Ijaz al-Quran fi (Wa ya'lamu ma fi al-arham)
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- Ijaz al-Quran fi (Wa ya'lamu ma fi al-arham)
Ijaz al-Quran fi (Wa ya'lamu ma fi al-arham) (The Inimitability of the Quran in "And He Knows What Is in the Wombs") is a scientific and jurisprudential treatise by the al-Azhar scholar Mahmud Muhammad Gharib, who served as the religious counselor for youth at Cairo University . The book examines the scientific indications (i'jaz 'ilmi) in Quranic verses concerning human conception and embryology alongside the legal rights accorded to the fetus in Islamic jurisprudence .
Scientific Exegesis and Embryology
The author explores the divine statement وَيَعْلَمُ مَا فِي الْأَرْحَامِ ("And He knows what is in the wombs" [Luqman: 34]), demonstrating that divine knowledge encompasses every stage of fetal formation beyond merely knowing the sex of the child . He discusses the journey of the fertilized egg (al-nutfa al-amshaj), which takes about eight days to attach to the uterine wall, noting that the human ovum is engineered with sufficient nutrients for this period . He describes how the ovum sheds its outer layer after fertilization and creates an impenetrable wall against other sperm, ensuring proper lineage , while an alkaline fluid neutralizes residual urinary acidity along the sperm's passage .
Analyzing the verse ثُمَّ مِنْ مُضْغَةٍ مُخَلَّقَةٍ وَغَيْرِ مُخَلَّقَةٍ ("then from a chewed lump, formed and unformed" [al-Hajj: 5]), Gharib compares classical tafsir reports—such as those of Abdullah ibn Abbas and al-Hasan al-Basri—with modern medical descriptions of differentiated and undifferentiated mesenchymal cells, drawing on studies by physicians including Muhammad Ali al-Barr, Aziz Abd al-'Alim, Leslie Arey, Abd al-Hamid Diab, and Ahmad Qarqoz . He relates the "three darknesses" ( فِي ظُلُمَاتٍ ثَلَاثٍ [al-Zumar: 6]) to the three surrounding fetal membranes: the amniotic membrane, the chorionic membrane, and the decidua . He also highlights the functions of amniotic fluid in shock absorption, thermal regulation, preventing membrane adhesion, facilitating movement, and sterilizing the birth canal .
Gharib notes that the Quran preceded modern science in identifying the male semen as the determinant of biological sex through the sex chromosomes (X and Y), referencing فَجَعَلَ مِنْهُ الزَّوْجَيْنِ الذَّكَرَ وَالْأُنْثَى ("And made from him the two mates, the male and the female" [al-Qiyama: 39]), and contrasting this with historical European theories that debated whether the male or female alone was the source of the embryo until the 1875 discoveries of Oscar Hertwig .
Legal Rights of the Fetus
The second section provides a comparative study of the legal rights given to the fetus (al-janin) under Islamic law :
- Paternity (Thubut al-nasab): Jurisprudence strictly protects the unborn child's lineage . The author discusses contemporary legal and jurisprudential issues, such as artificial insemination using preserved sperm of a deceased husband, referencing Egyptian, Iraqi, and Syrian personal status codes .
- Inheritance and Bequests (al-Mirath wa-al-wasiyya): Jurists reserve the maximum possible share of inheritance for the fetus out of precaution, assuming the possibility of male sex or twins until birth, and validate bequests (wasiyya) made in its favor .
- Preservation of Fetal Life: If a pregnant woman dies while the fetus is still alive, jurists such as the Hanafis, Shafi'is, and Ibn Hazm permit surgical incision (Caesarean section) to extract the living child .
- Deferral of Punishments: Legal penalties—whether qisas or hudud—against a pregnant woman must be deferred until she delivers and the child is nursed or weaned, rooted in the hadith of the Ghamidiyya woman and scholarly consensus to protect the innocent fetus from harm .
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