Signs of the Quran - Biology

Embryology - Development

"Now let man but think from what he is created! He is created from a drop emitted. Proceeding from between the backbone and the ribs"

Surah At-Tariq Surah 86 Ayahs 5-7

This Ayah has three anatomical implications and one palaeonthological or phylogenical and embryological. The three anatomical explanations are described in the figures below and indicate

1. the sprouting of the peripheral nervous system which spreads out of the spinal cord and thus proceeding from the backbone into the ribs.

2. the blood being a liquid of life and energy proceeds from between the backbone and the ribs, where the heart is located.

3. The ovaries and the testes develop inside the embryo in a region which is between the backbone and the ribs and these are the replicating and reproducing organs. Furthermore, the spermatozoids are produced in these organs and they are still produced first between the backbone and the ribs in the grown up man and then proceed into the testes.

From a palaeonthological point of view (based on evidence from fossils and comparative anatomy) vertebrates are the only life forms that develop from the backbone into the ribs. This is true for the whole body as well as the nervous system as shown in the figure below.