Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a sperm?
Or am I just weird that way!
“The Great Sperm Race.” A TV documentary produced in the UK,
Seeks to answer this very question.
It presents human conception from the vantage point of the sperm.
Starting in the testicles and following the sperm along the arduous journey
Through the male and female reproductive tracts
To it’s own Holy Grail, the egg.
It was Antony Van Leeuwenhoek, a 15th century microscope maker,
Who actually first discovered sperm
While testing one of his devices,
And because of this chance discovery,
It has been said for many years
That “Van Leeuwenhoek created something with his own hands,
And that device led him to the secret of creation.”
He named his new discovery, ‘animalcules’
A word for ‘creatures’ at that time.
Once discovered, scientists began to study sperm with much intensity
To discover what it was made of, how it worked
And then uncover the process that made human life possible.
Through this research many things were seen and uncovered for the first time
Including the incredible journey sperm take in order to fertilize a woman’s egg.
It starts with semen itself
A mix of sperm and other liquids and solids that protect and help the sperm on their journey.
Semen starts as a gelatinous blob, called a seminal clot,
Which adheres to the inside of the vagina.
Like jelly it is thick and gelatinous, but that quickly changes.
Soon, the semen liquefies, so that the sperm can move and swim away
And pass though the uterine canal.
Along the way, sperm attach themselves to various things in a manner similar to the way Velcro works
According to Dr David Miller, Reader in Molecular Andrology
In the School of Medicine at University of Leeds
They can attach and release with ease due to carbohydrate-binding proteins.
They attach to the epithelial cells lining the oviduct
Where they stay and can quickly detach and move
When ovulation gets closer.
In short, they can stay attached in the woman for a couple of days
At least Before she ovulates
Detach and move closer to the egg when ovulation does occur
And then attach again to the egg.
It’s an uphill battle all the way
Until one strong and determined sperm manages to attach itself to the egg.
Within seconds, the sperm is engulfed by the egg.
This is a process called ‘phagocytosis’ by scientists
Meaning that the sperm is ingested or engulfed by the egg.
After this happens, the sperm’s nuclear ‘envelope’ disintegrates
And the sperm and egg become a one-cell embryo
As reported by Storey in 1995 and Evans in 2001, respectively.
From there, creation begins, as the sperm -egg interaction
Initiates a single cell to be formed
And then to be divided and duplicated many times over.
This causes both differentiated and undifferentiated cells to be formed
On the outside and inside of the growing cell mass respectively.
Differentiated cells implant the growing embryo to the uterine wall
And form the placenta to protect the baby to come.
While undifferentiated cells have the ability to become everything that the new human body needs,
from hair to eyes to the heart, lungs, sex organs and much more.
It’s truly a miracle of nature, from start to finish
And the holy Quran stated every single step with incredible accuracy 1400 years ago.
These quotes from the holy Quran, which describe the process very specifically, are the proof.
“Read. In the name of your Lord Who created.
Created the human from the “creatures that can attach”.
And in another verse: “People, if you should be in doubt about the Resurrection,
Then consider that indeed, We, God, Allah created you from dust,
Then from the watery bit of the semen, then from a creature that can attach
And then from a chewed matter partly differentiated
And partly “undifferentiated” that We may show you.
And We settle in the uteruses whom We will for a specified term,
Then we bring you out as a child.
Even the most biased person would agree
Those words are incredibly accurate to what science now describes.
The holy Quran talks about how the semen becomes watery, and how the sperm attaches.
About how the egg ingests the sperm, and about differentiated and undifferentiated cells.
And then how the developing embryo implants in the uterus.
The accuracy is simply uncanny.
Another remarkable fact is that the Holy Quran even talks about the process of phagocytosis
Cells ingesting or engulfing one another
Followed by their combination or disintegration
That is used to form the zygote, in its verses.
As you will note, the Quran refers to chewed matter in the verse on embryology.
This chewed matter is a well-known medical term and an analogy
For the mechanism of phagocytosis.
So just as the zygote is formed due to the ingestion of the sperm by the female egg
And the mixing of this ingested matter with the female DNA
The chewed matter, the analogy given in the Holy Quran,
Follows the same process as it to refers to the mixing of ingested matter with saliva
Resulting in a new combination.
Essentially, using analogous terms
The Quran is telling us about the process by which the zygote is formed.
The holy Quran not only stated the specific sequence of events that lead to embryo creation
But also stated with 100% accuracy
That during embryonic development the bones are formed first and then the flesh of muscles.
“And certainly did We, God, Allah create man from an extract of clay.
Then We placed him as a “watery bit of semen” in a firm lodging.
Then We made the watery part of the semen a “creature that can attach”
Then We made the “creature that can attach” a “chewed matter”
Then We made the “chewed matter”, bones
And We covered the bones with flesh
Then We developed him into another creation.
So blessed is Allah, the best of creators.
In Developmental Approaches to Human Evolution published in 2016
By Professor Julia Boughner, from the Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology
At the University of Saskatchewan
And professor Campbell Rolian in anatomy in the Department of Comparative Biology
And Experimental Medicine in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Calgary,
We find research that is consistent with the Quran’s claims.
The two professors studied homologies, evolution
And the development of the striated muscles of all of the major groups of vertebrates
And the spatial associations between them and bones/cartilages.
They stated that among tetrapod groups, humans are tetrapods, by the way
The signaling for limb and bone development usually precedes that for muscle development
Cartilage in general is present prior to muscle formation
And somatic limb muscle progenitor cells apparently do not carry intrinsic positional information.
They also stated that there are studies
That suggest that the presence of the first tissues formed during limb development
Condensations that will give rise to bones
May provide the positional signaling for the subsequent development of soft tissue.
When you think about all that
It is hard not to admit that embroyology is truly a miraculous process.
And just as miraculous as the process itself
Is the fact that the Quran, a book re-vealed in the 6th century,
Described this intricate process so accurately all those years ago.