The linguistic definition of ʻalaq علق (singular ʻalaqah علقة) is "leech", "medicinal leech", "coagulated blood", "blood clot", or "the early stage of the embryo".[1] ʻAlaq is also a derivative of ʻalaqa which means "attached and hanging to something."[2] Professor Abdul Haleem mentions that "ʻalaq” can also mean anything that clings: a clot of blood, a leech, even a lump of mud. All these meanings involve the basic idea of clinging or sticking."[3]
The term ʻalaqah is the second stage of human prenatal development (sura Al-Mu’minoon 23: 12–14) which "descriptively encompasses the primary external and internal features" of the early embryo.[4] The term ʻalaqah also occurs in several languages related to Arabic. In Hebrew there is עֲלוּקָה alûqāh (or alukah), the generic name for any blood-sucking worm or leech,[5] and in Aramaic and Syriac there are words with apparently similar meanings.[6]