mahussain3
Son of Aa'ishah(R.A)
Embryology
A few years ago, a group of men in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia collected all of the verses in the
Quran which discuss embryology - the growth of the human being in the womb. They said,
"Here is what the Quran says. Is it the truth?" In essence, they took the advice of the Quran: "Ask
the men who know." They chose, as it happened, a non-Muslim who is a professor of
embryology at the University of Toronto. His name is Keith Moore, and he is the author of
textbooks on embryology - a world expert on the subject. They invited him to Riyadh and said,
"This is what the Quran says about your subject. Is it true? What can you tell us?"
While he was in Riyadh, they gave him all the help that he needed in translation and all of the
cooperation for which he asked. And he was so surprised at what he found that he changed
his textbooks. In fact, in the second edition of one of his books, called Before We Are Born... in
the section about the history of embryology, he included some material that was not in the first
edition because of what he found in the Quran was ahead of its time and that those who
believe in the Quran know what other people do not know.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Keith Moore for a television presentation, and we talked a
great deal about this - it was illustrated by slides and so on. He mentioned that some of the
things that the Quran states about the growth of the human being were not known until thirtyyears ago. In fact, he said that one item in particular - the Quran's description of the human
being as a "leech-like clot" ('alaqah) at one stage (Surahs al-Hajj 22:5; al-Mu'minun 23:14; and
Ghafir 40:67) - was new to him; but when he checked on it, he found that it was true, and so he
added it to his book. He said, "I never thought of that before," and he went to the zoology
department and asked for a picture of a leech. When he found that it looked just like the
human embryo, he decided to include both pictures in one of his textbooks.
Although the aforementioned example of man researching information contained in the
Quran deals with a non-Muslim, it is still valid because he is one of those who is knowledgeable
in the subject being researched. Had some layman claimed that what the Quran says about
embryology is true, then one would not necessarily have to accept his word. However,
because of the high position, respect, and esteem man gives scholars, one naturally assumes
that if they research a subject and arrive at a conclusion based on that research, then the
conclusion is valid.
Skeptic's Reaction
Dr. Moore also wrote a book on clinical embryology, and when he presented this information
in Toronto, it caused quite a stir throughout Canada. It was on the front pages of some of the
newspapers across Canada, and some of the headlines were quite funny. For instance, one
headline read: "SURPRISING THING FOUND IN ANCIENT PRAYER BOOK!" It seems obvious from
this example that people do not clearly understand what it is all about. As a matter of fact, one
newspaper reporter asked Professor Moore, "Don't you think that maybe the Arabs might have
known about these things - the description of the embryo, its appearance and how it changes
and grows? Maybe they were not scientists, maybe they did some crude dissections on their
own - carved up people and examined these things." The professor immediately pointed out
to him that he [i.e., the reporter] had missed a very important point - all of the slides of the
embryo that had been shown and that had been projected in the film had come from
pictures taken through a microscope. He said, "It does not matter if someone had tried to
discover embryology fourteen centuries ago. They could not have seen it!"
All of the descriptions in the Quran of the appearance of the embryo are of the item when it is
still too small to see with the eye; therefore, one needs a microscope to see it. Since such a
device had only been around for little more than two hundred years, Dr. Moore taunted,
"Maybe fourteen centuries ago someone secretly had a microscope and did this research,
making no mistakes anywhere. Then he somehow taught Muhammad (s) and convinced him
to put this information in his book. Then he destroyed his equipment and kept it a secret
forever. Do you believe that? You really should not unless you bring some proof because it is
such a ridiculous theory." In fact, when he was asked, "How do you explain this information in
the Quran?" Dr. Moore's reply was, "It could only have been divinely revealed!"
Geology
One of Professor Moore's colleagues, Marshall Johnson, deals extensively with geology at the
University of Toronto. He became very interested in the fact that the Quran's statements about
embryology are accurate, and so he asked Muslims to collect everything contained in the
Quran which deals with his speciality. Again people were very surprised at the findings. Since
there are a vast number subjects discussed in the Quran, it would certainly require a large
amount of time to exhaust each subject. It suffices for the purpose of this discussion to state
that the Quran makes very clear and concise statements about various subjects while
simultaneously advising the reader to verify the authenticity of these statements with research
by scholars in those subjects. And as illustrated by the previous examples of embryology and
geology, the Quran has clearly emerged authentic.
By Dr.Garry Milller
A few years ago, a group of men in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia collected all of the verses in the
Quran which discuss embryology - the growth of the human being in the womb. They said,
"Here is what the Quran says. Is it the truth?" In essence, they took the advice of the Quran: "Ask
the men who know." They chose, as it happened, a non-Muslim who is a professor of
embryology at the University of Toronto. His name is Keith Moore, and he is the author of
textbooks on embryology - a world expert on the subject. They invited him to Riyadh and said,
"This is what the Quran says about your subject. Is it true? What can you tell us?"
While he was in Riyadh, they gave him all the help that he needed in translation and all of the
cooperation for which he asked. And he was so surprised at what he found that he changed
his textbooks. In fact, in the second edition of one of his books, called Before We Are Born... in
the section about the history of embryology, he included some material that was not in the first
edition because of what he found in the Quran was ahead of its time and that those who
believe in the Quran know what other people do not know.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Keith Moore for a television presentation, and we talked a
great deal about this - it was illustrated by slides and so on. He mentioned that some of the
things that the Quran states about the growth of the human being were not known until thirtyyears ago. In fact, he said that one item in particular - the Quran's description of the human
being as a "leech-like clot" ('alaqah) at one stage (Surahs al-Hajj 22:5; al-Mu'minun 23:14; and
Ghafir 40:67) - was new to him; but when he checked on it, he found that it was true, and so he
added it to his book. He said, "I never thought of that before," and he went to the zoology
department and asked for a picture of a leech. When he found that it looked just like the
human embryo, he decided to include both pictures in one of his textbooks.
Although the aforementioned example of man researching information contained in the
Quran deals with a non-Muslim, it is still valid because he is one of those who is knowledgeable
in the subject being researched. Had some layman claimed that what the Quran says about
embryology is true, then one would not necessarily have to accept his word. However,
because of the high position, respect, and esteem man gives scholars, one naturally assumes
that if they research a subject and arrive at a conclusion based on that research, then the
conclusion is valid.
Skeptic's Reaction
Dr. Moore also wrote a book on clinical embryology, and when he presented this information
in Toronto, it caused quite a stir throughout Canada. It was on the front pages of some of the
newspapers across Canada, and some of the headlines were quite funny. For instance, one
headline read: "SURPRISING THING FOUND IN ANCIENT PRAYER BOOK!" It seems obvious from
this example that people do not clearly understand what it is all about. As a matter of fact, one
newspaper reporter asked Professor Moore, "Don't you think that maybe the Arabs might have
known about these things - the description of the embryo, its appearance and how it changes
and grows? Maybe they were not scientists, maybe they did some crude dissections on their
own - carved up people and examined these things." The professor immediately pointed out
to him that he [i.e., the reporter] had missed a very important point - all of the slides of the
embryo that had been shown and that had been projected in the film had come from
pictures taken through a microscope. He said, "It does not matter if someone had tried to
discover embryology fourteen centuries ago. They could not have seen it!"
All of the descriptions in the Quran of the appearance of the embryo are of the item when it is
still too small to see with the eye; therefore, one needs a microscope to see it. Since such a
device had only been around for little more than two hundred years, Dr. Moore taunted,
"Maybe fourteen centuries ago someone secretly had a microscope and did this research,
making no mistakes anywhere. Then he somehow taught Muhammad (s) and convinced him
to put this information in his book. Then he destroyed his equipment and kept it a secret
forever. Do you believe that? You really should not unless you bring some proof because it is
such a ridiculous theory." In fact, when he was asked, "How do you explain this information in
the Quran?" Dr. Moore's reply was, "It could only have been divinely revealed!"
Geology
One of Professor Moore's colleagues, Marshall Johnson, deals extensively with geology at the
University of Toronto. He became very interested in the fact that the Quran's statements about
embryology are accurate, and so he asked Muslims to collect everything contained in the
Quran which deals with his speciality. Again people were very surprised at the findings. Since
there are a vast number subjects discussed in the Quran, it would certainly require a large
amount of time to exhaust each subject. It suffices for the purpose of this discussion to state
that the Quran makes very clear and concise statements about various subjects while
simultaneously advising the reader to verify the authenticity of these statements with research
by scholars in those subjects. And as illustrated by the previous examples of embryology and
geology, the Quran has clearly emerged authentic.
By Dr.Garry Milller