Quran and biology

The holy Quran includes many verses about the biology and in some cases, it has referred to plants and animals, and even it has sworn to them to attract the human’s attention about the importance of these topics.
The biological matters can be investigated in some cases:

A) History:

The discussions about herbaceous and animal life and other biological topics have been considered in the sequential interpretations in the relevant verses of the Quran, but in the recent years, they have considered the scientific interpretative books as a topical interpretation.

B) The Purposes of biological verses in the Quran:

The purposes of the biological verses are not separated from the purposes of the scientific verses, but some verses have expressed the special purposes of the verses about the botany and the zoology.

1) Theology:

وَ اللَّهُ خَلَقَ كلُ‏َّ دَابَّةٍ مِّن مَّاءٍ فَمِنهُْم مَّن يَمْشىِ عَلىَ‏ بَطْنِهِ وَ مِنهُْم مَّن يَمْشىِ عَلىَ‏ رِجْلَينْ‏ِ وَ مِنهُْم مَّن يَمْشىِ عَلىَ أَرْبَعٍ يخَْلُقُ اللَّهُ مَا يَشَاءُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلىَ‏ كُلّ‏ِ شىَ‏ْءٍ قَدِيرٌ(45)
)'' Nūr,verse 45) : And Allah has Created from water every living creature : so of them is that which walks (creep) upon its belly , some that walks on two legs ; and some that walk on four ( legs) . Allah creates what He wills. Verily Allah has power over all things.''

2) Surveying the Resurrection (day:(

وَ مِنْ ءَايَاتِهِ أَنَّكَ تَرَى الْأَرْضَ خَاشِعَةً فَإِذَا أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيهَْا الْمَاءَ اهْتزََّتْ وَ رَبَتْ إِنَّ الَّذِى أَحْيَاهَا لَمُحْىِ الْمَوْتىَ إِنَّهُ عَلىَ‏ كلُ‏ِّ شىَ‏ْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
''(Fuṣṣilat ,verse 39) : And among His sings is this : that you see the earth barren and desolate ; but when we send down rain to it , it stirs and swells : most surely He who gives life to the ( dead ) earth , can surely give life to (men) who are dead. Surely He has Power over all things ''.

3) The description of animal precepts:

إِنَّمَا حَرَّمَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةَ وَ الدَّمَ وَ لَحْمَ الْخِنزِيرِ وَ مَا أُهِلَّ بِهِ لِغَيرِْ اللَّهِ فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ غَيرَْ بَاغٍ وَ لَا عَادٍ فَلَا إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ(173)
''Baqarah, verse 173: He has only forbidden you what dies of itself , and blood , and flesh of swine , and that over which any other ( name) than (that of ) Allah has been invoked ; but whoever is driven to necessity , not desiring , nor exceeding the limit , no sin shall be upon him ; surely Allah is Forgiving , Merciful''.
And the same as the above verse can be observed in the surah of Nūh, verse 115;the Maʻidah surah, verses 3, 90 and Anʻām, verse 126 and about hunting dog: Maʻidah verse 4, and hajj verse 34, and ….

4) The description of the emergence origin of the creatures and its stages:

أَ وَ لَمْ يَرَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ أَنَّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَ الْأَرْضَ كَانَتَا رَتْقًا فَفَتَقْنَاهُمَا وَ جَعَلْنَا مِنَ الْمَاءِ كلُ‏َّ شىَ‏ْءٍ حَىّ‏ٍ أَ فَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
''Anbīyī’, verse 30: Do not those who disbelieve see that the heavens and the earth were closed up, but we have opened them; and we have made every living thing from water? Will they not then believe?''
And the same as the above verse can be observed in the Nūr surah, verse45,…

5) The attraction of human's attention to the nature and its arrangement (the provocation of reflection and curiosity):
أَ فَلَا يَنظُرُونَ إِلىَ الْابِلِ كَيْفَ خُلِقَتْ

‘‘Ghāshiyah, verse 17: Do they not look at the camels, how they are created? ''
وَ الْأَرْضَ مَدَدْنَاهَا وَ أَلْقَيْنَا فِيهَا رَوَاسىِ‏َ وَ أَنبَتْنَا فِيهَا مِن كلُ‏ِّ شىَ‏ْءٍ مَّوْزُونٍ
'' Hijr, verse 19: And the earth, we have spread it forth and mad in it firm mountains and caused to grow in it of every suitable thing''.

6) Giving example (to approach the matters to human’s sense):

مَّثَلُ الَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ فىِ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ حَبَّةٍ أَنبَتَتْ سَبْعَ سَنَابِلَ فىِ كلُ‏ِّ سُنبُلَةٍ مِّاْئَةُ حَبَّةٍ وَ اللَّهُ يُضَاعِفُ لِمَن يَشَاءُ وَ اللَّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ
'' Baqarah ,verse 261 : the parable of those who spend their property in the way of Allah is as the parable of a grain which is growing seven ears( with) a hundred grains in every ear ; and Allah multiplies for whom He pleases , and Allah is All- Embracing (Ample – giving ) , All-Knowing .
وَ لَوْ شِئْنَا لَرَفَعْنَاهُ بهَِا وَ لَكِنَّهُ أَخْلَدَ إِلىَ الْأَرْضِ وَ اتَّبَعَ هَوَئهُ فَمَثَلُهُ كَمَثَلِ الْكَلْبِ إِن تحَْمِلْ عَلَيْهِ يَلْهَثْ أَوْ تَترُْكْهُ يَلْهَث ذَّالِكَ مَثَلُ الْقَوْمِ الَّذِينَ كَذَّبُواْ بَِايَاتِنَا فَاقْصُصِ الْقَصَصَ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ(176)
‘‘)Aʻrāf, verse176: And if we had Pleased, we would certainly have exulted him there by, but he clung to the earth and followed his low desire, so his parable is as the parable of the dog ; if you attack him he lolls out his tongue ; and if you leave him alone he lolls out his tongue; this is the Parable of the people who reject Our communications ; therefore relate the narrative that they may reflect ''
And the same as the above verse can be observed in the Fatˈh surah, verse 29 and Ibrāhim, verse 24.

7) The description of animal benefits for human:

اللَّهُ الَّذِى جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الْأَنْعَامَ لِترَْكَبُواْ مِنهَْا وَ مِنهَْا تَأْكلُُونَ
'' Ghāfir, verse 79: Allah is He who made the cattle for you that you may ride on some of them and some of them you eat''.
And the same as the above verse can be observed in the surah of Nahl, verses 5-7, 8-69 and 80 and the Mu’minūn surah, verse 21 , …

8) God’s torment by means of animals:

فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيهِْمُ الطُّوفَانَ وَ الجَْرَادَ وَ الْقُمَّلَ وَ الضَّفَادِعَ وَ الدَّمَ ءَايَاتٍ مُّفَصَّلَاتٍ فَاسْتَكْبرَُواْ وَ كاَنُواْ قَوْمًا مجُّْرِمِينَ(133)
''(ʻArāf ,verse 133) :so we sent upon them wide spread death , and the locusts , the lice , the frog , and the blood , clear verses ( openly self – explained) ; but they behaved haughtily and they were a guilty people''.
And the same as the above verse can be observed in the surah of Fīl, verse 3 (elepuant), Anʻām, verse 149 and Ma'ʻidah, verse 60.

9) The description of the general laws about animals’ life:

وَ مَا مِن دَابَّةٍ فىِ الْأَرْضِ وَ لَا طَئرٍِ يَطِيرُ بجَِنَاحَيْهِ إِلَّا أُمَمٌ أَمْثَالُكُم مَّا فَرَّطْنَا فىِ الْكِتَابِ مِن شىَ‏ْءٍ ثُمَّ إِلىَ‏ رَبهِِّمْ يحُْشرَُونَ
''Anʻām (cattle), verse38: And there is no animal that walks upon the earth nor a bird that files with its two wings, but (they are) genera like yourselves; we have not neglected anything in the Book, then to their Lord shall they be gathered''.
The classification of the Quranic biological verses:
In this case, many different classifications can be presented. The classification of animals and plants are presented here:
First: animals
In the holy Quran, 39 animals have been expressed explicitly or implicitl
The biological interpretation of the holy Quran:
In this case, paying attention to the below factors is necessary, and research about them has been left to addressees.
1) Conceptualizing the mid – field interpretation of the holy Quran and the biology;
2) History;
3) The foundations (general and specific);
4) The methodology (sequential, topical, result, and …);
5) Pathology;
6) The scientific theorizations of the scientific Quran in the biology domain such as the remarks of animals to each other and with human in Silliman’s story (with ant and hoopoe) (Naml (Ant), verses16-17);
7) Scientific miracles: they are about pair plants and their fecundation in the Quran and there are some claims of the miracles that should be examined.
Investigating the scientific interpretation of the biological verses in the Quran:
Surveying the interpretation of the most important biological verses has been done which the scholars and the exegetists of the Quran have mentioned scientific matters about them.
The origin of the life emergence on the earth:
One of problems that has obsessed human's mind is the problem of the life and its emergence on the earth. About this case, some experts and connoisseurs have expressed their idea and the holy Quran has referred to it in some verses. Because of its adaptation with the scientific theories, it has been considered as the scientific miracle. Surveying some of these verses and exegetists ' points of view about them has been considered in this part.
The interpretive points and the scientific secrets:
1) Master Makārīm Shīrāzī, in the interpretation of the Anbiya’ surah (verse 30) '' (and we made every Living thing of water?)" and the Nūr suruh (verse45) "(And Allah has created every Living creature from water?)" has considered three probabilities:
A) The meaning of water is sperm that has been referred to it in the traditions;
B) The meaning of water is the emergence of the first creature because, according to some of the Islamic traditions, the first creature that God has created is water and he created human after that water. Moreover, according to new scientific hypotheses, the first sprout of the life has appeared in the sea.
C) It means that at the present time, water forms the basic substance of the living beings and the main part of their bodies. And without water, no creature can continue his/her/its life.
He (Makārīm) in the interpretation of the Hūd surah(verse 7:and His dominion extends on the water ) has considered a fourth probability about the Anbiya’ surah (verse 30) and written “the empyrean ( dominion) originally means the ceiling or roofed object and the high thrones , like king’s throne in the past , are called the empyrean ( dominion). Also, this word (throne) has been considered in the meaning of the power later.
The word “water’’ as its usual meaning is water, but sometimes, every liquid object has been expressed as water.
And in the end, he concludes that at the beginning of creation, the world of being was like melted substances (or like the extra pressed gases that have the form of melted or liquid substances). Therefore, the world of being and God’s throne power were settled on this watery great substance. And this has been referred in the Anbiya’ surah, verse 30, (and we made everything of the water?).
2) The great scholar, Ṭabā Ṭabāei, writes about the Hood surah (verse7) (and His dominion extends on the water)
'' Everything that we consider as living objects has been created from water. Therefore, the life substance is water and the settlement of the empyrean on water refers to God’s dominion (power, sovereignty and dominance) that has been settled on this water (as life substance) on that day.
The King’s throne is his dominion manifestation (sovereignty and power) and the settlement of the empyrean on a place is the settlement of His dominion on that place''.
3) Allāmah Maʻrifat writes by mentioning traditions about the creation of everything from the waterthe religious stipulation indicates that water has been the first thing that has been created from the materials and then, by mentioning the Hood surah, verse 7 (and His dominion extends on the water), writes'' the water had existed before the earth and the heaven because the dominion hints the prudence that is God’s science to the interests of the existence firmly.
And he mentions other verses (Anbiya’, verse 30; Nūr, verse 45 and Furqān, verse 54), and says that the holy Quran has referred that the origin of the life has been from water.
He mentions some words from Fakhre Rāzi (sperm- water) about the mentioned verses and reminds that the researchers believe that the aim of these verses is water that is the principle of all creatures and the extent animals (monocellular) have been created from it. However, the science has not answered clearly about how the first living creature has been created in the seawaters.
He writes about the verse 30 of the Anbiya’ surah (and we made every living thing from the water)