Hakim Habibur Rahman
(March 23, 1881 - 23 February 1947) was an 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...

physician, litterateur, journalist, politician and chronicle

Chronicle

Generally a chronicle is a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronological order, as in a time line. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, the purpose being the recording of events that occurred, seen from the perspective of the...

r in early 20th-century Dhaka

Dhaka

Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...

, Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

.

Rahman was a close associate of Nawab Sir Khwaja Salimullah

Khwaja Salimullah

Nawab Sir Khwaja Salimullah Bahadur, GCIE, KCSI was the fourth Nawab of Dhaka and one of the leading Muslim politicians during the British Raj. It was he who, in the wake of partition of Bengal in 1905, made correspondance and discussed with Nawab Muhsinul Mulk at Aligarh over the issue of...

 of the Dhaka Nawab Family

Dhaka Nawab family

Dhaka Nawab Family reigned in Dhaka from mid 19th century to mid 20th century, after the fall of the Naib Nazims. The hereditary title of Nawab, similar to the British peerage, was conferred upon the head of the Family by the British Raj as a recognition of their loyalty in the time of the Sepoy...

. His two chronicles of Dhaka, Asudegan-e-Dhaka and Dhaka Panchas Baras Pahle, remain important primary source material for researchers working on Dhaka. His wide collection of manuscripts, coins, weapons and artifacts is preserved at the Dhaka University Library as the Hakim Habibur Rahman Collection. The Hakim Habibur Rahman Lane carries his name near his birthplace, the Choto Katra

Choto Katra

Choto Katra which means the Small Katra. It is one of the Katras built during Mughal's regime in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was constructed in 1663 by Subahdar Shaista Khan and the architectural work was done by him. Choto Katra is rectangular in a plan of 101m X 92m. It has two gateways, one to the...

, a landmark in the old part of Dhaka.

Medical career

Habibur Rahman trained for 11 years in tibb (traditional medical practice) and the Unani system of medicine at Kanpur, Lucknow

Lucknow

Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....

, 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 Agra

Agra

Agra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...

 after completing his studies at Dhaka Madrasah. He established his own practice in 1904. In 1939 he was awarded the title of Shifaul Mulk for his contribution in the field of Unani medicine by the British government

British Raj

British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

.

Social and political work

Habibur Rahman was a prominent leader of the Khilafat Movement

Khilafat Movement

The Khilafat movement was a pan-Islamic, political campaign launched by Muslims in British India to influence the British government and to protect the Ottoman Empire during the aftermath of World War I...

 in East Bengal

East Bengal

East Bengal was the name used during two periods in the 20th century for a territory that roughly corresponded to the modern state of Bangladesh. Both instances involved a violent partition of Bengal....

. In the 1920s and '30s he performed as a major arbitrator for the Sardar

Sardar

Sardar is a title of Indo-Aryan origin that was originally used to denote feudal princes, noblemen, and other aristocrats. It was later applied to indicate a Head of State, a Commander-in-chief, and an Army military rank...

 community of Dhaka, who were the traditional leaders of the Panchayet system of local government of Dhaka. He edited Al Mushriq, an Urdu

Urdu

Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

 monthly journal, in 1906, and launched another Urdu monthly, Jadu, together with Khwaja Adel in 1924. He founded the Tibbia Habibia College in Dhaka in 1930. Apart from his general support to the Dhaka Museum

Bangladesh National Museum

The Bangladesh National Museum , originally established on 20 March 1913, albeit under another name, and formally inaugurated on 7 August 1913, was accorded the status of the national museum of Bangladesh on 17 November 1983. It is located Shahbag, Dhaka...

, he donated 231 old coins, some of gold and silver, to the museum in 1936.

Literary work

A major Urdu journalist and writer in turn of the century Dhaka, Habibur Rahman wrote extensively, often under the takhallus (pen name) of Ahsan (meaning "mercy"). Apart from the celebrated Asudegan-e-Dhaka (1946) and Dhaka Panchas Baras Pahle (1949), his other major works include Al-Fariq (1904), Socrates

Socrates

Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...

' biography Hayat-e-Sukrat (1904), Tazkiratul-Fujala and Masajid-e-Dhaka. He collected all the Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

, Persian

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

 and Urdu books written in Bengal for more than 40 years and published a catalog titled Sulasa Ghusala. He compiled the correspondence between Mirza Ghalib

Mirza Ghalib

Dabir-ul-Mulk, Najm-ud-Daula Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan , pen-name Ghalib and Asad , was a classical Urdu and Persian poet from India during British colonial rule...

 and Khwaja Haider Jan Shayek, a 19th-century Urdu poet from Dhaka, in Inshaye Shayek. He was the founder secretary of Anjuman-e-Urdu, an organization established to provide a forum for the cultivation of Urdu in East Bengal and Assam.

Hakim Habibur Rahman Foundation

The Hakim Habibur Rahman Foundation was established in 1994 in memory of Hakim Habibur Rahman. The scope of the foundation includes research on and promotion of herbal

Herbalism

Herbalism is a traditional medicinal or folk medicine practice based on the use of plants and plant extracts. Herbalism is also known as botanical medicine, medical herbalism, herbal medicine, herbology, herblore, and phytotherapy...

 and Unani medicine, establishment of charitable institutions on traditional medical studies and exchange of knowledge, awards of merit, organization of seminars and symposia, and promotion of the social and intellectual ideals of Hakim Habibur Rahman. 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...

 from India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

is one of the recipients of the Foundation ‘awards of merit’ in 1996.