Salim ibn Dhareer narrated that once a Christian asked Imam al-Sadiq (as) about the secrets of medicine, then he asked him about the details of human body. He said: “Allah the Almighty and Majestic, created human with twelve segments, with two hundred and forty eight bones, with three hundred and sixty vessels. Vessels are what irrigating the whole of body. Bones are keeping it steady and fleshes are keeping the bones. Nerves are keeping the fleshes.
“Hands contain eighty-two bones and each hand contains forty-one bones. There are thirty-five bones in palm; two in his forearm; one in his upper arm; three in his shoulder and these are forty-one. Of course, the same rule applies to the other hand. There are forty three bones in lower part of the body including thirty-five bones in his foot; two in his leg; three in his knee; one in his thigh; two in his hip. The same rule applies to the other side. There are eighteen vertebras in his spinal column. There are nine ribs in each side and there are eight in neck. There are also thirty six and there are twenty-eight or thirty-two bones in mouth.”
Late al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Khalili said: “I swear that this counting and numbering is the same as the one whom the current anatomist said nowadays without any addition or extraction. Just maybe there is something in naming or considering two connected ones as one or vice versa. This is what lead us to know about his comprehensive knowledge in anatomy and his deep view in explaining the detailed human bony system in human body.”
THE LIFE OF IMAM JAF’AR AL-SADIQ (AS) – BAQIR SHARIF AL-QURASHI