360 Joint

The systematic study of anatomy was started by Greek scientists Alcmaeon and Empedocles in the
Third Century B.C.. Alcmaeon was the first person to perform human body dissectionChinese
cosmology where they were purporting 360 joints over a thousand years before Mohammad. In the
Springs and Autumns of Lü Pu-wei (Lü shih ch'un-ch'iu, ca. 239 B.C.), ...
Human beings have 360 joints, nine body openings, and five yin and six yang systems of
function. In the flesh tightness is desirable; in the blood vessels (hsueh mai) free flow is
desirable; in the sinews and bones solidity is desirable; in the operations of the heart and
mind harmony is desirable; in the essential ch'i regular motion is desirable. When [these
desiderata] are realized, illness has nowhere to abide, and there is nothing from which
pathology can develop. When illness lasts and pathology develops, it is because the essential
ch'i has become static.
Dong Zongshu says more fully when he makes this statement;
Man has 360 joints which match the number of heaven. ... He has ears and eyes above, with
their keen sense of hearing and seeing, which resemble the sun and the moon. His body has
its orifices, which resemble rivers and valleys. His heart has feelings of sorrow, joy, pleasure,
and anger, which are analogous to the spiritual feelings [of Heaven]. As we look at man's
body, how much superior it is to that of other creatures and how similar to Heaven!... Man is
distinct from other creatures and forms a trinity with Heaven and Earth ... The agreement of
Heaven and Earth and the correspondence between yin and yang are ever found complete in
the human body. The body is like Heaven. Its numerical categories and those of Heaven are
mutually interlocked ... Internally the body has five viscera, which correspond to the five
agents. Externally there are four limbs, whichc orrespond to the four seasons. The alternating
of opening and closing the eyes corresponds to day and night ... [and] the alternating of
sorrow and joy corresponds to yin and yang.... In what may be numbered, there is
correspondence in number. IN what may not be numbered, there is correspondence in kind.
(Quoted in Richard Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers Divination In Traditional
Chinese Society, Taylor & Francis 2021.)
As many scholars of the subject have pointed out, Dong Zongshu considers the human body
as a microcosm of the universe. Dong Zongshu came to the belief that humans have 360
joints on the basis that the 360 days of the Earth (in his traditional calendar) have some sort
of correspondence to the human body, and this is how he identified it. If we go through some
other ancient Chinese texts, we find similar statements to this effect. For example, in a text
from the 1st century BC known as the Lingshu Jing (or the Divine Pivot), it’s said that “[i]n
the year there are 365 days; human beings have 365 joints” (Bary & Blom, Sources in
Chinese Tradition, Vol. 1, 1999, 2nd ed., pg. 276). So, this author identified the year as
having 365 days, and so correspondingly stated that humans have 365 joints. The parallelism
and basis for the origins of this number is clear and is based very much on the Chinese
cosmology of this period of the human body as a microcosm of the universe writ large. Yet
another source exists on the subject. The following is from the Huainanzi which was written
in the 2nd century BC, and purports to quote the ancient Chinese philosopher Laozi (who
lived in the 6th century BC);
Suśruta-saṃhitā, which is an ancient Sanskrit text from India composed between 6th century
BCE and 5th century CE, speaks of 360 bones in human body. The text later got translated to
Arabic in Baghdad during the 8th century CE and later the translation reached to Europe by
the end of medieval period.[1][2][3][4]
This is the passage from the text (Translated to English from Sanskrit by Hoernle):
"...the professors of Ayurveda speak of three hundred and sixty bones, but books on Shalya-
Shastra (surgical science) know of only three hundred." - taken from Hoernle, A. F. Rudolf
(1907). Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India: Osteology or the Bones of the Human
Body. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. Page 70.
Meulenbeld, Gerrit Jan (1999). A History of Indian Medical Literature. Groningen: Brill (all
volumes, 1999-2002). Page 352 (Volume IA)
Ramachandra S.K. Rao, Encyclopaedia of Indian Medicine: historical perspective, Volume 1,
2005 Reprint (Original: 1985), pp 94-98.
Scuderi, Nicolò; Toth, Bryant A. (2016). International Textbook of Aesthetic Surgery.
Menick, Frederick J (11 October 2017). "Paramedian Forehead Flap Nasal Reconstruction:
History of the Procedure, Problem, Presentation".
Hoernle, A. F. Rudolf (1907). Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India: Osteology or the
Bones of the Human Body. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. Page 70-72.
According to the various biographies of the Prophet Muhammad ‫ﷺ‬, the only person who
may have studied Greek medicine and came into direct contact with the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was the
physician al-Harith bin Kalada. Bin Kalada was born in the middle of the 6th century in the
tribe of Banu Thaqif in Ta’if. Some historians maintain that he received his medical
education at the Jundishapur medical school where he learnt the teachings of Aristotle and
Galen.[1] According to these historians:
The major link between Islamic and Greek medicine must be sought in late Sasanian
medicine, especially in the School of Jundishapur rather than that of Alexandria. At the time
of the rise of Islam, Jundishapur was at its prime. It was the most important medical centre of
its time, combining the Greek, Indian and Iranian medical traditions in a cosmopolitan
atmosphere which prepared the ground for Islamic medicine.[2]
[1] M. Z. Siddiqi. Studies in Arabic and Persian Medical Literature. Calcutta University.
1959, pages 6 – 7.
[2] H. Bailey (ed). Cambridge History of Iran, vol 4. Cambridge University Press 1975 page
414.
[3] A. A. Khairallah. Outline of Arabic Contributions to Medicine. American Press, Beirut.
1946, page 22.
[4] David C. Lindberg. The Beginnings of Western Science. University Of Chicago Press.
1992, pages, 164-165.
Aisha narrates Mohammad had access to doctors etc.
He was not isolated from medicine and the developments of such.
"Sayyida 'Aisha ‫رضي هللا عنها‬, she was known to be the most intelligent in terms of medicine
from amongst the Companions.
"Why?
"Because she said, when the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬would be unwell - and Sheikh Samer told us, the
Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was often very unwell physically - doctors and herbalists would be brought to
him, and they would treat him with different types of herbal medicine."
Imam al-Tirmidhi’s Al-Shama'il al-Muhammadiyya, titled "What Has Been Narrated
Concerning the Antimony (kohl) of the Messenger of Allahu

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The systematic study of anatomy was started by Greek scientists Alcmaeon and Empedocles in the

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