The Embryo and its Feelings

In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, Most Merciful What science says about the relation of embryo with its mother:
From among the medical studies that show one of Allah’s Marvelous Divine Signs that bespeak His Infinite Divine Might, Wisdom and Power is that medical science formerly considered an embryo a living thing at the lowest level. Books of medical science used to liken an embryo’s life to that of a bean grown in a vase. In other words, scientists considered an embryo’s life as simple as that of a bean, which is made up of a germ, a root, a stalk, and a bag for nutrition, and which survives and grows with the help of water and light. Movements of the embryo inside its mother’s womb were considered as mere reactions towards external stimuli. However, due to the development of means of observation, modern medical science is now able to go deeper into the human body and probe its secrets through a variety of media such as radioscopy, radiography, and audio-visual recording. These highly developed technical media have enabled modern medical science to go deep into the mother’s body and probe the embryo’s organic life and psychological behavior, unveiling marvelous facts about the embryo and secrets of its life.
A pregnant woman, for example, who was addicted to smoking, and who was in her sixth month of pregnancy, was asked to stop smoking for a long period of time. Then, she was offered a cigarette to smoke. As soon as she began to smoke, instruments recorded disturbance in the embryo’s pulse, which was interpreted as a reflex action, i.e. a kind of learning. In other words, this six-week-old embryo inside its mother’s womb was badly affected by its mother’s smoking.

If a pregnant woman undergoes a certain psychological stress, such as fury, the embryo is influenced by its mother’s fury and its organs and systems are confused. If, however, the mother is happy and comfortable, the embryo is also calm, and its organs and systems work properly. More surprisingly, while still in its mother’s womb, the embryo is attracted to its father’s voice and is greatly influenced by it.
There is also a kind of bond, i.e. interrelationship, between the mother and the embryo. If the mother is happy with her embryo and has feelings of love and affection towards it, it exchanges such feelings with her and displays gratitude and thankfulness to her by certain movements that are most desirable and favorable to the mother. If, however, the mother is not happy or comfortable with her embryo, the bond between them is severed and the embryo feels disconnected from his mother and, hence, lonely, unhappy, and uncomfortable. It behaves badly and in a confused unbalanced way. At first, it shows indifference and patience, but then it begins kicking his mother so as to express anger and discontent. And upon birth, the embryo whose mother was unhappy and uncomfortable with it refuses to take its mother’s nipple into its mouth. Even if its eyes were blindfolded and its mother’s breasts were offered to it, it would reject it. It would accept any other nipple than its mother’s. This is because it was she who refused her embryo at first. In other words, an embryo has its own feelings and emotions as well as its own psychological life; and it starts learning while it is still in its mother’s womb.

It has been said that an embryo is even influenced by the mother’s system of sleep. A mother who stays up late or sleeps for long hours will most probably have a baby that does the same. In other words, the embryo is influenced by its mother’s habits even before it is born. More amazingly, the existence of a tender compassionate relative beside a woman who is giving birth to a baby makes childbirth easier and causes more blood to flow to the mother’s womb, the embryo is relieved during birth, and effects of deficiency of Oxygen, which might cause mental retardation or psychological disorders, are minimized.

Just consider: If a mother is desirous to be pregnant and is happy and contented with her embryo, and if she lives with her husband in peace and tranquility, this reflects positively on her embryo, both physically and psychologically. The existence of a mother beside her daughter who is in labor also makes childbirth easy and comfortable and protects the baby from such serious ailments as deficiency of Oxygen, which may cause mental retardation, epilepsy, and psychological disorders. Consider Allah’s Infinite Divine Wisdom: the circumstances in which the mother lives during pregnancy have a great impact on her embryo even before it is born!

The moral of this lesson: To wrap up, it goes without saying that any deviation from Allah’s Divine Laws reflects negatively on our children’s health, growth and psychological life.
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of Creations