By: Dr. Abdul Jabbar Yassin Mohammad Al-Hubaiti, University of Mosul – Iraq
Translated from Arabic: Editorial board
The Almighty Allah says in the Holy Qur’an: (He creates you in the wombs of your mothers, creation after creation, in three darknesses.)
How wonderful and eloquent are the words of God Almighty in this noble verse, as volumes can be written on this subject, if the embryologists studied it extensively, and studied the three darknesses, and confirmed the scientific facts that this noble verse meant. The subject of the three darknesses puzzled the early commentators. Then the modernists were more confused. So what did the ancient commentators say? And what did the modernists say, especially the physicians? What is the researcher’s opinion on this subject?
First – what did the early commentators say?
The eminent commentators dealt with the subject, despite the lack of any medical information like the one available now after the development of embryology, as well as their lack of possession of modern devices and technologies. But they relied on what God had provided for them of scientific intuition and experience that they passed on. According to them, the three darknesses are:
The first: The abdominal wall, the uterine wall, and then the membranes surrounding the fetus. This opinion is very close to what we will explain later. The abdominal wall actually forms a darkening of the abdominal cavity.
The second: The uterine wall, which is actually darkness through which the light does not penetrate.
And the third: the membranes that surround the fetus, especially the placental membrane, which is actually opaque.
Secondly, what did the narrators say?
Dr. Abdul Hameed Dayab and Ahmed Karkour dealt with the subject in their book (With Medicine in the Holy Qur’an), and they explained the three darknesses as the membranes that surround the fetus in its womb, namely the amniotic membrane, the chorionic membrane, and then the fallen membrane. In their book, they criticized the opinion of Dr. Mohammad Wasfi, in which he considered these three darknesses to include the darkness of the testicle, the darkness of the ovary, and then the darkness of the uterus.
Dr. Mustafa Mahmoud in his book tilted (The Qur’an: An Attempt to a Modern Understanding), gave an opinion similar to what the early commentators had mentioned. He considered it the darkness of the abdomen, the darkness of the womb, and the darkness of the amniotic cavity. He agrees with the opinions of the ancient commentators, especially when we know that the amniotes are one of the appendages of the placenta.
Dr. Abdul Hameed Dayab and Ahmed Karkour commented on the opinion of Dr. Mohammad Wasfi and Dr. Mustafa Mahmoud on their interpretation of the three darknesses, and they said in their book (With Medicine in the Holy Qur’an) that the noble verse confined the darkness within the abdomen, and thus the stomach is not considered one of the darknesses.
Dr. Tariq Shafiq Al-Tahiri dealt with the subject in his book (The Formation of the Embryo in the Holy Qur’an) and stated the following: Modern embryology says that the fetus in its mother’s womb is surrounded by three endocrine membranes, impermeable to water, light, or heat. The Qur’an calls it “three darknesses”. He added: The membrane that does not permeate light, heat, or water is called darkness? This opinion is consistent with the opinion mentioned by Dr. Abdul Hameed Dayab and Ahmed Karkour in their book (With Medicine in the Noble Qur’an).
As far as Dr. Mohammad Ali Al-Bar is concerned, he dealt with the subject in his book (The Creation of Man between Medicine and the Qur’an), and considers it the three membranes surrounding the fetus, and he mentioned the placenta, and the blood circulation in the placenta, but he did not mention that clearly, then he came back again in his book (A Brief in the Qur’anic Embryology) starting with the opinion of the early commentators, then he went on to give the scientific explanation of what those commentators mentioned with the following clarification: the abdomen consists of three layers of muscles, the uterus consists of three layers as well, and the placenta also consists of three layers, but he moved away from giving his explicit opinion on the subject.
Dr. Ma’moun Shaqfeh mentioned in his book (Al-Qarar Al-Muken) that the membranes are themselves in darkness. How do we consider it as the darkness? He added that the presence of radiation in the environment that surrounds us is harmful to the fetus, for example, X-rays harm the developing fetus, and may infect it with some congenital anomalies, especially in the first eighty days. Are these the membranes, as most physicians said? Then he commented, surprisingly, by saying: Has anyone proven that these membranes are actually impermeable to light, or to other types of rays? He then said: The statement of the commentators is the closest to the truth. No. rather, it is the correct one.. And God knows best.
Researcher’s opinion:
Darkness in the Arabic language is the opposite of light, and it means the disappearance or fading of light, and it is very necessary for the growth of the fetus and for the organogenesis. It is very important to provide all the appropriate conditions for the environment in which the fetus will be created, especially during the first eighty days of embryonic development, where the formation of the embryo, then the emergence of bones, and its covering with flesh (muscles), and the formation of the various organs and organs of the fetus take place. Without this darkness, the fetus would have been severely damaged, especially the very sensitive retina of the fetus’s eye, which may be damaged in one moment if it is exposed to a single ray of light. This is one of the scientific marvels of this noble verse. A French scientist has acknowledged in one of the scientific conferences, after going through the literal meaning of this noble verse, that we in our laboratories in the process of external fertilization (i.e. in vitro fertilization) found that the fetus in the test tube outside the womb stops growing, despite providing all the appropriate conditions for its growth, we found that the reason for its stunted growth is due to the absence of darkness, which is very necessary for it to grow.
The abdominal wall consists of three layers of skeletal muscles, arranged from the outside to the inside, which are: external oblique abdominal muscle, the internal oblique abdominal muscle, and the transversus Abdominis.
The fibers of these three muscles are arranged in a way that suggests giving the greatest degree of strength to the abdominal wall, by making the abdominal cavity completely closed, which causes the abdominal cavity to be completely enclosed, turning it into a real and intense darkness. And if we turn to the uterine wall, and look at it with the naked eye. Can we see anything inside it, or can we see its cavity? The answer is no, never. Especially if we know that the cervix is very narrow, almost clogged, and in addition to its narrowness, it contains the cervical plug, the cervical plug resulting from secretions. The position of the cervix with the vagina at a special angle makes it difficult to enter any ray of light into its cavity. This is in addition to the histological structure of the uterine wall, which consists of the three layers of smooth muscles, the layer under the lining Submucosa, then the lining of the uterine cavity Mucosa. The uterus also has two side canals, each of which ends on one side of the pelvic cavity in an almost closed manner, the end of which surrounds the ovary to wrap the egg emerging from the ovary when it is time for ovulation.
All these characteristics that the uterus possesses makes its cavity truly and completely dark. Now we move on to the membranes of the fetus, which includes the following membranes:
- The amniotic membrane: It is a very thin membrane, lined from the inside with a layer of ectoderm cells (outer leaflet), and covered from the outside with a layer of mesoderm cells (middle leaf).
This membrane takes the form of a sac, and completely surrounds the fetus, as it swims and floats in the amniotic fluid that filters inside the sac. - The allantois: It arises as a finger-shaped protrusion from the anterior surface (ventral) of the hind gut, contains a capillary layer of allantoic blood vessels that later transforms into umbilical blood vessels as the allantois dystrophy approaches.
- The chorionic membrane: It is formed after the germ ball is nested in the endometrium by the fibrous protrusions sent by the outer part of the trophic layer (Trophoblast) forming the syncytiotrophoblast, which we later call the chorionic villi, or the placental integuments, which later develops to form the embryonic part of the placenta.
- Yolk sac, which is the first membrane to be formed. It reaches the mid gut through the Yolk Stalk. On the surface of the yolk sac, some local capillary blood vessels spread on the surface of the yolk sac that handle the absorption of salt and oxygen, and transfer it to the fetus for nutrition, prior to the appearance of the vascular ligaments.
The yolk sac regresses with the onset of the appearance of the Allantois, and finally disappears at the beginning of the fifth month.
Primordial germ cells arise in the wall of the yolk sac during the third week, and then move to the genital tubercle, which will later be the ovary in the female, and the testis in the male, where these migrating primary sex cells will settle.
Now we will appraise these membranes, the larynx and the yolk sac will all regress, decay and not continue until the end of pregnancy, and this happens approximately in the middle of the pregnancy period, while the chorionic membrane and the amniotic membrane will remain until the end of pregnancy, when the amniotic sac will first explode, pushing the amniotic fluid as a herald of the arrival of the new born (Water pocket), while the chorionic membrane separates with the uterine deciduous membrane about 15-30 minutes after the birth of the newborn. If we check the anatomical and histological information that we have about the chorion and the amnion membrane, we can say that the chorion membrane is part of the inner wall of the uterus; Because it is completely attached to it, due to the presence of the velvet prolongations that have intertwined with the uterine tissues to reach the uterine blood vessels (the maternal blood), and then spread between the erupting maternal blood pools (the lacunae).
After that, we are left with the amniotic sac, which contains the fetus inside it swimming in the amniotic fluid, which is green and somewhat opaque. Do we not have the right to consider it darkness? And if we look at the cesarean deliveries, after the incision of the uterine wall, we will see the amniotic sac, but we cannot see what is inside it with the naked eye, although the abdominal wall and the uterine wall have been opened… Therefore, in my opinion, amniotic membrane (sac) along with the Chorion is considered darkness from a scientific point of view. This is what will happen to the fetus inside it until it is fully developed and ready to leave its womb. I conclude from the above that the three darknesses that the noble verse meant (and He creates you in the wombs of your mothers creation after creation in three darknesses) are the following:
• Darkness of the abdominal cavity.
• The darkness of the uterine cavity, which is the second darkness, and it is inside the darkness of the abdomen.
• The darkness of the Chorion – the amniotic, which is the third darkness within the darkness of the abdomen and the uterus.
This is the miraculous aspect of this noble verse, and this conclusion supports the opinions recorded by the early illustrious commentators several centuries ago. What was mentioned by Dr. Abdul Hameed Dayab, Ahmed Karkour, Dr. Tariq Shafiq Al-Tahiri, Dr. Mustafa Al-Sabouni, and others when they considered the three darknesses to be the three membranes surrounding the fetus, it is not scientifically acceptable, as these membranes are the same in the darkness of the abdomen and uterus. How can we accept that these are the three darknesses?
As for what was mentioned by Dr. Mohammad Wasfi, who considered these darknesses as the darkness of the testicle, the darkness of the ovary, and then the darkness of the uterus, it is very far from the scientific truth, and is not in line with the information available in modern embryology. As the testis and ovaries produce male and female sperms, respectively.. and this is not included in the topic, because it was not included in the beginning of epigenetics that begins with fertilization, and then the nesting of the sperm of the gametes later. In addition, the testicle is located outside the body, inside the scrotum.
As for Dr. Mohammad Ali al-Bar, he would have come close to the truth, if he had stated his opinion clearly, as he had made it clear what the commentators meant with the modern information available to him, and it seemed that he supported what they went to from the interpretations, without clearly indicating that.