101 Reasons Why We Left Islam – Chapter 3: Islam and Science – Reason 25
When you find the Quran repeating cultural and ancient myths about human biology, you have to stop and ask – how can this come from an all-knowing god? This is going be the theme of the following few “Reasons for leaving” Islam. The question is: Was the Quran providing groundbreaking knowledge or just repeating what was known back then? Are there some serious scientific mistakes? With that in mind, let us read these verses:
Quran (86:5-7): https://legacy.quran.com/86/5-7
So let man observe from what he was created.
He was created from a fluid, ejected,
Emerging from between the backbone and the ribs.
Sperm is not created between the ribs and backbone, and this was copied from ancient beliefs. For example, ancient Egyptians believed that sperm is produced in the backbone. This conviction was apparently based on their understanding of the anatomy of bulls. Egyptian texts even highlighted the close relationship between the backbone and the creation of life.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/30027646
In many Middle Eastern countries, the expression for climaxing after ejaculation is that ‘your back came”, again a historical and cultural misconception that linked climaxing to the sperm produced from the backbones. What does science actually say? You will find all the sources saying:
Sperm is produced by the testes and is stored in the epididymis. There is absolutely no link to the backbone or the ribs.
https://www.britannica.com/science/semen
https://www.healthline.com/health/how-is-sperm-produced
If you go with the Tafsir of these verses, you will find them repeating these same misconceptions. But to make things worse, they ALL suggest that the ‘ribs’ is in reference to women’s ribs which has its ‘own’ female sperm that is yellow and light texture as opposed to the man’s sperm that is white and thick.
Ibn Kathir writes:
“…meaning, the backbone (or loins) of the man and the ribs of the woman, which is referring to her chest. Shabib bin Bishr reported from `Ikrimah who narrated from Ibn `Abbas that he said, “The backbone of the man and the ribs of the woman. It (the fluid) is yellow and fine in texture…”
Al-Wasit Tafsir writes:
“…the water that comes out of the man and pours into the woman’s womb. The backbone: is used to refer to the vertebrae of the back in relation to the man, and the ribs: the plural of rib, which are the bones that are at the top of the woman’s chest, and they express it by saying the place of the necklace on the woman…”
Al-Qurtubi writes:
“That is, this water came out from between the back, that is, the backbone…Al-Abbas’s saying: It (sperm) is transferred from the back to the womb to the chest. [Imru’ al-Qais] said: It is thin, white, not overgrown, its ribs are polished like a jingle, and the backbones are on the man’s side, and the ribs on the woman’s side. Ibn Abbas said: “The ribs”: the place of the necklace. And on his authority: what is between her breasts…”
Keep in mind that the latter two are in Arabic, so use the Translator:
https://quran.com/86:7/tafsirs/en-tafisr-ibn-kathir
The Quran repeats ancient misconceptions regarding women having semen, too. Hippocrates, Galen, and Aristotle theorised that women have sperm that is of poor quality.
https://web.stanford.edu/class/history13/earlysciencelab/body/femalebodypages/genitalia.html
And in case you thought we are just making random speculations here, see how the Hadiths confirms it:
- Anas b. Malik reported that Umm Sulaim narrated it that she asked the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) about a woman who sees in a dream what a man sees (sexual dream). The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: In case a woman sees that, she must take a bath. Umm Sulaim said: I was bashful on account of that and said: Does it happen? Upon this the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Yes (it does happen), otherwise how can (a child) resemble her? Man’s discharge (i. e. sperm) is thick and white and the discharge of woman is thin and yellow; so the resemblance comes from the one whose genes prevail or dominate.
There are several of scientific errors in this Hadith but we will just focus on the one for this topic.
Issue 25.1: The Quran got the source of the sperm completely wrong. It went with ancient and cultural beliefs. It further made a huge mistake in assuming the women’s chest area (or medal area) has anything to do with the process. We appreciate that the verse does not say that women have sperms, only the Hadith says this and thus the tafsirs went with this explanation. However, if we suggest the sperm is only male – it also does not come from the man’s backbone and ribs.
Apologist Response:
Issue 25.1: The Quran refrains from mentioning human reproductive organs. So, you do not see mention of the penis, testicles, vagina, women’s breasts, and others in the Quran. So, when the Quran says between backbone and ribs, it is talking about the region where the sperm is created without mentioning the sexual organs – which would have been crude to write in humanity’s eternal book. Also, the Quran does not state that women produce sperm. This inference is wrong and could have been confused by the Hadith or cultural beliefs. Therefore, it should not be seen as a mistake from the Quran. The Hadith by Sahih Muslim is not graded so that one could question its authenticity.
>> Our Response: While you are correct that the Quran does not mention reproductive organs, it also does not have to mention anything in relation to the origin of the sperm. The verse would have read perfectly fine had it just said, “ejaculated from a man”. It is better not to say anything than to be vague and wrong. In fact, we found the word sperm has been mentioned 49 times in the Quran. With all other 48 times that the word sperm is presented, it was not mentioned where the sperm came from: Quran 75:37, 53:46, 23:13, 16:4, 76:2, 56:58, 53:46, 80:19, 36:77, 23:13, 18:37 and more. In nearly all these cases, the Quran was making the same case as Quran 86:5-7, asking humans to consider how they came from as a sperm. To mention a wrong source of the sperm indicates that the author of the Quran (most likely the Prophet) was simply repeating the ancient knowledge of that time. And this is further proven in the Hadith. Have you found another Hadith that correctly labels the source of sperms? That would counter the Hadith we provided, but there isn’t.
Final Thoughts:
The Quran further promoted a misconception about the source of sperm across the Middle East. Even today, if you ask an average Arab as to where the sperm is created, they will say it comes from their backbone. Thus, many read the Quran and come across this verse believing it to be scientifically accurate or even scientific miracle! In the next reason for leaving Islam, we continue the biology theme and we look at the embryology process.