Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said: “Verily, each one of you is gathered together in his mother’s womb for forty days. Then it is therein a clinging object (Alaqah) during this period. Thereafter, it is therein a lump looking like it has been chewed (Mudghah) in this period.” (Muslim)
This saying indicates that the fetus goes through three stages: Nutfah (a drop or a small amount of water), Alaqah (a leech-like structure) and Mudghah (a chewed lump). These stages take forty days after the fertilization f the ovum.
The Nutfah starts to grow through cell division until the morula is forme. Then the morula forms the blastocyst. On the sixth day, the Nutfah the final stage of its growth. After that the Alaqah (Clot of blood) begins to be formed. By the end of the second week, the embryo inside the blastocyst clings to the endometrium of the uterus and it drives blood from it.
This stage takes about a week for the blastocyst to anchor itself completely to the wall of the chorionic cavity by connecting stalk, which later forms the umbilical cord. Aftr three weeks of the conception, the embryo takes the shape of a leech whose stage ends by the 24th or the 25th day. After that, somites start to appear until their number reach 45 ones giving the shape of a Modghah.
Starting from the 7th week, bones begin to be formed. Then the body’s fetus straightness up and the nidus of the fingers appear. In the 8th week, the stage of muscle formation starts. From the 9th week to the 38th week of gestation, the last stage of creation starts. This stage gives the fetus a human appearance: the bones are covered with muscles, the muscles are covered with the shin and each part of the body starts to have a distinct shape.
This commentary coincides with the above mentioned saying of the prophet, peace be upon him. This commentary is also supported by the following Qur’anic Verses that read,
“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 Allah, the best of creators.” (Qur’an 23:14)
“… He creates you stage by stage in your mothers’ wombs in three fold darkness. That is Allah, your Lord. Sovereignty is His. There is no god but Him. So what has made you deviate? “(Qur’an, 39:6)
Such facts were known as a result of lengthy researches using the 20th century technology, yet God, in His Book, and Prophet Muhammad, in his saying, imported these information to us 14 centuries ago. This means that this Book is from none but God, Almighty, and that prophet Muhammad is His Messenger and that he never says anything of his own:“Nor does he speak of (his own) desire. It is only an Inspiration that’s inspired.” (Qur’an 53: 3-4)
