What are the “three dark stages in the womb” mentioned in verse 6 of the chapter of az-Zumar; is there a scientific explanation?
Submitted by on Tue, 06/05/2025 - 15:08
Dear Brother / Sister,
“...Nor does a female conceive (within her womb) nor bring forth except with His knowledge...” (Fussilat, 41/47)
“...He makes you, in the wombs of your mothers, in stages, one after another, in three veils of darkness; such is Allah, your Lord and Cherisher…” (az-Zumar, 39/6)
The story of our creation begins with the preparation of an egg cell. The egg cell, which is delicately synthesized in the ovary through complex biological processes, is released from the ovary into the abdominal cavity. And then the tubes (Fallopian tubes) extending from the upper corners of the womb scan the abdominal cavity with their open ends like a flower, capture the egg cell and take it inside. The egg cell waits to be fertilized at the end of the tube furthest from the uterus. The aim of this activity is to protect the egg cell from other organs and tissues due to its extremely sensitive biological structure.
The fertilization site is located at the end of the canal, allowing incredible biological events to occur in a corner.
The egg cell, which is taken into the fallopian tube in the womb, carries half of the structural characteristics (talents and abilities) of the mother. The abilities are written on a strip in the form of genetic codes. The width and length of this strip is between 3-5 and 25-150 angstroms.
These genetic codes are put on wagons called chromosomes. There are about 60,000 basic abilities and talents in human beings. And they are placed in only 46 chromosomes. At first it was thought that these wagons, i.e., chromosomes, carried fixed characteristics. A special Y chromosome in the male is a sex-determining wagon. The fact that certain diseases pass from rail to rail in this wagon led to the idea that chromosomes carried fixed characteristics. It is not possible for the scattered characteristics in humans to enter into the fixed lines of these 46 wagons by coming from the mother and father. For example, it is not possible to make a judgement that the gall bladder would be lazy in the wagon of the ear rail, which is wide. Some traits, which are side by side on the genetic cards, usually pass to the same chromosome. However, 60,000 abilities are distributed in these wagons in various ways.
The egg cell waits in this tunnel ready to be fertilized by putting about 30,000 of these 60,000 abilities on only 23 wagons. It lacks 30,000 characteristics. And this deficiency does not follow a sequence. To give an example with numbers, it has the number 318 but not 319 and 320. It includes 57381 but not 57382. The egg cell will find these missing abilities in one of the sperm cells that come to fertilize it. However, the number of sperm cells coming to the egg cell is incredibly large, around 250,000,000. And only 23 wagons of these cells contain 30,000 abilities. Moreover, they carry random genetic card numbers. The egg cell, on the other hand, is in no position to phone sperm cells and say, “I have the following structural features; bring the missing ones.”
Only one of the 250,000,000 sperm cells surrounding the egg cell has 30,000 missing codes and the egg cell has to find this complementary code only within 40 minutes. In other words, it is like a ring (ball) game played with 250,000,000 cups and based on finding the only one cup under which the ring is placed...
Even if you put 1,000 biologists at the disposal of the egg cell and set up a perfect laboratory for their work, they would not be able to solve this riddle because the genetic codes in sperm cells are DNA molecules in systroms with a diameter of 100 angstroms, arranged in a three-dimensional system with angle differences; therefore, you could hardly identify and recognize even one of them in two months.
In that case, it is not possible for fertilization to take place without the intervention of a being with infinite knowledge because this riddle can never be solved without Him, without His knowledge. If the egg cell chooses the sperm that carries a structure that it has, it is inevitable that very strange beings with three ears or two heads will emerge. In fact, the freaks of nature are examples of Divine lessons explaining this subtle secret to us.
Yes, Allah states the following in verse 47 of the chapter of Fussilat in the Quran:
“Nor does a female conceive (within her womb) nor bring forth except with His knowledge.”
Yes, in a game played with 250,000,000 cups, who else but our Lord can possess this knowledge and this power, which guides the egg cell and makes it successful every time in this incident, which is similar to the fact that the only cup under which the ring is placed is found in every occasion?
Will the one who sneers at this great biological miracle of the Quran not be smitten?
Yes, this fertilization occurs with that divine knowledge; and the first miracle of fertilization begins in a dark tunnel. This incredible event is the combination of the characteristics from the mother and the father and their placement in the center of the cell; and it is an incident that cannot be imitated. The fact that the fallopian tubes, which are far away from any kind of cellular activity, play a role in it is another proof that this miracle is brought about only by divine power.
The first of the three different dark regions mentioned in the verse is this dark tunnel. The cell phase of creation develops in this dark zone.
In the cell activities that take place during this period, the occurrence of a placement error in the genetic codes as small as one tenth of a millionth of a centimeter can cause mistakes that will put the liver into the skull in further divisions.
After the sequencing of the genetic codes in the first dark region has been completed, the living being to be born as a cute baby in the future is transferred to the inner lining of the mother’s womb. The cells inside the womb resemble a forest floor with tiny hairs and are ready for the new creature. When the tiny creature arrives and settles in this dark forest, the tissue phase begins. It is in this different second dark region, described in verse 6 of the chapter of az-Zumar in the Quran, that the cells dividing in multiples of two prepare the basic structure of the tissues of various organs. Bone, nerve, muscle, inner and outer skin tissues take their place in the cells that are divided at this stage.
When the Quran explains that the fetus is formed in three separate and distinct dark regions, not only does it describe these different dark regions, which we have just learnt about, but also clearly explains the three different stages of creation.
An extraordinary phenomenon occurs when muscle, nerve and skin tissues take their places in the dividing cells. In the tissue phase, muscle cells are formed in the cells in region A, nerve cells in region B and inner skin cells in region C. Accordingly, how will the stomach, for example, collect the cells that will form it? If there were only one organ in the body, perhaps a solution would be found. However, how will it be possible for hundreds of organs to collect their own cells one by one?
An incredible geometrical rotation takes place at this stage. This rotation passes into an incredible turning in a 360-degree concept of space at every point and in every direction. It virtually curves at a different speed and angle from each point, and these curves, which are the end of the second stage, take place in such a marvelous way that each tissue comes face to face with its own cells at the end. The tiny creature is only 1 cm long at this stage. The embryo’s curvatures, which occur in infinite directions, are completed with a great and marvelous transformation like the dancing of the Divine command.
Thanks to the perfection of this dancing, symmetrical organs such as hands, feet, eyes and ears will not turn out to be any different from each other. So, what would be the result if the divine power, which rules and guides the particles, ceased to operate even for a single second?
The answer is very easy. If in the tissue phase, for example, there were an error of only one thousandth of a degree on the axis of one angstrom during the rotation of the urine-releasing cells and saliva-releasing cells standing side by side, urine, instead of saliva, would flow out of the mouths of those who do not believe in the Divine power.
Divine wisdom tells these subtle secrets to us in the Quran by saying, “Females cannot give birth without the knowledge of Allah”. Even if all mathematical, physical and biological laws came together, they would not be able to create this masterpiece of art.
As the organ stage begins, a sac and fluid are formed around the tiny creature. The new creature is now in the third dark region. And in this region, which is as dark as the bottom of the sea, it is completed in 40 weeks. The gestation period is 40 weeks, not 9 months and 10 days. 40 weeks is approximately 9 months and ten days. The birth period of all living beings is an exact multiple of a week.
Now, let us have a look again at the greatness of the verses we mentioned at the beginning:
“...He makes you, in the wombs of your mothers, in stages, one after another, in three veils of darkness; such is Allah, your Lord and Cherisher…” (az-Zumar, 39/6)
First darkness:
Cell phase: In the fallopian tube, which is a dark tunnel.
Second darkness:
Tissue phase: In a dark forest in the inner skin of the womb.
Third darkness:
Organ phase: In a region resembling the seabed and is covered with a liquid called amniotic fluid.
And the verse continues as follows: “such is Allah, your Lord and Cherisher.”
The following is stated in the second verse: “...Nor does a female conceive (within her womb) nor bring forth except with His knowledge...” (Fussilat, 41/47)
“...He makes you, in the wombs of your mothers, in stages, one after another, in three veils of darkness; such is Allah, your Lord and Cherisher…” (az-Zumar, 39/6)
That is:
It is absolutely impossible for the egg cell to select the missing genetic information in only one of the 250,000,000 sperm cells, and not only to select but also to take it. Only divine knowledge and information can make this possible. Allah is alim (the omniscient), the source and owner of all knowledge.
In the face of this miracle of the Quran, all the sciences are obliged to utter kalima as-shahada and say, “O Allah, we see Your knowledge and witness Your glory every moment”.
Questions on Islam
- Question 4: What is the difference between a test tube baby and cloning a sheep?
- Does the nutfah go to the womb?
- What is the difference between test-tube baby and human cloning? If human cloning is possible then can the absence of the sprit be true as it is claimed? If everything has a record in DNA, then can man reach immortality by cloning himself?
- Can you make some explanations about test-tube baby?
- Is it permissible to have a test tube baby? What are the conditions of having a test tube baby? Are the methods of determining the gender of the baby permissible?
- Will you give information about the scientific reason for the differences of human faces and the faces of the other beings among themselves and the wisdom behind this creation?
- How can the hadiths stating that women have a fluid be explained scientifically?
- Did Hz. Adam have the genes that would enable all mankind to come into being in different shapes and structures?
- Eve Hypothesis
- Does the claim that beneficial mutation exists constitute evidence that the theory of evolution may be correct?