How tall is the baby in the mother’s womb when it is at the stage of mudghah? Is there a scientific explanation of the verse?

- The Quran mentions the stage of mudghah after the stage of alaq in the chapter of al-Muminun. However, the embryo is about 5 mm tall after the stage of alaq. Mudghah means a small piece of meat that can be chewed; it is mentioned in the tafsir of Razi; it means the embryo is 2 cm tall. It will last two months.

- Does the word mudghah means something 5 mm tall? What is the exact meaning of mudghah in Arabic?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Answer 1:

Prof. Marshall states the following when he shows the state of the fetus in the stage of alaqah: Nutfah becomes alaqah (coagulated blood, water leech, hanging object) after a while, and mudghah, that is, meat looking as if it was chewed by teeth after that. The fetus is one centimeter tall in the stage of mudghah.  

According to what the famous Muslim scientist Zindani states, the 8^th Medical Congress convened in Saudi Arabia in October 1983 in order to compare the Quran and the hadiths with modern science. The subject "Scientific Miracles in the Quran and the Hadith" was in the panel discussion. 2500 doctors took part in the congress. Seven famous doctors presented papers in Embryology and Gynecology and discussed. They stated the same thing for three days: "Medicine discovered this and the Quran states this." The state of the fetus (embryo) was on the screen, followed by verses and hadiths.  

Then, something unexpected happened: Zindani, one of the members of the congress, who witnessed the incident, started to record it on the video cassette; he described that very exciting scene as if he was watching it again as follows:   

"At the end of the negotiations, Prof. Tataca stood up. (He also took part in the congress studies. He is the head of Embryology Department in Chiang Mai University in Thailand. After he returned to Thailand, he gave a conference at the university explaining "the Scientific Miracle in the Quran and Hadiths". Then, he sent us this video cassette. As it can be seen in the cassette, Tataca addressed the academicians of the university and the audience at the end of the conference as follows:)

It is time to explain this fact now: "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His messenger. Thus, I declare that I have become a Muslim." For more detailed information regarding the issue, see the article entitled “İlim Adamları İki Büklüm” written by Prof. Dr. Suat Yıldırım.

Another scientist called Keith stated that all of the characteristics of the three terms nutfah, alaqah and mudghah mentioned in the Quran were in compliance with the scientific facts and that they shed light on the world of medicine. The stage expressed as nutfah has all characteristics of scientific research. The stage alaqah is in a position of being hanged and coagulated. All of the life characteristics of the fetus are stored in the form of a blood clot.

Mudghah means chewed meat. When its shaped is viewed, it is seen that it is like a piece of chewed meat. There are virtually traces of teeth on it. As a result of his research, Keith starts to admire the Quran and the Prophet, and he approves of this miracle of the Quran belonging to 1,400 years ago. He adds the information he learned from the Quran to the second impression of his book called Before We Are Born.

When he was asked, "How would you explain the presence of such information in the Quran?”, he said,

“The Quran is nothing but revelation sent down by Allah.” (Gary Miller, The Amazing Qur’an, p. 34-39)

Thus, scientists express their surprise due to the terminology of the Quran and hadiths about embryology and some of them become believers.  

Answer 2:

The following statement is used for the word “mudghah” in Lisanul-Arab: “When the fetus in the mother’s womb completes the stage of alaqah and is transformed into the form of meat, it is called mudghah.” (see Lisanul-Arab, MDG item) That is only the word “meat”: is used instead of “a piece of chewed meat”.

It is a correct determination because the purpose of this expression of the Quran is to show the stages man undergoes in the mother’s womb. In the stage of alaqah, it hangs from the wall of the womb but it resembles the color of blood (at least, it is in a form other than meat).

There is no doubt that the concept “mudghah” in the verse is used in the sense of the transformation of the fetus into meat. That tafsir scholars call it “a piece of chewed meat” does not really mean it is a morsel. The process of each stage lasts for days. It is mentioned as “40” days each in some hadith narrations. It is possible for a piece of flesh that is a few mm at the beginning of a forty-day process to grow and become 1 to 2 cm that can be called “a piece of chewed meat” at the end of that process.

It is interesting that an evidence showing that mudghah is used in the sense of a piece of meat in Lisanul-Arab is that the word “mudghah” is used for heart in a hadith. (see Lisanul-Arab, ibid / For the hadith, see also Kanzul-Ummal, h.no:7291)

It shows that this word expresses a piece of meat in general, not a piece of meat of a certain size. The word mudghah is used both for a piece of meat as big as a fist like the heart and a small piece of meat of one mm or a few cm.

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