Embryology in the Qur’ān: The head of the embryo resembles a Leech’s sucker

In Figure 11 A we see a scanning electron micrograph of an embryo with its head still open. As yet the embryo has no face, and we can see right into the brain. The heart is shown in red. Figure 11 B shows a scanning electron micrograph of the rear sucker of a leech. Note the similarity in appearance between the embryo’s head and the leech’s sucker Leeches have a small sucker at the front end containing the mouth, and a large, often circular sucker at the rear (Figure 12).

Figure 11A

Figure 11 A, Coloured scanning electron micrograph of the head of an embryo at 22 days. (Footage by Lennart Nilsson)44 B, Coloured scanning electron micrograph of a freshwater leech’s rear sucker. (Photograph by Steve Gschmeissner)45

Figure 12A

Figure 12 A, Photograph of the front sucker of a medicinal leech.46 B, Light micrograph of the rear sucker of a leech from Movile Cave, Romania.47

44 http://web.tt.se/lennart_nilsson_video/video22.html (accessed 28 August 2013).
45 Freshwater leech’s rear sucker. Photograph by Steve Gschmeissner http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/366747/enlarge (accessed 28 August 2013).
46 Field Studies Council: http://www.lifeinfreshwater.org.uk/Species%20Pages/Leech%20sucker.jpg.html (accessed 28 August 2013).
47 Leech from Movile Cave, Romania. www.sciencephoto.com/media/406218/enlarge (accessed 28 August 2013).

Internal anatomical structure like a Leech

Figure 13 A

 Figure 13 A, Ventral dissection showing the internal anatomical structure of a leech. (From J.G. Nicholls and D. Van Essen. The nervous system of the leech, 1974, Scientific American 230:38-48.) B, Dorsal view of a 13-somite embryo at approximately 24 days, actual size 3.0mm. (From Professor Hideo Nishimura, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan). Note the remarkable similarity in appearance between the human embryo and the internal structure of the leech.

If we examine the anatomy of the leech we find that the appearance of its internal structures is also similar to that of the human embryo:

• Figure 13 A shows a photograph of dissected medicinal leech. Note how the body is made up of a series of repeating segments which resemble the somites in human embryos as seen in Figure 13 B above. The actual size of the embryo at this stage is just 3.0mm.

•  Figure 14 A–C shows photographs of embryos during the third and fourth weeks (approximately 22-26 days) where the internal organs can be observed through the skin. Figure 14 D shows two illustrations depicting the internal structures of a leech.

Note the remarkable similarity in appearance between the anatomy of the embryos and the leech. The word alaqah accurately describes and reflects the internal features of the embryo at this stage. Due to the small sizes of the embryos involved, scientists could not have recognised the detailed features of the alaqah stage as there were no microscopes or lenses available in the seventh century.

Figure 14

Figure 14 Dorsal views of embryos during the third and fourth weeks (about 22-26 days). A, Dorsal view of a 5-somite embryo, actual size 2.5mm. B, Dorsal view of an older eight-somite embryo, actual size 3.0mm. C, Dorsal view of a 13-somite embryo at approximately 24 days, actual size 3.0mm. (Photographs from Professor Hideo Nishimura, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.) D, The anatomical structure of the leech. (Illustrated by James Rawlins Johnson, A Treatise on the Medicinal Leech, London, 1816. (Rare – In process) UCLA Biomedical Library: History and Special Collection ns for the Sciences).

The similarities between the embryo and leech are truly remarkable. The Qur’ānic term alaqah refers to the embryo when it is extremely small, measuring just 0.7–3.0mm in length. Due to the small sizes involved scientists could not have recognised the detailed features of the alaqah stage until the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th:

“Even as recently as the nineteen-thirties... the details of human conception and reproduction were largely a scientific mystery, an inaccessible series of poorly understood events that took place deep in a mother’s womb.”48

“It is remarkable how much the embryo of 23-24 days resembles a leech. As there were no microscopes or lenses available in the 7th century, doctors would not have known that the human embryo had this leech-like appearance. In the early part of the fourth week, the embryo is just visible to the unaided eye because it is smaller than a kernel of wheat.”49

The terminology used in the Qur’ān to describe human development during this stage is characterized by descriptiveness, accuracy and ease of comprehension. When one takes into

48 Edwards (1989, Forward). Nobel Prize winner Robert Edwards, who devised the fertility treatment IVF. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2010/edwards.html (accessed 12 January 2014).
49 Moore (1986, p. 16).

consideration both the said similarities between the embryo and leech along with all the meanings of the word alaqah as presented in this paper, then the inevitable question one faces is how could anyone have chosen a more comprehensive word in the Arabic language that describes a particular stage of the embryological cycle in such detail? If anything, one is certainly challenged to offer any credible naturalistic explanation that sounds plausible