity ward, it’s easy to forget how recently we learned what unfolds inside the womb. For most of human history, embryology was guesswork and myth. Aristotle imagined miniature humans curled inside semen; medieval physicians debated whether bones or flesh formed first. The earliest microscopes were still a millennium away. And yet one text from the 7th century recited in the deserts of Arabia outlined a sequence of prenatal development that many readers today can’t help but find striking.
The Qur’an describes the human journey beginning as a nutfah, “a tiny drop,” evolving into an alaqah, “a clinging form,” and then into a mudghah, “a chewed-like lump,” before bones and muscle appear in succession. These terms, unpacked by classical scholars like Ibn Kathir, Tabari, and Qurtubi, form a layered map of development long before anyone peered into a womb with a lens. That sequence doesn’t stand alone. In another verse, the Qur’an speaks of humans being created “in three layers of darkness” which early commentators interpreted as the abdomen, the uterus, and the membranes surrounding the fetus. A 1,400-year-old attempt at anatomical description? Perhaps. A coincidence? Possibly. A revelation? That is for readers to decide.
The Hadith literature, the recorded sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) , goes even further. A well-known narration in Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim divides early development into stages of forty days each, terms that later jurists such as Imam Nawawi and Ibn Qudamah used to articulate laws surrounding miscarriage and inheritance. Embryology was not an abstract puzzle; it had ethical and legal weight. Set these ancient descriptions beside modern embryology and the parallels are at the very least thought-provoking. The nutfah corresponds to fertilization and early cell division. The alaqah, described as something that clings and draws nourishment, fits the period when the embryo implants into the uterine wall.
The mudghah, “the chewed lump,” evokes the somite-stage embryo with its ridged, segmented appearance. Later, the Qur’an’s phrasing “We made the lump into bones, then clothed the bones with flesh” mirrors the general pacing of skeletal development followed by muscle formation, even if modern science notes the overlap between them. Of course, scripture and science operate in different registers. The Qur’an is not a medical manual, and modern biology does not concern itself with souls, angels, or the moral weight of creation. One speaks in imagery, the other in data. One reaches for meaning, the other for mechanism. But occasionally, the two strike the same chord. For believers, this harmony is evidence of a divine source an ancient revelation describing embryonic stages with uncanny relevance. For skeptics, it may be poetic description, retrofitted interpretation, or simply the kind of broad metaphor that can align with many realities. But for anyone genuinely curious about the intersection of faith and knowledge, the co
In an era quick to pit belief against biology, these echoes across centuries remind us that knowledge has always come from many directions scripture, observation, intuition, revelation, and reason. Sometimes they contradict. Sometimes they converse. And sometimes, they quietly converge. Whether that convergence is coincidence or something more meaningful is a question each reader must answer alone.
- The author is a veteran and regularly contributes to national dailies.
- He can reached via email anuhkaf@gmail.com