A Critical Study of Islamic Hadiths Relating to Embryology: with Special Focus on Verification of the Relations Between Science and Religion

The present article attempts to do content evaluations of some of those Islamic hadiths which relate to the science of Embryology; it aims to determine the place and position of these hadiths which may verify the mutual relationship between science and religion.

For the purpose of research, through studying reliable sources of Embryology on the one hand, and investigating the books of exegesis (Qur’nic Interpretation) and the sources of hadiths of the two Islamic sects on the other, a comparative study was carried out. Those hadiths which contradict with the findings of experimental sciences were distinguished and separated from those hadiths which are compatible with experimental sciences, or are even prior over them.

Having determined the reliability of these hadiths and studying the findings of Embryology, through comparative study of Islamic hadiths and Judish narrated (false) hadiths, and the related scientific findings, the discrepancies between the superstitious and Israeli (false) hadiths with science, and the influence of these superstitions in some Islamic hadiths relating to Embryology were proven. For instance, the schedule of 30 or 40 days for such concepts as “sperm-drop”, “blood-clot”, and “the lump” (of flesh), as well as determining a time of 4 months for sex-determination (in womb), are in contradiction with these hadiths are also in contradiction with scientific and experimental findings; these contradictions prove the unreliability and unauthenticity of some related hadiths attributed to religion. In other words, these premises are not representatives of religion and, thus, do not prove any contradiction between science and religion. However, determining 9 days for sperm-nesting in a hadiths narrated from Imam Bagher (PBUH) is considered as a scientific miracle.

In addition to proving the inerrant Imam’s embracing knowledge of the worlds of creation, and the agreement between science and religion, the non-contradiction of intellectual knowledge and authentic religious premises in terms of content and document is proven.