The Qur'an, in the seventh century C.E., described human embryology with
astonishing accuracy. It says humans are created from "mingled fluid",
that is, sperm and eggs (e.g., 86:6-7). Suras 22:5 and 23:13-14 describe
embryological development in stages.
The embryology expressed by the Qur'an follows the Greek knowledge of
embryology prevalent at the time. The Qur'an refers to nutfah,
which
translates as "semen" and does not refer to both sperm and eggs as
Moore proposes. Sura 86:6 says that the fluid issues from between the
loins and ribs, not, as we know today, from the testicles. This
reflects a mistaken view of Hippocrates, common in the 5th century,
that semen comes from all the fluid of the body and passes through the
kidneys on the way to the penis. Sura 23:12-14 says God created man
from "wet earth, then placed him as (a drop of) sperm (nutfah) in a
safe lodging; then We made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood
(alaqa); then out of that clot We made a (foetus) lump
(mudghah),
then We made out of that lump bones and clothed the bones with flesh;
then We developed out of it another creature." This account directly
follows the four stages described by the Greek physician Galen, writing
around 150 AD. The accuracies and inaccuracies both reflect Greek
ideas of the time.
One of Mohammed's companions was the doctor Harith Ibn Kalada, who
studied at the school of Jundishapur in Persia. He would have been
well acquainted with the teachings of Aristotle, Hippocrates, and
Galen.
The Qur'an also describes humans as coming from earth (11:61), clay
(15:26), mud (23:12), dust (30:20), water (25:54), and nothing (19:67).
Anyone looking for a passage to rationalize to a particular view has no
shortage of options.
