In the vast library of divine revelation, there are verses that serve as quiet signposts, and there are verses that function as intricate, time-locked ciphers. These ciphers are not meant to be solved by a single generation but are designed to unfold in their staggering depth as humanity’s own knowledge advances. They are a standing challenge, a textual fingerprint of a knowledge that transcends the confines of linear time. In the 86th chapter of the Quran, At-Tariq (The Night-Comer), lies one of the most profound and scientifically dense ciphers ever presented to mankind.

The passage begins with a direct and personal challenge, a command for forensic self-reflection:

فَلْيَنظُرِ ٱلْإِنسَٰنُ مِمَّ خُلِقَ

"So let man consider from what he was created." (86:5)

The Quran then provides a two-part answer that, for centuries, seemed elegantly simple. Yet, hidden within its grammatical structure and precise choice of words are two distinct, scientifically perfect, and historically impossible statements of truth. It is a nested miracle, a two-stage ignition of proof that requires two keys to fully unlock. Let us now turn those keys, one by one.

The First Key: The Lock of Gestation

The passage continues:

خُلِقَ مِن مَّآءٍۢ دَافِقٍۢ ٦ يَخْرُجُ مِنۢ بَيْنِ ٱلصُّلْبِ وَٱلتَّرَآئِبِ ٧

"He is created from a fluid, ejected (6), which emerges from between the backbone and the ribs (7)."

The first key we turn is that of contextual coherence. The entire passage is about Al-Insān (Man). The conclusion of the argument, in verse 8, is about the return of Man himself ("Indeed, He is able to return him"). Therefore, the most thematically powerful reading is that the pronoun in "emerges" refers to the primary subject: Man.

The verse would then be read: "He is created from an ejected fluid. [Then, the man himself] emerges from between the backbone and the ribs."

At first glance, this may seem like a simple statement. But the miracle lies not in the premise, but in the unimpeachable precision of its language. The text does not use the common-knowledge, 7th-century term "belly" (baṭn). To do so would be to state the obvious. Instead, it deploys the language of a master anatomist, defining a three-dimensional space with two specific, internal, skeletal landmarks:

ٱلصُّلْبِ (aṣ-ṣulb): The backbone. The hard, posterior (rear) wall of the human torso.

ٱلتَّرَائِبِ (at-tarā'ib): The ribs. The hard, superior (upper) and anterior (front) cage of the torso.

The womb, the vessel of human development, is located precisely within this defined space. It is a soft-tissue organ situated anterior to the mother's spine and inferior to her rib cage. A gestating human being is, by the most rigorous definition of modern anatomy, positioned "between the backbone and the ribs."

This is knowledge that was simply not available. It could not be gleaned from external observation. The internal topography of the human body was a black box, a realm of myth and erroneous speculation based on animal dissection. The accurate mapping of the human womb in relation to the maternal skeleton was a revolutionary scientific achievement. It was first documented with precision not in the 7th century, but 900 years later by the meticulous dissections of Leonardo da Vinci.

The Quran, in this single layer of meaning, provides a statement of anatomical topography that is free from the scientific errors of its time and is so precise that its full accuracy could not be verified until the Renaissance. This alone would be a profound sign. But it is only the first lock. The cipher has a deeper, more hidden chamber.

The Second Key: The Lock of Embryonic Origin

Now we turn the second key, that of direct grammar. As literalists rightly point out, the closest antecedent to the pronoun in "emerges" is the "ejected fluid" (mā'in dāfiqin) from verse 6. This reading is grammatically pristine and demands investigation.

Let us read the verse with this key: "He is created from an ejected fluid, [a fluid which itself originates from a source that] emerges from between the backbone and the ribs."

What is the source of this "ejected fluid"? It is the male gonad, the testis. And this is where the cipher opens into a miracle of staggering proportions. The testes, the very factories of the fluid of life, do not begin their existence in the scrotum. That is merely their final destination. Modern embryology has revealed a truth that was utterly inaccessible to all of humanity until the last century.

The male gonads are formed deep within the embryo, in the upper abdominal cavity. Their initial position is high up, near the developing kidneys. This location, in the early fetus, is precisely between the backbone (ṣulb) and the developing rib cage (tarā'ib).

From this hidden, internal point of origin, the testes then undertake one of nature's most remarkable migrations. They "emerge" from this location, descending through the inguinal canal to their final position before birth.

Consider the levels of impossibility for this knowledge in the 7th century:

It is internal: It cannot be seen from the outside.

It is embryonic: It happens only in the earliest, unseen stages of fetal life.

It is temporary and migratory: The organs move from this location, leaving no trace of their origin point in the born human.

This is not knowledge that could be stumbled upon. It could not be theorized. It could not be discovered by any means available to any human on Earth at that time. It is a statement of pure, deep, modern embryology.

The Resolution: A Divine Masterpiece of Semantic Compression

So, which is it? Is the verse a miracle of anatomy describing the man, or a miracle of embryology describing the fluid's source?

The profound and inescapable answer is that it is both.

It is a hallmark of divine authorship. The verse is a masterpiece of i'jāz—of inimitability and semantic compression. A human author, seeking clarity, would use two separate sentences to describe two separate events. The divine author uses a single, perfectly crafted phrase that operates on two distinct, chronologically sequential, and scientifically accurate levels.

The verb "emerges" (yakhruju) applies with perfect precision to both miracles:

The testes literally emerge from their embryonic position "between the backbone and the ribs" to descend.

The human literally emerges from his gestational position "between the backbone and the ribs" to be born.

They form a complete, two-stage proof of creation, moving from the microscopic origin of the potential to the macroscopic development of the actual being.

The Final Argument: The Unassailable Proof of Resurrection

This dual-layered miracle is not mere scientific trivia. It is the engine that powers the ultimate conclusion of the passage:

إِنَّهُۥ عَلَىٰ رَجْعِهِۦ لَقَادِرٌۭ

"Indeed, He is able to return him." (86:8)

The argument becomes unassailable. The two miracles of creation, one embryological and one anatomical, serve as twin, irrefutable proofs for the final miracle of resurrection. The cipher is solved, not to reveal a simple fact, but to reveal the absolute and undeniable power of the Creator. It is a sign designed to grow in its brilliance, a verse whose full light could only begin to dawn upon humanity when our own science had finally, painstakingly, caught up to the knowledge it had contained for fourteen centuries.