Page 159 - Allah's Miracles in the Qur'an

Harun Yahya

In other words, a baby's sex is determined by which chromosome
from the male unites with the female's ovum.
None of this was known until the discovery of genes in the 20th
century. Indeed, in many cultures, it was believed that a baby's sex was
determined by the female. That was why women were blamed when
they gave birth to girls.

Fourteen centuries before human genes were discovered, howev-
er, the Qur'an revealed information that denies this superstition, and
referred to the origin of sex lying not with women, but with the semen
deriving from men.

The Alaq Clinging to the Uterus
If we continue to examine the facts announced to us in the Qur'an,
about the formation of human beings, we again encounter some very
important scientific truth.

When the sperm of the male unites with the ovum of the female,
the essence of the baby to be born is formed. This single cell, known as
a "zygote" in biology, will instantly begin reproducing by dividing, and
eventually become a "piece of flesh," called an embryo. This, of course,
can only be seen by human beings with the aid of a microscope.

In the first phase of its develop-
ment, the baby in the mother's
womb is in the form of a zygote,
which clings to the uterus in order
to take nourishment from the
mother's blood. In the picture
above is a zygote, which looks like
a piece of flesh. This formation,
which has been discovered by
modern embryology, was miracu-
lously stated in the Qur'an 14 cen-
turies ago with the word "alaq,"
which means "a thing that clings
to some place" and is used to
describe leeches that cling to a
body to suck blood.

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