Unani
Unani or Yunani medicine (Urdu: ''tibb yūnānī'') is Perso-Arabic traditional medicine as practiced in Muslim culture in South Asia and modern day Central Asia. Unani medicine is pseudoscientific. The Indian Medical Association describes U ...
pharmaceutical
A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...
company in India (following the independence of India from Britain, "Hamdard"
Unani
Unani or Yunani medicine (Urdu: ''tibb yūnānī'') is Perso-Arabic traditional medicine as practiced in Muslim culture in South Asia and modern day Central Asia. Unani medicine is pseudoscientific. The Indian Medical Association describes U ...
branches were established in
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
(erstwhile East Pakistan) and
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
). It was established in 1906 by Hakeem Hafiz Abdul Majeed in
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
, and became a
waqf
A waqf ( ar, وَقْف; ), also known as hubous () or '' mortmain'' property is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitabl ...
(non-profitable trust) in 1948. Some of its most popular products include Sharbat Rooh Afza, Safi, Roghan Badam Shirin, Sualin, Joshina and Cinkara. It is associated with Hamdard Foundation, a charitable educational trust.
Hamdard Laboratories was founded in 1906 in Delhi by Hakeem Hafiz Abdul Majeed and Ansarullah Tabani, a Unani practitioner. The name Hamdard means "companion in suffering" in
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
)
Hakim Hafiz Abdul Majeed was born in
Pilibhit
Pilibhit is a city and a municipal board of Pilibhit district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Pilibhit is the north-easternmost district of Bareilly division, situated in the Rohilkhand region of the sub-Himalayan Plateau belt next to f ...
City UP, India in 1883 to Sheikh Rahim Bakhsh. He is said to have learnt the complete Quran Sharif by heart. He also studied the origin of
Persian language
Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and ...
s. Subsequently, he acquired the highest degree in the unani system of medicine.
Hakim Hafiz Abdul Majeed got in touch with Hakim Zamal Khan, who had a keen interest in herbs and was famous for identifying medicinal plants. Having consulted with his wife, Abdul Majeed set up a herbal shop at Hauz Qazi in Delhi in 1906 and started to produce herbal medicine there. In 1920 the small herbal shop turned into a full-fledged production house.
Hamdard Foundation was created in 1964 to disburse the profits of the company to promote the interests of the society. All the profits of the company go to the foundation.New-look Hamdard gets down to business in ''
Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...
'', 20 January 2001
After Abdul Majeed's death, his son
Hakeem Abdul Hameed
Hakim Abdul Hameed ( ur, ; 1908 - 1999) was an Indian physician of the traditional medicine system of Unani, the founder chancellor of Jamia Hamdard, and a former chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. His ancestors came from Kashgar (now K ...
took over the administration of Hamdard Laboratories at the age of fourteen.
Hamdard Laboratories has a twin manufacturing plant in
Ghaziabad
Ghaziabad () is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and a part of Delhi NCR. It is the administrative headquarters of Ghaziabad district and is the largest city in western Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 1,729,000. Ghaziabad Muni ...
and one plant in Manesar Haryana. One of its products, Safi has high demand in the country since it is believed to be used for blood purification.
See also
*
Hamdard Public School
Hamdard Public School situated in Sangam Vihar is a co-educational, senior secondary school in New Delhi, India, affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education. It is recognized by the Department of Education, Govt. of NCT Delhi and the ...
*
Jamia Hamdard
Jamia Hamdard ( ur, ) is an institute of higher education deemed to be university located in New Delhi, India. It is a government-funded university. Established in 1989, it was formally inaugurated by the then Prime Minister of India Shri R ...
*
CRIUM, Hyderabad
Central Research Institute of Unani Medicine or CRIUM Hyderabad, established in December 1971, is an Indian Government-sponsored Unani medicine research center and out-patient clinic located in Hyderabad, India. The institute was upgraded to Nati ...