The term Acb’uz-Zeneb is of Arabic origin and means “tail end” or “end part”. This term is used especially in hadiths and Islamic tradition when describing the resurrection after death. There are narrations in the hadiths that even though the human body decays and disappears, this part called acb’uz-zeneb will be used to resurrect people. This is a concept that reflects the power of Allah and the belief that the resurrection will take place after death.
“Except for the coccyx (acbü’z-zeneb), the whole body of a person decays and disappears. The work of re-creation starts from the coccyx. Then Allah sends down a water from the sky, and everyone comes to life like plants.” [Buhârî, Tefsîru sûre (39), 3, (78), 1; Müslim, Fiten 28]“
“The earth eats up all the corpse of the human being except the acb. Man was created out of acb; will be created from it again” (al-Muvaṭṭaʾ, “Cenâʾiz”, 48; Musnad, II, 322, 428; Muslim, “Fiten”, 142; Abu Dawud, “Sunnah”, 20).
These terms are especially important terms associated with the concepts of resurrection and creation and are used in this context in hadiths. Emphasizing the material dimension of resurrection and creation, these terms form an important part of Islamic belief.
The issue of what Acb’üz-Zeneb physically corresponds to has been subjected to different interpretations. Some commentators have interpreted this term as the coccyx, the last part of the human spine. Others argued that Ajb’uz-Zeneb was a smaller piece or essence and claimed that this piece would remain undecayed in the soil or in the body.
Comments on the term Acbü’z-Zeneb
Hz. The term acbü’z-zeneb, which the Prophet likened to a mustard seed in a hadith and accepted as the core of the human body in a sense, was explained by the hadith commentaries as “the coccyx, which constitutes the last part of the spine. However, different interpretations have been made on this term.
Some commentators have taken the view that it is possible to find a part of the human corpse that will never decompose. Those who support this view accept that acbü’z-zeneb, as mentioned in the hadiths, is a material essence that will preserve its existence until the Day of Judgment and that carries all the characteristics of the human body.
Another view argues that acbü’z-zeneb is the last decaying part of the human corpse and will remain in the soil for a long time without decaying, by citing a verse stating that everything other than Allah is finite. According to this view, the phrase “not perishable” in the hadith emphasizes this long-term durability.
M. Reşid Rıza, a recent scholar, also preferred the second view, considering that the first view was not sufficiently grounded in terms of his creed.
Both views reflect different approaches to the interpretation of the term acbü’z-zeneb and how to understand its meaning, and show that there are various debates on this subject in the history of Islamic thought.
Considering that those who accept that Acbü’z-zanab will perish and perish, do not present any valid evidence to reject the apparent meaning of the hadiths concerned, we can conclude that the first view adopted by the majority is more correct. In particular, what is meant to be expressed in these hadiths is the existence of a substance that can survive in the soil or any place where the corpse has decomposed in order for the human corpse to be recreated. Therefore, it may not be appropriate to understand acbü’z-zeneb as a small piece of bone that can be seen with the naked eye.
In addition, it is stated that among the expressions used for the re-creation of man, there is also the expression “ajmu’z-zeneb” (a very small thing like a dot around the coccyx). This statement supports the idea that a human being will consist of a small piece that carries physiological characteristics and cannot be perceived by the senses. In the same way, it has been argued that the expression “seeds extracted” in the verse “Your Lord took offspring from people’s backs and made them witnesses” means “particles that cannot be seen with the eye”.
These explanations suggest that the hadiths about the re-creation of man may have a more metaphorical or symbolic meaning rather than a physical understanding. Therefore, different interpretations can be made about what exactly acbü’z-zenab represents. This issue has led to various debates in the history of Islamic thought.
Acbü’z-Zeneb in Contemporary Medical Science
The data based on the developing genetics of our time support the idea that components (molecules) representing the origin of human material existence, whether we use the name acbü’z-zeneb or acmû’z-zeneb, can survive in the soil or elsewhere. This can be interpreted as the second creation concept expressed by the hadiths mentioned, showing similarities to the development of man in the womb in terms of both formation and space.
The science of embryology shows that the sperm cell develops in a way like the germination of the nucleus in the soil at the moment of conception. During this development, there is a connecting stalk between the mother’s uterus and the human embryo, which coincides with the coccyx region of the human embryo. It is thought that man originally grew up on this stem. The moment of fertilization that takes place in the mother’s uterus can also be considered as the death of the egg. For this reason, the death of a person can be described as a process such as the fertilization of the soil. This approach can also be considered appropriate in that it reflects Allah’s ability to bring out the living from the dead and the dead from the living.
In addition, it is an approach compatible with Islamic beliefs to understand that the concepts of fana and destruction in the Qur’an do not mean “absolute extinction”, but express a process in which the form before the death of the living thing changes and transforms into various forms of existence and some features are preserved. Therefore, considering that the terms acbü’z-zeneb or acmû’z-zaneb mentioned in the hadiths represent immortality and the essence of resurrection, this belief reflects a perspective appropriate to Allah’s unique power.
In today’s medical science, although there is no concrete information about acbü’z-zeneb, it is possible to state that the existence of cells resembling plants or in the form of dots is possible in the coccyx region. The second creation of man, Hz. Just as Jesus was probably formed with a single cell in his mother’s womb, it may occur through the multiplication of a single cell in cell culture, and cell genetic codes may regulate this creation event.
