360 Joints Miracle
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In the hadiths, Muhammad talked about 360 joints (or bones?) in the human body. Some Muslim apologists today claim that this is a scientific miracle, because human body has exactly 360 joints and people didn't know it back then.
Contents
Hadiths
Every one of the children of Adam has been created with three hundred and sixty joints (مَفْصِلٍ, mafsilin); so he who declares the Glory of Allah, praises Allah, declares Allah to be One, Glorifies Allah, and seeks forgiveness from Allah, and removes stone, or thorn, or bone from people's path, and enjoins what is good and forbids from evil, to the number of those three hundred and sixty joints (or bones?) (السُّلاَمَى, as-sulaama), will walk that day having saved himself from the Fire.
Abu Taubah said: "Perhaps he said: 'Will reach the evening.'"This hadith gives three options. "aw" (او) means "or":
Words used
Mafsil (مفصل)
Mafsilin is a gentive form and mafsilan is an accusative form of the word mafsil.
Here is another hadith where mafsil refers to joints:
وعن أسماء بنت يزيد رضي الله عنها قالت: كان كم قميص رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم إلى الرصغ، ((رواه أبو داود، والترمذي، وقال: حديث حسن)).
The English translation says: "Asma' bint Yazid (May Allah be pleased with them) reported: The sleeves of the shirt of Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) reached his wrists (الرصغ)."
In Arabic it also explains the word الرصف (wrist): " - "هو المفصل بين الكف والساعد."It is a joint (المفصل, al-mafsil) between the palm and forearm."
And Lane's lexicon also says it refers to joints:
There is also a similar word mufassal (مُفَصَّل), which refers to certain suras:
It has a similar meaning to joint. The suras have many breaks ("joints") in them.
Sulaama (سلامى)
This word however seems to rather refer to bones. Online Arabic dictionary almaany says:
According to Lane's lexicon it means camel bone:
So now it is not clear. Did he mean joints or bones or both or did he consider them to be the same thing?
Here it is also worth noting that this word is from the same root as the word Islam (إسلام). Muslim apologists like to claim that Islam is a religion of peace just because the word salaam (سلام), meaning peace in Arabic, shares the same root with the word Islam. Now does it mean that Islam is a religion of bones/joints, when we consider that sulaama is derived from the same root سلم as Islam?
'Azm (عظم)
This word is clear. It definitely means bones. This word is used in many other hadiths and also in the Qur'an.
So it is quite possible that Muhammad meant bones.
Bones count
It is generally accepted that adults have 206 bones [7]. So if Muhammad meant 360 bones, then he was wrong. Even if he meant a new born baby, which has 270 bones, he was still terribly wrong.
Joints count
There doesn't seem to be a consensus on the number of joints in human body. Probably because it depends on the exact definition of what is a "joint".
360 joints from 206 bones?
If we had 3 bones, then the maximum possible number of joints would be 3 (making a triangle). If we had 4 bones the maximum would be 4. And so on. So the number of bones limits the possible number of joints. So how can there be 360 joints from only 206 bones? We would expect that the number of joints would be smaller than the number of bones (and in non-Muslim joint counts it often is), considering that some bones have only 1 joint and not 2. And if there are more than two bones in a joint, then it makes the number of joints (per bone) even smaller.
Non-Muslim counts
There are many different counts ranging from 68 to 240. So even if Muhammad meant 360 joints and not bones, he was wrong.
Muslim counts
Muslim joint counts are, for some reason, always 360. Probably because instead of counting the joints and then seeing whether the number equals 360, they start with the conclusion that there are 360 joints and then they strive to count it in a way so that they get 360. In a similar intellectually dishonest way in which they did the word-count miracles in the Quran.
Muslim joint count 360 based on an article which says 230
For example they quote a table from an article by Ishani Chatterjee Shukla:
Part of the Body - Number of Joints
Skull 86
Throat and Neck 6
Thorax 66
Spine and Pelvis 76
Hands, Arms and Fingers 64
Legs, Feet and Toes 62
The author of the article does not add these numbers. Possibly because they overlap - joints in the neck overlap with joints in the spine, and joints in the thorax as well. But Muslim apologists chose to add these numbers and they got 360. Although the author of the article estimates the total number of joints to be around 230. If it was so simple to add these numbers, why didn't the author do it?
Muslim list of joints
We can also find this list on the internet [8]:
Num. | Name | Count |
---|---|---|
1. Skull | 86 | |
1 | Fronto Parietal Joint (Coronal Suture) | 1 |
2 | Fronto –Ethmoid Joint | 1 |
3 | Fronto Maxillary Joints | 2 |
4 | Frontozygomatic Joints | 2 |
5 | Frontonasal Joint | 1 |
6 | Frontosphenoid (Lesser Wing) Joint | 1 |
7 | Fronto-Lacrimal Joints | 2 |
8 | Parietooccipital Joint | 1 |
9 | Interparietal Joint (Sagittal Suture) | 1 |
10 | Tempro-Parietal Joints | 2 |
11 | Tempro-Spenoid Joints (Greater Wing) | 2 |
12 | Occipito-Temporal Joints | 2 |
13 | Tempro-Sphenoid Joints (Greater Wing) | 2 |
14 | Tempro-Zygomatic Joints (Zygomatic Arch) | 2 |
15 | Tempro-Mandibular Joints | 2 |
16 | Inter Ossicular Joints | 4 |
17 | Intermaxillary Joint | 1 |
18 | Zygomatico-Maxillary Joint | 2 |
19 | Maxillo-Palatine Joint | 1 |
20 | Nazomaxillary Joints | 2 |
21 | Maxillo-Ethmoid Joints | 2 |
22 | Maxillo-Lacrimal Joints | 2 |
23 | Maxillo-Sphenoid Joints (Pterygoid Process) | 2 |
24 | Maxillo-Conchal Joints (Inferior Choncha) | 2 |
25 | Dental Gomphosis | 32 |
26 | Spheno-Ethmoidal Joint | 1 |
27 | Vermo-Spenoid Joint (Pterygoid Process) | 1 |
28 | Palato-Sphenoid Joints (Pterygoid Process) | 2 |
29 | Zygomatico-Sphenoid Joint (Greater Wing) | 2 |
30 | Vermo-Ethmoidal Joint (Perpindicular Plate) | 1 |
31 | Lacrimo-Ethmoidal Joint (Labyrinth) | 2 |
32 | Joint Between Vomer And Hard Palate | 1 |
33 | Internasal Joint | 1 |
34 | Joint Between Horizontal Plates Of Palatine Bones | 1 |
2. Larynex | 6 | |
1 | Cricothyroid Joints | 2 |
2 | Cricoarytenoid Joints | 2 |
3 | Arytenoi-Corniculate Joints | 2 |
3. Vertebral Column And Pelvis | 76 | |
1 | Atlanto-Occipital Joints | 2 |
2 | Intervertebral Joints | 69 |
3 | Lubosacral Joints | 3 |
4 | Sacro-Coccygeal Joint | 1 |
5 | Symphysis Pubis | 1 |
4. Upper Limbs | 64 | |
1 | Sternoclavicular Joint | 1x2= 2 |
2 | Acromioclavicular Joint | 1x2= 2 |
3 | Sholder Joint | 1x2=2 |
4 | Elbo Joint | 1x2=2 |
5 | Superior Radio-Ulnar Joint | 1x2=2 |
6 | Inferior Radio-Ulnar Joint | 1x2=2 |
7 | Wrist Joint | 1x2=2 |
8 | Intercarpal Joints | 6x2=12 |
9 | Mid Carpal Joint | 1x2=2 |
10 | Carpometacarpal Joints | 4x2=8 |
11 | Metacarpophalangeal Joints | 5x2=10 |
12 | Interphalangeal Joints | 9x2=18 |
5. Thoracic Cage | 66 | |
1 | Manubrio Sternal Joint | 1 |
2 | Xiphisternal Joint | 1 |
3 | Sternocostal Joints | 14 |
4 | Interchondral Joints | 6 |
5 | Costo-Vertebral Joints | 12x2= 24 |
6 | Costo-Transverse Joints | 10x2=20 |
6. Lower Limbs | 62 | |
1 | Sacroiliac Joint | 1x2=2 |
2 | Hip Joint | 1x2=2 |
3 | Knee Joint | 1x2=2 |
4 | Superior Tibio-Fibular Joint | 1x2=2 |
5 | Inferior Tibuo Fibular Joint | 1x2=2 |
6 | Ankle Joint | 1x2=2 |
7 | Intertarsal Joints | 7x2=14 |
8 | Tarsometatarsal Joints | 4x2=8 |
9 | Metatarsophalangeal Joints | 5x2=10 |
10 | Interphalangeal Joints | 9x2=18 |
Total count (86+6+76+64+66+62) | 360 |
When we search, for example, "Arytenoi-Corniculate Joints", Google finds only Muslim websites talking about this joint miracle. Therefore some of these names are invented by dishonest Muslims.
Muhammad's source
The information about 360 joints is not a part of the Quran. That means that even if Muhammad was a prophet, the information was not a part of god's message. If Muhammad didn't get this information from god, then he must took it from someone.
We know that ancient China believed in 360 joints:
China is far from Arabia, but 850 years is quite a long time for that information to get there, even in the middle ages.
Conclusion
It is not clear whether Muhammad meant 360 bones or joints, but it doesn't matter because he was wrong either way. And even if he was right, it would not be a miracle, because the number of 360 joints was mentioned hundreds of years before Islam.
See Also
References
- ↑ https://sunnah.com/adab/24/4
- ↑ https://sunnah.com/riyadussaliheen/1/519
- ↑ https://islamqa.info/en/143301
- ↑ www.almaany.com/en/dict/ar-en/سلامى/
- ↑ https://sunnah.com/search/?q=%D8%B9%D8%B8%D9%85
- ↑ http://corpus.quran.com/qurandictionary.jsp?q=EZm
- ↑ https://www.etmc.org/trivia/many-bones-human-body/
- ↑ http://www.trauma.org/index.php/community/list/url/http:list.ftech.net/pipermail/trauma-list/2009-April/042192.html Or just Google for "Arytenoi-Corniculate Joints" with brackets, because only Muslims believe it exists.