A Fluid with a Complex Structure: Semen

When the sperm begins its journey, the prostate gland secretes a fluid and immediately afterwards another fluid comes from the seminal vesicles; they join the sperm and semen is produced. All together they travel towards the mother's body. As we described earlier in detail, the function of these fluids is to have the nourishment ready to provide the energy that the sperm need, and particularly to neutralize the acids at the entrance to the mother's uterus, making an environment in which the sperm can move more easily.

In this picture we see sperm moving in seminal fluid. Seminal fluid is a mixture of fluids secreted by various glands. Contrary to popular opinion, of all the components of this complex fluid, only the sperm has the ability to fertilise. This scientific fact-only recently discovered-was revealed in the Qur'an 1,400 years ago..

The whole of this fluid which is ejected from the male body for the process of fertilisation is called semen. 10% of it comes from the sperm canals, 60% from the seminal vesicles, 30% from the prostate gland and the rest is sperm cells and a small quantity of fluids from other secretory glands.7 That is, what we call semen is a complex combination of fructose, phosphorylcholine, ergothioneine, ascorbic acid, flavins, prostaglandins, citric acid, cholesterol, zinc, acid phosphatase, lactic acid, fibrinolytic and proteolytic enzymes, hyaluronidase and sperm.8 We have before our eyes a wonder that God has revealed in the Qur'an.

In many places in the Qur'an God calls attention to human creation and commands us to think about this matter. Scientists who have investigated these verses of the Qur'an have discovered that a number of wonders of the Qur'an are hidden in those verses that give information about human creation. For example, it has been discovered in research done with the help of modern scientific technology that semen is composed of a mixture of different substances. But this information was made known in the Qur'an 1400 years ago. Semen is described as a "mingled" drop in the Qur'an:

We created man from a mingled drop to test him, and We made him hearing and seeing. (Qur'an, 76: 2)

Of the components which make up this fluid, only one sperm fertilises the egg. A large number of people think that the semen as a whole does the fertilising; however, only a small part of the semen, a sperm, does this. That is, a human being comes into being not from the semen as a whole, but from a small part of it (the sperm).

In the course of sexual union, along with the semen, about 250-300 million sperm are ejaculated from the male. But out of millions of sperm, only about 1000 manage to reach the egg and of these 1000, the egg will only receive one. That is, the essence of a human being is not contained in the semen as a whole, but just in a small part of it. This fact, about which many people either have no knowledge or are misinformed even today, was revealed in the Qur'an 1,400 years ago. The Qur'an explains this reality in these words:

Does man reckon he will be left to go on unchecked? Was he not a drop of ejaculated sperm? (Qur'an, 75: 36-37)

In another verse, it is indicated again that semen is a mixture and humanity is created out of the "extract" of this mixture.

He has created all things in the best possible way. He commenced the creation of man from clay; then produced his seed from an extract of discarded fluid. (Qur'an, 32: 7-8)

If we examine the meaning of the Arabic in this verse, it becomes clear that we are confronted with a wonder of the Qur'an. The English word "extract" translates the Arabic "sulala"; and means the essence or the best part of a thing. By either implication, it is "a part of a whole".

This shows clearly that the Qur'an is the word of a Will that knows about human creation down to the finest detail. This Will belongs to God, the Creator of human beings.

7. Arthur C. Guyton, John E. Hall, Textbook of Medical Physiology, 10th ed., Harcourt International Ed., PA, 2000, p. 919
8. Dr. Gerald E. Poesnecker, One Flesh, A New Look at Human Sexuality, chapter 3. (http://www.oneflesh.org/OF-Chap%203.html)