In Surah Ar-Ra'd (13:3), the Quran declares: "And from all the fruits He made therein two mates" (ููู ูู ููููู ุงูุซููู ูุฑูุงุชู ุฌูุนููู ูููููุง ุฒูููุฌููููู ุงุซููููููู). This verse affirms that fruits, and more broadly plants, exist in complementary pairs.
Historical context
In the 7th century, plant reproduction was a complete mystery. The ancient Greeks, including Aristotle and Theophrastus, had vague theories about the spontaneous generation of plants. Plants were believed to reproduce asexually.
The Quran, by affirming that fruits are created "in pairs" (ุฒูููุฌููููู), introduced a revolutionary notion for its time: the existence of sexual complementarity in the plant kingdom.
The scientific discovery
It was only in 1694 that the German botanist Rudolf Jakob Camerarius experimentally demonstrated the sexuality of plants in his work De sexu plantarum epistola. He proved that stamens (male organs) and pistils (female organs) are necessary for the production of fertile seeds.
In 1751, the Swedish naturalist Carl von Linnรฉ (Linnaeus) developed a classification system for plants based on their sexual organs, definitively confirming plant sexuality.
Modern botany has confirmed that the vast majority of flowering plants (angiosperms) are hermaphroditic or dioecious, with distinct male and female organs. Cross-pollination, discovered by Camerarius and confirmed by Darwin in the 19th century, is essential to the genetic diversity of plants.
The scope of the verse
Verse 13:3 specifically mentions "fruits" (ุงูุซููู ูุฑูุงุชู), which are the final product of sexual reproduction in plants. The fruit only forms after fertilization of the ovule by pollen, a process that necessarily involves male-female complementarity.
The Quran also mentions in Surah Ya-Sin (36:36): "Exalted is He who created all pairs - from what the earth grows" (ุณูุจูุญูุงูู ุงูููุฐูู ุฎููููู ุงููุฃูุฒูููุงุฌู ูููููููุง ู ูู ููุง ุชููุจูุชู ุงููุฃูุฑูุถู), confirming that sexual complementarity extends to the entire plant kingdom.
This knowledge of plant sexuality, revealed in the 7th century, was only confirmed by science from the 17th century onward, more than a thousand years later.