100:00:05,080 --> 00:00:10,960Embryology in the Quran200:00:12,260 --> 00:00:17,880Since Keith Moore spoke on the subject of embryology in the Quran in the 1980's300:00:17,880 --> 00:00:20,440Islamic proselytisers have claimed400:00:20,440 --> 00:00:25,040the Quran contains miraculous information on the subject of embryology500:00:25,040 --> 00:00:29,400that could not possibly have been known to humanity in the 7th century600:00:30,380 --> 00:00:34,700In particular one verse which describes how bones form before flesh700:00:34,700 --> 00:00:38,180has been touted as an example of miraculous information800:00:38,960 --> 00:00:42,280The Quran's description of human development in the womb900:00:42,280 --> 00:00:44,500has become something of a revived subject1000:00:44,500 --> 00:00:51,160since the biologist PZ Myers told iERA (a UK based Islamic proselytising group)1100:00:51,160 --> 00:00:55,220that they had just proved the Quran to be scientifically incorrect1200:00:55,220 --> 00:00:59,200in claiming that it describes bones forming formed before the flesh1300:00:59,200 --> 00:01:04,440and that bones and flesh actually form simultaneously from Mesenchyme1400:01:04,860 --> 00:01:07,740Of course the Quran cannot possibly be wrong1500:01:07,740 --> 00:01:10,940only our understanding of the words can be in error1600:01:11,560 --> 00:01:15,220Now, let us take a look at the information within the Quran1700:01:15,220 --> 00:01:18,640and compare it to the information from Galenic medicine1800:01:19,160 --> 00:01:26,220Quran 23:13 "Then we placed him as a drop of seed in a safe lodging"1900:01:26,540 --> 00:01:32,060This shows an early stage of embryonic development where the human is still a seed2000:01:32,580 --> 00:01:40,300Galen says "The first (stage) is that in which is seen in both abortions and dissections2100:01:40,300 --> 00:01:42,660"the form of the semen prevails"2200:01:43,440 --> 00:01:48,720Quran 23:14 "Then we fashioned the drop a clot"2300:01:49,320 --> 00:01:54,840Galen continues "Now in the case of the semen, voided in the 6th day2400:01:54,840 --> 00:01:57,540"it becomes filled with blood"2500:01:58,020 --> 00:02:03,800The next part of the Quran says "then fashioned we the clot a little lump"2600:02:04,240 --> 00:02:14,040Galen goes on to say "after it has been filled with blood, heart brain and liver are still unarticulated and unshaped"2700:02:15,160 --> 00:02:20,860The Quran follows by saying "then fashioned We the little lump, bones2800:02:20,860 --> 00:02:23,160"then clothed the bones with flesh"2900:02:23,800 --> 00:02:26,160Galen immediately goes on to say3000:02:26,160 --> 00:02:31,980"After nature has made outlines of all the organs and the substance of the semen has been used up3100:02:31,980 --> 00:02:37,220"thus it caused flesh to grown on and around all the bones"3200:02:37,580 --> 00:02:42,080Here we see Galen's writings describe a fetus starting as semen3300:02:42,080 --> 00:02:48,000After 6 days it then fills with blood and the fetus starts to develop various bodily parts3400:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,460but remains unformed3500:02:50,740 --> 00:02:57,240Then flesh starts to grow on and around the bones before the fetus goes on to become fully formed3600:02:58,200 --> 00:03:02,580So, what is so miraculous about the information in the Quran?3700:03:03,000 --> 00:03:07,880Almost identical words were spoken by a man hundreds of years earlier3800:03:07,880 --> 00:03:12,040who didn't need to claim divine intervention for their origin3900:03:13,980 --> 00:03:17,680Knowing that there is no point at which an embryo is a clot of blood4000:03:17,940 --> 00:03:21,560Islamic apologists try to force the Quran to be accurate4100:03:21,560 --> 00:03:24,000by using the following claims,4200:03:24,000 --> 00:03:30,140despite knowing there are numerous tafsirs explaining how this is a clot of blood4300:03:31,120 --> 00:03:32,360Number 14400:03:32,360 --> 00:03:37,020The Quran is merely saying the embryo looks like a clot of blood4500:03:37,580 --> 00:03:41,360There is nothing miraculous about saying what something looks like4600:03:41,580 --> 00:03:45,480These people used to kill and eat their animals themselves4700:03:45,480 --> 00:03:50,180it is not unimaginable that they sometimes discovered the animal had been pregnant4800:03:50,180 --> 00:03:53,760and that the embryo looked like a clot of blood4900:03:54,240 --> 00:03:55,240Number 25000:03:55,480 --> 00:04:01,500The Quran describes the embryo looking like a leach, you need a microscope to see this5100:04:01,840 --> 00:04:06,600At no point does the Quran use the word "resembles" or "looks like"5200:04:06,600 --> 00:04:08,400before the word Alaqa5300:04:08,760 --> 00:04:13,360Therefore the Quran would be saying that the embryo turns into a leach5400:04:13,580 --> 00:04:18,260To claim this is the meaning of the Quran is to claim the Quran is imperfect5500:04:18,260 --> 00:04:22,820because it could be improved by adding the word "resembles"5600:04:23,760 --> 00:04:24,760Number 35700:04:25,020 --> 00:04:29,420The Quran is describing the way the embryo clings to the uterus5800:04:29,820 --> 00:04:33,220As with the Quran's vague stages of human development5900:04:33,220 --> 00:04:38,580this too was explained in Greco-Roman medicine long before Muhammad was born6000:04:39,220 --> 00:04:46,060Galen reports that the fetus is attached to the womb just like fruit to a tree6100:04:47,280 --> 00:04:48,400Number 46200:04:48,640 --> 00:04:53,260The Quran is describing the way the embryo lives off its mother's blood6300:04:53,860 --> 00:04:58,900Yet again this alternative explanation was also described by Galen6400:04:58,900 --> 00:05:03,840as he described how the offspring takes nutriment from the mother's blood6500:05:04,360 --> 00:05:10,180"Nutriment also comes through the Chorion, from the veins and arteries of the mother"6600:05:11,260 --> 00:05:16,240The fact that so many people claim different miraculous meanings for the same word "Alaqa"6700:05:16,380 --> 00:05:21,140clearly shows that the meaning of this word is being inferred by the reader6800:05:21,140 --> 00:05:25,340and then retrofit in an attempt to match reality6900:05:26,340 --> 00:05:30,560Of course the latest revival of this entirely bogus miracle claim7000:05:30,560 --> 00:05:35,540has come about of a consequence of iERA ambushing the biologist and embryologist7100:05:35,540 --> 00:05:41,080PZ Myers, at the world atheist convention in Dublin in 20117200:05:41,380 --> 00:05:45,020During this interview Adnan Rashid (iERA) asked PZ Myers7300:05:45,020 --> 00:05:48,220Rashid: "Does Aristotle say that the bones comes first and then the flesh and the muscles?"7400:05:48,220 --> 00:05:49,700Myers: "Is that what the Quran specifically says?"7500:05:49,700 --> 00:05:50,840Rashid: "Absolutely!"7600:05:51,080 --> 00:05:52,840(Thus the Quran is a miracle!)7700:05:52,940 --> 00:05:57,660at which point PZ Myers informed them that this is factually incorrect7800:05:57,660 --> 00:05:59,400Myers: "You just demonstrated the Quran is wrong!7900:05:59,400 --> 00:06:01,880"These are forming simultaneously with each other"8000:06:01,940 --> 00:06:05,720As expected, the apologetic machine is now in full motion8100:06:05,720 --> 00:06:10,580as the "clear" words of the Quran are examined closely in order to discern8200:06:10,580 --> 00:06:12,560what they clearly said from the start8300:06:12,560 --> 00:06:13,860whatever that might be8400:06:13,860 --> 00:06:16,320as long as it matches reality8500:06:16,740 --> 00:06:21,600Lane's Lexicon uses this very verse of an example of when the word "fa"8600:06:21,600 --> 00:06:24,540is used to denote an absolute sequence8700:06:24,680 --> 00:06:30,180So it seems Adnan's original interpretation may have been correct after all8800:06:31,520 --> 00:06:38,020I currently see the miracle claim possibly morphing into one of the following "reinterpretations"8900:06:38,320 --> 00:06:44,1001: The original miracle claim was correct, bones develop before flesh9000:06:44,360 --> 00:06:49,740I am not a biologist or an embryologist so I cannot comment on the science9100:06:50,000 --> 00:06:54,200but if this does turn out to be the case then the verse is not a miracle9200:06:54,200 --> 00:06:58,880because the text I quoted from Galen, from hundreds of years before the Quran,9300:06:58,880 --> 00:07:02,960also states that flesh grows on and around the bones9400:07:03,360 --> 00:07:08,5802: The Quran does not say "THEN we clothed the bones"9500:07:08,580 --> 00:07:11,680but "AND we clothed the bones"9600:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,080This certainly isn't a miracle 9700:07:14,080 --> 00:07:19,900as replacing the word "then" with "and" removes any indication of sequence 9800:07:20,160 --> 00:07:23,960As a consequence, the verse would be saying nothing more than 9900:07:23,960 --> 00:07:25,840"Bones have flesh around them"10000:07:26,300 --> 00:07:31,900and it takes no more intelligence than a child to know that your bones are clothed with flesh10100:07:31,900 --> 00:07:35,580just as our flesh is clothed with man made fabrics10200:07:36,040 --> 00:07:40,9203: Our original understanding of the Quran was incorrect,10300:07:40,920 --> 00:07:47,580the bones and flesh form at the same time and then later the flesh attaches to the bones"10400:07:48,260 --> 00:07:54,460The Quran's terse description of embryology does not say that the flesh moves onto the bones10500:07:54,460 --> 00:07:59,400Interpreting the words in this way is merely an extrapolation and an inference10600:08:00,060 --> 00:08:02,160but again this is no miracle10700:08:02,160 --> 00:08:08,040The word used for clothed also means "To drape upon" or "to cover"10800:08:08,040 --> 00:08:13,820We do not need to invoke the divine in order to say that bones are covered by flesh10900:08:13,820 --> 00:08:18,640and thus by definition, this does not match the criteria of a miracle11000:08:18,640 --> 00:08:22,500because there is a much more mundane explanation for this text11100:08:22,800 --> 00:08:26,600Thus, we do not need to invoke a supernatural power11200:08:26,840 --> 00:08:31,520The simple fact is that the words "clothed the bones with flesh"11300:08:31,520 --> 00:08:37,080is a valid way to rephrase the words written by Galen hundreds of years earlier11400:08:37,080 --> 00:08:41,000Galen: "Caused the flesh to grow on and around the bones"11500:08:41,760 --> 00:08:48,360The question "How did Muhammad miraculously only pick the Galenic teachings which were correct11600:08:48,360 --> 00:08:50,320"and leave out his errors?"11700:08:50,640 --> 00:08:53,940Is often used by Islamic apologists 11800:08:54,720 --> 00:09:00,040That this counter-argument has no bearing on the fact that we have already proven11900:09:00,040 --> 00:09:02,300these verses are not a miracle12000:09:02,300 --> 00:09:04,240is completely ignored12100:09:04,460 --> 00:09:10,080In a very short piece of text the Quran says the same thing that Galen said12200:09:10,080 --> 00:09:13,100also in a very short piece of text12300:09:13,340 --> 00:09:15,240and Galen was wrong!12400:09:15,680 --> 00:09:21,500This miracle claim itself is an example of Muhammad copying incorrect information12500:09:21,860 --> 00:09:29,360and an example of apologists reinterpreting the words to try to make them correct12600:09:29,660 --> 00:09:33,700Semen does not turn into a blood clot or leach12700:09:33,700 --> 00:09:39,140the sperm within the semen is a trigger for the woman's egg to start dividing12800:09:39,460 --> 00:09:45,000If an all knowing being wanted to present us with a 20th century embryonic miracle12900:09:45,000 --> 00:09:48,700then why not mention the swimming thing within the semen?13000:09:49,040 --> 00:09:53,980Why not mention the tiny egg within the woman that is invisible to the naked eye?13100:09:54,120 --> 00:10:05,620and most importantly, why use words which look just like a paraphrasing of work authored by a mere human hundreds of years earlier?13200:10:06,080 --> 00:10:09,200There are indeed other examples within the Quran13300:10:09,200 --> 00:10:15,000of where its human author seems to have copied Greco-Roman medicine which was wrong13400:10:15,140 --> 00:10:19,680In Sura al-Insaan verse 2 the Quran reads13500:10:19,940 --> 00:10:23,920"Verily we created man from a drop of mingled semen"13600:10:24,140 --> 00:10:27,320Ibn Abbas is reported to have described this as13700:10:27,320 --> 00:10:33,140Abbas: "That of a man being white and thick, and that of a woman being yellow and thin13800:10:33,140 --> 00:10:35,900"thus progeny comes from both of them"13900:10:36,440 --> 00:10:41,240Al Jalalayn say "That is from the fluid of the man and the fluid of the woman14000:10:41,240 --> 00:10:43,500"that have mixed and blended"14100:10:43,980 --> 00:10:48,100Ibn Kathir explains that various people reported14200:10:48,100 --> 00:10:53,040"Amshaj" is the mixing of the man's fluid with the woman's fluid.14300:10:53,440 --> 00:10:59,080Islamic apologists will now try to claim that this verse itself is a miracle14400:10:59,260 --> 00:11:05,920because it is saying that the fluid a man ejaculates is a mingled drop of semen and sperm14500:11:06,160 --> 00:11:08,960but this argument is weak14600:11:09,020 --> 00:11:17,920Of the material the male expels during sex it is only the sperm within the semen which initiates the creation of the offspring14700:11:18,100 --> 00:11:22,520So to claim the Quran is saying that humans are made from a mingled drop 14800:11:22,520 --> 00:11:27,320of both sperm and semen would be to say the Quran is in error14900:11:27,320 --> 00:11:34,320Another common apologist approach is to claim that it is a male drop that mingles with the woman's egg15000:11:34,320 --> 00:11:41,680This is a huge leap of faith due to the fact that there is nowhere in the Quran which mentions a woman's egg15100:11:41,860 --> 00:11:48,460and perhaps not coincidentally, there is no mention of a female egg in Greek medicine either15200:11:48,760 --> 00:11:52,400However, this apologist argument is also weak15300:11:52,400 --> 00:11:57,900because again it is only the sperm which meets the woman's egg and not the semen15400:11:58,300 --> 00:12:06,920by no stretch of the imagination could the combination of a solid sperm and a solid egg be described as a drop of mingled fluid15500:12:07,340 --> 00:12:13,380The explanation of this verse that makes the most sense is the one put forward in the Tafsirs and Hadiths15600:12:13,460 --> 00:12:18,940where it is the fluid of the man meeting a woman's fluid that creates the offspring15700:12:19,440 --> 00:12:25,540According to this Fatwa on the signs of puberty the discharge of a woman that is expelled during sex 15800:12:25,540 --> 00:12:28,260is described as a thin yellow fluid15900:12:28,300 --> 00:12:34,400The following hadith details Muhammad explaining how the resemblence of an offspring is determined by16000:12:34,400 --> 00:12:37,580which of the parents discharges first16100:12:37,780 --> 00:12:44,260The next one elaborates further and specifies the fluid in question, which is discharged by the female,16200:12:44,480 --> 00:12:48,440is the fluid she would expect to see during a sexual dream16300:12:48,440 --> 00:12:51,320and is thin and yellow in appearance16400:12:51,800 --> 00:12:59,460It is likely that Muhammad had heard of Galen's semen theory that the male and female sexual fluids mix together to form the fetus16500:12:59,760 --> 00:13:05,680(Contrary to Islamic apologist claims) Galen did not believe that the female semen was her menstrual blood16600:13:06,600 --> 00:13:14,660Galen: "The similarity of offspring to their parents arises through a source common to both parents16700:13:14,660 --> 00:13:20,440"but menstrual blood is not a source common to both male and female16800:13:20,440 --> 00:13:26,840"The similarity of offspring to parents is either through semen or through menstrual blood16900:13:26,840 --> 00:13:32,120"but it is NOT through menstrual blood, therefore it is through semen"17000:13:32,840 --> 00:13:38,380Galen clearly thought that both male and female semen are produced during an orgasm17100:13:38,560 --> 00:13:43,580and that the woman's semen is visibly thinner than male semen17200:13:44,200 --> 00:13:51,440Galen: "When therefore the female produces semen at the same time as the male17300:13:51,460 --> 00:13:57,480"the semen discharged through each of the two horns and carried to the middle of the hollow of the uterus17400:13:57,480 --> 00:14:02,500"it coats the passages and at the same time reaches the male semen17500:14:02,500 --> 00:14:07,480"it mixes with this semen and the membranes are entwined with each other...17600:14:07,480 --> 00:14:13,120"(The female semen) provides this service for the fetus and becomes, as it were, 17700:14:13,120 --> 00:14:16,640"a kind of nutriment for the semen of the male17800:14:16,640 --> 00:14:21,260"for it is thinner than the male semen"17900:14:21,800 --> 00:14:27,620If there is any doubt that the discharge mentioned in the proceeding hadiths were about vaginal lubricant18000:14:27,620 --> 00:14:35,020then the following hadith linking a "wet dream" directly to this discharge should clear up the matter18100:14:35,340 --> 00:14:43,620especially as it also identifies this discharge as being the same fluid which makes her offspring resemble her18200:14:43,860 --> 00:14:50,680Um Salaim said: "Oh Allah's apostle! Verily Allah is not shy of (telling you) the truth.18300:14:50,680 --> 00:14:55,160"Is it essential for a woman to take a bath after she has had a wet dream?18400:14:55,160 --> 00:14:59,860"He (Muhammad) said: 'Yes, if she notices discharge'18500:14:59,860 --> 00:15:05,760"On that Um Salama laughed and said: 'Does a woman get a discharge?'18600:15:06,060 --> 00:15:11,680"He (Muhammad) said 'How (else) then does her son resemble her (his mother)?'"18700:15:12,960 --> 00:15:16,920Quran 76:2 "Verily we created man from a drop of mingled semen18800:15:18,300 --> 00:15:28,140Quran 86:6-7 "He was created from a fluid, ejected, emerging from between the backbone and the ribs"18900:15:28,480 --> 00:15:35,920As the tafsirs explain, the fluid is that which is emitted from between the backbone of the man and the ribs of the woman19000:15:36,600 --> 00:15:41,160The problem with this is that again it mirrors Galen's erroneous mixing of (male and female) fluids19100:15:41,440 --> 00:15:46,380Female fluid excretions do not form part of the embryo19200:15:47,060 --> 00:15:52,160Apart from that, the part of the male which causes reproduction is the sperm19300:15:52,160 --> 00:15:54,740which is created below the penis19400:15:55,020 --> 00:16:01,320To be correct the Quran would have to say that we are all created from what is within the fluid19500:16:05,100 --> 00:16:12,060[Medical meanings: "A Glossary of Word Origins] "Apparently there was confusion in ancient times as to whether the testis or the kidney was the source of semen.19600:16:12,060 --> 00:16:19,340"The Romans gave up and called the kidneys 'renes', from which we take our adjective 'renal'"19700:16:20,060 --> 00:16:26,000Either way you look at this verse it appears to be a copy of one of Galen's erroneous writings19800:16:27,240 --> 00:16:30,060But how could Muhammad have known?19900:16:30,680 --> 00:16:33,400This of course is an argument from ignorance20000:16:33,400 --> 00:16:35,4801: I don't know the answer to X20100:16:35,480 --> 00:16:38,4602: Therefore I do know the answer to X20200:16:38,460 --> 00:16:40,3803: And the answer is....20300:16:40,380 --> 00:16:43,5004: [Insert an unfounded belief of your preference]20400:16:44,100 --> 00:16:47,380It is also a completely irrelevant question20500:16:47,620 --> 00:16:55,140The mere fact that other humans knew this information means that it was within the sphere of knowledge of mankind 20600:16:55,480 --> 00:16:59,940What we do know is that an individual could have known this information 20700:16:59,940 --> 00:17:04,220whether we know how they came into possession of that information or not20800:17:04,780 --> 00:17:09,800iERA have been announcing for a number of months that their "New Research"20900:17:09,800 --> 00:17:14,340into these verses of the Quran have not only proven to be correct but21000:17:14,680 --> 00:17:20,540probably not surprisingly, have turned out to be even more accurate than originally thought21100:17:20,860 --> 00:17:26,040It seems that Hamza Tzortzis (of iERA) has already started to release snippets on his website21200:17:26,500 --> 00:17:30,960One of these snippets attempts to disassociate Muhammad from Hellenistic medicine21300:17:30,960 --> 00:17:38,140by claiming that one of his companions, Harith Ibn Kalada, could not have learned Greek medicine at Jundishapur21400:17:38,140 --> 00:17:41,560because no such medical academy existed21500:17:41,840 --> 00:17:45,460The following quote is from the website HamzaTzorztis.com21600:17:46,300 --> 00:17:53,000HAT: "Jundishapur was certainly a meeting place for Arab, Greek, Syriac and Jewish intellectuals21700:17:53,000 --> 00:17:57,580"but there is no evidence that any medical academy existed there.21800:17:57,580 --> 00:18:02,920"Only in the early 9th century did Arab-Islamic learned medicine take shape"21900:18:03,580 --> 00:18:13,000The first obvious point to make here is that even if this argument did disprove the notion that Harith Ibn Kalda learned Greek medicine from Jundishapur22000:18:13,000 --> 00:18:16,980It does not prove that he didn't learn it somewhere else22100:18:17,360 --> 00:18:24,160It also doesn't rule out the possibility that Muhammad heard some very basic embryology concepts22200:18:24,160 --> 00:18:28,660from someone like Harith Ibn Kalda's adopted son, Al-Nazar22300:18:28,660 --> 00:18:33,800who was Muhammad's cousin and also who allegedly travelled to increase his knowledge22400:18:33,800 --> 00:18:36,980and was a medical physician like his adopted father22500:18:37,340 --> 00:18:43,440It doesn't rule out the possibility that Muhammad's doctor gave him a brief overview one day22600:18:43,440 --> 00:18:47,000while they were discussing the apparent miracle of pregnancy22700:18:47,320 --> 00:18:55,520Or, that a friend told Muhammad what his doctor had told him during a trip to the doctor with his pregnant wife22800:18:55,820 --> 00:19:00,360Putting forward a list of everyone to have ever come into contact with Muhammad22900:19:00,360 --> 00:19:04,120who either was a physician, had ever talked to a physician23000:19:04,120 --> 00:19:08,820or had ever talked to someone who had talked to a physician, and so on23100:19:09,200 --> 00:19:13,460Would not only be impossible, but would also be pointless23200:19:13,840 --> 00:19:17,580For the embryonic verses in the Quran to be considered a miracle 23300:19:17,580 --> 00:19:26,200we must concede that the ONLY way Muhammad could have come across such information must have been via a divine entity23400:19:26,440 --> 00:19:35,160The book by Roy Porter, cited by iERA, is not the only one claiming that Jundishapur was not a great medical academy23500:19:35,600 --> 00:19:39,540[The beginnings of western science] "We have no persuasive evidence for the existence of a medical school23600:19:39,540 --> 00:19:42,140"or a hospital at Jundishapur.23700:19:42,140 --> 00:19:46,760"Although there seems to have been a theological school and perhaps an infirmary"23800:19:47,060 --> 00:19:53,840If there was an infirmary at Jundishapur, then it is still possible that an individual such as Harith Ibn Kalda23900:19:53,840 --> 00:19:57,520may have learned additional medical knowledge whilst working there24000:19:57,660 --> 00:20:01,600But really, this is utterly unimportant24100:20:01,860 --> 00:20:10,360[Lindberg - The beginnings of western science] "The story must not be oversimplified to the point where the diffusion of Greek learning 24200:20:10,360 --> 00:20:17,200"is viewed as hanging on the slender thread of Nestorian activity in the city of Jundishapur 24300:20:17,200 --> 00:20:23,240"Rather, we must see this as a widespread movement of cultural diffusion24400:20:23,240 --> 00:20:30,040"whereby the aristocracies of western and central Asia assimilated broadly and deeply24500:20:30,040 --> 00:20:32,580"and by a variety of mechanisms"24600:20:32,920 --> 00:20:41,060To assume that Jundishapur was THE crucial point from which Greek medicine was disseminated throughout the region is clearly an error24700:20:41,480 --> 00:20:49,840The diffusion of Greek medicine throughout this region, and the rest of the world, was a slow but long process lasting many centuries24800:20:50,100 --> 00:20:54,120ensuring that it became part of cultures across the globe24900:20:54,440 --> 00:20:59,900But the book by Lindberg is not the only one that reaches this conclusion25000:21:00,140 --> 00:21:06,360If only iERA had spent some time reading the book they cited, rather than simply quote-mining it25100:21:06,500 --> 00:21:12,940they would have learned a whole lot more on the subject of dissemination of Greek medicine throughout history25200:21:12,940 --> 00:21:18,500and they possibly would have realised their point about Harith Ibn Kalda was somewhat ...25300:21:18,860 --> 00:21:20,040pointless!25400:21:20,600 --> 00:21:27,380Even though Greek medicine had not yet taken shape, as early as 1700 years before Muhammad was born25500:21:27,600 --> 00:21:31,900the Greeks were already travelling as far as Egypt25600:21:31,980 --> 00:21:39,400Greek medicine was an open system available to anyone to learn, which contributed to its development25700:21:39,680 --> 00:21:46,220By the 4th century BCE Aristotle had been appointed as teacher to Alexander The Great25800:21:46,660 --> 00:21:53,760Alexander The Great's conquests brought Hellenistic knowledge as far as Egypt, the Persian gulf, and Sicily25900:21:53,860 --> 00:21:57,120and led to the creation of the library of Alexandria26000:21:57,340 --> 00:22:03,520A large collection of medical documents attributed to Hippocrates were available in the library of Alexandria26100:22:03,600 --> 00:22:06,420as early as 250BCE26200:22:06,940 --> 00:22:12,300In the 1st century CE anatomy was being taught in the library of Alexandria26300:22:12,680 --> 00:22:17,920In approximately 145CE Galen himself studied at the library26400:22:18,180 --> 00:22:22,900After Galen died, Greek medicine remained mostly unchanged26500:22:23,260 --> 00:22:29,880By 324CE, Constantinople/Byzantine, was a Hellenistic safe haven26600:22:29,880 --> 00:22:34,860344CE Christian hospitals sprang up throughout the region26700:22:35,080 --> 00:22:44,420Leontius, bishop of Antioch from 344CE to 358CE, set up hostels in his see, around 360 of them26800:22:44,760 --> 00:22:54,080Pre 640CE it was still possible to learn Greek medicine and specifically Galenic medicine in Alexandria26900:22:54,520 --> 00:22:58,720But the best has certainly been saved for last!27000:22:59,360 --> 00:23:07,300[Porter - Medical History of Humanity] "By 500CE in Alexandria there was not only a syllabus of Hippocratic texts (which Galen followed)27100:23:07,520 --> 00:23:14,280"but an embryonic Galenic canon, which became known as "The Sixteen Books"27200:23:14,460 --> 00:23:18,260"taught with commentaries and studied in a set order27300:23:18,680 --> 00:23:26,680"Alexandrian scholars also summarised the sixteen books for ease of memory"27400:23:27,140 --> 00:23:37,040For over 1700 years Greek culture and knowledge had been infusing itself slowly and thoroughly into the culture of the middle-East27500:23:37,300 --> 00:23:45,680Only 70 years before the birth of Muhammad, 16 books by Galen on the subject of embryology27600:23:45,820 --> 00:23:55,880had not only been canonised at the library of Alexandria, but they had also been summarised by scholars in order to make them easier to commit to memory27700:23:56,280 --> 00:24:06,120Knowledge of Greek medicine, and in particular Galenic medicine, remained prevalent throughout the region for many years after Muhammad's death27800:24:06,380 --> 00:24:16,160During a concerted effort to collect written Greek medicine and translate it to Arabic, by the 9th century it was STILL possible to find many of Galen's27900:24:16,160 --> 00:24:19,680writings throughout the Byzantine empire28000:24:20,120 --> 00:24:25,920This is most likely what Lindberg was referring to in his book [The beginnings of western science] when he remarked how Jundishapur28100:24:26,060 --> 00:24:31,240was not the slender thread by which Greek medicine was spread28200:24:33,394 --> 00:24:34,394www.HamzaTzortzis.com - FAIL28300:24:36,920 --> 00:24:39,280When reviewing the evidence presented28400:24:39,280 --> 00:24:45,100the question we should ask should not be 'How could Muhammad have known?' But rather28500:24:45,680 --> 00:24:49,580How could Muhammad NOT have known?28600:24:50,380 --> 00:24:53,420An all knowing entity that copies from the Greeks? Be rational!