Human Creation

Raising issues thereby man is guided to the Right Path, the Holy Qur’an refers to scientific issues. One of the most important axes in the Qur’an is the origin and creation of man. The quality of his creation and the origin of his life are discussed fluently in 76 verses of 41 Surahs. With the growth of embryology in the twentieth century, some have sought to adapt such verses to it to clarify the truths of the Qur’an to the audience, while others have challenged such verses and raised misconceptions such as inconsistency of embryonic stages in the Qur’an with the embryology, semen coming out of the spine and ribs (solb and tarā’ib), devaluating semen, the creation of the fetus from the male sperm and not paying attention to the role of the female sperm, determining the time of the fetus sex, descripting sperm as amshāj, the difference of ‘alaq without “tā” and with “tā”, the difference between the adding letters of “thumma”, “fā”, and so on. As a result, the confirmation of embryological knowledge by the valuable Qur’anic teachings in the study of human creation is proved. Also the mentioned misconceptions have basic problems, for the issues referred in the Qur’an are consistent with the findings of modern science, as well as, there are reasonable answers to all these doubts and differences.

The application of the gender approach to the holy books has expanded with the rise of feminism in the modern era. The study and extraction of the gender discourses that dominate these books can help in the reconstruction and understanding of relevant historical features. Comparing the gender approach of these books can also introduce us to paradigm shifts in different historical periods. For this purpose, firstly, we have shown in this study that the Qurʾan employs a moderate, complex and hybrid form of all three feminine, masculine and egalitarian discourses.<br />Secondly, the linguistic/narrative approach to the pre-Qurʾanic scriptures and its comparison with the Qurʾanic approach shows the extent of the masculine and sometimes misogynistic approach of these books. A review of some post-Qurʾanic exegesis and hadith books also shows that their gender discourse is more compatible with the masculine approach of pre-Qurʾanic books than the moderate Qurʾanic approach. Due to the large number of sources required for this research, only the gender discourse in the creation story was chosen as a case study.

The present study, through a documentary study and descriptive-interpretive method, aims to examine the perspectives of various religions based on their sacred texts regarding the origin of human creation in a comparative manner. The findings of the research indicate that the sacred text of Islam, the Quran, presents a strong and explicit account of the independent creation of the first human, stating that his origin is from clay and soil, not from another being. The views of other Abrahamic religions, namely Judaism and Christianity, based on the teachings of the Bible, align with this perspective. Some Zoroastrian texts suggest the emergence of "Gayomarth" or "Kayomarth" (the first human) from soil, but the predominant view in this tradition is that the first human originated from the Rivas plant (rhubarb, scientific name: Rheum). The sacred texts of Hinduism, in varied and somewhat ambiguous expressions, consider all creations, including humans, as manifestations of the Creator, with fire, water, and soil as the primary elements constituting the material aspect of human creation. In none of the sacred texts of the examined religions and traditions is the issue of human evolution or the emergence of humans from other beings or any alternative origin proposed.