This paper proposed a scientific-linguistic analysis of chapter 23 verses 12 to 14 of the Qur’an. Modern medical references were used to correlate between significant linguistic details and contemporary science. The results clearly illustrate the Qur’an as being concurrent with modern embryology.

Additionally, contentions to the qur’anic view on the development of the human embryo were responded to with particular emphasis on the plagiarisation thesis, which puts forward the charge that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ copied Galen and Aristotle. The responses provided expose the plagiarisation thesis as untenable, and lacking in explanatory power and scope.

It is hoped that this paper will open the door for sincere, nuanced and frank discussions concerning the qur’anic discourse. It must be understood that in order to comprehend the Qur’an, a deep study is required rather than a superficial reading of its verses. Take the analogy of a vast sea. Swimming on the surface will never give scientists knowledge of its secrets. Similarly, concerning the depth of the Qur’an, God makes this clear:

And if whatever trees upon the earth were pens and the sea [was ink], replenished by thereafter seven more seas, the words of God would not be exhausted. Indeed, God is Exalted in Might and Wise.127