6. J (cont.)

Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi meaning seldom used in Arabic and that is a clot or congealed blood. Albar then describes the different types of clinging that takes place after the period of nutfah. He sums up his lengthy discussion by saying, To sum upwe find from the 7th to 21st day three consecutive processes in which clinging is the most dominant feature. (1) From day 7, implantation of the blastocyst1 occurs. It becomes completely embedded by the 10th day. (2) The chorionic villi2 appear for the first time by day 13 and 14, and soon cover the whole blastocyst attaching the ball like structure to the uterus (womb) by the anchoring villi. (3) The connecting stalk connects the embryo proper (the embryonic disc) with its true coverings, the amniotic sac and yolk sac to the outer ball, the chorion. Thus we find 3 different ways of clinging and attachment of the developing fertilized ovum to the womb of the mother. There is no better word for this stage, which describes it eloquently, than the Quranic word Alakah.3 "Then it is a lump looking like it has been chewed during that similar period." The next stage is that of the mudhghah. It has been mentioned in both the Quran and this hadith. About this stage, Albar wrote, 1 The blastocyst is "the hollow ball of cells which is an early stage in the development of the embryo, roughly equivalent to the blastula of other animal groups." See The Hutchinson Dictionary of Science on The Leaming Company for Greater Knowledge, Digital Library !Computer Software] (Cambridge, MA, 1997). The chorion is the "outermost of the three membranes enclosing the embryo of reptiles, birds, and mammals; the amnion is the innermost membrane" [The Hutchinson Dictionary of Science]. Villus (pl., villi) are "(a): one of the minute fingerlike processes which more or less thickly cover and give a velvety appearance to the surface of the mucous membrane of the small intestine and serve in the absorption of nutriment and of which each has a central blindly ending lacteal surrounded by blood capillaries and covered with epithelium. (b): one of the branching processes of the surface of the chorion of the developing egg or blastocyst of most mammals that are restricted to particular areas or diffusely arranged and over parts of the surface become vascular and help to form the placenta." See Webster's Medical Desk Dictionary on The Leaming Company for Greater Knowledge, Digital Library [Computer Software](Cambridge, MA, 1997). 3 Albar, pp. 67-68. Hadith #4: Creation in the Mother's Womb The Modgha 1 in Arabic means a chewed lump, something that has been masticated. Yusuf Ali in his translation of the Quran chose the word morsel of flesh which does not exactly translate the word Modgha. Mohammed Assad [sic], Maurice Bucaille and others have chosen the correct translation, i.e., a chewed like lump.2 Once again, Albar goes on to discuss this development of the fetus in some detail, complete with illustrations. During this period, there develops what are known as somites.3 It is from these that much of the axial skeleton and musculature will develop. Hence, they look like a large number of fairly equally distributed indentations or bumps. In other words, they look exactly like a piece of flesh that has been bitten into and has the teeth marks remaining in them. All of this process takes place and is finished by the sixth week or 42 days after conception. Different hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him) stress the first forty-odd days of conception. This includes this particular hadith when understood without the additional word found in the text of al-Nawawi's Forty Hadith. Ebrahim points out the importance of this period of the first 40-odd days that is referred to in this hadith. He stated, The stage of the embryo begins two weeks after conception. At this time there is organ differentiation. All the internal organs one will ever have are present in rudimentary form by the end of six weeks [42 days]. The precreated being is termed a fetus in the period from eight weeks to birth, during which stage there is continuous growth or development but nothing "new is added". This is the period of bringing to readiness for birth what has already begun.4 "The angel is then sent to him" Here, the Prophet (peace be upon him) used the word, "the angel," rather than "an angel". This implies that this role of looking after or taking care of the fetus is that of a specific angel. It is certain some angels have specific roles, such as the task of delivering Allah's decree to the fetus. 1 In Albar's book, he spelled mudhghah, "Modgha". 2 Albar, p. 71. 3 Somites are "any of a linear series of primitively similar segments into which the body of a higher invertebrate or vertebrate is divisible and which are usu.