The development of human embryo in the Quran, Surah al- Mu’minun (23): 12-14.

Abstract

This article highlights different stages of formation of the human embryo along with the description of every stage of the embryonic development as mentioned in the Quran, Surah al-Mu’minun. This study shows that God creates a child in a mother’s womb and brings about the child chronological evolution to full life, while the parents only play an instrumental role in this creative process. The Quran says: We have created man out of an extraction of clay (the origin of semen). Then we turn it into semen and settle it in a firm receptacle. We then turn semen into a clot (‘alaqah) (literally, something hanging, that is, from the womb) which we then transmute into a lum (mudghah). We then create bones which we clothe with flesh. Then, we transmute it into a new mode (of ensoulment)-blessed be then Allah, the best of creators. (Al-Quran, Surah (Chapter) Al-Mu’minun (23): 12-14, see also Al-Hajj (22): 5).