(English isn't my first language so i might make grammatical mistakes)
Introduction:
Here Sharif gets into more
important matters where he attempts to claim that the claims in quranic
embryology was already known, now I want to clear up some future confusion here
before anyone read the article, just because I’m debunking a polemicist who is
trying to show a quranic scientific error doesn’t mean I believe there is
scientific miracles in the quran, all what I say is don’t misrepresent the
quran, infact I consider the claim of
scientific errors more ludicrous than scientific miracles
There is literally not a single
argument here that is correct (although sharif corrected in his video discretion
some of his mistakes) now let us beign
@00:31 First he cites Hippocrates
and he state that Hippocrates believed semen has contact with female egg to
form fetus, I check his source in the description I couldn’t find the source,
however I was able to access the closest possible quote from that book through
quran error website (http://www.quran-errors.com/the-quran-and-semen-production.html)
“1. 1) All things are governed by
law. The sperm of the human male comes from all the humour in the body: it
consists of the most potent part of this fluid, which is secreted from the
rest. The evidence that it is the most potent part which is secreted is the
fact that even though the actual amount we emit in intercourse is very small,
we are weakened by its loss. What happens is this: there are veins and nerves
which extend from every part of the body to the penis. When as the result of
gentle friction these vessels grow warm and become congested, they experience a
kind of irritation, and in consequence, a feeling of pleasure and warmth arises
over the whole body. 2) Friction on the penis and the movement of the whole man
cause the fluid in the body to grow warm; becoming diffuse and agitated by the
movement it produces a foam, in the same way as all other fluids produce foam
when they are agitated. But in the case of the human being what is secreted as
foam is the most potent and the richest part of the humour. This humour is
diffused from the brain into the loins and the whole body, but in particular
into the spinal marrow: for passages extend into this from the whole body,
which enable the humour to pass to and from the spinal marrow. 3) Once the
sperm has entered the spinal marrow it passes in its course through the veins
along the kidneys (sometimes if there is a lesion of the kidneys, blood is
carried along with the sperm). From the kidneys it passes via the testicles
into the penis not however by the urinary tract, since it has a passage of its
own which is next to the urinary tract.
Those who have nocturnal
emissions have them for the following reason; when the humour in the body
becomes diffuse and warmed throughout – whether through fatigue or through some
other cause - it produces foam. As this is secreted, the man sees visions as
though he were having intercourse, for the fluid is precisely the same as that
which is emitted in intercourse. However, erotic dreams and the nature and
effects of this whole complaint, and why it is a precursor of insanity, is no
part of my present subject. So much then for that.
2. 1) The reason that eunuchs do
not have intercourse is that their spermal passage is destroyed. This passage
lies through the testicles themselves. Moreover, the testicles are connected to
the penis by a mass of slender ligaments, which raise and lower the penis.
These are cut off in the operation, and that is why eunuchs are impotent. In
the case of those whose testicles are crushed, the spermal passage is blocked,
for the testicles are damaged and the ligaments, becoming calloused and
insensitive as a result of the damage, are no longer able to tighten and relax.
2) Those on the other hand that have had an incision made by the ear can indeed
have intercourse and emit sperm, but the amount is small, weak and sterile. For
the greater part of the sperm travels from the head past the ears into the
spinal marrow; now when the incision has formed a scar, this passage becomes
obstructed. In the case of children, their vessels are narrow and blocked, and
therefore prevent the passage of sperm, so that the irritation cannot occur as
it does in the adult. Hence the humour in the body cannot be agitated
sufficiently to secrete sperm. 3) Girls while they are still young do not
menstruate for the same reason. But as both boys and girls grow, the vessels
which extend in the boy’s case to the penis and in the girl’s to the womb, open
out and become wider in the process of growth; a way is opened up through the
narrow passages, and the humour, finding sufficient space, can become agitated.
That is why when they reach puberty, sperm can flow in the boy and the menses
in the girl. Such is my explanation of these facts.
3. 1) The sperm is, as I say,
secreted from the whole body - from the hard parts as well as from the soft,
and from the total humour. This humour has four forms: blood, bile, water, and
phlegm. All four are innate in man, and they are the origin of disease. (I have
already discussed these forms, and why both diseases and their resolutions come
from them.) I have now dealt with the subject of sperm: its origin, how and why
it originates, and in the case of those who do not have sperm, why this is so;
and I have dealt with menstruation in girls.
4. 1)In the case of women, it is
my contention that when during intercourse the vagina receives friction and the
womb is disturbed, an irritation is set up in the womb which produces pleasure
and heat in the rest of the body. A woman also emits something from her body,
sometimes into the womb, which then becomes moist, and sometimes externally as
well, if the womb is open wider than normal. Once intercourse has begun, she
experiences pleasure throughout the whole time, until the man ejaculates. If
her desire for intercourse is excited, she emits before the man, and for the
remainder of the time she does not feel pleasure to the same extent; but if she
is not in a state of excitement, then her pleasure terminates along with that
of the man. 2) What happens is this: if into boiling water you pour another
quantity of water which is cold, the water stops boiling. In the same way, the
man’s sperm arriving in the womb extinguishes both the heat and the pleasure of
the woman. Both the pleasure and the heat reach their peak simultaneously with
the arrival of the sperm in the womb, and then they cease. If, for example,
your pour wine on a flame, first of all the flame flares up and increases for a
short period when you pour the wine on, then it dies away. In the same way the
woman’s heat flares up in response to the man’s sperm, and then dies away.”
[1]
I’ve done my research and infact
during that era, scientists didn’t believe that fetus is formed from semen
contact with female egg, there is not a single mention of the union between
seminal fluid and eggs above, how did sharif make such idiotic claim?
However, I shall return to the
subject of translations that he will mention later on, I will also deal with al
harith bin Kilda and his alleged school that he mentioned later in his video
@01:17
Sharif cites Aristotle, and he
state that Aristotle agreed with Hippocrates in regards to the stages of
embryology, but disagreed regarding the third stage being bones forming before muscles,
he showed a screenshot of a text from page 26 of Aristotle book on animal
parts, that reads the following “round about the bones, and attached to them by
thin fibrous bands, grow the fleashy parts”
his source can’t be found, instead I found this quote in another link
[2]
However, in regards to Galen I couldn’t
believe what sharif did so let’s see what he did there
@01:48 he cites Galen and gives
the reference to his book on semen and he quotes it as follows “The substance
from which the fetus is formed is not merely menstrual blood… the two semens”
I want everyone to keep in mind the above quote, this is how Sharif misquoted
Galen so let’s see the full quote
The full quote is as follows
“The substance from which the
fetus is formed is not merely menstrual blood,
as Aristotle maintained, but
menstrual blood plus the two semens”
[3]
As we can see, he thinks fetus is
formed out of the combination of two semen and menstrual blood
Not the combination of male semen
and female egg as how sharif stated
This is both a strawman and a
misquotation, why did sharif emit the part “as Aristotle maintained, but
menstrual blood plus”
However, at 02:15 finally we see
this missing quote mentioned as sharif state “as Aristotle maintained, but
menstrual blood”
The problem here is not only
again this is count as a misquotation, but for non arab speaking audience here
sharif mistranslated what Galen said, as we can see he state that It’s a mix of
menstrual blood, but sharif state it as “دم متجلط” literally
means “blood clot” blood clot is Not a menstrual blood, how did sharif understood Galen menstrual blood in English as blood clot in Arabic?
This is why I don’t take arab ex muslims seriously who say that since
they speak Arabic therefore they can be critical of the quran (example the ex
muslim in his video promotion in the amazing atheist channel)
Later sharif quote “But when it has been filled with blood, and heart,
brain and liver are still unarticulated and unshaped”
as he state this is the second stage which articulate the formation of the
embryo
The problem here is this is Not what the quran describe, if the quran
truly copied galled it would have used the word ملأت in
meaning of filled and دم in meaning of being
filled with blood and flesh, the problem is, in the second stage, no where does
the quran state it’s flesh filled with blood, the key word here is ‘Alaqa which
means either something to be hanged or blood clot, nothing in relation to flesh
at all, how did sharif associated that with the quran?
This is regarded in galen as the second stage not the third stage
Sharif mixed two stages he misquoted the first sentence to make it as
one stage then later took the misquoted part mistranslated it as blood clot
when actual it says menstrual blood,
then later mentions the stage of unshaped embryo and associated it with mudga which
is the third stage in the quran
(you can read Lane lexicon translation of mudgha
[4])
Later sharif state that the final fifth stage is the formation of the
muscles around the bones, he quotes the following “thous it (nature) cause the flesh
to grow on and around the bones”
Now this is not only a strawman this is not regarded as the final stage let
us explore now the third stage (I shall correct sharif later on and compare his
stages of galen to his actual ones”
“The third period follows on this, when, as was said, it is possible to
see the three ruling parts clearly and a kind of outline, a silhouette, as it
were, of all the other parts. You will see the conformation of the three ruling
parts more clearly, that of the parts of the stomach more dimly, and much more
still, that of the limbs. Later on they form ‘twigs’, as Hippocrates expressed
it, indicating by the term their similarity to branches.“
[5]
As Galen state, this is the third stage after the second period that
talks about the shape of the embryo (however I shall deal with sharif statement
that the quran describe embryo as well as unshaped substance)
As we see above Galen describe what is called three ruling parts and he
call them more visible than stomach, he mentioned it as the formation of limbs
bones, something the quran never talked about, how is that similar to the quran
in any way shape or form? Second, mugah would have been similar to the ancient Greek
word ἐμβρύειον that describe the flesh of the embryo
[6],
however mudgah means a chewed like substance, how could mudgah be similar to
the word “three ruling parts”?
I will deal with the issue of muscles being formed after the bones later
on but let’s compare Galen actual stages to sharif misrepresentation of Galen
Sharif interpretation of Galen stages:
1.
the semen of men and women being nutfa
2.
blood clot
3.
unshaped piece of flesh (mudgah)
4.
bones
5.
flesh coving bones
Galen Actual stages:
1.
The first is that in which. as is seen both in abortions and in
dissection, the form of the semen prevails. At this time
2.
But when it has been filled with blood, and heart, brain and liver are
still unarticulated and unshaped yet have by now a certain solidarity and
considerable size, this is the second period; the substance of the foetus has
the form of flesh and no longer the form of semen.
3.
The third period follows on this, when, as was said, it is possible to
see the three ruling parts clearly and a kind of outline, a silhouette, as it
were, of all the other parts. You will see the conformation of the three ruling
parts more clearly, that of the parts of the stomach more dimly, and much more
still, that of the limbs. Later on they form ‘twigs’, as Hippocrates expressed
it, indicating by the term their similarity to branches
4.
The fourth and final period is at the stage when all the parts in the
limbs have been differentiated; and at this part Hippocrates the marvellous no
longer calls the foetusan embryo only, but already a child, too when he says
that it jerks and moves as ananimal now fully formed (Arabic `A new creation')."
[7]
Now compare the above stages to sharif stages, how can they be similar?
The stages of embryo by Galen can be summarized as follows
1-it dissect as a formation from the semen that prevails
2-it will be filled with blood and heart and liver will form into an
unshaped form
3-three ruling pars and outlines will form to give us limbs bones and
twigs
4-the embryo is fully formed
Now let us describe the quranic stages:
1-a mixed dropped liquid of both semen of man attacked to women semen
2-a blood clot like substance will form
3- a chewed like substance will form
4-bones
5-proto muscles (not muscles but proto muscles we will talk about this)
03:13 now we shall discuss the translations of Galen works, were they
translated before Muhammad? Sharif state that they have been translated by sergius
of reshaina
He states that he took Galen works and other companions with him to Persia
Now here comes the most important and embarrassing part, he mentions
that there he made several schools including one called jundishapur or Gundeshapur
However, did this school actually exist? Several scholars have inserted
doubt into wither or not this school existed
(the following have been taken from Hamza Tzortiz article regarding
Harith bin Kilda)
“An influential
mythology has developed around Nestorian activity
in
the city of Gondeshapur [Jundishapur] in south-western Persia. According
to the often-repeated legend, the Nestorians turned Gondeshapur into a major
intellectual center by the sixth century, establishing what some
enthusiasts have chosen to call a university, where instruction in all of the
Greek disciplines could be obtained.
It is alleged that Gondeshapur had a
medical school, with a curriculum based on Alexandrian textbooks, and a
hospital modeled on Byzantine hospitals, which kept the realm supplied with
physicians trained in Greek medicine. Of greatest importance, Gondeshapur is
held to have played a critical role in the translation of Greek scholarship
into Near Eastern languages and, indeed, to have been the single most
important channel by which Greek science passed to the Arabs.
Recent
research has revealed a considerably less dramatic reality. We have no
persuasive evidence for the existence of a medical school or a hospital at
Gondeshapur, although, there seems to have been a theological school
and perhaps an attached infirmary. No doubt Gondeshapur was the scene of
serious intellectual endeavour and a certain amount of medical practice —it
supplied a string of physicians for the Abbasid court at Baghdad beginning in
the eighth century—
but it is doubtful that it ever became a major center of
medical education or of translating activity. If the story of Gondeshapur is
unreliable in its details, the lesson it was meant to teach is nonetheless
valid.”
[8]
“Jundishapur was certainly a meeting place for Arab, Greek, Syriac and
Jewish intellectuals, but there is no evidence that any medical academy existed
there. Only in the early ninth century did Arab–Islamic learned medicine take
shape.”
[9]
The scholars took it far to even doubt harith bin Kilda integrity as a
doctor
“In these latter sources the information about al-Harith is fragmentary,
references to his profession as a doctor are not consistent and, where they
occur, tend to be incidental, and there seems to be little information about
the nature of his medicine or detail about his life.”
[10]
Bin Kalada was from al-Ta’if, a town which came into contact with Islam
only in the 8th year of the Islamic calendar
[11]
There has been some scholars I came across who even doubted if harith
bin Kilda ever existed, but I don’t consider that to be highly probable
Now what about the translation. Where they actually made before the
prophet time? I’ve done my own independent research on this
“the bases of translation were in the capital of
the abased era Baghdad from the house of wisdom, and it’s a center where
several scholars have gathered and translated several work to Arabic from wide range
of non muslim works, the credit was to the Christians being able to master the Greek
language and Cyrillic and the main personality was hinyan bin ishaq also known
to the west as juhavintus who is a Nestorian Christian from the south of Iraq from the town of hara,
with his students he translated approximately 129 works of Galen”
[12]
According to historian Donald Campbell in his
book Arabian Medicine and Its Influence on the Middle Ages
“Yuhana Al-Nahawi and Haron Al-Qisis who is also
the yaksandari lived at the time of Muhammad and harun gathered thirty Cyrillic books, and they are a groups
of works associated to Greek, these are called benedict haroun, and they were
translated to Arabic in the year 638 A.D by the Syrian jew masir juahiri, and
they were aimed at translating the first works of Greek medicine to Arabic
[13]
So far we have seen that there have been
evidence presented that the Greek translations could not have possibly reached Muhammad,
we also need to cap with the fact that Muhammad can’t read or write so how
could he read these works
I shall deal now with the issue of bones forming
before the flesh, now let us examine the verse in question
“We (God) created man from a quintessence of
clay. We then placed him as a nutfah (drop) in a place of settlement, firmly
fixed, then We made the drop into an 'alaqah (leech-like structure), and then
We changed the 'alaqah into a mudghah (chewed-like substance), then We made out
of that mudghah, 'izsm (skeleton, bones), then (we shall discuss what then
means here) We clothed the bones with labm (muscles, flesh), then We caused him
to grow and come into being and attain the definitive (human) form. So, blessed
be God, the best to create."
The development of bones here is described as osteogensis
During embryogenesis, the dermomyotome and/or
myotome in the somites contain the myogenic progenitor cells
that will
evolve into the prospective skeletal muscle[14]
These are called proto muscles, or tissues
formed before the actual development of the actual skeletal muscles, these are
need to be distinct from regular muscles that are referred as laham here or
flesh
During the second month the Ossification (bone
formation) begins
[15]
Here is a comprehensive breakdown of stages from
start to muscle formation
“Week 4
At the beginning of the 4th week, the somites
(4) are well formed and the neural tube is also formed but it is opened at the
rostral and caudal neuropores (p. 81, fig. 5.8).
Upper limb buds become recognizable during week
4 (day 26 or 27) and the lower limb buds become present by the end of week 4
(day 28; p. 84, fig. 5.12). The
patterning of the limb development is regulated by Homeobox-containing (Hox)
genes.
The upper limb buds appear low on the embryo due
to the dominant development of the head and neck.
The upper limb buds form opposite the caudal
cervical segments and lower limb buds form opposite the lumbar and upper sacral
segments.
Limb bud (p. 366, fig. 16-2)
Each limb bud consists of a mass of mesenchyme
derived from the somatic mesoderm, covered by a layer of ectoderm. At the tip
of each limb bud, ectodermal cells form an apical ectodermal ridge, which
promotes growth and development of the limbs in the proximo-distal axis . Fibroblast growth factors and T-box genes
(tbx-4 and tbx-5) from the apical ectodermal ridge activate the mesenchymal
cells at the posterior margin of the limb bud (the zone of polarizing
activity). This causes expression of the
Sonic Hedgehog gene, which controls the patterning of the limb along the
anterior-posterior axis. Expression of
Wnt7 from the dorsal epidermis of the limb bud and engrailed-1 (EN-1) from the
ventral aspect specifies the dorsal-ventral axis
Week 5
Bones appear during week 5 as mesenchymal
condensations in the limb buds (p. 371, fig. 16-7)
Upper limbs show regional differentiation with
developing hand plates (p. 367, fig. 16-3).
Week 6 (p. 354, fig. 14-14; p. 371, fig. 16-7)
Mesenchymal models of the bones in the limbs
undergo chondrification to form hyaline cartilage.
The clavicle develops by intramembranous
ossification and later develops articular cartilages.
The cartilage models form sooner in the upper
limb than in the lower limb and in a proximodistal sequence.
Further differentiation of the limb buds during
week 6 (p. 367, fig. 16-3):
Identifiable elbow and wrists regions are
formed.
Hand plates develop ridges, called digital rays
and these will become the future thumb and fingers. At the tip of each digital
ray is a portion of the apical ectodermal ridge. It induces development of the
mesenchyme into the primordia of bones. Areas between the rays contain loose
mesenchyme.
Development of the lower limb buds is always
slower by a few days.
Week 7
Loose mesenchyme between the digital rays break
down and notches appear between the digital rays in the hand plates.
Digital rays form in the foot plate.
Ossification in the long bones begin by the end
of the embryonic period (week 7). The primary centers are in the diaphyses (p.
343, fig. 14-5).
Limb
muscles are formed by myogenic precursor cells that migrate into the limb buds
and differentiate into myoblasts. They
are derived from the dorsolateral muscle-forming region of the somites, an area
which expresses the muscle-specific genes MyoD and myf-5. Expression of
MyoD results from the influence of activating Wnt proteins and
inhibitory BMP-4 protein. The myoblasts
form a muscle mass which divides into a dorsal (extensor) and ventral (flexor)
compartments.”
[16]
(from Indiana state univercity)
So as we can see, bones are formed alongside
proto muscles tissues, these proto muscles then during the 7th week evolve
into fully developed limbs muscles
Now let us deal with the final accusation sharif
made against Keith L. Moor
Sharif state at 06:15 that Keith L. Moor state
in a book he associated it to him titled “A history of embryology” that quran
merely echoes or reflect previous claims of embryology
Now this is a disaster, Keith Moore didn’t
auther such book, sharif falsely attributed this book to Keith Moore, I looked
up this book everywhere and couldn’t find it, the closest book we have to this is A History of Embryology (1959), by Joseph Needham
In conlcustion this is another embaressing video
that shows how lackluster sharif is in critical thinking and scientific
learning, I’m not claiming this is a scientific miracle, but again don’t
strawman the quran
[1]
Hippocrates, The Hippocratic Treatises, "On Generation," "On the
Nature of the Child," "Diseases IV", Translated by Walter de
Cruyter, 1981, pp. 1-2.
[2]
https://books.google.iq/books?id=MLbmAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1020&lpg=PA1020&dq=round+about+the+bones,+and+attached+to+them+by+thin+fibrous+bands,+grow+the+fleshy+parts&source=bl&ots=kjRKj0Ekht&sig=u7thYdVA0IQQ1r7XIzDKqZAnFEI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjV2vXPzvHPAhVGXCwKHRquBukQ6AEIIzAB#v=onepage&q=round%20about%20the%20bones%2C%20and%20attached%20to%20them%20by%20thin%20fibrous%20bands%2C%20grow%20the%20fleshy%20parts&f=false
[3]
Galen - On Semen Page.5
[4]
An Arabic-English Lexicon. Librairie Du Liban. 1968. Vol. 5, page 2134
[5]
Galeni de Semine (Galen: On Semen) pages 92-95.
[6]
Greek-English Lexicon. 7th Edition. Harper and Brothers. 1883, page 460.
[7]
Corpus Medicorum Graecorum: Galeni de Semine (Galen: On Semen) (Greek textwith
English trans. Phillip de Lacy, Akademic Verlag, 1992) section I:9:1-10, pp.
92-95
[8]
David C. Lindberg. The Beginnings of Western Science. University Of Chicago
Press. 1992, pages, 164-165
[9]
Roy Porter. The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity.
Fontana Press.1999, page,94.
[10]
The Islamic World: From Classic to Modern Times. Edited, C. E. Bosworth et al.
Darwin. 1991, page 129
[11]
This chapter is a Meccan which means that the verses were revealed before the
migration (hijrah) to Medina. The conquest of Ta’if occurred after hijrah. The
Qur’an: A New Translation. Oxford University Press. 2005, page 215
[12]
The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity (The Norton
History of Science) by roy poter, page.95
[13]
Arabian Medicine and Its Influence on the Middle Ages by Donald Campbell
page.47
[14]
Ito, Yoshiaki. "A Systems Approach and Skeletal Myogenesis".
International Journal of Genomics. Hindawi Publishing Organization
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijg/2012/759407/
[15]
https://web.archive.org/web/20120301011824/http://www.nsbri.org/HumanPhysSpace/focus6/student1.html
[16]
http://web.indstate.edu/thcme/duong/EMBRYOL.html
