Does Quran Says That Semen Comes From Between Ribs And Back:
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Introduction
In recent years there has been questions surrounding the scientific understanding of the following Quranic verse:
فَلْيَنظُرِ الْإِنسَانُ مِمَّ خُلِقَ
Falyanthuri al-insanumimma khuliq
So let man observe from what he was created.
خُلِقَ مِن مَّاءٍ دَافِقٍ
Khuliqa min ma-in dafiq
He was created from a fluid, ejected,
يَخْرُجُ مِن بَيْنِ الصُّلْبِ وَالتَّرَائِبِ
Yakhruju min bayni assulbi wattara-ib
Emerging from between the loins and the ribs. [1]
In this short article we will conduct a lexical analysis of the words used in these verses and analyse if they correlate with modern findings in physiology.
Lexical Analysis
The two words that are in question are sulb [2] and tara'ib [3]. The word sulb means any portion of the backbone, particularly the lumbar portion and the loins and it is specific to males. [4] [5] The word tara'ib means breastbone or the ribs [6] and it is specific to males [7]. In Usool At-Tafseer - the science of explaining the Quran - there is a principle that one should do tafseer of the Quran with the Quran [8]. This can help us understand the meaning of words contained in the Quran.
Sulb appears in the Quran in two places. Surah 86:7 and Surah 4:23. The verse in Surah 4 is discussing those with whom marriage is prohibited to, it reads:
حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمْ أُمَّهَاتُكُمْ وَبَنَاتُكُمْ وَأَخَوَاتُكُمْ وَعَمَّاتُكُمْ وَخَالَاتُكُمْ وَبَنَاتُ الْأَخِ وَبَنَاتُ الْأُخْتِ وَأُمَّهَاتُكُمُ اللَّاتِي أَرْضَعْنَكُمْ وَأَخَوَاتُكُم مِّنَ الرَّضَاعَةِ وَأُمَّهَاتُ نِسَائِكُمْ وَرَبَائِبُكُمُ اللَّاتِي فِي حُجُورِكُم مِّن نِّسَائِكُمُ اللَّاتِي دَخَلْتُم بِهِنَّ فَإِن لَّمْ تَكُونُوا دَخَلْتُم بِهِنَّ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَحَلَائِلُ أَبْنَائِكُمُ الَّذِينَ مِنْ أَصْلَابِكُمْ وَأَن تَجْمَعُوا بَيْنَ الْأُخْتَيْنِ إِلَّا مَا قَدْ سَلَفَ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا
Hurrimat AAalaykum ommahatukumwabanatukum waakhawatukum waAAammatukum wakhalatukumwabanatu al-akhi wabanatu al-okhti waommahatukumuallatee ardaAAnakum waakhawatukum mina arradaAAatiwaommahatu nisa-ikum waraba-ibukumu allateefee hujoorikum min nisa-ikumu allateedakhaltum bihinna fa-in lam takoonoo dakhaltum bihinna falajunaha AAalaykum wahala-ilu abna-ikumuallatheena min aslabikum waan tajmaAAoobayna al-okhtayni illa ma qad salafa inna Allahakana ghafooran raheema
Prohibited to you [for marriage] are your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your father's sisters, your mother's sisters, your brother's daughters, your sister's daughters, your [milk] mothers who nursed you, your sisters through nursing, your wives' mothers, and your step-daughters under your guardianship [born] of your wives unto whom you have gone in. But if you have not gone in unto them, there is no sin upon you. And [also prohibited are] the wives of your sons who are from your [own] loins, and that you take [in marriage] two sisters simultaneously, except for what has already occurred. Indeed, Allah is ever Forgiving and Merciful. [9]
The point of highlight here is:
وَحَلَائِلُ أَبْنَائِكُمُ الَّذِينَ مِنْ أَصْلَابِكُمْ
wahala-ilu abna-ikumuallatheena min aslabikum
And [also prohibited are] the wives of your sons who are from your [own] loins
This verse here is telling us that it is forbidden to marry the wives of your sons. The verse says - min aslabkium - from your sulb (plural). If one was to translate sulb here to mean backbone or spine - the verse would make no sense. The correct understanding of the word sulb is loins - due to it discussing reproduction.
If we turn our attention back to verse 86:7, that is discussing reproduction, it is a fair assumption to understand that the correct understanding of sulb would be that it means loins, rather than backbone. This is due to the fact that the word carries this meaning and its usage elsewhere in the Quran only carries the meaning of loins.
If we turn to Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ we find sulb carrying the same meaning:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَلَقَ لِلْجَنَّةِ أَهْلاً خَلَقَهُمْ لَهَا وَهُمْ فِي أَصْلاَبِ آبَائِهِمْ وَخَلَقَ لِلنَّارِ أَهْلاً خَلَقَهُمْ لَهَا وَهُمْ فِي أَصْلاَبِ آبَائِهِمْ
Inna Allaha khalaqa liljannati ahlaan khalaqahum lahaa wa hum fi aslaabi aabaanihim wa khalaqa lilnnaar ahlaan khalaqahum lahaa wa hum fi aslaabi abaanihim
Allah created for Paradise those who are fit for it while they were yet in their father's loins (aslaab) and created for Hell those who are to go to Hell. He created them for Hell while they were yet in their father's loins (aslaab). [10]
This leaves us with the correct rendering of the verse being:
يَخْرُجُ مِن بَيْنِ الصُّلْبِ وَالتَّرَائِبِ
Yakhruju min bayni assulbi wattara-ib
Emerging from between the loins and the ribs.
Semen Production
Modern physiology states that semen is made up various fluids. For instance, semen is made up of sperm which comes from the testes and makes up 2-5% its content. Fluid from the seminal vesicles make up 65-75% of semen, and fluid from the prostrate makes up 25-30% of the male sexual fluid. Also, semen is made up of fluid from the bulbourethral glands which makes up less than 1% of the semen. According to modern physiology all these organs are between the loins and the ribs as is detailed in the pictures below:
Notice how the semincal vesicle and other organs are between the loins and the ribs.
Conclusion
What the above article has intended to do was to clarify a doubt regarding the accuracy of a specific Quranic verse detailing how the description given in the Quran does in fact match with modern physiology.
And Allah Knows Best
Appendix 1: Hippocrates And Semen Production
Some critics have not stopped at claiming an error in the Quran, some have gone as far to claim that the Quranic description is actually copied from the Greek physician Hippocrates. In order to see if there claims are true let us analyse what Hippocrates taught on semen production.
Hippocrates details his views on semen production in his two works "On Generation" and "On The Nature Of The Child". In his treatise "On Generation" he writes:
1. 1) All things are governed by law. The sperm of the human male comes from all the humour in the body: it consists of the most potent part of this fluid, which is secreted from the rest. The evidence that it is the most potent part which is secreted is the fact that even though the actual amount we emit in intercourse is very small, we are weakened by its loss. What happens is this: there are veins and nerves which extend from every part of the body to the penis. When as the result of gentle friction these vessels grow warm and become congested, they experience a kind of irritation, and in consequence, a feeling of pleasure and warmth arises over the whole body. 2) Friction on the penis and the movement of the whole man cause the fluid in the body to grow warm; becoming diffuse and agitated by the movement it produces a foam, in the same way as all other fluids produce foam when they are agitated. But in the case of the human being what is secreted as foam is the most potent and the richest part of the humour. This humour is diffused from the brain into the loins and the whole body, but in particular into the spinal marrow: for passages extend into this from the whole body, which enable the humour to pass to and from the spinal marrow. 3) Once the sperm has entered the spinal marrow it passes in its course through the veins along the kidneys (sometimes if there is a lesion of the kidneys, blood is carried along with the sperm). From the kidneys it passes via the testicles into the penis not however by the urinary tract, since it has a passage of its own which is next to the urinary tract.
Those who have nocturnal emissions have them for the following reason; when the humour in the body becomes diffuse and warmed throughout – whether through fatigue or through some other cause - it produces foam. As this is secreted, the man sees visions as though he were having intercourse, for the fluid is precisely the same as that which is emitted in intercourse. However, erotic dreams and the nature and effects of this whole complaint, and why it is a precursor of insanity, is no part of my present subject. So much then for that.
2. 1) The reason that eunuchs do not have intercourse is that their spermal passage is destroyed. This passage lies through the testicles themselves. Moreover, the testicles are connected to the penis by a mass of slender ligaments, which raise and lower the penis. These are cut off in the operation, and that is why eunuchs are impotent. In the case of those whose testicles are crushed, the spermal passage is blocked, for the testicles are damaged and the ligaments, becoming calloused and insensitive as a result of the damage, are no longer able to tighten and relax. 2) Those on the other hand that have had an incision made by the ear can indeed have intercourse and emit sperm, but the amount is small, weak and sterile. For the greater part of the sperm travels from the head past the ears into the spinal marrow; now when the incision has formed a scar, this passage becomes obstructed. In the case of children, their vessels are narrow and blocked, and therefore prevent the passage of sperm, so that the irritation cannot occur as it does in the adult. Hence the humour in the body cannot be agitated sufficiently to secrete sperm. 3) Girls while they are still young do not menstruate for the same reason. But as both boys and girls grow, the vessels which extend in the boy’s case to the penis and in the girl’s to the womb, open out and become wider in the process of growth; a way is opened up through the narrow passages, and the humour, finding sufficient space, can become agitated. That is why when they reach puberty, sperm can flow in the boy and the menses in the girl. Such is my explanation of these facts.
3. 1) The sperm is, as I say, secreted from the whole body - from the hard parts as well as from the soft, and from the total humour. This humour has four forms: blood, bile, water, and phlegm. All four are innate in man, and they are the origin of disease. (I have already discussed these forms, and why both diseases and their resolutions come from them.) I have now dealt with the subject of sperm: its origin, how and why it originates, and in the case of those who do not have sperm, why this is so; and I have dealt with menstruation in girls.
4. 1)In the case of women, it is my contention that when during intercourse the vagina receives friction and the womb is disturbed, an irritation is set up in the womb which produces pleasure and heat in the rest of the body. A woman also emits something from her body, sometimes into the womb, which then becomes moist, and sometimes externally as well, if the womb is open wider than normal. Once intercourse has begun, she experiences pleasure throughout the whole time, until the man ejaculates. If her desire for intercourse is excited, she emits before the man, and for the remainder of the time she does not feel pleasure to the same extent; but if she is not in a state of excitement, then her pleasure terminates along with that of the man. 2) What happens is this: if into boiling water you pour another quantity of water which is cold, the water stops boiling. In the same way, the man’s sperm arriving in the womb extinguishes both the heat and the pleasure of the woman. Both the pleasure and the heat reach their peak simultaneously with the arrival of the sperm in the womb, and then they cease. If, for example, your pour wine on a flame, first of all the flame flares up and increases for a short period when you pour the wine on, then it dies away. In the same way the woman’s heat flares up in response to the man’s sperm, and then dies away. [11]
Hippocrates views on semen production can be summarised as follows:
1. The most potent of the fluid distributed all over the body is ejected out as semen.
2. There are vessels from every part of the body which reaches the penis and through which the semen is spilled.
3. The body parts from brain to hip, especially in the marrow of vertebrae, this fluid is scattered about.
4. The semen reaching the spinal cord passes through the vessels across the kidneys.
5. From kidneys, through the testicles, this flows to the penis.
If we compare the regions being described by Hippocrates (the whole body) and the Quran (area between loins and ribs) it becomes clear that the claim that Prophet Muhammad ﷺ plagiarised from Hippocrates is fallacious.
Region Described By Hippocrates For Semen Production
Region Described By The Quran For Semen Production
By analysing what Hippocrates and the Quran actually teach on semen production it becomes rather clear that they are discussing different things - and the claim that the latter plagiarised from the former has no basis.
Appendix 2: Is tara'ib specific to males or females?
There is a difference opinion regarding if tara'ib linguistically refers to males or females. There are some who argue that tara'ib is specific to females. However there are many who detail that tara'ib is specific to males and this is the more correct view.
Those who detail that tara'ib is specific to males include Al-Hasan al-Basri [12], Ibn Al-Qayyim [13], Ibn Juziy [14], Sheikh Ibn 'Ashoor, Ibn Sa'di, Ibn 'Uthaymeen [15] and others. Ibn Al-Qayyim details why this is the more correct view, he writes:
There was a difference of opinion concerning at-taraa’ib. It was said that what is meant is the man’s taraa’ib too, that is the bones of the chest, the area between the collar bone and the breast. And it was said that what is meant is the taraa’ib of the woman.
The former view is more likely to be correct, for the following reasons:
1. Because Allah, may He be glorified, says: “Proceeding from between the loins (as-sulb) and the ribs (at-taraa’ib)”, and He did not say that it proceeds from the loins (as-sulb) and the ribs (at-taraa’ib). So the man’s water must necessarily come from between these two different places, as He said concerning milk: “from between excretions and blood” [an-Nahl 16:66].
2. Moreover, Allah has told us that He created man from a nutfah (sperm drop) in more than one place, and the nutfah is the water of the man. This was also stated by the linguists. Al-Jawhari said: The nutfah is pure water, whether it is a small amount or a large amount, and the nutfah is the water of the man…
3. That which is described as gushing forth or being emitted forcefully is the water of the man; the water of the woman is not described in these terms. [16]
So the correct understanding is that tara'ib is specific to the man.
References:
[1] Surah 86:5-7.
[2] صلب - coming from the root ص ل ب - Saad Laam Baa.
[3] تَّرَائِبِ - coming from the root ت ر ب - Ta Ra Ba.
[4] Hans Wehr, page 521.
[5] An Arabic-English Lexicon. Librairie Du Liban. 1968. Vol. 4, page 1712.
[6] Ibid, Vol. 1, page 301.
[7] As said by Ibn Al-Qayyim in I‘laam al-Muwaqqi‘een, 1/145-146, Al-Hasan Al-Basri ; see Tafseer at-Tabari, 20/4, Imam Ibn Juziy in Tafseer at-Tasheel 785, Shaykh Ibn ‘Ashoor, Ibn Sa‘di and Ibn ‘Uthaymeen ; as it says in Liqa’ al-Baab al-Maftooh, no. 45 & al-Liqa’ ash-Shahri, no. 45. See Appendix 2 for more information.
[8] See Bilal Philips, Usool At-Tafseer, International Islamic Publishing House (2005), pp.40-41. Sheikh Ibn Taymiyyah & Sheikh Uthaymeen, An Explanation Of Sheikh Al Islam Ibn Taymiyyah's Introduction To The Principles Of Tafsir, Al-Hidayah, pp.155-168.
[9] Quran 4:23.
[10] Saheeh Muslim 2662 c, Sunan Ibn Majah 82, Sunan an-Nasa'i 1947, Sunan Abi Dawud 4713.
[11] Hippocrates, The Hippocratic Treatises, "On Generation," "On the Nature of the Child," "Diseases IV", Translated by Walter de Cruyter, 1981, pp. 1-2.
[12] See Tafseer at-Tabari, 20/4
[13] I‘laam al-Muwaqqi‘een, 1/145-146
[14] Tafseer at-Tasheel 785
[15] Liqa’ al-Baab al-Maftooh, no. 45 & al-Liqa’ ash-Shahri, no. 45
[16] I‘laam al-Muwaqqi‘een, 1/145-146
Reply by me:
The meaning of Sulb means sexual organ and Taraib means ribs. The Holy Quran states that the spurging fluid involved in the reproduction of man comes from between Sulb (sexual organ) and Taraib (ribs).The Holy Quran is not saying sperms rather it is saying the fluid.The glands which form this fluid are the Seminal gland, the prostrate gland and the bulbourethral gland.
Seminal Gland:
Seminal glands are located in pelvis and below urinary bladder.They secrete fluid which partly composes semen.
Prostrate Gland:
The prostate gland is about the size of a walnut. It's located just below the bladder and it surrounds the urethra. This is a tube that carries urine and semen out of the body.
Bulbourethral Gland:
Bulbourethral gland, also called Cowper's Gland, either of two pea-shaped glands in the male, located beneath the prostate gland at the beginning of the internal portion of the penis; they add fluids to semen during the process of ejaculation.
It means that all the glands to produce semen are located between the sexual organ and ribs anteroposteriorly. Here is a simple pic to describe the area between sulb and taraib,
 |
| the area between sulb and taraib mentioned in Quran |
All the glands to prdouce lie in this region.Thus it is not a scientific error.Similarly female ovaries are also located in this region(between Sulb and Taraib).And the spurging fluid of woman is also involved in the reproduction.
A man contributes sperm; this sperm cannot reach the female by itself. Rather, it has to be mixed in with semen, a viscous fluid that aids in transportation. Similarly, a woman contributes an egg, but this egg cannot travel through the fallopian tube and uterus without it being mixed in fluid. Of course, this fluid is not sperm, but it is like sperm in that it helps the follicle to travel. In fact, during ovulation, a great deal of fluid is released by the female from a variety of sources inside her body.
AmericanPregnancy.org says:
Ovulation is assumed to take place on the day a woman has the most amount of wet fluid.
(http://www.americanpregnancy.org/get...ulationfaq.htm)
A medical website, OncologyChannel.com, says:
When a woman is fertile, each month a Graafian follicle travels to the surface of the ovary, bursts, and releases an egg and its fluid contents into a fallopian tube.
(http://www.oncologychannel.com/ovari...er/index.shtml)
The cilia in the fallopian tube push the fluid and the egg forward towards the uterus. It is the fluid which is the main force that causes the cilia to beat and thereby push the egg to its destination. Without the fluid, the egg will most likely not make it. One can read this medical article on the topic:
The Effect of Ovarian Follicular Fluid and Peritoneal Fluid on Fallopian Tube Ciliary Beat Frequency
BACKGROUND: …At ovulation, follicular fluid is released into the peritoneal cavity and enters the Fallopian tube. We hypothesized that this fluid may provide the stimulus for the increase in CBF (Ciliary Beat Frequency) detected after ovulation.
…CONCLUSIONS: The increase in CBF detected after ovulation may aid ovum pick-up and transport along the Fallopian tube. Factor(s) within human follicular fluid and secretory phase peritoneal fluid may be responsible for this increase in CBF.
(http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/cgi...stract/21/1/52)
Reproduction-Online.org confirms this:
Formation of Fallopian tubal fluid:
Fluid produced and secreted by the Fallopian tube provides the environment in which gamete transport and maturation, fertilization and early embryo development occur.
(http://www.reproduction-online.org/c...ract/121/3/339)
We could cite many more authoritative sources to prove that the egg must travel in fluid, which is secreted from a variety of sources inside the female body. And it should be clear that neither the Quran nor the hadeeths claim that the woman has sperm; rather, they simply say that she has sexual fluid, which is a fact.
(if anyone has any question,argument,description regarding this or any of the article on this blog then pleases comment or mail at imtiazbashir7@gmail.com)
