Source and Purity of Milk and the Holy Quran

 Source and The purity of Milk and the Holy Quran

Wikiislam.net states that:

The Qur'an states that milk is produced, in the body, somewhere between excretions and blood. The mammary glands, where milk is produced and stored, are nowhere near the intestines which are where excrement is stored. Many kinds of cattle and goat milk need processing or pasteurization before they can safely be consumed; the milk is often infected with bacteria and other micro-organisms. A significant number of humans are lactose intolerant and unable to digest milk without experiencing abdominal bloating and cramps, flatulence, diarrhoea, nausea, or vomiting. This makes the Quranic claim that milk is 'pure' and 'agreeable' to those who drink it dubious.

And verily in cattle (too) will ye find an instructive sign. From what is within their bodies between excretions and blood, We produce, for your drink, milk, pure and agreeable to those who drink it.                                                       Quran 16:66

Reply:

This objection of the author of wikiislam.net against the Holy Quran clearly depicts either his knowledgelessness or his slyness. His foxy claim has three parts. Let us analyze them one by one:

1. What is the Relation between Excretions, Blood, and Milk?

Even a simple science student understands the digestive system. Let me revise it for them. The milk produced in the body of the organism is derived from the food it intakes. The food when enters the digestive system is first digested by the stomach and small intestines and then absorbed by the intestines and then transported through the hepatic portal vein to the liver where the absorbed materials are processed and then it becomes the part of the blood. Every body part (including the mammary gland) fulfils its nutritional need then from the blood. The undigested food material is excreted out. 

Now, when the Holy Quran is saying من بین فرث و دم لبنا خالصا سائغا للشربین " From between the excrement and blood, pure milk We produce that is agreeable to those who drink it." It is linguistically asking us to ponder over that how beautifully and intricately is the milk (which is neither blood nor excrement) extracted from the same food through which blood and excrement are produced. I ask the objectors to produce any reference from some old accomplished Muslim book that this verse means that milk is produced in blood and intestines and not in the mammary gland. If they cannot, and I know that they cannot, let me show that How beautifully the grandson of Holy Prophet SAW, Imam Jaffar Sadiq AS described the fate of food in the body:

"Mufazzal, just think about the food and how does a human utilize it? How does this food become pleasant and appetizing? How and through what process does it pass before it reaches each and every part of the body? How does the essence of the food nourish and become a part of the body? To make all this possible, what arrangements, grand and elaborate, were to be made by the Grand Sustainer, God the Almighty? In making these arrangements what great wisdom and grand pre-planning were necessary?"

"Look, when food reaches the stomach, the stomach churns it, and after making it digestible sends it over (through intestines) to the Liver. The stomach also cleans the food. Liver accepts the gist which was extracted out of food. Through a very delicate and precise process, it then turns into blood and flows to each and every part of the human body through a network of veins which work in a fashion similar to water channels for irrigation. The waste products (resulting from this process) are routed to the specific locations earmarked for this process". (Tauheed e Mufazzal page 81 and 87)

2. The Milk we drink contains microbes and is also contaminated sometimes then why does the Holy Quran describes it as "Pure"?

The answer to this question is quite simple. The Holy Quran is not describing the milk we drink as Pure, rather it is describing the milk extracted from food between blood and excrement as pure. And Yes, it is pure. Milk is virtually sterile. It gets contaminated in its storage in either breast or in the containers, or during milking, or during transport or if the organism is suffering from mastitis. For the sake of reference let me quote Technology of Cheesemaking edited by Barry A. Law, Adnan Y. Tamime page no. 1980.

3. People suffering from Lactose Intolerance cannot drink milk, why did the Holy Quran describe milk as ''agreeable''?

The answer is again simple that it is agreeable to those who drink it. Why question those who do not drink it? Secondly, the Arabic word سائغا here translated as ''agreeable'' also means ''pleasing''. If the objector had quoted the translation with the meaning ''pleasant'', then his blunt lie would have been exposed and it would have been clear what the Holy Quran meant.

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