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.