I don't know if this has been mentioned already but as far as I'm aware this was already known by the Greeks who discovered it centuries before so it's not really a miracle that it is in the Quran considering the Arabs had a lot of influence for the Greeks.
Just joined though I've been browsing the site for a few weeks now.
I have written a book (yet to be published) unveiling the Qur'an and othe Islamic scriptures and have dealt in some detail with the embryo and egg shaped earth subjects.
So to clarify on some of the points made on the forum, here is excerpts based on my research:
Embryology:
Starting with an analysis of Muhammad's account of embryology, we can easily determine its scientific inaccuracy in addition to its obvious plagiarisation from earlier works by Greek philosophers and scientists such as Galen, Hippocrates and Aristotle or Indian theses on the subject by Charaka and Susruta.
To start with 'nutfah' (semen) as mentioned in verse 86:6 says that the fluid issues from between the loins and ribs, not, as we know today, from the testicles. This reflects the mistaken view of Hippocrates still prevalent at the time of Muhammad.
Sura 23:12-14 says God created man from 'wet earth, then placed him as (a drop of) sperm (nutfah) in a safe lodging; then We made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood (alaqa); then out of that clot We made a (foetus) lump (mudghah), then We made out of that lump bones and clothed the bones with flesh; then We developed out of it another creature.'
Nowhere in this description is the female egg mentioned. It says the sperm is made into a blood clot, then into a lump; not very scientific. Out of the lump bones are formed and then on the bones flesh is placed. In reality the flesh and muscles form prior to the bones. Muhammad?s conception of embryology is so sadly out of synch with reality that the attempts by Muslims to claim otherwise are rather farcical.
This account directly follows the four stages described by the Greek physician Galen, writing around 150 CE. It should also be noted that one of Muhammad's companions, Harith ben Kalada, studied at the school of Jandi-Shapur in Persia and would have been well acquainted with the teachings of Aristotle, Hippocrates, and Galen.
But how is man created? In the Qur'an there are many contradictory accounts. For example sometimes it tells us that we are created from earth (11:61), sometimes from dry clay (15:26,28,33, 17:61, 32:7), sometimes from nothing (19:67), sometimes not from nothing (52:35), sometimes from wet earth (23:12), or from mire (38:71), sometimes from water (25:54, 21:30, 24:45), sometimes from dust (3:59, 30:20, 35:11) or even sometimes from the dead (30:19, 39:6). They cannot all be true and is evidence that Muhammad was making things up as he went along. The beauty of such multifaceted philosophy is, no matter what scientists discover Muslims will have a verse to refer to, which might verify the miraculous science of the Qur'an.
Sahih Bukhari 54:430 has Muhammad saying, 'A human being is put together in the womb of the mother in forty days, and then he becomes a clot of thick blood for a similar period, and then a piece of flesh for a similar period.' That is a total of 120 days before becoming a foetus twice as long as we now know it to be.
In Sahih Muslim 33:6395 Muhammad says, 'The semen stays in the womb for forty nights, then the angel, gives it a shape and decides whether he would be male or female. Then the angel says: Would his limbs be full or imperfect' And then the Lord makes them full and perfect. Then he says: My Lord, what about his livelihood, and his death and what about his disposition' And then the Lord decides about his misfortune and fortune.'
So according to Muhammad, an angel comes down forty days after the semen enters the womb and decides on the gender of the child and whether it should be deformed in anyway and Allah will decide on the future fortunes of the child. There is no science in any of this and is clearly based on seventh century myths and superstitions.
So as this will not be too lengthy I will post the flat earth analysis separarely.
Topic: ?Quran is Wondrous..?!