Muhammad Mujahid Syed Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – “The traditional Unani medicines are time-tested and in the treatment of some diseases they have surpassed allopathic. Juxtaposed to allopathic these medicines have little or no side-effects,” said Hakim Muhammad Ahmad Gorakhpuri in an interview with Saudi Gazette. Ahmad, who belongs to a famous family of hakims (practitioner of Unani medicine), was on visit to the Kingdom to perform Umrah and meet his relatives here. “This way of treatment (Tibb) is getting popular day by day in the Indian Subcontinent. The reason behind this is the side-effects of allopathic as well as the cost of medicines. The Unani way of treatment requires patience. In India there are more than 40 Unani colleges under Central Council of Indian Medicine. The Ayurved government and private colleges are around 280,” said Ahmed who is also a religious scholar. “In its heyday Islamic Ummah had famous experts like Rhazes (Al-Razi), Avicenna (Ibn Sina), Al-Zahrawi and Ibn Nafis whose experiments and innovations opened new horizons in the medical field. "Ibn Sina's 'The Canon of Medicine (Al-Qanun Fil Tibb)' is an encyclopedia of medicine. It was completed in 1025. It is a clear and organized summary of all the medical knowledge of the time and is accepted as a most influential Galenic document of the Middle Ages. Originally written in the Arabic language, the book was later translated into a number of other languages, including Persian, Latin, Chinese, Hebrew, German, French, English and Urdu with lots of commentaries. "The Canon is considered one of the most famous books in the history of medicine. "The West praises Al-Qanun for containing some of the most illuminating thoughts pertaining to distinction of mediastinitis from pleurisy; contagious nature of phthisis; distribution of diseases by water and soil; careful description of skin troubles; of sexual diseases and perversions; of nervous ailments," he said. Ahmed also shed some light on the history of Unani treatment. “In India and the Islamic world, the Muslim rulers always promoted and sponsored this way of treatment. During the Abbasid Period the Greco-Arabic Medicine touched new heights. Not only the treasures of Greek medical literature were translated into Arabic but also Ayurveda books were considered important by the scholars of Abbasid Period for translations. "The books of Charak and other masters of Ayurveda medicine were translated into Arabic and on the basis of the ancient Greek and Indian knowledge Muslim experts, researchers and scientists of those times made new experiments. "Indian Muslim rulers too promoted Unani and Ayurvedic way of treatment. "They sponsored and protected these ways of treatment by giving royal patronage to the physicians and experts in this field. "During 800 years of Muslim rule, India was a famous country for its medical sciences and innovations in this field. Even in the last days of Mughal Empire these ways of treatments were flourishing. "The advent of the British was a great set back for Indian knowledge, arts, sciences and the local industry it that affected the progress of the Unani and Ayurvedic medical treatment too. Every art or the field of knowledge needs government help for its progress. The setting of the sun of the Mughal or Indian rule orphaned this way of treatment. I hope now the present interest of the central and provincial governments will pave the way for the development of Unani and Ayurvedic treatment.” Explaining the process of treatment, Ahmed said: "The Unani and Ayurvedic way of treatment have great similarities because both have the same principle of management of disease determined on the basis of etiology (the study of causation, or origination), the elimination of cause, normalization of humors and normalization of tissues/organs. "In Unani way of treatment Mizaj (temperament) is the basic and fundamental concept. It indicates the properties of an atom (Unsur) a molecule, a cell, a tissue, an organ and of the organism as a whole. "Each and every atom, molecule (murakkab), humour (khilt) cell, organ and body as a whole is furnished with a mizaj (equilibrium) upon which their properties, functions and life depends. "In fact, it is the complete mirror of the chemical state of the human body and indicates environment and homeostasis of the body. The Greek theory of four humours is accepted in the Unani and Ayurvedic ways of treatments. "This theory postulates the presence of blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile in the human body." Ahmad complained that Unani medical practitioners who are qualified doctors abandon their mainstream Unani treatment and prefer allopathic practice. “This betrayal harms our ancient way of treatment. This attitude is self-defeating. My father, late Hakim Wasi Ahmad, was a Hakim and a qualified doctor like his elder brother, Hakim Wali Ahmad, but he remained faithful to his mainstream education and established himself as a Hakim in Gorakhpur.
The result is that today almost all the city people knows our Aligarh Dawakhana. Hakim Wali Ahmad, my elder uncle, had established this clinic and my father ran it with full strength and devotion to fulfill the ambition of his elder brother who had taken care of my father after my grandparents died when my father was an infant. The result was a great success. I too had adopted this way of treatment and am happy. One of my sons like me has preferred to be a Hakim.
