6. J (cont.)

74), "It is well known that this period (6th week [42 days]) sees the zenith of organogenesis whereby hearing system, visual system, bones, flesh and skin are laid down. This is rapidly followed by the differentiation of the gonads into testes or ovaries, as the Hadith proclaims." Hadith #4: Creation in the Mother's Womb "And indeed We created man (Adam) out of an extract of clay (water and earth). Then We made him [the offspring of Adam] as a nutfah (mixture of male and female sexual fluid) in a safe lodging [womb of the woman]. Then We made the nutfah into an object that clings. Then We made the clinging object into a chewed-up looking lump. Then We made out of that chewed-up lump bones. Then We clothed the bones with flesh. Then We brought it forth as another creation. So blessed be Allah, the best of Creators" (al-Muminoon 12-14). According to a number of commentators on the Quran, such as al­ Tabari, ibn Katheer and al-Raazi, the words, "Then We brought it forth as another creation," implies the breathing of the soul into the physical body.1 In this verse, it is clear that this action of breathing the soul into the womb takes place after the nutfah turns into an alaqah and then a mudhghah and even after the bones have been covered with flesh. Hence, the question of exactly when the rooh is breathed into the womb can still not be determined. However, it is definitely clear that it takes place after the first forty some-odd days. Hence, the question is still perplexing. Albar summarizes some of the views on this question, The jurists who claim that the stages of Nutfa, Alaka, Modgha are all collected in forty days do not specify when the soul is breathed into the forming body. They note that it is definitely after forty days, and after the formation of the organs of the body, including sex organs. Ibn al-Qayim puts the following argument: "If it is asked: Does the embryo before the breathing of the soul unto it have perception and movement? It is answered that the movement it possesses is like that of a growing plant. Its movements and perceptions are not voluntary. When the soul is breathed unto the body, the movements and perceptions become voluntary and are added to the vegetative type of life it had prior to the breathing of soul." 1 Cf., Albar, p. 136. Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi lbn Hajar al-Asqalani brings a similar argument when discussing which organs form first. "The liver," he says, "is the site of nutrition, and growth is needed at that stage, not voluntary movement or perception. These are acquired when the soul gets attached to the body." It is quite interesting to find the eminent ibn al-Qayyim and ibn Hajr al-Asqalani link the soul or spirit being attached to the body by the appearance of voluntary movements. It will be remembered from previous chapters [of Albar's work] (Modgha and bone formation) that somites differentiate into sclertomoes (or forming the bones) and myotomes (forming the muscles), at the fifth week, and in the sixth week the limb buds appear. The muscles of the head, neck and trunk appear by the eighth week [56 days], while the perineal muscles appear by the tenth week [70 days]. The first voluntary movements appear clearly at the twelfth week [84 days], though it may have started by the eighth week.1 Ibn Hajr, though, mentions a hadith of ibn Abbaas in which states, "After the nutfah is in the womb for four months and ten days, the rooh is breathed into it." If this hadith is authentic, then it is a clear and definitive answer to this question. It was the view of Saeed ibn al-Musayyab, Imam Ahmad and other early scholars that the rooh is breathed into the fetus after four months and ten days (a total of 130 days). In fact, this is how they explained why the waiting period for the widowed wife is four months and ten days.2 However, ibn Hajr does not make it clear whether that is a hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him) or a statement of ibn Abbaas. Ibn Rajab makes reference to that narration but he presents it in a way that implies, first, that it is a statement of ibn Abbaas and, secondly, that it is not a strong narration.3 Furthermore, this author personally searched for this hadith to the best of his ability and was not able to locate it in any of the known books of hadith.4 In addition to that, almost all of the scholars who discuss this issue do not refer to that hadith whatsoever. Allah knows best. Does the breathing in of the rooh imply the beginning of human life? There is nothing explicit in either the Quran or sunnah that states that the breathing in of the rooh implies the creation of life as such. In fact, one could 1 Albar, p. 137. 2 Ibn Hajr, Fath, vol. 13, p. 322.