The Tailbone

Prof. Dr. Hanafi Madbouly

Professor of Virology, Beni Suef University, Bachelor of Fundamentals of Religion - Al-Azhar University 1999, State Award in Biological Sciences 2002 / Patent for the preparation of viral vaccines 2008, member of the International Authority for the Book and Sunnah, and Chairman of the Medical Committee at the International Center for Scientific Miracles for Research and Training in Cairo.

Hadith about the tailbone : It contains one of the precise scientific indications that the leading medical scientists, embryologists, molecular biologists, and genetic geneticists were amazed by, as Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, pointed out to these sciences in simple, concise, accomplished and miraculous words for their content, such as his saying, peace and blessings be upon him: (... There is nothing in man that does not wear out, except one bone, which is the tailbone, and from it creation will be assembled on the Day of Resurrection). And in another narration, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: (...then Allah sends or sends down drops as if it were dew (), and in a narration: (From it it was created and in it it is created (), and in a narration Muslim: (..then Allah sends down water from the sky and they sprout, just as plants sprout...). 

And in the narration of Imam Ahmad on the authority of Abu Saeed, Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: (The dirt eats up everything from a person except the tip of his tailbone. It was said: What is it, O Messenger of Allah? He said: Something like a mustard seed from which you will grow.)

Embryologists define the tailbone as: the remnants of cells from the primitive streak and the primary knot that begin to create the embryo after their formation. If they are not formed, the embryo’s organs are not created.

Scientific guidance:

The Prophet’s saying, peace and blessings be upon him: ‘One bone’: There are linguistic and scientific miraculous aspects in this which dazzles the minds, that the entire coccyx is in a single bone, and thus his saying is scientifically verified that it is a single bone in a stage (of which he was created). With advancing age, scientists found that the vertebrae of the coccyx fuse to form a single bone, and this is one of the comprehensive expressions given to the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, for his words were concise but comprehensive in meanin

Figure (1) shows the shape of the coccyx from the back and front and its location at the end of the spine

From Him were created: The Prophet, peace be upon him, spoke about the beginning of the development of the fetus from the tailbone , saying: “From it it was created” The process of creating the embryo begins after fertilization of the egg with the sperm. Then this fertilized egg is divided into two divisions into the thymus or morula stage. Then a fluid is formed that separates this mass of cells into two layers, which are the outer cell layer (trophoblasts), which is called the trophoblast, which helps the blastocyst or blastula to implant in the wall of the uterus and later form the placenta, and the inner cell mass, which later forms the fetus (Figure 2). This process of specialization and differentiation is what leads to the formation of the brain, heart, and all other tissues from the unicellular zygote cell. 

What leads to cell differentiation:

Scientists have discovered genes in all living organisms, such as insects, fish, amphibians, plants, animals, birds, and humans, that help them synthesize the DNA specific to each living organism. Scientists called them box genes, which are proteins recorded on the DNA, which tell the cells at all stages of fetal development what organs and systems they are made of, that is, they send instructions to the cells. To create parts of the embryo ().

The embryonic disc consists of layers of cells: ectoderm (external dermis), mesoderm (middle dermis), and endoderm (endoderm). A groove is formed from the epiblast cells as a result of the cells rising on either side of this groove from the bottom to the top of the embryonic disc. A hole is formed at the end of this groove, after the formation of this groove and hole, some cells from the mesoderm cells migrate to this groove and this hole to form the first stripe and the primary knot.

Figure (2) shows the layers of cells of the embryonic disc, which form the amniotic sac, which maintains the fetus, and the yolk sac, which nourishes the fetus until the maternal placenta is formed, after which it feeds on the food supplied with the mother ’s blood.

The stage of organ formation does not begin  (Organogenesis) except after the formation of the primary stripe, the nerve gutter, and the physical masses, the first stripe finishes its mission in the fourth week , and begins to disappear and remains dormant in the coccygeal region of the fetus, and all other than that small trace disappears (Figure 3). 

Figure ( 3 ) shows the Primitive Streak , which begins its formation on day 17 of the fetus’s life from the bottom of the embryonic disc, from which the formation of the notochord, the spinal cord (neural plate), and the Primitive Pit begins. The cells gather to form the primary node from which the head, brain, and cerebrum are formed, and the fetus begins the formation of these organs from day 17 until the fourth week, then a group of cells remains from it, and the membrane paving the way for the formation of the mouth and pharynx.

Allah Almighty has given this precise tape the ability to stimulate cells to divide, specialize, differentiate, and assemble into specialized tissues and organs, and a group of totipotent cells remains from the origins of this body at the end of the spine in the first vertebra of the coccyx bone. Among the most important scientists who have proven this scientific fact is the German scientist Hans Spemann and the scientist Vogt, who discovered that the primary thread and the primary knot are the ones that regulate the creation of the fetus, and they were called the primary organizer. By cutting this part (the primary thread and the primary knot) and transplanting it into another embryo in the early embryonic stages in the third and fourth weeks, this led to the growth of a secondary embryo from this implanted piece in the host embryo (Figure 4). In 1891, Driesch separated the first two blastomeres from a sea urchin embryo, and found that each was able to self-organize and give rise to complete, albeit smaller, embryos. This was published by Hans Spemen in his book (). 

Figure (4) Implantation of the first strand and primary node of an amphibian embryo into another embryo, leading to the formation of a secondary embryo.

Amphibians can also organize themselves and give rise to a complete embryo from half an egg (). It was confirmed that both halves contain part of the dorsal organizer area, and completely identical twins were obtained (). They demonstrated this by creating twins in human embryos. In 1988 , the scientist Viktor Hamburger took part of the cells from a salamander embryo and transplanted them into another embryo, which led to the formation of a secondary embryo in the host embryo, which confirms that cells from the blastula stage are capable of forming an embryo with the help of another embryo (), as in Figure (5).

Figure (5) shows the transplantation of pieces of embryos at the blastula stage into host embryos, giving rise to secondary embryos from the same pieces of the embryo.

It consists of ectoderm cells, skin cells and nerve cells of the brain and colored cells, and on both sides of this layer, sex cells are formed. While heart cells, muscle cells, kidney cells, red blood cells, and smooth muscle cells in the intestinal wall develop from the mesoderm cells. Lung alveoli cells, pancreatic gland cells, and thyroid cells develop from the endoderm cells as shown in Figure (6). Cell differentiation is the result of the integration of different stimulation methods in a spatio-temporal manner.

Figure (6) shows the differentiation of cells from the three layers (the outer cell layer (ectoderm) , the middle (mesoderm ), and the inner (endoderm) and the formation of the fetus’s body organs from each layer.

Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, explained that it is like a mustard seed: This analogy to the tailbone is that it is like a mustard seed - in its size, weight, color, and in its being eukaryotic like the cells of the tailbone - extremely graphically and scientifically magnificent.

Figure (7) shows the color, size, and weight of a mustard seed and eukaryotic cells

The Messenger, peace be upon him, stated that it does not wear out: This is also a scientific miracle in itself, as in 1931 the German scientist Spemann crushed the primary organizer, and implanted it again, but the crushing did not affect it, as it grew and formed a secondary embryonic axis, and in 1933 they implanted the primary regulator after boiling it, they saw the growth of the axis of a secondary embryo after the boiling, and its cells were not affected by the boiling (). In some experiments, it was exposed to radiation and they found that the cells inside it did not die (), and what was discovered by researchers - including Johannes Holtfreter, Otto Mangold, Dorothy Needham, C. H. Waddington and many others - is that the organizations that are destroyed by boiling, freezing, or stabilizing are able to form fetal tissues. A group of Chinese scientists proved the impossibility of annihilating the tailbone chemically by dissolving in the strongest acids, or physically by burning, crushing, or exposing to ultraviolet rays and lithium chloride (). 

And his saying, peace and blessings be upon him : “From it they grow as plants grow..”: This is another scientific fact, as it has become clear to agriculturalists and embryologists that there is a similarity between the germination of legumes and the tailbone, as the cells of both are eukaryotic, and that growth is from the bottom up, and that their cells contain the genes of the catalytic box for cell differentiation (Figure 8). 

Figure (8) The growth of the legume plant and the growth of the fetus. We see the similarity between the growth of the legume plant and the growth of the fetus, from bottom to top.

And the Prophet’s saying, peace and blessings be upon him: “ From him creation is created..”: Scientists have isolated three rows of stem cells from three types of coccygeal tumors, and used them to treat damaged tissue. Medical reports were also received from various parts of the world of children born with cancer in the coccygeal area: a report from Venezuela (), a report from Morocco (), and many cases from countries around the world published in international journals of these cancerous formations, some of which show a complete leg () of a 10-day-old baby with reduced traces of the external genital organs and teeth, as in (Figure 9). Also, from India () it shows a baby born with a complete foot and thigh, a reduced hand, and teeth and toes reduced from the coccyx area .

Figure (9) shows teratogenic tumors from the coccyx region, which indicates the presence of totipotent cells capable of forming differentiated organs.

Aspects of scientific miracle:

The Prophet, peace be upon him, spoke about the beginning of the creation of the fetus and from what it is created - at a time when scientific tools were not available to reveal the facts of embryology - before scientists specializing in embryology, whether in animals, birds, amphibians, in humans, or in other living creatures, spoke about it, approximately 13 centuries ago, which indicates that this miraculous speech is the word of Allah  Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Aware, and that Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, does not speak out of whims, and this indicates the sincerity of the message and the sincerity of the Messenger. 

The important question is: Did the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, see the size of the remnants of cells from the first strand, which is in the first bone of the coccyx, and is like a mustard seed, in order to say that? Or did he, peace and blessings be upon him, acquire this knowledge from the people of his town or from neighboring civilizations such as the Persian civilization, the Roman civilization, or other neighboring civilizations at that time? Or from other civilizations far from his town and then transported by the migration of its people? The answer, of course, is no, and this was not available in his environment, nor in the civilizations neighboring his town at that time. If this science had been available to them, they would have passed it on to us, just as the sciences of other civilizations such as the Babylonian, Assyrian, Phoenician, ancient Egyptian, and Chinese civilizations were transmitted, but with the absence of this science (which is the science of embryos and the creation of the fetus) in such civilizations, this indicates definitively that this is a prior knowledge from the words of an illiterate Arab prophet who does not speak from his own whims, but rather it is the words of the All-Knowing, the All-Aware. The Prophet, peace be upon him, told us about these scientific facts fourteen centuries ago, that man is created from the tailbone and from it he will be assembled on the Day of Resurrection. It is the only bone which remains after death and the annihilation of the human body, and from it he is recreated again if Allah wills to send His servants for reckoning and reward. Allah Almighty sends down rain from the sky and each individual grows from his tailbone, just as a herb grows from its seed. This indicates the sincerity of the message of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and that he does not speak out of his own whims.