In Surah As-Sajdah (32:9), the Quran declares: "Then He proportioned him and breathed into him from His [created] soul and made for you hearing and vision and hearts." (وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ السَّمْعَ وَالْأَبْصَارَ وَالْأَفْئِدَةَ).
"ثُمَّ سَوَّاهُ وَنَفَخَ فِيهِ مِن رُّوحِهِ ۖ وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ السَّمْعَ وَالْأَبْصَارَ وَالْأَفْئِدَةَ" — "Then He proportioned him and breathed into him from His [created] soul and made for you hearing and vision and hearts." (32:9)
Remarkably, the Quran consistently mentions hearing (السَّمْعَ) before sight (الْأَبْصَارَ) in numerous verses (32:9, 76:2, 23:78, 67:23, 16:78). This consistency is not coincidental.
Modern embryology has confirmed that hearing develops functionally before sight in the human fetus:
- The structures of the inner ear begin to form as early as the 3rd week of gestation.
- The fetus can hear sounds from the 22nd-24th week of gestation.
- Functional vision only develops after birth; the newborn has blurred vision that improves progressively.
Verse 76:2 (Al-Insan) repeats this same order: "Indeed, We created man from a sperm-drop mixture that We may try him; and We made him hearing and seeing." (فَجَعَلْنَاهُ سَمِيعًا بَصِيرًا).
Dr. Keith Moore, a prominent embryologist, noted that the Quranic order (hearing before sight) is consistent with modern embryological data. This precision, revealed more than 1400 years ago, can only come from the One who knows His creation: science here does nothing but confirm the word of Allah, and it cannot be otherwise.
Detractors' arguments
- A common rhetorical order: in Arabic, the enumeration "hearing, sight, heart" may follow a stylistic convention (from the outermost to the innermost) rather than describing the chronological development of the embryo.
- A functional, not absolute, precedence: if hearing becomes functional before sight (around the 22nd-24th week versus after birth), the ocular structures also begin to form very early; the precedence is therefore functional, not absolute.
- A retrospective reading: linking the order of the words in the verse to the embryological sequence presupposes a descriptive intent that the text does not state explicitly.
- For the believer: these debates do not affect the truthfulness of the verse. The Quran states a truth about creation; science, in its own order, confirms the word of Allah, and it cannot be otherwise.