This article is the documentation of a conference given by Professor Keith Moore and representatives of the world wide organization of scientific miracles in the Holy Quran in Mecca-Saudi Arabia. In the previous episode we spoke about the first stage of human development, in this episode we will speak about the second stage which starts from the third week and carries on until the eighth week. This stage is divided into 4 main stages: 1-Al Alaqah. 2-Al Mudghah. 3-The bones. 4-The covering of the flesh. As we will see these stages were mentioned in the Quran and we will relate them to modern discoveries. Quran: “And indeed We created man (Adam) out of an extract of clay (water and earth). Thereafter We made him (the offspring of Adam) as a Nutfah (mixed drops of the male and female sexual discharge) (and lodged it) in a safe lodging (womb of the woman). Then We made the Nutfah into a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood), then We made the clot into a little lump of flesh, then We made out of that little lump of flesh bones, then We clothed the bones with flesh, and then We brought it forth as another creation. So blessed be Allah, the Best of creators.” Surah Al Mu’minun verses 12-14 Prepositions in the Quran: - We would like to point out that in the Arabic language when we wish to express two consecutive events we use prepositions and we have two kinds: -The use of the “ف” (which is pronounced as feh) letter which expresses the rapid transformation from one event to the next, meaning that once the previous event ends the following event starts immediately. -The use of the “ثم” (which is pronounced as thummah) word which refers to that fact that time elapses between the two events, meaning that it’s not rapid as in the first case. We will show throughout this document the efficient use of these prepositions in the Quran. The first stage “Al Alaqah”: The meaning of the word “Al Alaqah” in the Arabic language: It has more than one meaning: -Its most common meaning: is that it’s a being that sticks and clings on to something. -Also it can be translated as a leech (worm) which sucks blood and lives in ponds and feeds on the blood of the animals it clings to. -A general meaning of the word is blood which is very red and clotted. Modern science: We will demonstrate how the use of the word “Al Alaqah” accurately describes this stage of the fetus’s life. -After the “Nutfah” has been completely created which is known as Blastocyst it clings to the wall of the womb on the 6th day of the implantation stage. This lasts for a week until the “Nutfah” is connected to the initial placenta by a stem which later on develops into the chord. As we can see this expresses the first meaning of the word Alaqah, -The fetus starts to loose its circular form and takes a shape of a worm that feeds on the mother’s blood also the fetus is completely surrounded with mucus as you can see this is analogous to the second meaning of Alaqah.
Figure 1: shows Drawings illustrating the similarities in appearance between a leech and a human embryo at the Alaqah stage.
-The exterior appearance of the fetus at this point is just like a mass of clotted solid blood. This is because the initial heart and the group of heart blood vessels appear in this stage and the blood is trapped in these vessels and does not start circulation until the end of the third week that’s why the fetus takes the look of clotted blood. 
Figure 2: Diagram of the primitive cardiovascular system in an embryo during the Alaqah stage. The external appearance of the embryo and its sacs is similar to that of a blood clot, due to the presence of relatively large amounts of blood present in the embryo.
Accurate use of Quranic prepositions: The transformation from the “Nutfah” stage to the “Al Alaqah” stage is a slow process that’s why the Quran uses the word “thoma” to express this transformation. The second stage “Al Mudghah”: -This stage starts at the end of the 6th week. The meaning of the word “Al Mudghah” in the Arabic language: It has more than one meaning: -Something chewed on by teeth. -Something at a size small enough to be chewed. Accurate use of Quranic prepositions: -The fetus is at the final stage of “Al Alaqah” on day 23-24 then it transforms to “Al Mudhgah”on day 25-26 and this is a rapid change that’s why the Quran uses the letter “feh”. Modern science: We demonstrate the accurate use of the word “Al Mudghah” for this stage in the following points: 1- The appearance of somites in the fetus gives it the appearance of a chewed substance with marks of teeth printed on it, it appears to continuously change just like a substance that is being chewed and just as a chewed substance would pucker, rumple and bend so does the fetus in this stage. 
Figure 3: Photograph of an embryo at the mudghah stage (28 days old). The embryo at this stage acquires the appearance of a chewed substance, because the somites at the back of the embryo somewhat resemble teeth marks in a chewed substance.
2-The position of the fetus changes because of the shifting in its center of weight due to the creation of new tissues and also this is analogous to a chewing process. 3-As a chewed substance would be circular before it is swallowed the fetus bends and takes the shape of the letter C. 4-The length of the fetus at this stage is about 1 cm which is about the smallest size of a substance that can be chewed by a human which wouldn’t have been possible in the previous stage as the fetus was only about 3.5 mm long, we can see from this that it corresponds to the second meaning of the word “Al Mudghah”. 
Figure 4: When comparing the appearance of an embryo at the Mudghah stage with a piece of gum that has been chewed, we find similarity between the two.
The third stage: In this stage the skeleton is created at the beginning of the seventh week, also the head starts to be distinguished from the spine and the limbs start to show. The fourth stage: At the end of the seventh week the bones are covered with flesh and muscles are created. By the end of the eighth week all the organs of the fetus have been created but in a small size from then on the fetus continues growing until the end of pregnancy. About Professor Keith L. Moore: Professor Emeritus Keith L. Moore is one of the world’s most prominent scientists in the fields of anatomy and embryology and is the author of the book entitled “The Developing Human,” which has been translated into eight languages. This book is a scientific reference work and was chosen by a special committee in the United States as the best book written by one person. Dr. Keith Moore is the Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. There, he was Associate Dean of Basic Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine and for 8 years was the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy. In 1984, he received the most distinguished award presented in the field of anatomy in Canada, the J.C.B. Grant Award from the Canadian Association of Anatomists. He has directed many international associations, such as the Canadian and American Association of Anatomists and the Council of the Union of Biological Sciences. In 1981, during the Seventh Medical Conference in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Professor Moore said: “It has been a great pleasure for me to help clarify statements in the Quran about human development. It is clear to me that these statements must have come to Muhammad from 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 God.” Consequently, Professor Moore was asked the following question: “Does this mean that you believe that the Quran is the word of God?” He replied: “I find no difficulty in accepting this.” |