Nutfah:

إِنَّا خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ مِن نُّطْفَةٍأَمْشَاجٍ نَّبْتَلِيهِ فَجَعَلْنَاهُ سَمِيعًا بَصِيرًا

Surely We have created Man from NutfatinAmshaaj

- Surah Dahr/Insaan 76:2




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Meaning 1:

Nutfah [ نطفه]-a Singular entity, which is a Part of a bigger group of its kind.

al-Nutaf [
نطف] (Plural) - Nutaf are the karats (of gold), and a single karat of gold = a Nutfah.


The
Nutfah is a single Sperm from a collection of millions of sperms. (one teaspoon of semen has millions of sperms in it.)
The
Nutfah can also refer to One female Egg (from a group of many other Eggs in the Ovaries).



The disbelievers over 1000 years ago had alot of different theories on this issue;


i.e. Some philosophies proposed that ALOT [if not all] of the male semen is used to coat the female blood she has in her menses - to form the child):

The idea of the blood being menstrual blood is interesting as it closely resembles Aristotelian doctrine. The clotting of milk into cheese analogy used by Aristotle for the formation of the embryo occurs also in Indian embryology. The Susruta-samhita compares the creamy layers (santanika) formed in milk, to semen and blood, which through chemical changes caused by heat, produce seven different layers of skin (kala). This concept occurs again in a Sutra on embryology written in Sanskrit, "Development, 0 Ananda," Buddha is made to say, "is comparable to a vessel of milk, like as this ferments and forms a kind of kefir or cheese."

(A history of Embryology, J. Needham pp 25-27, Cambridge, 2nd edition 1959).


SeeHERE for more examples.




2nd meaning:

Nutfah -
Dribble/Leak/Drip.


نطفة(nutfah):ماء الرجل والجمع نطف the man's water or semen and the plural of it is nutaf.

النطافه(al-nattaafah): القطاره(al-qattarah) eye drop dispenser,  dropping tube.



Or when a bucket of water is emptied, and the last drops dribble out.

So nutfah also has an implication of dripping water (i.e. dribbling.)

I.e. In this ayah's context, the semen Dribbles.out.



Two meanings of Nutfah combined:


Nutfah
= a Single sperm from millions of other sperms which wereDribbled/dripped out by the male in his semen (i.e. in Ejaculation.)

And
a single Egg cell from thousands of others in the Ovaries. (but this does not dribble out, so that definition does not need to be added.)


"Science has confirmed in recent times that only one of the 300 million sperms is required for fertilisation of the ovum; this means that only a 1/300 millionth part or 0.000000003 quantity of sperms that are emitted is required for fertilisation."

i.e. see: http://www.ehow.com/way_5506756_much-sperm-needed-pregnant.html



Definitions (of the word Nutfah) According to:

1. Lisan Al-Arab dictionary [1] , Book 5, Pages 725.

2. Al-Muheet dictionary [2], Page 791.

3. Al-Muajam Al-Waseet dictionary [3], Page 931.

4. Al-Mawrid dictionary Arabic-English section [4], Page 1177.

5. Al-Mawrid dictionary English-Arabic section [4], Page .

6. Arabic-English dictionary the Hans Wehr dictionary [6], Page .




Amshaj:

- to Mingle.
I.e. Male and women nutfah's mingle. -

The Male sperm, and the Female Egg merge together = Fertilization of the Egg cell.

mashaja - (synonymous in meaning to khalaTa -
خلط= mingled)



NOTE: ""Nutfatin Amshajin" could also mean Mingled liquids which besides Sperm fluid contain other fluids like Prostatic secretions, etc. which facilitate the movement of the sperm to help in fertilization."



إِنَّا خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ مِن نُّطْفَةٍأَمْشَاجٍ نَّبْتَلِيهِ فَجَعَلْنَاهُ سَمِيعًا بَصِيرًا

Surely We have created Man from
a Sperm of dribbled (semen) and an Egg Mingled...

- Surah Dahr/Insaan 76:2



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