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How can one get rid of the constant feeling of disbelief and doubt, especially after repeated intrusive thoughts related to the nullifiers of ablution and the contradiction between the forty-second Hadith of An-Nawawi and modern science regarding human creation? Is there an explanation that removes this contradiction?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The creation of the fetus is gathered within the first forty days, and the stages of the nutfah (sperm-drop), 'alaqah (clinging-clot), and mudghah (chewed-lump) are completed during this period, because the phrase (in that) refers to the time (forty days). As for (like that), it refers to the gathering of creation, meaning that its creation is gathered in its mother's womb for forty days, then it becomes an 'alaqah and a mudghah within this same period. This is an order of reporting about the stages of the fetus, not an order of what is being reported about. The formation of the fetus, with its shaping, the creation of its organs, and their differentiation, does not occur until after the forty-second day.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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