Joints in the Human Body

The Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said,

“Indeed every person of the children of Adam was created with three hundred and sixty joints.”

[Muslim: 1007]

Scientific Analysis

A joint is the junction between two bones or a bone and cartilage or two bodies of cartilage, found anywhere in the human body.

The Prophet ﷺ said, “Indeed every person of the children of Aadam was created with three hundred and sixty joints. Whoever exalts Allaah, praises Allaah, declares the oneness of Allaah, glorifies Allaah, seeks forgiveness from Allaah, removes a rock from the road, or removes a thorn or bone from the people's path, commands virtue and forbids vice, to the number of those three hundred and sixty joints, shall walk that day as one who saved himself from the Fire.”

He, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, also said, “There are three hundred and sixty joints in a person, so one must give charity for each of these joints.” Those around him asked, “But who is capable of doing that, O Messenger of Allaah?” He said, “By covering up expectorant if found in the masjid; by removing something harmful from the road; or—if unable to do the others—by praying two units of the ḍuḥā [mid-morning] prayer.” (Ahmad: 22998)

The Miracle

The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, mentioned the exact number of joints in the human body—having a total of three hundred and sixty—during a time in which it was impossible to know this number with such precision, as the majority of joints are too small and in places too difficult to define without modern advances in anatomy and histology.

While in agreement with anatomical discoveries of our present age, this knowledge was conveyed by the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, fourteen hundred years ago. He was sure of this claim because the one who told him was none other than the Creator Himself.

{Does He not know what He created? He is the subtle, the aware.} (Quran, 67:14)