Unani medicine

Unani comes from the Arabic and Persian word Yunani, “Greek”. The tradition builds on the Greek medicine of Hippocrates and Galen, which was translated, preserved and greatly expanded in the Islamic world.

From the ninth century scholars in Baghdad translated Greek medical works into Arabic. Persian and Arab physicians such as al-Razi (865–925) and Ibn Sina (980–1037) built a rich system on them. Ibn Sina’s Canon of Medicine was studied for centuries in the Islamic world and in Europe.

From the thirteenth century Unani came to South Asia with the Delhi Sultanate and later the Mughal emperors, where it flourished. After British rule, physicians such as Hakim Ajmal Khan (1868–1927) worked to preserve the tradition. He founded the Tibbia College in Delhi in 1916.

Unani starts from four bodily humours: blood (dam), phlegm (balgham), yellow bile (safra) and black bile (sauda). Their proportion determines a person’s temperament, mizaj, which is hot, cold, dry or moist.

Health is the balance of the humours, and illness is a disturbance of it. The body has its own healing power, tabiyat, which the physician must support.

Six “essential factors” determine health: air, food and drink, movement and rest, sleep and wakefulness, intake and excretion, and emotions. A good way of life is therefore the basis of treatment.

A Unani physician is called a hakim. For centuries knowledge passed from master to pupil, often within families of hakims.

A Unani physician treats in four ways: with lifestyle and regimen (ilaj bil tadbeer), such as cupping, bloodletting with leeches, massage and baths; with diet (ilaj bil ghiza); with remedies (ilaj bil dawa); and in exceptional cases with surgery.

Today universities in India train students for the Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery (BUMS). In India Unani falls under the Ministry of AYUSH.

Ibn Sina’s Canon of Medicine, completed around 1025, is the most important work. It has five books, on principles, remedies, diseases by part of the body, general diseases and compound remedies.

Al-Razi wrote, among other works, the Kitab al-Hawi, a large collection of clinical observations, and a famous treatise on smallpox and measles.

In South Asia hakims wrote their own works in Persian and Urdu.

Unani is practised mainly in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, with its own hospitals, clinics and pharmacies. In India it is a recognised system of care alongside conventional medicine.

A well-known company is Hamdard, founded in Delhi in 1906 by Hakim Hafiz Abdul Majeed. Among other things it makes the rose syrup Rooh Afza, which is widely drunk in South Asia, especially during Ramadan.

Cupping, hijama, is also experiencing a revival outside South Asia, including among Muslims in Europe.

The Unani pharmacy is rich in plants from the Middle East and South Asia. Black seed (kalonji) is highly valued. Saffron, rose, senna and liquorice are important remedies.

Cinnamon, pomegranate and fenugreek are also widely used. Remedies are often prepared as a syrup (sharbat), a jam (majoon) or a decoction.

According to the teaching every remedy has its own temperament, hot or cold, dry or moist, and is chosen to bring the patient’s temperament into balance.

Unani is a learned tradition that Muslims, Hindus and others in South Asia shaped together. It shows how knowledge travels between cultures.

Some Unani remedies contain metals or minerals. Cupping with incisions (wet cupping) must be done hygienically. Consult a doctor.