In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Why is the period four months and ten days not more? In His Divine Book, the Holy Quran, Allah, All-Mighty, says,
“And those of you who pass away, leaving wives behind them: they (the wives) (must) wait (as regards marriage) for four months and ten days.”
[II; 234]
The use of an accurate number of four months and ten days in the above Quranic Verse might be not only remarkable but also surprising.
It might be asked, “why does not Allah, All-Mighty, say: four months, five months, six months, two months or three months?”
Medical scientists say that pregnancy goes through three stages.
The first stage is that of uncertainty, in which the menstruation ceases, which is a non-definitive sign of pregnancy, as there might be other causes, than pregnancy, for cessation of menstruation, such as psychological or hormone disorders or malfunction of the woman’s reproductive system.
In other words, cessation of menstruation is not a definitive sign of pregnancy.
The second stage is that of semi-certainty. At this stage, the woman undergoes feelings of depression, a tendency to be left alone, and other digestive symptoms, such as nausea and vomit, which are commonly called “symptoms of pregnancy”, as they, most probably, indicate pregnancy.
But such symptoms are not a definitive sign of pregnancy, either, for they might be symptoms, of pseudo-pregnancy.
However, on the 126th day, i.e. on the tenth day after the first four months of pregnancy mentioned in the Holy Quran are over, the embryo’s heart begins beating, and the embryo begins moving. This is the third stage, which is the stage of certainty.
In other words, the embryo’s movement inside his mother’s womb is a definitive sign of pregnancy.
That is why Allah, All-Mighty, says
,“And those of you who pass away, leaving wives behind them: they (the wives) (must) wait (as regards marriage) for four months and ten days.”
[II; 234]
Beyond a shadow of doubt, such definitive medical facts are in amazing conformity with Allah’s Divine Book, the Holy Quran! On the 126th day, i.e. after exactly four months and ten days of pregnancy, the embryo’s heart begins beating, the embryo begins moving in his mother’s womb, and the mother enters the third stage of pregnancy, namely the stage of certainty.
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of Creations