Коранът и производството на семенна течност (Коран 86:7)

Много хора дават гласност на кораничната идея, че производството на семенна течност става между „сулб“ (гръбнака) и „тара‘иб“ (ребрата). Това е довело до формирането на няколко вида обяснения от тяхна страна. Вече съществуват статии, които опровергават тези твърдения. ^[2] Настоящата статия от своя страна има за цел да обобщи аргументите срещу различните твърдения, така че да може да се направи цялостен преглед на проблема.

Коран 86:7

Твърдения на апологетите

Най-видните обяснения са разнообразни, както следва:

1. Д-р Морис Букай и А.К. Жиро: „Сулб“ и „тара‘иб“ се отнасят до половите органи на мъжа и жената.
2. Ахмед А. Абд-Аллах: приема и разширява тезата на Букай и твърди, че всички всепризнати преводи и тафсири са в грешка, понеже „сулб“ и „тара‘иб“ не се отнасят до гръбнака и ребрата на човека, но до „твърдото“ на мъжа (т.е. пениса) и ерогенните зони на жената (като не се включва вагината).
3. Д-р Закир Наик: „Сулб“ и „тара‘иб“ се отнасят за гръбнака и ребрата на двата пола, обаче тези стихове се отнасят само за половите жлези в ембрионален стадий, а не за възрастните хора и акта на половото размножаване.
4. Д-р Джамал Бадауи: Тези стихове не се отнасят за производството на семенна течност, но за кръвта от аортата като „бликащата/изтласкваща се течност“.
5. Тафсир ибн Катир: „Сулб“ се отнася се гръбнака на мъжа, а „тара‘иб“ за гръдния кош на жената.
6. Тафсир ал-Джалалаин – излиза между кръста на мъжа и гръдния кош на жената
7. Тануир ал-Микбас мин Тафсир Ибн ‘Аббас: (Това излиза от кръста) на мъжа (и ребрата) на жената.
8. Мухаммад Асад: „Сулб“ се отнася за кръста на мъжа, а „тара‘иб“ се отнася за таза на жената.
9. Моиз Амджад прави три твърдения: а) „сулб“ и „тара‘иб“ се отнасят за кръвоснабдяването на тестисите,идващо от зоната между гърба и ребрата на мъжа, б) половите жлези на ембриона произхождат от зоната, която посочва д-р Закир Наик, в) зоната на „сулб“ и „тара‘иб“ представлява евфемизъм за мъжки полов орган.
10. Юсуф Али: Гръбначният стълб е символ на мъжката сила. Семето на мъжа е метафора за онова, което тече между гръбнака и ребрата.

Морис Букай

Докато са налице доказателства, че „сулб“ може да означава „твърдото“ и оттам – пенисът, то няма никакви доказателства, че „тара‘иб“ може да означава вагина. Букай и Жиро изглежда стигат до извода, че „тара‘иб“ означава „половите части на жената“, без да предоставят подкрепящи факти. Дори ако „тара‘иб“ означава онова, което Букай и Жиро искат да означава, терминът „полови части на жената“ е твърде неясен, за да има някакъв смисъл. Да се приеме, че това означава „вагина“ е просто едно предположение и може да съдържа логическата заблуда двусмислие.

Ahmed A. Abd-Allah

Abd-Allah extends Bucaille’s proposition, providing dictionaries and tafsirs to support his case that sulb means ‘hardening’ and tara’ib means the sexual areas of the woman.

Here is Abd-Allah's definition of sulb:

Almost all the commonly available translations of the Qur'an refer to sulb as the backbone, though some refer to loins. Even Ibn Kathir accepts backbone. Is Wehr a more authoritative and knowledgeable authority on the Arabic language than Ibn Kathir? This is difficult to believe.

Regardless, Abd-Allah’s proposition is undercut by his own definitions of tara’ib. He failed to show that his tafsirs and dictionaries explain tara’ib to mean vagina. Instead, tara’ib is defined as breasts, eyes, legs and chest. While erogenous zones are important in foreplay, the sexual act really must be consummated through the vagina.

Abd-Allah’s reference to Ibn Kathir’s tafsir is also disingenuous, as he only mentions the one half of the description which supports his case (i.e. tara’ib refers to the woman), while leaving out the other half that contradicts it (i.e. tara’ib is the woman’s ribs).

Zakir Naik

Naik’s embryology is askew. The original position of the cells destined to develop into spermatogonia (sperm producing cells) is not ventro-medial to the kidneys (where they undoubtedly develop) but in the wall of the yolk sac:

Even if Naik’s assertion that the verse refers to the embryonic testes is accepted, it is unclear whether the gonads are located where he claims, i.e. between the spinal column and the eleventh and twelfth ribs.

This cross-sectional diagram of the human embryo shows the gonads at or around the level of the placenta:

Thus, it is not strictly true that the embryonic testes is located specifically between the spinal column and the eleventh and twelfth ribs as the gonadal or genital ridge (precursor of the gonads) is commonly believed to lie medial to the lower part of the mesonephros, while the adult kidney actually develops from the metanephros.

It is incorrect to assume the position of the embryonic gonads from the position of the adult kidneys, as the embryonic positions of gonads and kidneys are not the same as their adult positions. Gonads descend, while kidneys enlarge and ascend. It should also be noted that the developing gonads are ventro-medial to the mesonephros (i.e. the embryonic kidney) and not the metanephros (which would develop into the adult kidney). Hence it would seem that Zakir Naik does not know the embryology of the urogenital system and cannot differentiate between the mesonephros and the metanephros.

Even if Naik’s implied association between embryonic and adult anatomical positions were to be accepted, he is also wrong because in the condition of cryptorchidism where the testes is undescended, the highest position of the undescended testes is below the kidney.^[5]

Note that the inferior pole of the kidney lies around L3 (the third lumbar vertebra), thus the embryonic testes must be below L3. The twelth rib does not extend below L2. Since the testes are below the kidneys, there is no possibility that the testes were ever between the ribs and the backbone either in the embryonic or the adult (as with cryptorchidism) stage.

It also seems disingenuous to interpret a ‘drop emitted, proceeding from between the backbone and the ribs’ to mean the embryonic development of the testes, as the ‘drop emitted’ suggests a fully developed and functional testes, rather than an embryonic structure. Embryonic testes do not emit, ejaculate, gush forth, pour forth, spurt or ejaculate any substance; only the peri- and post-pubertal testes do.

Naik’s explanation of the nerve, blood and lymphatic circular from the abdominal aorta is irrelevant and constitutes the logical fallacy of the red herring. This is because verse 85:6 speak about ‘a drop emitted’, commonly taken to mean semen and semen only, as this drop is directly responsible for human reproduction, something which cannot be claimed for nerve signals, blood or lymph. Further, circulation and nerve supply do not correlate with embryonic origin. For example, the blood supply, lymphatics and nerve supply of the lower limbs originate in the abdomen and pelvis. This does not mean the lower limbs embryonically originated in the abdomen and pelvis.

Jamal Badawi

Badawi’s proposition is proven to be in error with the same explanation given for Naik’s blood circulation proposition.

Ibn Kathir

Modern medical science has shown that semen does not emanate from the male’s backbone, nor do the female’s sexual secretions emanate from the ribs.

Muhammad Asad

Even if Asad’s definition of sulb as the male loins is accepted, it is a stretch to accept that sexual reproduction is the consequence of a union between the male loins and the female pelvic arch.

The tafsir does not claim tara’ib means the pelvis, but the pelvic arch which is a specific part of the pelvis. This suggests that a claim of euphemism cannot apply due to the specificity of the description.

Moiz Amjad

Moiz Amjad makes three claims:

1. Sulb and tara’ib refer to the blood supply of the testes emanating from between the man’s back and ribs.

This proposition is proven to be in error with the same explanation given to Naik.

2. The embryonic gonads originate in the area (as per Zakir Naik).

This proposition is proven to be in error with the same explanation given to Naik.

3. The sulb and tara’ib region is an euphemism for the male sexual organ.

Amjad attempts to show this by drawing lines on pictures of a human skeleton. However, any line can enclose any human organ if that line is drawn on the surface of the body.

Similarly, arguments claiming that the sulb and tara’ib is a euphemism for both the male and female sexual organs make little sense. There are better euphemisms for sexual organs than two other unrelated human organs, since sperm never flows between seperate organs; wherever it is, it always flows inside a single organ.

Tahir Ul-Qadri

Tahir Ul-Qadri makes the following claim:

There is no evidence that tara'ib can be translated as pubic symphisis. Even if Qadri's claim of a single word having a large number of meanings were true and applicable in this case, tara'ib would have meant many organs other than the pubic symphisis. Those organs would have no relationship with the place where semen flows. It is a typical Texas sharpshooter fallacy to focus only on the similarities between two sets of information and draw a conclusion while ignoring the differences. Qadri also ignores the testicles which produce the essential sperms. They are not situated in the zone he mentioned but below the symphisis.^[8]

Yusuf Ali

• Firstly, Yusuf Ali does not explain what he means by seed: Sperm, semen, ovum or zygote. This should have been clarified because the verse is generally taken to be referring to a male fluid but a human is not created without the female ovum. If "seed" refers to one sex, it is biased and incorrect; but if it refers to both sexes, the interpretation of backbone and ribs must be valid for both.

• If the backbone is so crucial for man to exist, it is hard to comprehend why the similarly crucial seed (or drop) would flow near the backbone instead of both being the same thing metaphorically. A man's backbone can often be symbolic but in no way is it related to his offspring.

• There is no reason for even mentioning medulla oblongata here.

Miscellaneous Claims

This claim is erroneous since it twists the meaning of the verse to say that the force for ejaculation comes from between the backbone and the ribs. The actual verse mentions a "liquid flowing" and not its cause.

The ribs are above the seminal vesicles which are above the tip of the coccyx when a standing person's anatomy is viewed. Since only the top of the seminal vesicles falls between the bottom of the coccyx and the bottom of the rib-cage on the above mentioned line, the vesicle is not really between the loins and ribs.^[10] This argument also ignores the prostate glands (source of 25-30% of semen), testes (2-5%) and bulbourethral glands (up to 1%).

Though the ribcage is roughly cylindrical, the uterus is never inside it. Further, the embryo is already "created" much before pregnancy since the verse refers to fertilisation. The liquid being discussed here never flows anywhere close to a woman's ribs.

This is partly similar to the claim of tara'ib meaning uterus; a baby has nothing to do with its mother's ribs. If one were to describe the emergence of a baby by referring to external organs, one would have better said "between backbone and abdomen", not ribs. In all major translations, verse 86:7 (Coming from between the backbone and the ribs) is an incomplete sentence which continues from 86:6 ("He is created from a gushing fluid"), hence it is only a fluid that is said to emerge.

This is not true. The entire process of spermatogenesis from a spermatogonium to a sperm occurs in various regions of the testicles.^[11]

The various attempts to show that the Qur'an correctly describes semen production are not supported by modern scientific knowledge.

These propositions are frequently conflicting, for instance, Ibn Kathir refers to tara’ib as a female organ, while other tafsirs claim it belongs to the man.^[12] Another conflict is the definition of sulb to mean either the backbone or the ‘hardening’ or the loins.

A point often missed, though alluded to by Dr. Campbell, is the phrase “min bain” which literally means “from between”. If this interpretation is accepted, which seems to be the case from a reading of the commonly accepted translations, then one must also note that semen emanates from the penis, and not from between the penis and the vagina. To be strictly correct, semen emanates from the penis into the vagina. This point seems to rule out tara’ib as being anything to do with the female sexual partner.

Шаблон:Core Science

• Reproduction - Страница, която води до други статии, свързани с Reproduction
• Mistranslated Verses - Страница, която води до други статии, свързани с Mistranslated Verses

• The Quran on Semen Production
• No Scientific Problems (Errors?!?) in the Quran
• Science in Quran: Ambiguity of Human Embryology