Sunday, October 7, 2012

Copout #2 to Embryology in the Quran: Much Ado about Nothing


For a longer list of objections and replies to Embryology in the Quran: Much Ado about Nothing, see the following page, http://embryologyinthequran.blogspot.com/p/objections-and-replies.html

2. Copout: The arguments made by CaptainDisguise "rely" on mockery and insults.

Reply: There seems to be an outcry among certain individuals including Hamza Tzortzis regarding the style of presentation of the paper, Embryology in the Quran: Much Ado about Nothing, which apparently and allegedly "relies" on mockery and insults. This of course is not true.

While such knee-jerk ad hominem attacks and 'copouts' were expected by the authors and contributors behind the paper, it nevertheless needs pointing out that the above objection is factually incorrect.

While it is the case that the presentation of an argument, however tasteless it is, does not invalidate the argument presented; it is still not true that any of the arguments presented in the paper or the responses to objections posted on the blog "rely" on "mockery and insults".

The paper as well as the replies to the objections on the blog have been written and presented in a very tasteful manner without resorting to mockery or insults as well as preserving objectivity as best as possible.

As such, a distinction should necessarily be made between the presentation of the paper from the personal blogs or sites of the authors behind the paper. 

For example, the youtube channel "
Captaindisguise", which is run by one of the authors of the paper, is  considered as a place where the author engages freely with others and without adorning any aura of an artificial academic air. The author may or may not resort to 'mockery and insults" in such places. 
None of the authors, contributors or supporters believe that the personal styles reflected in their corresponding blogs or channels have any relevance to the objectivity and professionalism that has been maintained in the presentation of Embryology in the Quran: Much Ado about Nothing.

However, it is still not clear what specifically was said by the authors of the paper to be accused of relying on "mockery and insults". A reasonable guess is that Hamza et al. are referring to the fact that the authors have demonstrated that Hamza Tzortzis has been dishonest, inconsistent and often deficient in his work. If this is the instance that has warranted the accusation of 'reliance on mockery and insults', then the authors disagree that this constitutes as "mockery and insults" and no apologies are made for stating blatant truths. 

Therefore, such baseless accusation can only be considered as yet another attempt to "
convince the mind to circumvent the facts obstructing the path to their deeply held absurdities."

Those with a sounder mind are encouraged to read  the paper as well as the responses to raised objections before making premature judgements. An intense effort will be made to address all contentions, valid or otherwise, and will be presented in an organized manner on the blog

Friday, October 5, 2012

Copout #1 to Embryology in the Quran: Much Ado about Nothing

For a longer list of objections and replies to Embryology in the Quran: Much Ado about Nothing, see the following page, http://embryologyinthequran.blogspot.com/p/objections-and-replies.html

1. Copout: "You have not studied Ancient Arabic for decades therefore everything you say is wrong or worthless"

Reply: "You have not studied Ancient Arabic for decades therefore everything you say is wrong or worthless", so sayeth every Muslim who wishes to avoid thinking about the valid contentions raised against many of their erroneous beliefs.

Specific to the paper, Embryology in the Quran: Much Ado about Nothing, this is an especially irrelevant objection. The content of the paper can be divided into two main tasks;

1) Checking whether a "quote" or "idea" exists in the sources referenced by Hamza Tzortzis.
2) Evaluating the veracity and validity of the arguments proposed by Hamza Tzortzis.

Neither of the above tasks require a knowledge of a particular language, let alone years or decades of specializing in classical Arabic. The paper is not attempting to compose a literary review of any piece of Arabic text but rather provide a fact check on the truth claims made by Hamza Tzortzis.

Moreover, any usage of Arabic in the paper is based on the authority of classical and academic Arabic lexicons along with the consultation of 3 native Arab speakers from Saudi Arabia who have knowledge of classical or modern Arabic.

Thus, such an objection is a silly red herring intended for moving the goalpost and poisoning the well. Therefore, every thinking person can casually reject the naive zealots' attempt to convince the mind to circumvent the facts obstructing the path to their deeply held absurdities.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Objection 3 to Embryology in the Quran: Much Ado about Nothing


For a longer list of objections and replies to Embryology in the Quran: Much Ado about Nothing, see the following page, http://embryologyinthequran.blogspot.com/p/objections-and-replies.html

3. Objection:"Nutfah" does mean "a singular entity from a bigger group of it kind" because Lisan al-Arab says “الواحدة من كل ذلك نَطَفة ونُطَفة” (The singular of all that is natafah and nutafah). (Other similar arguments also addressed).

Reply: Hamza Tzortzis in his original version of his paper had stated that the classical Arabic lexicon named Lisan al-Arab defined a word used in the Qur'an called “nutfah” as “a singular entity from a bigger group of its kind”.[i] This was subsequently found to be baseless which forced Hamza to say that the above definition is only “suggested” by the actual words in Lisan al-Arab, which are “a small amount of water.”[ii] The dishonesty involved in the argument has been documented in detail in the paper Embryology in the Qur'an: Much Ado about Nothing.[iii]

While this may be irrelevant it is worth pointing to the fact that this definition of “a singular entity from a bigger group of its kind” does not originate in any credible source but it comes from an apologetic website[iv] owned by a very unintelligent man.[v]

Nevertheless, despite the fact that such a definition does not exist in Lisan al-Arab and despite the fact that Lisan al-Arab specifically defines “nutfah” as “a small amount of water”, “the fluid of the man” and “semen due to it’s small amount”,iii many individuals and followers of Hamza Tzortzis have been making attempts to salvage Hamza’s credibility by imposing the very convenient definition into whatever pinhole forced into Lisan al-Arab.

The attempts to stuff the elephant of a definition of “a singular entity from a bigger group of its kind” into the needle-eyes of Lisan al-Arab seems to be in the following 2 ways;

1) Certain phrases in Lisan al-Arab suggest the definition of “a singular entity” therefore “nutfah” means “a singular entity from a bigger group of its kind.”
2) “Nutfah” is a singular term. Many singular “nutfah” can add up to become a bigger group of “nutfah” (or “nutaf (.pl)). Therefore, “nutfah” is a “singular entity from a bigger group of its kind”.

Before analyzing the above contentions, a more important factor needs to be addressed. There seems to be a particular misunderstanding among the critics of the paper who are trying to situate the definition of “a singular entity from a bigger group of its kind” into the classical lexicon. Perhaps this is a result of their ignorance of the English language as well a reluctance to consider the logical implications of their arguments.

The important point to note is that when Hamza used the definition of “a singular entity from a bigger group of its kind”; there is a very specific image that he wanted to portray; that of humans being’s created out of “a single sperm that fertilizes the egg which comes from a group of millions of sperm cells”. Even though, this very inference in itself is weak and unjustified, this is what is being attempted.

It is for that very reason that Hamza’s mistakes cannot be justified or given credence to by merely pointing out that whatever substance is signified by “nutfah” has the property of being part of a bigger group consisting of that substance. This would be arguing from an irrelevant tautology because any physical (or logically possible) object, substance etc can have the property of being part of a bigger group consisting of that object or substance.

For example, a single “God” can be a part of a bigger group consisting of many “Gods”. A single “car” can be part of a bigger group consisting of thousands of “cars”. A single “heap of sand” can be part of a bigger group consisting of a million “heaps of sand”. A single “group of people” can be part of a bigger group consisting of many “groups of people”. A single “amount of semen” can be part of a bigger group consisting of more “amounts of semen”. Thus, any physical or logically possible object, substance (including collective nouns such as heap, group, amount) has the property of potentially being a part of a bigger group. This is merely a general characteristic of any “thing”.[vi]

Therefore, presenting such a general property applicable to any object or substance and then attempting to conflate it with specific definition presented by Hamza Tzortzis is not only fallacious but also factually incorrect. Even if objects and substances like “God” or “car” can be described as “a singular entity from a bigger group of its kind”, the same is not true of collective nouns like heap, group or amount. For example “a heap of salt” is not equivalent to “a singular entity of salt”. Such an application is rendered even more meaningless when associated with words like “amount”. For example, “a small amount of water” is not only non-equivalent to “a singular entity of water” but also it is rather meaningless in terms of practical reality to even utter a phrase like “a singular entity of water”. Thus, the second contention listed above is baseless.

Tragically for the intellectual well-being of many Muslims, the above illogical reasoning is what has been presented in order to save Hamza’s credibility. The following is a more specific discussion of the type of bad argumentation that certain Muslims have been engaging in.

Some Muslim apologists assert that Hamza’s version of “a singular entity from a bigger group of its kind” is found in Lisan al-Arab even when Hamza himself admits that this is merely an inference (a bad one at that!iii).

Two examples have been  provided by such apologists. The first example which has been quoted from Lisan al-Arab states the following;


 Interestingly, this specific example originates from the aforementioned apologetic websiteiv run by a very unintelligent man.v

Nevertheless, the most striking feature of this example from Lisan al-Arab is that it does not even refer to the same word used in the Qur'an. Qur'an uses “نُطْفَة” (nu-t-fah) while the entry above is describing the word “نُطَفَة” (nu-ta-fah).

Secondly, the above entry starts by saying the word “nataf” and “nutaf” (pl.) means “pearls” especially “small pearls” and also that it can mean “earrings”. Then the dictionary continues by stating that “the singular of all that is natafah and nutafah

At first look, one is left in serious doubt as to how this entry has any relevance at all to a discussion about the Qur’an’s use of the word “nutfah” to mean “semen” or Hamza’s claim that “nutfah” means “a singular entity from a bigger group of it’s kind”.

Then in time when one spots what Muslim apologist’s claim is, one is left in serious doubt as to whether they are being serious. This is because the claim made here is that since the phrase, “الواحدة من كل ذلك نَطَفة ونُطَفة” (the singular of all that is Natafah and Nutafah) exists in Lisan al-Arab, “nutfah” can mean “a singular entity from a bigger group of its kind”.

The Muslim’s reasoning seems to be of the following, “the word ‘singular” and a word that sounds like “nutfah” exists in the same sentence. It is said that the “singular” is the word that sounds like “nutfah”. Therefore, “nutfah” means “a singular entity from a bigger group of its kind”.

Ignoring the fact that this is not even referring to the same word used in the Qur'an, it is appalling to witness arguments already addressed and refuted in the paper, Embryology in the Qur'an: Much Ado about Nothing, being repeated again and again. Hamza too made an attempt to validate his invented definition by pointing out that the grammatical number of the term “nutfah” is one i.e. it is singular and that it follows from the grammatical number of “nutfah” that it means “a singular entity from a bigger group of its kind”. Quite clearly, this is an invalid argument. The grammatical number of a word has no relevance as to the meaning of the word. For counterexamples, consider the words  “heap” and “amount”. They are both in the singular form yet it does not follow that “a heap of salt” is equivalent to “a grain of salt” or that “an amount of liquid” is equal to “a singular entity of liquid” (i.e. if such a phrase makes sense at all).

(NOTE: For the purpose of argumentation in the following discussion, the word “نُطَفَة” (nu-ta-fah) used above to mean “pearl” will be replaced with the word used in the Qur'an i.e. “نُطْفَة” (nu-t-fah))

The above contention raised by Muslims is the same as Hamza’s horrendous argument. It does not logically follow from the phrase “singular of all that (i.e nutaf) is nutfah” that “nutfah” means “a singular entity from a bigger group of its kind”. “Nutfah” meaning “a single pearl” does not entail that it cannot mean “a small amount of liquid”, “the fluid of man”, “semen due to its small amount” (all of which are the actual definition for “nutfah” in Lisan al-Arab). More importantly, “nutfah” signifying a “a single pearl” does not entail that it means “a singular entity from a bigger group of its kind” in the sense that Hamza has portrayed it.

For a more detailed counterexample, consider the word “mints” in English. In the 21st century, the word “mints” can signify “plants of the genus Mentha” or “pieces of candy” etc. The singular of all that is “mint”. Interestingly, there is another meaning for the word “mint” that seems to have fallen out of use. In the middle ages however, the word “mint” was used to mean “a vast quantity or amount” especially in relation to money.[vii] The Oxford English Dictionary provides the following usage of the word from the 16th century;


However, is there anyone who would argue that such an academically documented usage of the word is false? Would it be considered credible if a person said that the word “mint” cannot signify the meaning of “a vast amount” merely due to the fact that “mint” can also mean “a single piece of candy”?

Such an objection does not even seem warranted or relevant yet it is such weak and false ways of thinking that Muslims are forced to adopt in order ignore the clearly and academically documented usage of نُطْفَة” (nu-t-fah) to signify seminal fluid.

The second example provided by Muslim apologists[viii] is another entry from Lisan al-Arab which states the following,

أَراد بالنطفتين بحر الروم وبحر الصين لأَن كل نطفة غير الأُخرى
Transliteration: Arada bil-nutfatyn bahr ar-room wa bahr as-seen li’anna kul nutfah ghayr al-ukhra
Translation: He meant by “nutfatayn” (dual of nutfah) are the Roman sea and the Chinese sea because each “nutfah” is different from the others.

In much similar fashion to the previous example produced by Muslims, one is left in serious doubt as to how this entry in Lisan al-Arab is relevant at al in discussing Hamza’ s idea of “nutfah” being a “singular entity from  a bigger group of its kind”. Ironically, this entry is very much in line with the content of the paper, Embryology in the Qur'an: Much Ado about Nothing. In the paper, it was stated that Lisan al-Arab defined “nutfah” in the following manner;


Lisan al-Arab states that the Arabs called a small amount of water as well as a large amount of water “nutfah”. Thus, “nutfah” being used to refer to a sea reinforces the fact the term is generically used to denote any “amount of liquid”. Lisan also states that its more common usage is in order to denote “a small amount of liquid”. Thus, this second example produced by Muslim apologists supports the conclusions of Embryology in the Qur'an: Much Ado about Nothing.

Nevertheless, the underlying argument from the Muslims is the same as the one used in the previous examples regarding “pearls”. In this case, they claim because “nutfah” can mean “a single sea” it can therefore mean “a singular entity from a bigger group of its kind”.

This is unfortunately a repetition of all the bad arguments and misunderstanding discussed in this article so far. There is the initial conflation of Hamza’s idea of what “a singular entity from a bigger group of its kind” with the generalized argument from an irrelevant tautology discussed above.

This is also a repetition of the fallaciously false argument produced in regards to the example about “pearls”. “Nutfah” meaning “a single sea” does not entail that it cannot mean “a small amount of liquid”, “the fluid of man”, “semen due to its small amount” (all of which are the actual definition for “nutfah” in Lisan al-Arab). More importantly, “nutfah” signifying “a single sea” does not entail that it means “a singular entity from a bigger group of its kind” in the sense that Hamza has portrayed it.

Thus, after examining the two examples provided by the Muslim apologists, it is clear that the entries from Lisan al-Arab are irrelevant to the discussion and that the corresponding arguments are fallacious as well as false.

Most importantly, it is worth remembering that the very Lisan al-Arab that the apologists are trying to find needle-eyes in for the purpose of passing elephants through it, specifically and unambiguously defines “nutfah” as “the small amount of water”, “the fluid of the man” and “semen due to it’s small amount.”




[i]. Tzortzis, Hamza 2011. Embryology in the Quran: A Scientific-Linguistic Analysis of Chapter 23. Version 1.1. page 12  and page 55
[ii].Tzortzis, Hamza 2012. Embryology in the Quran: A Scientific-Linguistic Analysis of Chapter 23. Version 2.1. page 14 
[iii]. Captaindisguise & Taverille, M 2012.  Embryology in the Qur'an: Much Ado about Nothing. Page 16-20 and also can be accessed at the following address; http://embryologyinthequran.blogspot.com/2012/08/2-drop-of-fluid-nutfah.html
[iv]. Abdallah, Osama 2008. Detailed meanings of the Scientific Words in the Scientific Verses in the Holy Qur'an. http://www.answering-christianity.com/detailed_meanings_of_scientific_words_in_verses.htm  
[v]. Captaindisguise 2011. Osama Abdallah, Sperm & the Qur'an. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK01KC6S1qs  
[vi]. Radden, G & Dirven, R  2007. Cognitive English Grammar. Volume 2 of Cognitive Linguistics in Practice. John Benjamins Publishing. Pages 63-78.
[vii]. “Mint”, n1. The Oxford English Dictionary. 3rd edition, 2006; online version
Sept. 2012.
[viii].  Al-Khalidy, Nabeel 2012. Rebuttal of an atheist regarding a point in embryology and the Qur'an. http://understandingthequranmiracle.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/rebutle-of-atheist-regarding-point-in.html