Quote:
Originally Posted by aamirsaab  In the two translations of the Quran I have, the ayat is translated exactly the same - so there seems to be no discrepancy with translation. Now if I highlight the main point of this ayat that relates to this thread and argument: then of that clot We made a (foetus) lump; then we made out of that lump bones and clothed the bones with flesh
So the Quran is actually saying that after the bones were formed they were then clothed with flesh (which is backed up by all embryology research, regardless of their opinion or conclusions on the formation of bones and muscles!) |
Now, what exactly is flesh? what exactly is the thing bones are clotheth with? It's mainly muscles (and internal organs, but those are not clotheth around bones). Flesh is basically everything that is not bones. Mainly because it can be eaten and because the Quran does not mention anything else when describing the formation of the human body.
So, the Quran suggests that fetuses, for a certain period of time are skeletons, that is until the bones are (fully) formed, at which point they or their bones are clothed with flesh.I think this is the correct interpreation, especially in light of what you wrote:
after the bones were formed they were then clothed with flesh
The first part suggests the bones are completed, fully formed before they are clothed with flesh. If not, what were you trying to say?
In any way, the verse does suggest that the bones, for some time, are "naked", fleshless or at least that they are formed before the flesh. That is not the case as bones (or pre-bone tissues, such as cartilage), when formed, already are surounded by a certain tissue (and any tissue is flesh!). And some of them are, at the time of their formation, surrounded by tissue that is alredy forming into muscles, the flesh we, humans, eat.
The bones are always surounded by something, and that something will eventually become flesh. That brings us back to a question as to when does bone tissue become bones, does cartilage count as bones (I don't think it should, and by the time cartilage becomes bones, the surounding tissue is even more like the flesh we consume...) and when does non-bone tissue becomes flesh...