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Islamic Embryology and Galen

Introduction
Many Muslims frequently refer to the supposedly miraculous information on
Embryology in the Qur’an as evidence of their Scriptures Divine authorship.
How, they ask, could a simple illiterate man like Mohammed have known such things,
other than being told by God?
The standard response from critics of Scientific Miracles in the Qur’an is to say that the
Qur’an is not scientifically accurate and that it’s ideas about Embryology were copied
from the Ancient Greeks and Romans, especially Galen.
Here is the evidence – Judge for yourselves!

The Qur'an, Surah 23 verses 13-14:

Galen (AD 129 – 199)

English translation:
"Thereafter We made him (the offspring of Adam) as a Nutfah (mixed drops of the
male and female sexual discharge and lodged it) in a safe lodging (womb of the
woman). Then We made the Nutfah into a clot (Alaqa, a piece of thick coagulated
blood), then We made the clot into a little lump of flesh (Mudghah), then We made out
of that little lump of flesh bones, then We clothed the bones with flesh, and then We
brought it forth as another creation. So blessed be Allah, the Best of Creators!"
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Galen: On Semen

English translation:

"But let us take the account back again to the first conformation of the animal, and in
order to make our account orderly and clear, let us divide the creation of the foetus
overall into four periods of time.

1. The first is that in which, as is seen both in abortions and in dissection, the form of
the semen prevails (Arabic Nutfah). At this time, Hippocrates too, the all-marvelous,
does not yet call the conformation of the animal a foetus; as we heard just now in
the case of semen voided in the sixth day, he still calls it semen.

2. But when it has been filled with blood (Arabic Alaqa), 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. Accordingly you would find that
Hippocrates too no longer calls such a form semen but, as was said, foetus.
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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 (Arabic Mudghah). 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 foetus
an embryo only, but already a child, too when he says that it jerks and moves as an
animal now fully formed (Arabic `A new creation')."[1]

The first stage of Galen corresponds to [Nutfah], the drop of semen.

The second stage, a bloody vascularised embryo with unshaped brain, liver and heart
("when it has been filled with blood") corresponds to [Alaqa], the blood clot;
The third stage "has the form of flesh" and corresponds to [Mudghah], the morsel of
chewed flesh.
The fourth and final stage was when all the organs were well formed, joints were freely
moveable, and the foetus began to move.

If the reader is in any doubt about the clear link being described here between the
Galenic and the Quranic stages, it may be pointed out that it was early Muslim doctors,
including Ibn-Qayyim, who first spotted the similarity. Basim Musallam, as Director of
the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies in Cambridge, U.K. concludes:

"The stages of development which the Qur'an and Hadith established for
believers agreed perfectly with Galen's scientific account ... There is no doubt
that medieval thought appreciated this agreement between the Qur'an and
Galen, for Arabic science employed the same Quranic terms to describe the
Galenic stages."[2]

Given the close similarity between Galen's stages and the rather less detailed
description of development in Surahs 22:5 and 23:13-14, it is particularly significant that
some 26 books of Galen's work were translated into Syriac as early as the sixth century
AD by Sergios of Resh' Aina (Ra's al-Ain). [3] Sergios was a Christian priest who
studied medicine in Alexandria and worked in Mesopotamia, dying in Constantinople in
about AD 532.
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He was one of a number of Nestorian (Syriac) Christians who translated the Greek
medical corpus into Syriac. The Nestorians experienced persecution from the
mainstream church and fled to Persia, where they brought their completed translations
of the Greek physicians' works and founded many schools of learning. The most
famous of these by far was the great medical school of Jundishapur in what is now
southeast Iran, founded in AD 555 by Anusharwan.
The major link between Islamic and Greek medicine must be sought in late Sasanian
medicine, especially in the School of Jundishapur rather than that of Alexandria. At the
time of the rise of Islam Jundishapur was at its prime. It was the most important
medical centre of its time, combining the Greek, Indian and Iranian medical traditions in
a cosmopolitan atmosphere, which prepared the ground for Islamic medicine. The
combining of different schools of medicine foreshadowed the synthesis that was to be
achieved in later Islamic medicine.[4]
According to Muslim medical historians, including ibn Abi Usaybia and al-Qifti, the most
celebrated early graduate of Jundishapur was a doctor named al Harith ibn Kalada. [5]
Faced with the collection of Syriac manuscripts of Greek physicians, which had recently
been introduced to Jundishapur, it is inconceivable that he would not have been aware
of Galen's theories.
Furthermore, al Harith was an older contemporary of Mohammed and became one of
the Companions of the Prophet. We are told by Muslim historians that Mohammed
actually sought medical advice from him [6], and his "teachings undoubtedly influenced
the latter" [i.e., Mohammed].[7] Cyril Elgood writes:
"Such medical knowledge as Mohammed possessed, he may well have
acquired from Haris bin Kalda, an Arab, who is said to have left the desert for a
while and gone to Jundishapur to study medicine ... On his return Haris settled in
Mecca and became the foremost physician of the Arabs of the desert. Whether
he ever embraced Islam is uncertain, but this did not prevent the Prophet from
sending his sick friends to consult him."[8]

One further point should be made here. According to Muslim traditions part of at least
one of the verses in the Qur'an relating to the developing human came originally from
human lips.
While Mohammed was dictating verse 23:14 to `Abdullah ibn Abi Sarh, the latter got
carried away by the beauty of what he heard about the creation of man, and when
Mohammed reached the words "another creature" his companion uttered the
exclamation "Blessed be God, the best of creators!" Mohammed accepted these words
as though they were the continuation of his revelation and told ibn Abi Sarh to write
them down, even though they were quite clearly his companion's words, not
Mohammed’s or Allah's words. [9]
Since we know that some of the words in this aya came from one of Mohammed’s
companions, what is there to stop us believing that other words in this passage came
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from another of his companions, namely al Harith, who was summarising Galen's
theory of embryological development?

Conclusion
From the evidence cited above a number of things become clear.
1. The works of Galen, Hippocrates and Aristotle, written originally in Greek were
translated into Syriac in the century preceding the birth of Muhammed.
2. The Syriac translations were kept, and taught, in the newly founded medical
school at Jundishapur, in what is now Iran.
3. One of the earliest and most celebrated doctors to graduate from Jundishapur
was al Harith ibn Kalada.
4. Al Harith ibn Kalada became a companion of the Prophet and influenced his
medical beliefs, according to Muslim historians of this period.
5. At least one phrase from Surah 23:14 comes from human lips. `Abdullah ibn Abi
Sarh, on listening to Muhammed reciting Surah 23:14 added the words "Blessed
be God, the best of creators!" and Muhammed considered these additional
words to be part of God's inspired Qur'an too.
6. Putting all this together, it is entirely reasonable to conclude that other phrases
could, and indeed were, added to the Quranic verses on human reproduction.
These phrases were none other than Mohammed’s summaries of what he heard
his companion al Harith tell him about human reproduction and development,
which in turn was based upon his education at Jundishapur in the Greek
tradition.
7. Thus when the Qur'an says in Surah 40:67, "It is He Who has created you from
dust, then from a Nutfah [mixed semen drops of male and female sexual
discharges (i.e. Adam's offspring)] then from a clot (a piece of coagulated blood),
then brings you forth as an infant, then (makes you grow) to reach the age of full
strength, and afterwards to be old ... that you may reach an appointed time in
order that you may understand", what are Mohammed’s readers to understand
from this? Similarly, why does Surah 22:5 begin "O, Mankind! If you are in doubt
about the Resurrection, then verily, We have created you (i.e. Adam) from
dust..."? The answer is crystal clear. They are to understand the significance of
that which was common knowledge - the stages of embryology as taught by
Greek physicians. This knowledge was to be a sign to encourage the listeners to
turn to God and believe.
The above should more than suffice to justify the accusation that the Qur'an plagiarises
ancient Greek science.
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References

[1] Corpus Medicorum Graecorum: Galeni de Semine (Galen: On Semen) (Greek text
with English trans. Phillip de Lacy, Akademic Verlag, 1992) section I:9:1-10, pp. 92-95
[2] B. Musallam (Cambridge, 1983) Sex and Society in Islam. p. 54
[3] G. Sarton, (Williams and Wilkins, 1927) Introduction to the History of Science, vol I,
pp. 423-424
[4] H. Bailey (ed) (Cambridge University Press, 1975) Cambridge History of Iran, vol 4,
p. 414
[5] E. G. Browne (Cambridge University Press, 1962) Arabian Medicine, p. 11
[6] M. J. L. Young et al., (Cambridge University Press, 1990) Cambridge History of
Arabic Literature: Religion, Learning and Science in the `Abbasid Period, p. 342
[7] A. A. Khairallah (American Press, Beirut, 1946) Outline of Arabic Contributions to
Medicine, p. 22
[8] C. Elgood (Cambridge University Press, 1951) A Medical History of Persia, p. 66
[9] Commentary of al-Baydhawi (Lights of Revelation (Dar al Geel)) p. 184.
A detailed discussion can be found on the pages regarding Ibn Abi Sarh.