The Arabic term Ghayd ( make to vanish) was mentioned in Qura’n in two verses , the first : ” Allah knows what every female bears, and which the wombs make to  vanish  and  which they increase , And  everything with Him is in (due) measure .” ( Surah Al-Rad , 13 : Ayah 8 ) and the second : ” And it was said: O earth, swallow down your water, and O Sky , clear away (Withhold your rain) ; and the water was made to vanish and the matter was fulfilled , and the ark (the ship) rested on the (the mount) Judi, and it was said: Annihilation to the unjust people. ” ( Surah Hud, 11: Ayah 44)...

 The term Gyayd in Arabic has several meanings ; decrease or become little ,  vanish and gone away , sink in water  and disappears in it . When interpreting Qura’n by Qura’n i.e. using the meaning of a term in one verse to understand its meaning in another one , thus the meaning of Ghayd in  Surah Al-Rad , 13 : Ayah 8 “…and which the wombs make to  vanish  …” could be explained by the meaning of Ghayd in Surah Hud, 11: Ayah 44 ”  and the water was made to vanish ..” in which the term Ghyad  indicated  the disappearance of water or its vanishing . However , commentators to the meaning of Ghayd in  Surah Al-Rad , 13 : Ayah 8 “…and which the wombs make to  vanish ..” described two opinions ; either the vaginal bleeding that could occur in pregnant woman , and the second is abortion ( an embryo falling short of completion) or  an embryo which is damaged and made to vanish  from the uterus similar to water that sink in the ground and disappears.

       Most language scientists and commentators are supporting the second opinion which is abortion or the damaged embryo that  vanish in uterus being absorbed like absorption of water by the ground. Those who define the term Ghayd to be the vaginal bleeding that could occur in pregnant woman are not so far from the meaning of abortion as one of the major signs of this condition is vaginal bleeding that frequently associate with abortion . Accordingly , the most logic and accepted meaning of the term Ghayd in this verse is abortion.

      In modern embryology , the term spontaneous abortion is used to define any pregnancy that spontaneously terminates before the 20 week  of gestation or when the embryo is less than 500 gm. Most of these cases of abortion occur during the first 8 weeks of gestation , and is termed early spontaneous abortion that frequently takes place with the mother even unaware of being pregnant. Any female who had a delayed menstruation for 1-2 weeks followed by abnormally excess menstrual blood ( vaginal bleeding) should be considered in an early spontaneous abortion.

        Early abortion occurs in 2 forms : either expulsion from the uterus or retained inside the uterus and finally vanishing completely. It is possible that the conceptus does not fall out of the uterus after spontaneous death of embryo , but it is retained inside the uterus for a relatively long time , a condition known as missed abortion , in which the size of the uterus starts to decrease due to absorption of amniotic fluid and also vanishing of the dead embryo. Although , most cases of missed abortion eventually end in spontaneous abortion , some cases  the embryo vanishes and disappears completely from the chorionic vesicle .There is no answer in the medical literature to the question : Why some embryos are expelled from uterus after their death and others are retained ? However , the two forms of early spontaneous abortion in modern embryology are in accordance to the opinions of language and commentation scholars in defining the term Ghaud al-arham (which the wombs make to  vanish )…

      To support the opinion that Ghaud al-arham is early abortion , it is mentioned in the same verse of holy Qura’n  ”  which the wombs  increase , after  which the wombs make to  vanish  …and  it is well known that the uterus during the first 8 weeks of pregnancy does not show an evident  increase in its size when compared to the normal  non-pregnant size. The changes that occur in the uterus during these 8 weeks are functional adaptations in its tissues under the effect of the hormones of pregnancy . The true increase in the size of the uterus , reflecting growth of the embryo , starts after the embryo creation stage beginning of the 9th week and continues throughout pregnancy.

         Thus, the term Ghayd ( fall short of completion or vanish) , compared to the term increase used in the same verse , is only applicable to the creation stage of embryo that occurs during the first 8 weeks . Moreover, embryos could not be vanished except in the creation stage , as it was found that dead embryos do not disappear or vanish from the uterus after the end of creation stage. i.e. when an embryo dies in the three months next to creation stage it will not vanish or disappear from the uterus. Accordingly , if the term  Ghayd  indicates either falling short of completion or vanishing from the uterus , it could not applied to abortion at any time but it clearly points to abortion during the creation stage i.e. early abortion .

       According to the above description , the time period during which  the spontaneous abortion is expressing the meaning of  the  term Ghayd used by Qura’n occurs during stage of creation that starts by nutfah amshaj , passing through alaqah and mudghah , up to the time of breathing the soul into the embryo.  The honorable Sunnah supports this view by demonstrating that the angle in charge of the uterus asks his Lord (Allah) about the future and fate of each stage of the early stages of embryo development ( that occur in the creation stage ) does it will be created or not?   This was documented in the hadith narrated by Anas ibn Malik (may be blessed by Allah) : The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said : “Allah puts an angel in charge of the uterus and the angel says, ‘O Lord, (it is) nutfah ( a drop of mingled fluid)!    O Lord, (it is now ) alaqah (a mass of suspended cells) ! O Lord, (it is now) mudghah (a little lump of flesh) !   If Allah wishes to complete its creation, the angel asks, ‘O Lord, (will it be) a male or a female? A miserable (an evil doer) or a blessed (doer of good)? What about his livelihood ? What will his age be?’ And all that is written while he is still in his mother’s abdomen (i.e. womb).” – This Hadith is reported by Bukhari and  Muslim-

        The meaning that could be appreciated from the above hadith is that the angel in charge of the uterus asks his Lord (ALLAH)when he sees nutfah of the male and that of the  female  become close together . Then , he asks  : Will fertilization occur forming   nutfah amshaj ?? Will it be implanted in uterine wall ?? or will it become aborted ?? Will it form alaqah  - that contain all the basic cells of the body – or will it be aborted ??

    It is now clear  that the term Ghayd al-arham used in Qura’n  accurately describes the early spontaneous abortion with its 2 forms : the falling short of completion or the vanishing from the uterus , and the associated diminution then vanishing of fluids and blood around embryos . This represent another evident scientific miracle of Qura’n that  indicates Qura’n had preceded modern embryology by several centuries. Arabs , although they knew from Arabic language the meaning of Ghayd they never use the term Ghayd al-arham before the revelation of Qura’n . The progress in embryology , has shown the  accurateness of the term Ghayd al-arham and its expressive description to all events that occur to lost embryos during the stage of creation ; some become expelled from  the uterus and could be traced , while others disappear and are made to vanish and could not be traced where one can believe that the uteruses had swallowed embryos as the ground had swallowed water.

( Source : A research from Dr. Abdel Gawad AsSawi  “The scientific miracle of Qura’n and Sunnah in the indication of Ghayd al-arham : Which the wombs make to vanish or fall short of completion” ).