ثُمَّ كَانَ عَلَقَةً فَخَلَقَ فَسَوَّىٰ Qur’an Al-Qiyamah (75:38)Thumma k a na AAalaqatan fakhalaqa fasaww a
For this rendering of sawwa, see note [1] on 87:2 and note [5] on 91:7 . The stress on God's creating man after he had been a germ-cell is a metonym for His endowing the (originally) lowly organism with what is described as a "soul".
’Alaqah, meaning the embryo resembles a leech.