Hakim Abdul Aziz
Encyclopedia
Hakim Abdul Aziz (1855–1911) was a prominent Unani
physician from colonial India
. He energetically tried to systematise and resurrect the edifice of Unani medicine in British India, and was globally renowned as the pre-eminent practitioner of his time.
for research and excellence in Unani Medicine. He was born into a family of Kashmiri migrants, and is regarded as the founder of the Lucknow tradition in Unani medicine. Unani medicine was practised as a family trade passed on from one generation to another and the Azizi family was no exception – they treated patients in the old quarters of the city, and became synonymous with the Jhanwaitola locality in Old Lucknow.
The earliest biographical work on Hakim Abdul Aziz and his philosophical approach in Unani medicine along with the legacy of ‘Azizi Family’ was first extensively explored by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman
. He wrote memoirs and life history of ‘Azizi Family’, prescriptions and formulations of Hakim Abdul Waheed, Unani
Formularies used by Azizi Family of Lucknow.
who advocated incorporation of concepts from alternative medical systems. Consequently, the Delhi
and Lucknow schools of Unani medicine evolved in different directions.
Hakim Abdul Aziz wished to systematise unani instruction at the Lucknow Madrasa around the texts of Ibn Sìnà
, supplemented by practical instruction in surgery and anatomy
.
, Afghanistan, Balochistan
, Bukhara
and the Hejaz
. The Takmil al Tibb School established by him at Lucknow, was instrumental in combating the widespread plague of 1902–03.
In 1910, coming to terms with the singular promotion of colonialism to allopathic medicine, Hakim Abdul Aziz, along with Hakim Ajmal Khan
and Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya formed the All India Ayurvedic and Unani Tibb Conference to defend traditional forms of healing. In 1904, recognizing the Hakim's stringent attitude towards adulteration in medicine, British India invited him to serve on the board of the Committee for Regulation of Medical Formulations.
Hakim Abdul Aziz did not charge from visiting patients. Though, it is recorded that he solicited fees of Rupees 16 for visits within the city, Rupees 500 for visits outside the city and Rupees 1000 for visits outside the state. Among his royal patients were Shahjahan Begum of Bhopal and the son of Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda
, the Hakim fell ill and died. His death was widely mourned by poets, journalists and commoners. After his death, his two eldest sons took over the maintenance of Takmil al Tibb. A road in Lucknow is named after him (Abdul Aziz Road), and the college is now maintained by the government. The Azizi family is still involved in practice of Unani medicine. The Azizi Family also played a significant role in the Indian independence movement
.
Unani
Unani-tibb or Unani Medicine also spelled Yunani Medicine means "Greek Medicine", and is a form of traditional medicine widely practiced in South Asia...
physician from colonial India
Colonial India
Colonial India refers to areas of the Indian Subcontinent under the control of European colonial powers, through trade and conquest. The first European power to arrive in India was the army of Alexander the Great in 327–326 BC. The satraps he established in the north west of the subcontinent...
. He energetically tried to systematise and resurrect the edifice of Unani medicine in British India, and was globally renowned as the pre-eminent practitioner of his time.
Biography
Hakim Abdul Aziz started practising medicine in 1877. In 1902, he founded the Takmil al Tibb School at LucknowLucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
for research and excellence in Unani Medicine. He was born into a family of Kashmiri migrants, and is regarded as the founder of the Lucknow tradition in Unani medicine. Unani medicine was practised as a family trade passed on from one generation to another and the Azizi family was no exception – they treated patients in the old quarters of the city, and became synonymous with the Jhanwaitola locality in Old Lucknow.
The earliest biographical work on Hakim Abdul Aziz and his philosophical approach in Unani medicine along with the legacy of ‘Azizi Family’ was first extensively explored by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman
Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman
Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman , is well known for his contribution to Unani medicine. He founded Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences in 2000...
. He wrote memoirs and life history of ‘Azizi Family’, prescriptions and formulations of Hakim Abdul Waheed, Unani
Unani
Unani-tibb or Unani Medicine also spelled Yunani Medicine means "Greek Medicine", and is a form of traditional medicine widely practiced in South Asia...
Formularies used by Azizi Family of Lucknow.
Epistemology
Abdul Aziz’s approach with regards to Unani medicine was that of a puritan and hence, significantly different from other notable practitioners like Hakim Ajmal KhanHakim Ajmal Khan
Ajmal Khan 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...
who advocated incorporation of concepts from alternative medical systems. Consequently, the Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
and Lucknow schools of Unani medicine evolved in different directions.
Hakim Abdul Aziz wished to systematise unani instruction at the Lucknow Madrasa around the texts of Ibn Sìnà
Avicenna
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...
, supplemented by practical instruction in surgery and anatomy
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...
.
Impact
In his heyday, it is reported that the Hakim's fame was so widespread that students and practitioners of Unani medicine used to come to study from him, from as far and wide as the PunjabPunjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
, Afghanistan, Balochistan
Balochistan
Balochistan or Baluchistan is a region which covers parts of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. It can also refer to one of several modern and historical territories within that region:...
, Bukhara
Bukhara
Bukhara , from the Soghdian βuxārak , is the capital of the Bukhara Province of Uzbekistan. The nation's fifth-largest city, it has a population of 263,400 . The region around Bukhara has been inhabited for at least five millennia, and the city has existed for half that time...
and the Hejaz
Hejaz
al-Hejaz, also Hijaz is a region in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia. Defined primarily by its western border on the Red Sea, it extends from Haql on the Gulf of Aqaba to Jizan. Its main city is Jeddah, but it is probably better known for the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina...
. The Takmil al Tibb School established by him at Lucknow, was instrumental in combating the widespread plague of 1902–03.
In 1910, coming to terms with the singular promotion of colonialism to allopathic medicine, Hakim Abdul Aziz, along with Hakim Ajmal Khan
Hakim Ajmal Khan
Ajmal Khan 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...
and Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya formed the All India Ayurvedic and Unani Tibb Conference to defend traditional forms of healing. In 1904, recognizing the Hakim's stringent attitude towards adulteration in medicine, British India invited him to serve on the board of the Committee for Regulation of Medical Formulations.
Hakim Abdul Aziz did not charge from visiting patients. Though, it is recorded that he solicited fees of Rupees 16 for visits within the city, Rupees 500 for visits outside the city and Rupees 1000 for visits outside the state. Among his royal patients were Shahjahan Begum of Bhopal and the son of Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda
Legacy
In 1910, shortly after returning from HajjHajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
, the Hakim fell ill and died. His death was widely mourned by poets, journalists and commoners. After his death, his two eldest sons took over the maintenance of Takmil al Tibb. A road in Lucknow is named after him (Abdul Aziz Road), and the college is now maintained by the government. The Azizi family is still involved in practice of Unani medicine. The Azizi Family also played a significant role in the Indian independence movement
Indian independence movement
The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
.
Books
- Tazkirah Khandan Azizi by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, (First edition 1978), Shifaul Mulk Memorial Committee, Aligarh, 472 pp; (Second revised edition 2009) ISBN 978-81-906070-6-3, Ibn Sina Academy, Aligarh, 458 pp.
- The Azizi Family of Physicians by Tazimuddin Siddiqui and Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, (1983), Studies in History of Medicine, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, 93 pp.
- Bayaz Waheedi by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, (1974), Shifaul Mulk Memorial Committee, Aligarh, 228pp, (Second edition 1991), Tibbi Academy, Aligarh, 224 pp.
- Matab Murtaish by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, (1976), Shifaul Mulk Memorial Committee, Aligarh, 230 pp.
- Maqalat Shifaul Mulk Hakim Abdul Latif by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, (2002), Publication Division, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, pp 324.
- Tajideed-i Tibb by Shifa-al Mulk Hakim Abdul Latif, (1972), Tibbi Academy, Aligarh.
- Shifaul Mulk Hakim Abdul Latif (Nuqush wa Tassurat) by Hakim Mohammed Aslam Siddiqui (1985), Educational Book House, Aligarh.
- Listing at the Open Library Archive
- The book, Tazkirah Khandan Azizi is an extremely famous work reviewed by many Urdu scholars. Similarly, the book, Matab Murtaish and Bayaz Wahidi are also reviewed in many Urdu journals.
Articles
- Shifa-al Mulk Hakim Abdul Latif by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, Daily Dawat, Delhi, 24 Jun 1971.
- Shifa-al Mulk Hakim Abdul Latif by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, Fikr-o-Nazar, Namwaran-i Aligarh, Vol. 1, Jan. 1987-Jul. 1988, p. 361-70.
- Shifa-al Mulk Hakim Abdul Latif Falsafi by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, Bazm-e-Wafa, Aligarh Muslim University Old Boys' Association, Lucknow Branch, 1998, p. 50-54.
See also
- Unani medicine
- Hakim Ajmal KhanHakim Ajmal KhanAjmal Khan 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...
- Jamia HamdardJamia HamdardJamia Hamdard is a university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1989.Our Revered Founder Janab Hakeem Abdul Hameed Saheb, a true Gandhian in spirit and simplicity was born in Delhi on September 14, 1908. No account of Hakeem Saheb can be complete without the mention of his...
- AvicennaAvicennaAbū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...
- Mohammad ShakeelMohammad ShakeelM Shakeel was an Indian freedom fighter, politician, Urdu novelist, trade union activist and labour lawyer from the city of Lucknow, India...