365. The fertilized egg.

In these verses (22:5, 23:14, 40:67, 75:38, 96:2) of the Quran, we find it talking about the initial stages of the development in the human embryo. The words Alaq, and Alaqatth are used in the Quran. These words have many meanings for them.

A blood clot, in a hanging position, intertwining with each other are the meanings for this word.

We cannot take the meaning ‘A blood clot’ because there is no such thing as a blood clot in a human embryo, and neither can we take the meaning as ‘hanging’, because the initial stages of a human can only be a thing and not a description of position. When describing the initial stages of man the Almighty terms it as ‘Nuthfa,’ and the later mentions it as Alaqath on further development. The word ‘Nuthfa’ refers to the sperm in the seminal fluid, and the sperm alone is not enough to develop into an embryo, there is a need for an human egg that has to be fertilized to be developed into an embryo.

The second stage is the product resulting from the egg being fertilized by the sperm.

It can be clearly understood that this fertilized product is what is termed as Alaq. Though the term Alaq has several meanings, it is used to mean ‘intertwining’ in most places.

We cannot find a more appropriate word to describe the fusing of the sperm and the egg than ‘intertwining.’

This is the reason we have made use of the word Alaq, wherever we come across the word fertilized egg, the meaning of which is the resultant product of fusion (i.e) fertilized egg.