The Concept of Prenatal Life in the Medieval Islamic West

The study analyses the conceptualization of prenatal life in the Islamic West, particularly in medieval Andalusi and Maghrebi hermeneutics. It focuses on the ideas developed by Abū Bakr Ibn al-‘Arabī and Qāḍī ‘Iyāḍ, who relied on embryonic passages in qur'anic verses and ḥadīths. By situating these two scholars within their geographic, historical, and intellectual contexts, the book scrutinizes and compares the sources of their respective embryological approaches. Eventually, the study traces the dissemination of the investigated ideas as well as their impact on the scholarly milieus of the Islamic West.