Embryology in the Quran

2:31

12 Oct 2014

Embryology

Nouman Ali Khan

In this brief animated clip from a longer video, Nouman Ali Khan presents information about verse 96:2 from the Qurʾān and uses it to explain the term ʿalaq, which he indicates means to “cling or hang off”.  He goes on to explicate the idea with images.  He suggests that this proves the Qurʾān presents miraculous knowledge, a form of iʿjāz.

There are two back bumpers on this clip.  One is from Darul Arqam Studio (Facebook), which created the images, and the other is for www.nakcollection.com, which presents an extensive collection of videos by topic, although it does not seem to include this video.

Evaluation:

Khan’s representation (with images here in addition to verbally) that in the 7th century people “couldn’t possibly have known” that an embryo implants (or hangs from) the womb of the mother is wrong.  That the fetus was connected to its mother via an umbilical cord would have been known since humans (and other mammals) began giving birth.  People in the 7th century may not have known all the details we know in the 21st century, but neither were they backward, primitive idiots.

The material on Islam is within the bounds of what Muslims have historically understood as acceptable.

About Nouman Ali Khan

Nouman Ali Khan (b. 1978) is the CEO and founder of Bayyinah Institute, a Qurʾānic school in Texas begun in 2005.  Khan, the son of a Pakistani diplomat, lived in Germany, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan before moving to New York City when his father was posted there in 1993.  He attended public high school and then college in New York City, became re-acquainted with Islam through a Muslim Students Association at his college, and went on to learn Arabic thoroughly in order to understand tafsīr (Qurʾānic exegesis).  His various videos have been done in order to make it easy for others to learn more about Arabic and the Qurʾān.  His discussions of science in the Qurʾān are part of his presentation of the text’s miraculousness.

The Institute also has online Quranic materials via “Bayyinah TV“.

Khan is connected through a variety of social media, including Twitter and Facebook.

Selected Bibliography

Khan has given multiple video interviews about his life.  See for instance:

Life of Nouman Ali Khan – VIP Show” with Hassan Alkatib, undated, uploaded 16 Mar 2014.
Nouman Ali Khan, Former Muslim – Atheist, USA [of His Youth]“, The Deen Show, uploaded 23 Mat 2014.

Sameen Tahir Khan, “Nouman Ali Khan:  The one-man Qur’an movement“, Arab News, 22 Mar. 2013.