Tibb Unani

طب یونانی، طب العرب، روایتی طریقہ علاج 

Unani medicine is also called Tibb-e-Unani(طب یونانی),  Arabian medicine(طب العرب), or Islamic system of medicine, a traditional system of healing and health maintenance observed in south Asia particularly in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh.

Unani medicine is a science and art of healing. It originated in Greece and is primarily based on the principles propounded by the ancient Greek practitioners Hippocrates and Galen. It developed and flourished in the Islamic civilization.  As a field, it was later developed and refined through systematic experiment by the Arabs, most prominently by Muslim scholar physician, Abu-Ali-Hussain-Bin-Abdullah-Bin-Seena(Avicenna). 

The Arab and Persian kingdoms and culture had a great influence in its development. It reached the Indian subcontinent around the eighth century, where it was further enriched. It is now widely practiced and researched as a fully fledged system of medicine with a large network of education, clinical practice, research and training. Unani medicine is also known as Unani Tibb and Graeco-Arab medicine.

Origin of Unani Medicine:

Unani medicine amalgamated the knowledge of contemporary systems of traditional medicine. It originated in Greece in the fifth century BCE. This system, originally called Galenics, was later known as Unani Tibb, from the Arabic yunan (“Greek”) and tibb (“medicine”). Over the subsequent centuries, a number of Arab, Persian and Indian scholars enriched the system. Many authoritative texts on Unani medicine emerged from Central Asia, Egypt, India, Iraq, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Spain during the eighth to twentieth century’s. In addition to the system’s standard texts, there are thousands of books describing empirical findings (mujarrbāt).

Books like Firdaws al-ḥikmat (by Rabbn Tabri, 838–870), Kāmil al-ṣanā’a (by Ali Ibn Abbas al-Majoosi, 930–994), Al-ḥāwī fi’l ṭibb (by Abu Bakr Mohammad bin Zakariya Razi (Rhazes), 854–925), Al-qānūn fi’l ṭibb (Canon of Medicine) and Kitāb al-shifā’ (Book of Healing) (by Ibn-e-Sina (Avicenna), 980–1037) and Dhakhīra khawārazm shāhī (by Ismail Jurjani, 1040–1136) are the most comprehensive and rationally systematized standard texts providing the basis for the practice of Unani medicine. The Unani medicine system was further enriched and contributed to by Indian physicians. During the Mughal period, Unani medicine was promoted as a mainstream system by Hakim Akbar Arzani (d. 1772).

Principles of Unani medicine:

The history of Unani medicine can be characterized by the work of its practitioners, or hakims, who relied on natural healing based on principles of harmony and balance, uniting the physical, mental, and spiritual realms.

Al-Umoor al-tabiyah: basic physiological principles

According to practitioners of Unani medicine, the health of the human body is maintained by the harmonious arrangement of al-umoor al-tabiyah, the seven basic physiological principles of the Unani doctrine.

These principles include;

(1) Arkan, or elements,

(2) Mizaj, or temperament,           

(3) Akhlat, or bodily humours,

(4) Aaza, or organs and systems,

(5) Arwah, or vital spirit,

(6) Quwa, or faculties or powers, and

(7) Afaal, or functions.

Interacting with each other, these seven natural components maintain the balance in the natural constitution of the human body. Each individual’s constitution has a self-regulating capacity or power, called tabiyat (or Tabiyar mudabbira-e-badan; vis medicatrix naturae in Latin), or to keep the seven components in equilibrium.

Brief Description of Arkan, Mizaj And Akhlat.

Arkan and mizaj: elements and temperament:

As four simple, indivisible entities—arz (earth), maa (water), nar (fire), and hawa (air)—arkan not only constituents the primary components of the human body but also makes up all other creations in the universe. There are predictable consequences to the actions and interactions (Imtizaj) of the four arkan. As these elements act upon and react with each other, they continually undergo change into various states of “genesis and lysis” (generation and deterioration), due to ulfat-e-keemiyah (acceptance of a medicine by the body) and nafarat-e-keemiyah (rejection of a medicine). Skilled hakims claim that they can perceive, recognize, and observe such states.

Mizaj (temperaments):

The four essential mizaj (temperaments) are hot, cold, moist, and dry. Four more are compounded of those single temperaments—namely, hot and dry, hot and moist, cold and dry, and cold and moist. Possessed in different proportion, mizaj is balanced by all entities in the cosmos, including all plants, minerals, and animals. The equilibrium of the individual’s elemental combination and resulting mizaj, as determined by tabiyat, provides a stable constitution to that individual—in other words, health. Just as elemental balance keeps an individual in a healthy state, changes in natural temperament cause the health of an individual to suffer. Therefore, mizaj plays a pivotal role in Unani in characterizing a person’s normal state (physical, mental, and social), as well as the nature of a disease.

Doctrine of Akhlat (اخلاط):

Hippocrates propounded the doctrine of fluids, or humours, of the body, and he categorized the humours into four groups based on their colour. These groups were refined by Galen and later by Avicenna. They appear in Unani practice as dam (blood), balgham (phlegm), safra (yellow bile), and sauda (black bile). The human dispositions corresponding to these humours are, respectively, sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholic. Each person is considered to have a specific humoral makeup, determined by the predominance of a given humour in his or her constitution. The quality and quantity of the humours in an individual—a person’s unique, proper and proportionate humoral makeup—is said to guarantee health. Conditions other than this balance signal ailment or disease.

The theory of humours (nazaria-e-akhlat), which is the essence of the practice of Unani medicine, holds that the four humours are drived from and utilized in the digestive process. Their continuous action and reaction results in the breakdown of complex macromolecules into simpler molecules, which are then incorporated throughout the body in the form of fluid. These humours, the akhlat, suffuse the body’s cells, interstitial spaces, and vascular channels, affecting physical and behavioral well-being, and are most stable in a healthy individual.

Relationship between tabiyat and asbab-e-sittah-zarooriah:

In the Unani system of medicine, tabiyat is an individual’s internal power or capacity to withstand or combat disease and to perform normal physiological functions. Believing that it is only tabiyat that is engaged in actually curing a disease, Unani hakims hold that they only assist from “outside” by prescribing therapeutic relief. If not adversely affected, tabiyat can eradicate most infections without medical treatment, using what may be thought of as the natural defense system of the mind and body.

Unani medicine recognizes six physical, or external, factors, called asbab-e-sittah-zarooriah, which are essential in establishing a synchronized biological rhythm and thus living a balanced existence. 

The six asbab-e-sittah-zarooriah are:

• Hawa (air), in which the quality of the air a person breathes is thought to have a direct effect on his or her temperament and, thus, health.
• Makool-wo-mashroob (food and drink), in which the nutritional value and the quality and quantity of one’s food and drink are believed to ensure physical fitness by strengthening tabiyat.
• Harkat-wo-sakoon-e-jismiah (bodily exercise and repose), which emphasizes the positive effects of balanced physical exercise on an individual’s internal resistance and tabiyat.
• Harkat-o-sakoon nafsaniah (mental work and rest), which emphasizes the simultaneous engagement of the human mind in numerous emotional and intellectual activities. Just as the body needs systematic and planned exercise and rest, Unani medicine holds that the human mind and brain need adequate stimulation and proper relaxation as well.
• Naum-o-yaqzah (sleep and wakefulness), in which an individual’s health and alertness are understood as being dependent on a specific amount of sound sleep in the course of a 24-hour (circadian) cycle.
•  Ihtebas and istifragh (retention and excretion), which considers the metabolism of food and liquid as both affecting and being regulated by tabiyat. According to Unani medicine, the assimilation of food and liquid facilitates the elimination from the body of excessive and noxious substances. Therefore, to maintain a harmonic and synchronized tabiyat, certain beneficial end-products of kaun-o-fasad (genesis and lysis) are retained in the body while harmful ones are expelled.

These six factors are believed by Unani practitioners to directly affect the harmony of the human mind and body. Socioeconomic, geographic, and environmental factors are considered secondary factors (asbab-e-ghair-zarooriah) in the Unani system and therefore indirectly influence tabiyat. However, both the primary and the secondary factors must be closely considered in the Unani process of treatment.

Modes of treatment:

The initial approach to treatment in the Unani system entails the establishment of a regimen to normalize and balance the external factors (e.g., air, water, and food) involved in ailments and diseases. If this proves inadequate, then other means, such as treatment with natural medicines, may be recommended. Any Unani treatment prescribed by a hakim acts as an outside agent to help boost the patient’s tabiyat and thus restore good health and a sense of well-being.

There are various therapeutic approaches available to the hakim. Ilaj-bi-ghiza(dietotherapy), involves recommending a specific diet, which is the simplest and most natural course of treatment by a hakim. For fever, for example, Unani medicine stresses a nutrient-rich, low-roughage diet that might include dalia (porridge) and kheer (a milk broth). Both the amount and quality of food are taken into consideration. Relatively infrequent in modern Unani therapy is ilaj-bi-misla, or organotherapy, a mode of treatment that involves healing a diseased organ with the use of tissue extracts from the same organ of a healthy animal. Ilaj-bi-dawa, or pharmacotherapy, is the use of medicines by Unani hakims. This treatment method is considered by hakims to be natural, eco-friendly, and less intrusive and more effective than many other methods. The Unani system’s pharmacopoeia is vast, enriched with more than 2,000 medicines derived from various herbal, mineral, and animal sources.

Unani medications are often processed by classical methods of preparation as originally described in Greco-Arabic medicine. Unani medicines are used singly (Single Remedy or Herb etc) or are compounded(more than one herb or ingridients) with other substances to achieve synergistic, antagonistic, or detoxifying effects or simply as bases for effective ingestion and assimilation.

Types Of Unani Medicines: Classical Unani medicine:

Classical Unani medicine recommended established “regimental” therapies (tadabeer) in the treatment of various chronic and acute diseases.

Those therapies include

• Dalak (massage)
•  Hammam (bath)
• Riyaazat (exercise)
• Fasd (venesection, or opening a vein to let out blood)
• Hijamat (cupping, a process of drawing blood to the surface of the body by using a glass cup or tube)
• Ta'leeq (leeching,  or bleeding a person by using leeches).

These regimes are actually meant for the Istifraagh-e-akhlaat-e-radiya (evacuation of morbid humours) from the body. These morbid humours are true culprits which are basically responsible for the onset of disease. As soon as these morbid humours are removed from the body by applying some regimens, normal health gets restored.

Ibn-e-Sina, wrote in his famous book “Canon of Medicine”, that there are almost 36 regimens. Some examples of these regimens include, Fasd (Venesection), Hijaamat (Cupping), Idraar-e-baul (Diauresis), Ta'areeq (Sweating), Ishaal (Purgation), Hamam (Turkish bath), Dalak (Massage), Kai (Cauterization), Qai (Emesis), Riyaazat (Exercise), Ta'leeq (Leeching), Huqna (Enema), Inkebaab (Inhalation), Tanfees (Expectoration), Eilam (Counter Irritation), and Aabzan (Hydration Therapy).

Unani Medicine which is herbo- animo- mineral in origin (Approximately 90% herbal, 4-5% animal and 5-6 % mineral).

In Unani system of medicine, drugs are used mainly these forms Mostly these drugs are used orally.

1. Solid form: like Habb (Pill), Qurs (Tablet), Safoof (Powder) etc.
2. Semi-solid form: like, Majoon, Jawarish, Khameera Laooq, itrifal etc.
3. Liquid form: Like Decoction (Joshanda), infusion (Kheesanda), distillate (Arq), syrup (Sharbat), drops (Qatur) etc.
4. Gaseous form: Like bakhoor (fumigation) and inkabab (steam inhalation), perfumes, Lakhlakha etc
5. For external use creams, oiuntments, Hot and cold infused herbal oils etc, are also used in unani system of medicine.

World Plant Species and Plants/Flora of Pakistan 

According to an estimate, earth carries 265,000 ّspecies of plants but only half of these are yet investigated for their medicinal values and chemical composition. In developing countries, around 80% of the population depends upon medicinal plants for combating different diseases but this was estimated about a decade ago while in developed countries, 60% of the population uses these plants, 40–50% of the population in Germany, 42% in the USA, 48% in Australia and 49% in France depends upon plants for different health issues. Importance of these medicinal plants can be judged by the fact that at least 25% of the drugs enlisted in modern Pharmacopoeia are of plant origin. Also about 25% of the medical prescriptions are based on the substances or analogs of the substances of plant origin.

Pakistan is blessed with 6000 species of higher plants, of which 600–700 are used medicinally, out of these 6000 species, half (3000 species) are reported from Northern areas out of which 124 species have medicinal importance, 4940 flowering plants are native to Pakistan (if cultivated flowering species are included figure turns 5738).

In Pakistan, Unani Tibb (traditional medicine) is accepted by the government as a state system that exists alongside "modern" medicine. In Pakistan tehre are approximately 60,000 registered unani practitioners (Hakims) serving patients.

Education System Of Unani Medicine in Pakistan and role of National Council for Tibb, Pakistan:
National Council for Tibb is a Body Corporate, established under section 3 of UAH Act 1965, to promote and popularize the Unani, Ayurvedic and Homoeopathic System of Medicine, to regulate education and research in and to provide for the registration of practitioners of those systems of medicine, presently working under the administrative control of Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations & Coordination Islamabad.
Function of National Council for Tibb:
1.         To consider applications for recognition of institutions.
2.         To secure the maintenance of standard of education.
3.         To make arrangements for the registration of duly qualified                 persons.
4.         To provide for research in the system of medicine.
5.         To appoint committees or sub-committees to perform any                     specified function.
Currently there are 36 recognized Tibbia colleges in Pakistan imparting education at diploma Level (Fazil ut Tibb Wal Jarahat-FTJ) and approx Six universities Universities who are imparting five years Bachelor of Eastern Medicine and Surgery(BEMS) degree along with M. Phil and PhD degrees.
 
Education System Of Homoeopathy in Pakistan
and role of National Council For Homoeopathy
 
Currently there are 137 recognized Homoeopathic Medical  colleges in Pakistan imparting education at diploma Level Dioploma in Homoeopathic Medical System(DHMS) and approx 4 universities who are imparting five years Bachelor of Homoeopathic Medical System(BHMS) degree.
Employment Status:
Education System Of Unani Medicine in Pakistan and role of National Council for Tibb, Pakistan:
National Council for Tibb is a Body Corporate, established under section 3 of UAH Act 1965, to promote and popularize the Unani, Ayurvedic and Homoeopathic System of Medicine, to regulate education and research in and to provide for the registration of practitioners of those systems of medicine, presently working under the administrative control of Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations & Coordination Islamabad.
Function of National Council for Tibb:
1.         To consider applications for recognition of institutions.
2.         To secure the maintenance of standard of education.
3.         To make arrangements for the registration of duly qualified                 persons.
4.         To provide for research in the system of medicine.
5.         To appoint committees or sub-committees to perform any                     specified function.
Currently there are 36 recognized Tibbia colleges in Pakistan imparting education at diploma Level (Fazil ut Tibb Wal Jarahat-FTJ) and approx Six universities Universities who are imparting five years Bachelor of Eastern Medicine and Surgery(BEMS) degree along with M. Phil and PhD degrees.
 
Education System Of Homoeopathy in Pakistan
and role of National Council For Homoeopathy
 
Currently there are 137 recognized Homoeopathic Medical  colleges in Pakistan imparting education at diploma Level Dioploma in Homoeopathic Medical System(DHMS) and approx 4 universities who are imparting five years Bachelor of Homoeopathic Medical System(BHMS) degree.

Qualified and registered Traditional medicine Physicians(Hakims and Homoeopathic Doctors) are employed in Provincial Hospitals District Headquarter Hospital In Pakistan, Unani Tibb (traditional medicine) is accepted by the government as a state system that exists alongside "modern" medicine. In Pakistan tehre are approximately 60,000 registered unani practitioners (Hakims) serving patients.

Employment Status: s(DHQs), Tehsil Headquarter Hospitals(THQs), districts government’s Rural Health Centers(RHCs) ,Local Government Dispensaries and also employed in private sector Qarshi Industries Health Shops, Qarshi Dispensaries, Hamdard Laboratories, Ajmal Dawakhana, and many otehr leading Tibbi Pharmaceutical, Neutraceutical Laboratories as well. Further a majority of Hakeems and Homoeopathic Doctors are also doing their  private practice too and serving the patients.

List of some Plants used in Unani Medicine

Sr. #	Scientific Name سائنسی نام	Local Name    مقامی نام
01	Abies webbiana	Talees patar
02	Acacia Arabica	Babool-Kekar
03	Acacia concinna	Sikkakai
04	Acacia modesta	Pholai
05	Acacia speciosa	Sars
06	Aconitum heterophyllum	Atees
07	Adansonia digitata	Gorakh imli
08	Alangium decapetalum	Akoolah
09	Alocasia indica	Alu/Mankanda/Nankanda
10	Anchusa tinctora	Ratan Joot root
11	Andropogon muricatus	Khass
12	Annona squamosa	Shreefah
13	Anthocephalus cadamba	Kadam, Kadamb
14	Arachis hypogaea	Peanut
15	Aristolochia longa	Zarawand Daraaz
16	Aristolochia otunda	Zarawand mudharij
17	Artemisia maritima	Darmanah Turki
18	Artocarpus lakoocha	Barhal
19	Artocarpus integrifolia	Kathal
20	Avorrhoea carambola	Kamrakh
21	Balsam dundrum myrrh	Myrrh
22	Barringtonia acutangula	Samandar Phal
23	Basella alba	Poei
24	Beta vulgaris	Chakandar
25	Borassus flabellifer	Tar Tree
26	Buchanania latifolia	Charonji
27	Capparis aphylla	Karir Tree
28	Capparis spinosa	Kesar ke jar
29	Carum cavi	Zeera syiah
30	Cuminum cyminum	Zeera safeed
31	Cassia tora	Panwar
32	Cedrela Toona	Toon Tree
33	Cedrela deodara	Deodar
34	Centipeda orbicularis	Nakchikni
35	Centroarea moschate	ShahPasand seeds
36	Cephalandra indica	Kandoori ki bael
37	Caesalpinia Bonducella	Karanjwa
38	Chenopodium album	Bathu
39	Cistus creticus resina	Lazan
40	Citron pomelo	Chakotrah
41	Citrus aurantium	Sangtarah
42	Citrus limeta	Metha
43	Citrus pseudolimon	Galgal
44	Clerodendrum phlomidis	Arni
45	Clitoria ternatea	Aparajita/Manipuri/Koil Booti
46	Cocculus villosus	Farid Booti
47	Curculigo orchioides	Moosali siah
48	Curcuma amada	Aambah haldi
49	Curcuma zedoria	Kachoor/Narkachoor
50	Cymbidium tessaloides	Kharkatan/Binda/Raqoo
51	Euphorbia antiquorum	Danda Tohar
52	Ficus infectoria	Pakhar/Pakkar
53	Filix mas	Sarkhas
54	Geranium maculatum	Ratan Joot
55	Gloriosa superba	Kalhari
56	Gmelina arborea	Gambhari
57	Grewia populifolia	Ghangheran
58	Gynandropsis pentaphylla	Hulhul/Hurhur
59	Gynocardia odorata	Chaulmoogra
60	Hedera helix	Isq paechah
61	Hedysarum alhagi	Jawansah
62	Hedysarum gangeticum	Shalperni
63	Helianthus annuus	Suraj mukkhi
64	Hibiscus esculentus	Bhindi
65	Hydrocotyle asciatica	Barhami booti
66	Hygrophilla spinosa	Talmakhana
67	Illicium verum	Badian khatai
68	Indigofera tinctoria	Neel
69	Leadwort plumbagin	Sheetraj
70	Lee hirta	Kak Changha
71	Lippia nudiflora	Bukan buti
72	Luffa protendra	Ghia Tori
73	Lycopersicum escalatum	Tamatar
74	Lycopus europaeus	Jalneem
75	Michelia murantiaca	Champa flower
76	Mimosa oxtrandra	Rasan
77	Mimusa pudica	Lajwanti
78	Mirabilis jalapa	Gul abbasi
79	Myrtus communis	Hab ul aas
80	Pananus odoratissimus	Kehorah
81	Panicum spicatum	Bajra
82	Pavonia odorata	Muskbala
83	Pterospermum suberifolium	Gul Muuchkan
84	Pentapetes phoenicca	Gul doophar
85	Phaseolus roxburg	Mash
86	Phyllanthus niruri	Bhoi amla
87	Plantago major	Bartang
88	Polypodium crenatum	Bisfaij
89	Pongamia glaba	Sukh chain
90	Psophocorpus tetragonobus	Baqla
91	Peterocarpus marsupium	Vajaysaar
92	Putran jiwa roxburghi	Jia poota
93	Pyrus cydonia	Safar jal
94	Rosaweb biana	Quntorioon saghir
95	Rubus wallichi	Rasberry
96	Saccharum officinarum	Gannah
97	Salix capria	Baid Musk
98	Salvedora persica	Pelu
99	Salvia aegyptiaca	Tukhm balango
100	Scilla indica	Jangli piaz
101	Shorea robusta	Saal tree
102	Solanum indicum	Katai kalan
103	Solanum diffusum	Bangan
104	Smilax officinalis	Usbah
105	Strychnos minor	Aabnoos
106	Strychnos potatorum	Nirmili
107	Tagi involverata	Bichu booti
108	Borago Officinalis	Gaozobaan
109	Uraria picta	Harshat parni
110	Valisneria octandra	Sarwaal
111	Vanda oxburghii	Rasna
112	Verbascum thapsus	Gidar tambako
113	Withania coagulans	Panir