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Cited by 9Qur’anic Interpretation StudiesMedical Research and Islamic PerspectivesIslamic Thought and Society Studies

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 38 of the 38 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

ʿAbd al-Majīd al-Zindānī's iʿjāz ʿilmī Approach: Embryonic Development in Q. 23:12–14 as a Scientific Miracle

Guénon, Melanie·2019·Journal of Qur'anic Studies
DOI 10.3366/jqs.2019.0398
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Abstract

This article focuses on contemporary scientific exegesis of the Qur'an, analysing ʿAbd al-Majīd al-Zindānī's unique model of embryonic development derived from Q. 23:12–14. Since the majority of Muslim legal scholars consider the three main stages of embryonic development mentioned in Q. 23:12–14 to take place within 120 days, this view has been considered as the majority Muslim view in academic research. However, I claim that since the 1980s al-Zindānī has successfully disseminated the perception that the embryonic stages mentioned in the Qur'anic text take place over 40 days. An examination of al-Zindānī's work and publications by the Commission on the Scientific Miracles in the Qur'an and Sunna (CSMQS) demonstrates that al-Zindānī uses an iʿjāz ʿilmī approach (i.e. seeking to establish harmony between the Qur'an and modern natural science) to advocate a new interpretation of the Qur'anic stages of embryonic development in order to validate the connection between modern science and the Qur'an. I argue that his model rests on three hermeneutical strategies: first, the reformulation of Ibn al-Qayyim's (d. 751/1350) model of embryonic development; second, the modification of the last Qur'anic stage from khalq to nashʾa; and third, his preference for the variant of the so-called Ibn Masʿūd ḥadīth canonised in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. Accordingly, he does not follow the fiqh tradition and excludes the stage of the embryo's ensoulment from his model. It is this exclusion of the ensoulment and the reformulation of the developmental stages that enables al-Zindānī to align his model with both the Qur'anic text and modern scientific findings.

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Research works printed but not linked: 24

  1. al-Bār Muḥammad ʿAlī, 1983, Khalq al-insān bayna al-ṭibb wa'l-Qurʾān
  2. al-Bār Muḥammad ʿAlī, 1995, Contemporary Topics in Islamic Medicine
  3. al-Bār Muḥammad ʿAlī, 2002, Human Development as Revealed in the Holy Quran and Hadith (The Creation of Man Between Medicine and the Quran)
  4. Bigliardi Stefano, 2014, Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective, 4, 38
  5. Bucaille Maurice, 1976, La Bible, le Coran et la science: Les écritures saintes examinées à la lumière des connaissances modernes
  6. Campanini Massimo, 2011, The Qurʾan: Modern Muslim Interpretations
  7. Droge Arthur J., 2013, The Qurʾān: A New Annotated Translation
  8. Ebrahim Abul Fadl Mohsin, The Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān
  9. Eich Thomas, 2019, Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 108
  10. Golden Daniel, 2002, Wall Street Journal
  11. Hatina Meir, 2008, Guardians of Faith in Modern Times: ʿUlamaʾ in the Middle East
  12. Ibn Manẓūr, 1955, Lisān al-ʿArab
  13. Johnson Gregory, 2016, Terrorism Monitor, 4
  14. Johnson Marshall, 1994, Human Development as Described in the Qur'an and Sunna: Correlation with Modern Embryology, 33
  15. Kellner Martin, 2010, Islamische Rechtsmeinungen zu medizinischen Eingriffen an den Grenzen des Lebens: Ein Beitrag zur kulturübergreifenden Bioethik
  16. McGregor Andrew, 2006, Terrorism Focus, 3
  17. Moore Keith, 1982, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology with Islamic Additions
  18. Moore Keith, 1990, The Qurʾan and Modern Science: Correlation Studies
  19. Persaud T.V.N., 1994, Human Development as Described in the Qur'an and Sunna: Correlation with Modern Embryology, 94
  20. al-Rehaili Abdullah, 1999, This is the Truth: Newly Discovered Scientific Facts Revealed in the Qurʾan and Authentic Sunna
  21. Weisser Ursula, 1981, Medizinhistorisches Journal, 16, 227
  22. al-Zindānī ʿAbd al-Majīd, 1994, Human Development as Described in the Qur'an and Sunna: Correlation with Modern Embryology, 114
  23. al-Zindānī ʿAbd al-Majīd, 1994, Human Development as Described in the Qur'an and Sunna: Correlation with Modern Embryology, 167
  24. al-Zindānī ʿAbd al-Majīd, 1994, Human Development as Described in the Qur'an and Sunna: Correlation with Modern Embryology

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Metadata

Authors
Guénon, M.
Affiliations
Universität Hamburg (DE)
Corresponding author
Guénon, Melanie
Venue
Journal of Qur'anic Studies
Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
Published
2019-10
Volume
21
Issue
3
Pages
32-56
ISSN
  • 1465-3591 (ISSN-L)
  • 1755-1730
DOI
10.3366/jqs.2019.0398
OpenAlex
W2981118743
Cited by
9
References
38
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2021: 1
FWCI
0.67
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.euppublishing.com/customer-services/librarians/text-and-data-mining-tdm (tdm)
Locations
Journal of Qur anic Studies (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Qur’anic Interpretation Studies
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Medical Research and Islamic Perspectives
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Islamic Thought and Society Studies
Keywords
embryonic development, Ibn al-Qayyim, ensoulment

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