Unani-tibb or Unani Medicine also spelled Yunani Medicine (; ''Yūnānī'' in Arabic, Hindi-Urdu and Persian) means "Greek Medicine", and is a form of traditional medicine widely practiced in South Asia. It refers to a tradition of Graeco-Arabic medicine, which is based on the teachings of Greek physician Hippocrates, and Roman physician Galen, and developed in to an elaborate medical System by Arab and Persian physicians, such as Rhazes, Avicenna (Ibn Sena), Al-Zahrawi, Ibn Nafis.

Unani medicine is based around the concepts of the four humours: Phlegm (Balgham), Blood (Dam), Yellow bile (Ṣafrā') and Black bile (Saudā').

Etymology

The word Unani or Yunani has its origins in the Greek word Ἰωνία (Iōnía) or Ἰωνίη (Iōníe), a place name given to a Greek populated coastal region of Anatolia.

History

Though the threads which comprise Unani healing can be traced all the way back to Claudius Galenus of Pergamum, who lived in the second century of the Christian Era and also to Ancient Iranian Medicine, the basic knowledge of Unani medicine as a healing system was developed by Hakim Ibn Sina (known as Avicenna in the west) in his medical encyclopedia ''The Canon of Medicine''. The time of origin is thus dated at ''circa'' 1025 AD, when Avicenna wrote ''The Canon of Medicine'' in Persia. While he was primarily influenced by Greek and Islamic medicine, he was also influenced by the Indian medical teachings of Sushruta and Charaka.

Unani medicine first arrived in India around 12-13 century CE with establishment of Delhi Sultanate (1206-1527 CE) and Muslim rule over North India and subsequently flourished under Mughal Empire. Alauddin Khilji (r. 1296-1316) had several eminent Unani physicians (Hakims) in his royal courts In the coming year this royal patronage meant development of Unani practice in India, but also of Unani literature with the aid of Indian Ayurvedic physicians.

Asia

Fortunately, Unani classical literature consists of thousands of books across the world, contains vast knowledge and mention of experiences on all aspects of medicine. According to Unani medicine, management of any disease depends upon the diagnosis of disease.In the diagnosis,clinical features i.e. signs, symptoms,laboratory features and mizaj( temperament)are important.

Any cause and or factor is countered by Quwwat-e- mudabbira-e- badan (the power of body responsible to maintain health) the failing of which may lead to quantitatively or qualitatively derangement of the normal equilibrium of akhlat( humors ) of body which constitute the tissues and organs. This abnormal humor leads to pathological changes in the tissues anatomically and physiologically at the affected site of the body and exhibits the clinical manifestations.

After diagnosing the disease, Usoole ilaj (principle of management) of disease is determined on the basis of etiology on the following pattern.

Izalae sabab (elimination of cause)

Tadeele akhlat (normalization of humors)

Tadeele aza (normalization of tissues/organs)

For the purpose of fulfillment of requirements of principle of management, mode of treatment is decided as per the Unani medicine which may be one or more of the following.

Ilaj- bil- tadbeer wa Ilaj-Bil-Ghiza (regimenal therapy) -The disease may be treated by the modification of six essential pre-requisites of health(Asbab-e- Sitta Zarooriya in Unani Tibbi terminology).This method of treatment is called as Ilaj- Bil-Tadbeer.Asbab-e-Sitta Zarooriya may be modified by the use of One or more regimens i.e. dalak, riyazat, hammam, taleeq, takmeed, hijamat, fasd, lakhlakha, bakhur,Abzan,Shamoomat(Aromatherapy),Pashoya,Idrar,Ishal,Qai,Tareeq,Elam,Laza-e-Muqabil, Imalah and alteration of foods.According to the norms of C.C.I.M. New Delhi, Department of Ilaj-Bil-Tadbeer has been established in almost all Unani Tibbi Colleges of India.In the State Unani Medical College,Allahabad,U.P. and State Takmeel-Ul-Tibb College,Lucknow ,Department of Ilaj-Bil-Tadbeer is known as Moalijat Khususi.Moaliajt Khususi is the old nomenclature of Ilaj-Bil-Tadbeer,suggested by C.C.I.M. New Delhi.Ilaj-Bil-Tadbeer is synonym to Panchkarma in Ayurveda.

Ilaj bil advia (pharmacotherapy) - For this purpose Mamulate matab nuskha (prescription) is formulated which contain the single and or compound Unani drugs having desired actions as per requirements.

Ilaj-Bil-Yad (Surgery)

In India, there are forty(40) Unani Medical Colleges where Unani System of medicine is taught, in five and half year courses and the graduates are awarded BUMS (Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery). There are about 8 Unani medical Colleges where a Postgraduate degree(Mahir-e-Tib & Mahir Jarahat) is being awarded to BUMS Doctors. All these colleges are affiliated to reputed universities and recognized by the Governments.

As an alternative form of medicine, Unani has found favor in India. These Unani practitioners can practice as qualified doctors in India, as the government approve their practice. Unani medicine is very close to Ayurveda. Both are based on theory of the presence of the elements (in Unani, they are considered to be fire, water, earth and air) in the human body. (The elements, attributed to the philosopher Empedocles, determined the way of thinking in Medieval Europe.) According to followers of Unani medicine, these elements are present in different fluids and their balance leads to health and their imbalance leads to illness.

All these elaborations were built on the basic Hippocratic theory of the four humours. The theory postulates the presence of blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile in the human body. Each person's unique mixture of these substances determines his Mizaj(Temperament). a predominance of blood gives a sanguine temperament; a predominance of phlegm makes one phlegmatic; yellow bile, bilious (or choleric); and black bile, melancholic. Whan these humours are in balance, the human system is healthy and whan it is imbalance which can result in disease.

In India, the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) a statutory body established in 1971 under Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, monitors higher education in areas of Indian medicine including, Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha. To fight biopiracy and unethical patents, the Government of India, in 2001, set up the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library as repository of formulations of various systems of Indian medicine, includes 98,700 Unani formulations. Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM) established in 1979, also under AYUSH, aids and co-ordinates scientific research in Unani System of Medicine through a network of 22 nationwide research Institutes and Units, including two Central Research Institutes of Unani Medicine, at Hyderabad and Lucknow, eight Regional Research Institutes at Chennai, Bhadrak, Patna, Aligarh, Mumbai, Srinagar, Kolkata and New Delhi, six Clinical Research Units at Allahabad, Bangalore, Karimganj, Meerut, Bhopal and Burhanpur, four Drug Standardisation Research Units at New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Lucknow, a Chemical Research Unit at Aligarh, a Literary Research Institute at New Delhi.

Safety issues

According to WHO, "Pharmacovigilance activities are done to monitor detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of any obnoxious adverse reactions to drugs at therapeutic concentration that is used or is intended to be used to modify or explore physiological system or pathological states for the benefit of recipient." These drugs may be any substance or product including herbs, minerals, etc. for animals and human beings and can even be that prescribed by practitioners of Unani or ayurvedic system of medicine. In recent days, awareness has been created related to safety and adverse drug reaction monitoring of herbal drugs including Unani drugs.

Notable Unani institutions

Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine,India.

Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences,India.

National Institute of Unani Medicine, (Government of India)

A&U; Tibbia College, Karol Bagh, New Delhi, (Government of N.C.T. Delhi),India.

Faculty of Unani Medicine, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi,India.

Ajmal Khan Tibbia College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh,U.P.India.

Government Nizamia Tibbi College and Hospital, Hyderabad, A.P.India.

ZVM Unani College and Hospital, Pune, M.S.India.

State Takmeel-ut-tib College and hospital, Lucknow, U.P.(Government of U.P.).India.

State Unani Medical College & H.A.H.R.D.M. Hospital, Himmatganj, Allahabad, U.P. (Government of U.P.).India.

Saifia Hamidia Unani Tibbia College & Saeeda Hospital, Ganpati Naka, Burhanpur,M.P.India.

Unani and Ayurvedic Medical College & Hospital

See also

Traditional Knowledge Digital Library

Hamdard (Wakf) Laboratories

Hamdard Laboratories (Waqf)

Dawakhana Shifaul Amraz

Hakim Syed Karam Husain

Hakim Syed Atiqul Qadir

Hakim Syed Fazlur Rahman

Hakim Ajmal Khan

Hakim Abdul Aziz

Hakim Mohammed Said

Hakim Hammad Usmani

Qazi Mazhar Qayyum

Hakim Habibur Rahman

Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman

Further reading

''Standardisation of single drugs of Unani medicine''. Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (India), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India, 1987.

''Unani: the science of Graeco-Arabic medicine'', by Jamil Ahmad, Hakim Ashhar Qadeer. Lustre Press, 1998. ISBN 8174360522.

''The Unani Pharmacopoeia of India'', Dept. of Indian Systems of Medicine & Homoeopathy. Pub. Govt. of India, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Dept. of Indian Systems of Medicine & Homoeopathy, 1999.

''Physicochemical standards of Unani formulations'', Pub. Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India, 2006.

''Refiguring unani tibb: plural healing in late colonial India'', by Guy N. A. Attewell. Orient Longman, 2007. ISBN 8125030174.

''Hand book on unani medicines with formulae, processes, uses and analysis''. National Institute Of Industrial Research, 2008. ISBN 8178330423.

10 Unani medicine books online at Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (Govt. of India)

References

External links

History of Medicine and Sciences,

American Institute of Unani Medicine

Directory of History of Medicine Collection

Healing - Unveiling Unani

Category:Islam in India Category:Alternative medical systems Category:Health in India Category:History of medieval medicine Category:Unani medicine Category:Traditional medicine

de:Unani fr:Yunâni hi:यूनानी चिकित्सा पद्धति ml:യുനാനി ms:Unani sl:Unani ta:யுனானி te:యునానీ ur:طب یونانی

name	Hakim Ajmal Khan
birth date	1863
birth place	Delhi
death date	29 December 1927
nationality	India
occupation	physician, politician }}

Ajmal Khan or Hakim Ajmal Khan (1863 1927) was an Indian physician specialising in the field of South Asian traditional Unani medicine as well as a Muslim nationalist politician and freedom fighter. Through his founding of the Tibbia College in Delhi, he is credited with the revival of Unani medicine in early 20th century India. Khan also recognised the talents of chemist Dr. Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, whose subsequent research into important medicinal plants used in the field gave it a new direction. A close associate of Gandhi, he participated in the Non-cooperation movement ''(Satyagraha)'', led the Khilafat Movement, and became the fifth Muslim President of the Indian National Congress during the 1921 session held in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Khan was one of the founders of the Jamia Millia Islamia University, becoming its first chancellor in 1920 and remaining in office until his death in 1927.

Biography

Hakim Born in 1863, Khan descended from a distinguished line of physicians who had come to India during the reign of Mughal Emperor Babar. His family were all Unani doctors who had practiced this ancient form of medicine since their arrival in the country. They were then known as the Rais of Delhi. His grandfather, Hakim Sharif Khan, was physician to Mughal Emperor, Shah Alam and built the Sharif Manzil, a hospital-cum-college teaching Unani medicine.

Khan learnt the Quran by heart and as a child studied traditional Islamic knowledge including Arabic and Persian, before turning his energy to the study of medicine under the guidance of his senior relatives, all of whom were well-known physicians. To promote the practice of Tibb-i-unani or Unani medicine, his grandfather had set up the Sharif Manzil hospital-cum-college known throughout the subcontinent as one of the best philanthropic Unani hospitals where treatment for poor patients was free. He completed his Unani studies under Hakeem Abdul Jameel of Siddiqui Dawakhana, Delhi.

On qualifying in 1892, Khan became chief physician to the Nawab of Rampur. Hailed as "Massiha-e-Hind" (Messiah of India) and "a king without a crown", Khan, like his father, was reputed to effect miraculous cures and to have possessed a "magical" medicine chest, the secrets of which were known to him alone. Such was his medical acumen that it is said that he could diagnose any illness by just looking at a person’s face. Hakim Ajmal Khan charged Rs.1000 per day for an out-of-town visit but if the patient came to Delhi, he was treated free, regardless of his position in society.

Khan proved to be the most outstanding and multifaceted personality of his era with matchless contributions to the causes of Indian independence, national integration and communal harmony.

He took great interest in the expansion and development of the native system of Unani medicine and to that end built three important institutions, the Central College in Delhi, the Hindustani Dawakhana and the Ayurvedic and Unani Tibbia College, which expanded research and practice in the field and saved the Unani System of Medicine from extinction in India. His untiring efforts in this field infused a new force and life into an otherwise decaying Unani medical system under British rule. Khan proposed the absorption of Western concepts within the Unani system, a view diametrically opposite to that adopted by physicians of the Lucknow school who wanted to maintain the system's purity.

As one of its founders, Khan was elected first chancellor of the Jamia Milia Islamia University on 22 November 1920, holding the position until his death in 1927. During this period he oversaw the University's move to Delhi from Aligarh and helped it to overcome various crises, including financial ones, when he carried out extensive fund raising and often bailed it out using his own money.

Nationalism

Khan changed direction from medicine towards politics after he started writing for the Urdu weekly ''Akmal-ul-Akhbar'' launched by his family. Khan also headed the Muslim team who met the Viceroy of India in Shimla in 1906 and presented him with a memorandum written by the delegation. The following year, he was present at the Dhaka inauguration of the All India Muslim League on 30 December 1906. At a time when many Muslim leaders faced arrest, Khan approached Mahatma Gandhi for help, thereafter uniting with him and other Muslim leaders such as Maulana Azad, Maulana Mohammad Ali and Maulana Shaukat Ali in the well-known Khilafat movement. Khan was also the sole person elected to the Presidency of the Indian National Congress, the Muslim League and the All India Khilafat Committee.

Legacy

Before he died of heart problems on 29 December 1927 Khan had renounced his government title, and many of his Indian followers awarded him the title of Masih-ul-Mulk (Healer of the Nation). He was succeeded to the position of JMI Chancellor by Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari. Ajmaline, a class Ia antiarrhythmic agent and Ajmalan a parent hydride, are named after him.

After partition

After the partition of India Khan's grandson Hakim Muhammad Nabi Khan moved to Pakistan. Hakim Nabi had learnt Tibb (medicine) from his grandfather and opened 'Dawakhana Hakim Ajmal Khan' in Lahore which has branches throughout Pakistan. The motto of the Ajmal khan family is ''Azal-ul-Allah-Khudatulmal'', which means that the best way to keep oneself busy is by serving humanity.

Quotes

"The spirit of non-cooperation pervades throughout the country and there is no true Indian heart even in the remotest corner of this great country which is not filled with the spirit of cheerful suffering and sacrifice to attain Swaraj and see the Punjab and the Khilafat wrongs redressed." — From the Presidential Address, I.N.C., 1921 Session, Ahmedabad.

Further reading

''Hakim Ajmal Khan, the versatile genius'', by Mohammed Abdur Razzack. Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India, 1987.

''Hakim Ajmal Khan'' by Zafar Ahmed Nizami, Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India, 1988...

''Hakim Ajmal Khan''(Indian freedom fighters series), by Shri Ram Bakshi. Anmol Publications, 1996. ISBN 8174882642.

''Hakim Ajmal Khan'' (Hindi, Urdu and English Version) by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, National Book Trust, Government of India, New Delhi, India, 2004.

References

External links

'''Dawakhana Hakim Ajmal Khan'', Lahore website

Hakim Ajmal Khan (1863-1927): Medicine, Freedom Fighter

Category:1863 births Category:1927 deaths Category:People from Delhi Category:Indian Muslims Category:Indian independence activists Category:Islam in India Category:Jamia Millia Islamia Category:Indian educationists Category:Presidents of the Indian National Congress Category:People in alternative medicine Category:Indian doctors Category:Indian politicians Category:Leaders of All India Muslim League Category:Unani practitioners

hi:हकीम अजमल ख़ान ml:ഹക്കീം അജ്മൽ ഖാൻ ur:حکیم اجمل خان