Science in the Glorious Quran: Alaqah

“ثُمَّ خَلَقْنَا النُّطْفَةَ عَلَقَةً” (المؤمنون:14).

“We then made the nutfah into alaqah (leech-like structure, suspended thing, blood clot).” (Qur’an, 23:14)

Alaqah means literally, in Arabic, a suspended or clinging entity, a blood clot, or a leech. Within 2-3 weeks after fertilization, the embryo is suspended on the uterine wall of the mother. It looks like a blood clot because of the presence of relatively large amounts of blood. After two weeks, it looks like a leech feeding on the blood of the mother’s uterus.

Two-three weeks embryo looking like a leech.

The embryo looks like a blood clot because of its heavy vascularization.