Embryology in the Quran – Part 1 - Dr Zakir Naik

Embryology in the Quran – Part 1 - Dr Zakir Naik

QMS-18

In the field of embryology there were a group of students who collected all the data that they could find in the Qur'an as well as the Hadith, dealing with ‘Embryology’. And they followed the verse of the Qur'an in Surah Nahl, Chapter.No.16, Verse.No.43, and Surah Anbiya, Chapter.No.21, Verse.No.7 which says “Fas aloo Ahlaz zikri in kuntum la Ta’lamoon” “If you don’t know, If you are in doubt, ask the person who is knowledgeable” So these Arab students they collected the verses of the Qur’an and the Hadith dealing with embryology and translated it into English and presented it to Professor Keith Moore, that was about 30 years back, in the late 70’s. And Professor Keith Moore at that time was one of the highest authorities in the field of embryology and he was the head of the department of Anatomy, in the University of Toronto in Canada. When he went through all the translation of the verses of the Qur’an and the Hadith he said, that most of the verses of the Qur’an which speaks about Embryology are in perfect conformity with latest advances of embryology. But there are a couple of verses, which I cannot say that they are right. Neither can I say they are wrong, because I myself don’t know about it. And two such verses, were the first two verses of the Qur’an to be revealed of Surah Iqra, or Surah Alaq, Chapter.No.96, Verse No.1 and 2 which says “Iqra bismi Rabbikal laze Khalaq, Khalaqal insaana min Alaq” “Read, Recite, Proclaim - in the name of thy Lord, who has created, who has created the human beings from something which clings - a leech like substance’. So Professor Keith Moore said, I don’t know whether the human beings, the embryo, embryology means, it’s the study of the development of human beings the early stages of Human Being in the womb of the mother, for those who don’t know. He said that I do not know whether the initial stages of embryo, that’s the initial stages of a human being it looks like a leech or not. So he went in his laboratory and under a very powerful microscope, observed the early stages of the Embryo and compared it with the photograph of a leech, and he was astonished at the striking resemblance. And later when 80 questions were asked to him regarding Embryology in the Qur'an and the Hadith, he said, “That if you would have asked me these questions 30 years ago, that means from today more than 60 years back, I would not be able to answer more than 50% because Embryology is a new branch of Medicine which has developed recently”. And whatever additional information he got, he included in the new addition of his book, “The Developing Human”.

“The Developing Human” is one of the books referred by most of the students throughout the world in the first year of M.B.B.S first year of Medical College and even I, you know when I was in the first year of medical college in Bombay if you had to get just pass marks we used to refer to the book written by Inderbir Singh, if we wanted to score in Embryology we had to refer to ‘The Developing Human’ by Professor Keith Moore. So Professor Keith, he Incorporated this new information he got from the Qur’an and the Hadith into the 3rd edition of His book, the Developing Human which got the award for the best medical book written by a single author. And later on this book was translated into several languages of the world...

’aan