"Now let man but think from what he is created! He is created from a drop emitted - Proceeding from between the backbone and the ribs:" S. 86:5-7
Dr. William Campbell explains why this passage is incompatible with modern medical knowledge relating to the production of semen: Here we find that Man is made from a 'gushing fluid' that issues from the adult father during the 'now' of the reproductive act, from a specific physical place 'between the loins and the ribs.' (other translations have backbone instead of loins) Since the verse is speaking of the moment of adult reproduction it can't be talking about the time of embryonic development. Moreover, since 'sulb' is being used in conjunction with 'gushing fluid', which can only be physical; and 'tara'ib' which is another physical word for chest or thorax or ribs, it can't be euphemistic.
Therefore, we are left with the very real problem that the semen is coming from the back or kidney area and not the testicles.
Dr. Bucaille, as a physician recognizes this problem only too well, so he wiggles and squirms (as he accuses the Christian commentators of doing) and finally after quoting the verse as we have seen it translated above says, 'This would seem more to be an interpretation than a translation. It is hardly comprehensible'. This is the second time he has called the Qur'an obscure or hardly comprehensible when there was a problem.
Therefore, let us look at the translations which I have been consulting. Those made by Muslims are:
Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Egyptian, 1946 with a preface from 1938
'He is created from a drop emitted—proceeding from between the backbone and the ribs.'
Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, English, 1977 (translation probably 1940)
'He is created from a gushing fluid that issued from between the loins and ribs.'
Muhammad Zafrulla Khan, Pakistani, 1971
'He is created from a fluid poured forth, which issues forth from between the loins and the breastbones.'
Muhammad Hamidullah, French, 1981 (10th Edition, completely revised)
'Il a été créé d'une giclée d'eau sortie d'entre lombes et côtes.'
He was created from a spurt of water coming out between the loins and ribs.
Made by a non-Muslim: D. Masson, French 1967
'Il a été créé d'une goutte d'eau répandue sortie d'entre les lombes et les côtes.'
He was created from a drop of spread out water coming out between the loins and the ribs.
That these five translations are exactly equal is perfectly obvious to every reader even if he does not know French or the original Arabic.
Dr. Bucaille's Translation
What would Dr. Bucaille like to suggest? He writes, 'Two verses in the Qur'an deal with sexual relations themselves... When translations and explanatory commentaries are consulted however, one is struck by the divergences between them. I have pondered for a long time on the translation of such verses (In plain English that means there is 'an improbability or a contradiction, prudishly called a "difficulty"' <sic>), and am indebted to Doctor A. K. Giraud, Former Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Beirut, for the following:
"(Man was fashioned from a liquid poured out. It issued (as a result) of the conjunction of the sexual area of the man and the sexual area of the woman."
'The sexual area of the man is indicated in the text of the Qur'an by the word
sulb (singular). The sexual areas of the woman are designated in the Qur'an by the word
tara'ib (plural).
'This is the translation which appears to be most satisfactory.'
When compared, however, with the five translations quoted above, it is clear that Dr. Bucaille's suggestion is not a translation, nor even a paraphrase. It is an 'explanation' and 'interpretation' which rests on the following
basic assumptions: a. That the word 'sulb' can stand for the male sexual area. Though no examples of such a usage from the 1st century of Islam have been given. b. That the phrase '(as a result) of the conjunction' can be found in the two Arabic words 'min bain' which literally mean 'from between'. c. That the word 'tara'ib' can mean 'the sexual areas of the woman'.
This last word occurs exactly one time in the Qur'an and you cannot establish a meaning with one usage. The dictionaries of Wehr, Abdel-Nour, and Kasimirski mention (a)the chest, (b)the upper part of the chest between the breasts and the clavicles, and (c)the ribs, and Abdel-Nour includes (d)the euphemistic extension to the breasts. It can also include the neck up to the chin and speak poetically of the area for a woman's necklace.
No dictionary includes the female genital area, and Dr. Bucaille has given no examples from literature to support his idea. He seems to be fulfilling his own complaint against others. He is trying "to camouflage (his problems) with dialectical acrobatics" (Campbell,
The Qur'an and the Bible in the Light of History and Science [Middle East Resources 1992, ISBN 1-881085-00-7], pp. 182-184).
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