Science in the Glorious Quran: Male and Female Gametes
“إِنَّا خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ مِن نُّطْفَةٍ أَمْشَاجٍ نَّبْتَلِيهِ فَجَعَلْنَاهُ سَمِيعًا بَصِيرًا” ( الانسان: 2).
“Indeed, We created man from nutfatin amshajin (reproductive liquid from males and females) that We may try him; and We made him hearing and seeing.” (Qur’an, 76:2)
The zygote results from the intermixing of male and female gametes and fertilization of the ovum. The Qur’an uses the Arabic words ‘nutfatin amshajin’ which refers to the mingled reproductive liquids of males and females.
A minute human in a sperm as imagined in the 18th century (left). Man produces millions of sperm. A sperm fertilizing an ovum (right)
Fertilized ovum (left), two-cell embryo (middle), four-cell embryo (right)