Scientific Miracles in the Qur’an?

The Qur’an describes how a human being is formed, how the heaven was built, and how the mountains hold the earth. Read in Tafsir Ibn Kathir, those lines are semen, a blood clot, a shapeless lump, bones, then flesh; a heaven made vast and high; and mountains as pegs so the earth will not quake. The sign the Qur’an itself names is the book, which it says mankind and the jinn cannot match.

Key Points

• Qur’an 23:12–14Qur’an 23:12-14 · Saheeh International¹² And certainly did We create man from an extract of clay. ¹³ Then We placed him as a sperm-drop in a firm lodging [i.e., the womb]. ¹⁴ Then We made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and We made the clot into a lump [of flesh], and We made [from] the lump, bones, and We covered the bones with flesh; then We developed him into another creation. So blessed is Allāh, the best of creators.Qur’an 23:12-14 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source (1) moves from an extract of clay, to a sperm-drop in a firm lodging, to a clinging clot, a lump of flesh, bones, flesh on the bones, and “another creation.” Qur’an 96:2Qur’an 96:2 · Saheeh InternationalCreated man from a clinging substance.Qur’an 96:2 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source says God created man from a clinging substance.
• Tafsir Ibn Kathir (2) on 23:14 calls the nutfah water from the loins of the man and the ribs of the woman, then a red clot. Ikrimah is quoted: “This is blood.” The lump is “a little lump of flesh, which is like a piece of flesh with no shape or features.”
• Qur’an 86:6–7Qur’an 86:6-7 · Saheeh International⁶ He was created from a fluid, ejected, ⁷ Emerging from between the backbone and the ribs.Qur’an 86:6-7 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source says he was created from a fluid ejected, “emerging from between the backbone and the ribs.” Ibn Kathir ties that to the man’s backbone and the woman’s ribs.
• Qur’an 51:47Qur’an 51:47 · Saheeh InternationalAnd the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander.Qur’an 51:47 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source, in Saheeh International, says, “We are [its] expander.” Ibn Kathir reads the clause as making the heaven vast and raising its roof, a completed act, not a twentieth-century measurement of galaxies.
• Qur’an 78:6–7Qur’an 78:6 · Saheeh InternationalHave We not made the earth a resting place?Qur’an 78:6 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source calls the earth a resting place and the mountains stakes. Ibn Kathir says the pegs hold the earth stable so it will not quake. Qur’an 21:30Qur’an 21:30 · Saheeh InternationalHave those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and then We separated them and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe?Qur’an 21:30 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source says the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, then separated. Ibn Kathir says they were one piece, then made into seven heavens and seven earths.
• Qur’an 17:88Qur’an 17:88 · Saheeh InternationalSay, "If mankind and the jinn gathered in order to produce the like of this Qur’ān, they could not produce the like of it, even if they were to each other assistants."Qur’an 17:88 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source says that if mankind and the jinn gathered to produce the like of this Qur’an, they could not. Qur’an 29:50–51Qur’an 29:50-51 · Saheeh International⁵⁰ But they say, "Why are not signs sent down to him from his Lord?" Say, "The signs are only with Allāh, and I am only a clear warner." ⁵¹ And is it not sufficient for them that We revealed to you the Book [i.e., the Qur’ān] which is recited to them? Indeed in that is a mercy and reminder for a people who believe.Qur’an 29:50-51 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source answers a request for signs by pointing to the Book that is recited.

From a Sperm-Drop to Another Creation

Qur’an 23:14Qur’an 23:14 · Saheeh InternationalThen We made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and We made the clot into a lump [of flesh], and We made [from] the lump, bones, and We covered the bones with flesh; then We developed him into another creation. So blessed is Allāh, the best of creators.Qur’an 23:14 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source, Saheeh International:

Then We made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and We made the clot into a lump [of flesh], and We made [from] the lump, bones, and We covered the bones with flesh; then We developed him into another creation. So blessed is Allāh, the best of creators.

Qur’an 23:14 · Saheeh International

Qur’an · accepted by Muslims

Qur’an 23:12Qur’an 23:12 · Saheeh InternationalAnd certainly did We create man from an extract of clay.Qur’an 23:12 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source starts with “an extract of clay.” Qur’an 23:13Qur’an 23:13 · Saheeh InternationalThen We placed him as a sperm-drop in a firm lodging [i.e., the womb].Qur’an 23:13 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source places him “as a sperm-drop in a firm lodging,” and the brackets say the lodging is the womb. Qur’an 96:2Qur’an 96:2 · Saheeh InternationalCreated man from a clinging substance.Qur’an 96:2 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source, in the first revelation as Muslims usually count it, says, “Created man from a clinging substance.” The sequence in 23:14 is clot, lump, bones, flesh on the bones, then another creation. The brackets around “of flesh” and “from” are the translators’ supplies. The order of clot, lump, bones, and covering is in the verse.

Qur’an 86:6–7Qur’an 86:6-7 · Saheeh International⁶ He was created from a fluid, ejected, ⁷ Emerging from between the backbone and the ribs.Qur’an 86:6-7 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source names the fluid: ejected, “emerging from between the backbone and the ribs.” A modern textbook locates the gametes in the testes and the ovaries. This verse names backbone and ribs. The page follows what the Arabic comment said those words meant.

What Ibn Kathir Said the Words Mean

On Qur’an 23:14, the abridged English of Tafsir Ibn Kathir says:

the water gushing forth that comes from the loins of man, i.e., his back, and the ribs of woman, i.e., the bones of her chest, between the clavicle and the breast. Then it becomes a red clot, like an elongated clot.

Qur’an 23:14

Qur’an · accepted by Muslims

Ikrimah’s word, in that comment, is “This is blood.” The mudghah is “a little lump of flesh, which is like a piece of flesh with no shape or features.” Then come bones, “with a head, two arms and two legs, with its bones, nerves and veins,” and then “We clothed the bones with flesh.” That is semen, a blood clot, a shapeless piece of flesh, bones, then flesh. It is the reading a classical commentary gave. It is not a description of the embryonic sequence published in a medical journal.

On Qur’an 86:7, the same commentary says the fluid emerges from “the backbone (or loins) of the man and the ribs of the woman, which is referring to her chest.” Ibn Abbas, by way of Ikrimah, is quoted: “The backbone of the man and the ribs of the woman.” The comment ties 86:6–7 to the embryo passage. It does not relocate the fluid to the reproductive glands.

Saheeh International’s “sperm-drop” and “clinging clot” are translation choices, and the brackets in 23:13 and 23:14 show where the translators added “the womb” and “of flesh.” Ibn Kathir’s English is older in its picture: water from the back and the chest, then blood. Both are Muslim readings of the same lines. Neither is a claim, inside the commentary, that the verse anticipated a later laboratory.

An Expander, Pegs, and a Joined Heaven

Qur’an 51:47Qur’an 51:47 · Saheeh InternationalAnd the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander.Qur’an 51:47 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source, Saheeh International: “And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander.” The words “its” sit in brackets. They are the translator’s gloss on the participle.

Tafsir Ibn Kathir on 51:47 takes “with strength” as the reading of Abdullah bin Abbas, Mujahid, Qatadah, Ath-Thawri, and several others. On the clause Saheeh International renders “expander,” the comment says:

We made it vast and We brought its roof higher without pillars to support it, and thus it is hanging independently.

Tafsir Ibn Kathir on 51:47 · Saheeh International

Qur’an · accepted by Muslims

That is a completed act. The heaven was made spacious, and its roof was raised. The comment does not say the verse is a prediction of galaxies receding. Reading “[its] expander” as cosmic expansion takes the bracketed gloss and a modern observation and lays them on a line Ibn Kathir had already explained as vastness and height.

Qur’an 78:6Qur’an 78:6 · Saheeh InternationalHave We not made the earth a resting place?Qur’an 78:6 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source asks whether the earth was made a resting place. Qur’an 78:7Qur’an 78:7 · Saheeh InternationalAnd the mountains as stakes?Qur’an 78:7 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source: “And the mountains as stakes?” Ibn Kathir on 78:7: “He made them as pegs for the earth to hold it in place, make it stable and firm. This is so that it may be suitable for dwelling and not quake with those who are in it.” The pegs are for stability. The comment is about a dwelling that does not shake. It is not a statement of isostasy.

Qur’an 21:30Qur’an 21:30 · Saheeh InternationalHave those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and then We separated them and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe?Qur’an 21:30 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source: “Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and then We separated them and made from water every living thing?” Ibn Kathir on 21:30 says that in the beginning “they were all one piece, attached to one another and piled up on top of one another, then He separated them from one another, and made the heavens seven and the earth seven, placing the air between the earth and the lowest heaven.” Seven heavens and seven earths, with air between the earth and the lowest heaven, is the comment’s picture. A joined entity that is then separated can be heard, in a modern ear, as a single origin of the cosmos. The commentary that Muslims have actually read here says seven and seven.

Qur’an 79:30Qur’an 79:30 · Saheeh InternationalAnd after that He spread the earth.Qur’an 79:30 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source says, “And after that He spread the earth.” Spread, pegs, and a resting place belong to the same creation language. Is the Qur’an Clear? is 3:7’s warning that unspecific verses are not an open license to pour a later science into a line whose classical sense was already given.

The Sign the Qur’an Names

Qur’an 17:88Qur’an 17:88 · Saheeh InternationalSay, "If mankind and the jinn gathered in order to produce the like of this Qur’ān, they could not produce the like of it, even if they were to each other assistants."Qur’an 17:88 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source, Saheeh International:

Say, “If mankind and the jinn gathered in order to produce the like of this Qur’ān, they could not produce the like of it, even if they were to each other assistants.”

Qur’an 17:88 · Saheeh International

Qur’an · accepted by Muslims

Qur’an 29:50Qur’an 29:50 · Saheeh InternationalBut they say, "Why are not signs sent down to him from his Lord?" Say, "The signs are only with Allāh, and I am only a clear warner."Qur’an 29:50 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source records the demand: “Why are not signs sent down to him from his Lord?” The answer in that verse is, “The signs are only with Allāh, and I am only a clear warner.” Qur’an 29:51Qur’an 29:51 · Saheeh InternationalAnd is it not sufficient for them that We revealed to you the Book [i.e., the Qur’ān] which is recited to them? Indeed in that is a mercy and reminder for a people who believe.Qur’an 29:51 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source: “And is it not sufficient for them that We revealed to you the Book which is recited to them?” The sufficiency claimed there is the recited book. The miracle the Qur’an offers in these lines is literary and revelatory: no one can produce its like, and the book is enough when people ask for a sign.

That is a different claim from embryology, an expanding heaven, or mountain pegs as discoveries dated centuries early. Those readings take words Ibn Kathir explained as clot, vastness, and stakes, and hear a laboratory in them. The concession is real and limited. The Qur’an does talk about clay, fluid, a lodging, bones, flesh, a heaven built with strength, mountains, and water as the stuff of living things. Ancient hearers were meant to recognize a creation. The commentary shows what those hearers were told the words meant. How Was the Qur’an Compiled? is how the book was gathered. The sign 17:88 asks for is the book itself.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did the Qur’an Predict Embryology?

Qur’an 23:12–14Qur’an 23:12-14 · Saheeh International¹² And certainly did We create man from an extract of clay. ¹³ Then We placed him as a sperm-drop in a firm lodging [i.e., the womb]. ¹⁴ Then We made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and We made the clot into a lump [of flesh], and We made [from] the lump, bones, and We covered the bones with flesh; then We developed him into another creation. So blessed is Allāh, the best of creators.Qur’an 23:12-14 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source and Qur’an 96:2Qur’an 96:2 · Saheeh InternationalCreated man from a clinging substance.Qur’an 96:2 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source describe clay, a drop, a clinging clot, a lump, bones, and flesh. Ibn Kathir calls the drop water from the man’s back and the woman’s ribs, then blood, then a shapeless lump. Qur’an 86:6–7Qur’an 86:6-7 · Saheeh International⁶ He was created from a fluid, ejected, ⁷ Emerging from between the backbone and the ribs.Qur’an 86:6-7 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source locates the fluid between the backbone and the ribs, and the commentary repeats that. That is the text and the comment. A later medical sequence is not what those sentences say.

What Is the Greatest Miracle in the Qur’an?

Qur’an 17:88Qur’an 17:88 · Saheeh InternationalSay, "If mankind and the jinn gathered in order to produce the like of this Qur’ān, they could not produce the like of it, even if they were to each other assistants."Qur’an 17:88 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source says mankind and the jinn could not produce the like of this Qur’an even as assistants to one another. Qur’an 29:50–51Qur’an 29:50-51 · Saheeh International⁵⁰ But they say, "Why are not signs sent down to him from his Lord?" Say, "The signs are only with Allāh, and I am only a clear warner." ⁵¹ And is it not sufficient for them that We revealed to you the Book [i.e., the Qur’ān] which is recited to them? Indeed in that is a mercy and reminder for a people who believe.Qur’an 29:50-51 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source answers a request for signs by saying the recited book is sufficient. The miracle named there is the book.

Do the Mountain Verses Describe Geology?

Qur’an 78:7Qur’an 78:7 · Saheeh InternationalAnd the mountains as stakes?Qur’an 78:7 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source calls the mountains stakes. Ibn Kathir says they peg the earth so that it stays firm and does not quake under its inhabitants. Qur’an 51:47Qur’an 51:47 · Saheeh InternationalAnd the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander.Qur’an 51:47 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source and Qur’an 21:30Qur’an 21:30 · Saheeh InternationalHave those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and then We separated them and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe?Qur’an 21:30 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source are read in the same commentary as a heaven made vast and high, and as seven heavens separated from seven earths. Who Is Allah? is the God those creation lines are praising. The Christian confession is that the same God is the Father who created through the Son, and that the Word became flesh, which Is Jesus God? states from the Gospel.

Keep Reading

• Is the Qur’an Clear?
• How Was the Qur’an Compiled?
• Has the Qur’an Been Changed?
• Who Is Allah?
• Is Jesus God?
• The Islamic Dilemma