@xris,
God the Almighty has pointed out that He taught His prophet what he had not known before. He says:
“God has sent down to you the book (The Qur’an), and al-Hikmah (Islamic laws, knowledge of legal and illegal things i.e. the Prophet’s Sunnah–legal ways), and taught you that which you knew not. And Ever Great is the Grace of God unto you (O Muhammad (pbuh).” (Holy Qur’an: 4: 113).
These types of knowledge conveyed through the messenger of God (pbuh) were brought in the form of revelation from God the Almighty and from the kinds of knowledge the prophet had. The God’s prophet (pbuh) said: “Every prophet was given knowledge which made his people believe him and I hope I will be the most followed prophet on the Resurrection Day.” Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) showed that the miracles of his predecessor prophets (peace be upon the all) were kinds of miracles admitted by the peoples in their own times. They were supernatural and could not be challenged neither in their own times nor in times to come; all confirming the prophethood of those who showed them.
The miracles of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) were both scientific and intellectual. They were heavenly revelations. It will take a man’s life-long to realize and recognize essence and truth of the heavenly revelation (the Qur’an). Yet, the miracles of this holy book do not end in the course of time; in every age a clear sign of this revelation is confirmed and a bright proof is seen—all conforming to the true revelation, the Holy Qur’an, from God upon His prophet/messenger. This also confirms the prophethood of Muhammad (pbuh). We see in every age natural scientists producing facts after a long reach and efforts. These facts are taken for granted by the Muslim who reads the book of God the Almighty and contemplates its meanings.
Embryology, for example, is considered to be one of the most modern sciences which scientists could not explore until modern civilization provided them with instruments that could show what was happening in the womb of the mother without hurting the mother or the fetus. They reached some facts which had been taken for granted by Muslims, things like the beginning of the formation of the fetus, when the sperm enters the ovum of the woman. Almighty God said: “And that He [God] creates the pairs, male and female, from Nutfah (drops of semen – male and female discharges) when it is emitted.” (Holy Qur’an: 53: 45-46). God also said: “Was he not a nutfah (mixed male and female sexual discharge) of semen emitted (poured forth)?” (Holy Qur’an: 75: 37).
Out of the millions sperms man ejaculates during his sexual intercourse, only one fertilizes the ovum. Human semen forms 99% of the ejaculated liquid, while the sperms form between 0% and 1% from the total amount of the semen. Only one sperm out of millions in the semen is made to fertilizes the ovum, according to the will of God, so that it grows and becomes a fetus, then a child, then a young boy or girl, then a man or a woman. Abi Saeed al-Khudri related that the messenger of God (pbuh) was once asked about ejaculation outside the vagina during sexual intercourse (for contraceptive purposes), he said: “The child does not come from all the liquid (sermen) and if God intends to create anything, nothing can prevent it (from coming into existence). This prophetic hadith show that a woman perceives from some of the semen, as modern science says, and that there might be ejaculation without conception. Also conception is not necessarily formed after each sexual intercourse, and that there might be ejaculation without conception. This is explained by gynaecologists who say that the days between the menstruation periods are not the same with respect to the possibility of pregnancy, and that sperms might not be strong enough to fertilises the ovum. Science has proved that the sperms in the semen must be lively, active and gushing forth, which is one condition for fertilisation, as science has proved. Science has also proved that the woman’s liquid, which contains the ovum, comes out flowingly to the womb canal (Fallopian canal) and that the ovum must be lively, active and flowing so that fertilisation could be achieved. God the Almighty said: “So let man see from what he is created! He is created from a water gushing forth” (Holy Qur’an: 86: 5-6).
Determination of the baby’s sex (male or female):
Scientists have found out that the number of genes in every human cell is 23 pairs, one gene from each pair is responsible for determining the sex of the baby in all dimensions of man, physical and psychological, and that the key to the determination of the sex of the baby exists in this pair of genes. It was noticed that this pair in the male is different and it is referred to as (XY). Also, the feminine ova have only one chromosome of one shape (XX), while the sperms of man have two shapes of genes (X) and (Y).
The determination of the baby’s sex as such becomes obvious. The sperm is responsible for the determination of the sex of the baby for it contains the contrasted shapes of sexual genes. If the sperm has a (Y) gene, and it combines with an (X) gene in the ovum, the bay will be a baby-boy, and if an (X) gene unites with an (X) gene in the ovum, the baby will be a baby-girl. Here are some formulas clarifying the point further:
A (Y) gene + (X) = baby-boy (YX)
An (X) gene + (X) = baby-girl
Four possibilities:
1) XX female 2) YX male 3) XX female 4) YX male
This is what has been mentioned in the Noble Qur’an fourteen hundred years ago, when it attributed the responsibility of determining the sex of the baby to the sperm of the man. God Almighty said: “And that He [God] creates the pairs, male and female, from Nutfah (drops of semen – male and female discharges) when it is emitted.” (Holy Qur’an: 53: 45-46). The prophetic tradition expresses this fact accurately. If the sperm of the man dominates, i.e. (Y) gene dominates and united with an (X) chromosome – the baby will be a boy, and if the liquid of the woman dominates, the baby will be a girl. Thawban related that a Jew once approached the prophet and asked him about the (sex) of the child. The prophet (pbuh) said:
“The reproductive substance of man is white and that of woman (i. e. ovum central portion) yellow, and when they have sexual intercourse and the male's substance (chromosomes and genes) prevails upon the female's substance (chromosomes and genes), it is the male child that is created by Allah's Decree, and when the substance of the female prevails upon the substance contributed by the male, a female child is formed by God’s decree.”
After fourteen hundred years, nobody can speak more clearly than what the prophet has stated.