Life before birth part two

My major discussuin will be around one hadeeth with two versions, one of which is interpreted as showing 120 days and other one as 40 days BEFORE Rooh is infused into the new being in the womb.
CAUTION: words like nutfa alaqa, rooh etc. are 'scriptural' and sperm, egg embryo etc. are scientific words. Keep them separate in mind (as they are not necessarily interchangable, no matter how they have been translated in English) otherwise confusion is likely to arise.

Narrated Abdullah Ibn Masoud (RA) that the prophet (PBUH) true and truly inspired said, "(The matter of creation of) human being is put together in the womb of the mother in forty days and then he becomes a clot of thick blood for a similar period (Thumma yakoonu alaqatan mithla zdalik), then a piece of flesh for a similar period (thumma yakoonu mudghatan mithla zdalik). Then Allah sends an angel who is ordered to write down four things; he is ordered to write his (new creature's) deeds, his livelihood, his (date) of death and whether he will be blessed or wretched (in religion). Then soul is breathed into him..........." (Dr. M. Mohsin Khan, in Vol IV SahihBokhari, Book of 'beginning of creation' page 290 Kazi publications, Chicago 1979)
Exactly the same hadeeth is reported in 'Muslim' (in Kitab-al-Qadr) but wording is slightly different (and with huge significance). I shall only mention the difference of Arabic wording for you to compare.
In the 'Muslim' version,the words are "Thumma yakoonu FEE ZDALIKA, alaqatan mithla zdalik" (the capitalized words are 'added', or you can say "fee zdalika" is 'missing' in the other version.
Since I am not hadeeth expert, I am quoting part of the discussion by an expert from "the Kuwait Document" (Proceedings of the conference on "Human life, its inception and end as viewed by Islam" held in Jan 1985, Eng. translation done 1989)
Dr Muhammad Sulaiman Ashqar says in "A Glance At Ibn Masoud's Tradition":
"If we scrutinize the second version all difficulties may be resolved in the way it is phrased; what does the phrase 'in that' (Fee zdalik) refer to? I find that no one speaks of the difference between the two versions. Perhaps the first version is more readily understood and every one takes it to refer to the three forty day periods but the second version is bypassed altogether. The phrase 'in that' can refer to nothing other than the phrase "forty days" which means it is a 'germ-cell' (alaqa) in the first forty days and the stage of embryonic lump (mudgha) also occurs in the first forty days. In this way all versions narrated by Ibn Masoud and by others agree and no conflict remains"
He is right as all other scholars tend to interpret both versions as 40x3. Then he ends the discussion like this:
"The whole matter , however , has to be discussed further. All versions in the books of tradition with both content and ascription should be meticulously compiled and then investigated according to the principles set by the specialists. A conclusive opinion may then be reached."
Another hadeeth to make this discussion more understandible
Narrated by Huzdaifa Ibn Aseed, "The angle enters to the semen-drop (Nutfa) forty days or fortyfive nighte after it settles in the womb. The Angel says; O! Allah is he mischievous or happy? then the angel writes down (the answer). Then the angel says, O! Allah is it male or female? and he writes (the answer). he also writes his deeds, his destiny and sustenance. Then the papers are folded (record closed) with no addition or ommission in them." (Dr. Aly A Mishal writing in "Year book of FIMA" 2002, but there are many other references to various ahaheeth giving 42 to even 50 days etc.) The point here is no other narration makes it intrepretable as clearly for 40x3=120 days as the Ibn Masoud's Bokhari version.
"Breathing 'spirit' or rooh is usually interpreted as "beginning of human life" but It must be understood these are scriptural matters and do not correspond to our understanding of "beginning of life" as one scholar (Dr. Hassan Hathout) says this is only a job being done by the angel at that time and it does not mean anything more.
My own feeling why '120 day hadeeth' became popular and others were ignored may have something to do with the 'quickening' that starts about that time and so the older and even some contemporary scholars of hadeeth and fiqh consider that to be the "beginning of life". Of course Allah knows best.
Hoping I have not caused confusion there is more to come in part three insha-Allah.