Unani

Unani
Name	Unani
Alt	Greco-Arab medicine
Caption	Herbal materia medica used in traditional practices
System	Greco-Arab medicine
Origin	Classical antiquity; developed in medieval Islamic world
Founder	Hippocrates; Galen; Ibn Sina
Region	Mediterranean; Middle East; South Asia; Central Asia
Related	Ayurveda; Traditional Chinese Medicine; Persian medicine; Greek medicine

Unani

Unani is a traditional medical system rooted in classical Greco-Arabic practice and medieval Islamic scholarship, transmitted across the Mediterranean, Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia. It synthesizes Hippocratic and Galenic humoral concepts refined by physicians such as Ibn Sina and al-Razi and institutionalized in madrasas, dar al-shifa, and colonial-era colleges. Practitioners draw on diagnostic methods and materia medica codified by scholars associated with Baghdad, Cairo, Delhi, and Istanbul to treat a range of chronic and acute conditions in contemporary clinical and community settings.

Etymology and terminology

The term derives from a historiographical lineage referencing Greek and Roman authorities such as Hippocrates, Galen, Aristotle, Homer and Hellenistic centers like Alexandria. Arabic and Persian intellectuals including Al-Razi, Ibn Sina, Al-Zahrawi, Jabir ibn Hayyan, and Al-Biruni translated and transformed Hellenic texts, leading to terminology used in Ottoman, Mughal, and Safavid contexts associated with institutions in Baghdad, Cairo, Cordoba, Toledo, Samarkand, Damascus, Isfahan, Istanbul, and Delhi. Colonial encounters involving the British East India Company, Portuguese India, and later British Raj introduced anglicized labels appearing in publications from the Royal Society and princely courts like Hyderabad State. Modern academic and regulatory frames reference ministries such as Ministry of AYUSH and bodies in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Turkey.

History

Origins trace to clinical methods and humoral theory in the schools of Kos and Knidos associated with Hippocratic Corpus and Galenic anatomy transmitted through centers like Alexandria and later preserved in libraries of Ctesiphon and House of Wisdom. Key medieval elaborations occurred under Abbasid patrons such as Harun al-Rashid and Al-Ma'mun, where scholars like Hunayn ibn Ishaq, Al-Tabari, Al-Razi, Ibn Sina, Al-Zahrawi, Ibn al-Nafis, and Ibn al-Baitar produced encyclopedias circulating to Cordoba and Toledo influencing Iberian physicians such as Avenzoar and Maimonides. The tradition was institutionalized in Ottoman imperial hospitals and madrasa networks patronized by sultans such as Suleiman the Magnificent and Mughal courts under Akbar. Colonial-era interactions with James Prinsep, William Osler, and European medical schools led to contestation and adaptation during the British Raj, resulting in formal colleges in Lahore, Aligarh, and Calcutta and regulatory trajectories influenced by the Indian Medical Service and legislative acts of princely states.

Principles and theory

Theoretical foundations rest on humoral doctrine of four qualities and temperaments articulated by Galen and systematized by Ibn Sina in works like the Canon of Medicine. Health is conceived as balance among blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile, with temperament classifications used by physicians trained in hospitals such as Bimaristan of Baghdad and teaching in institutions like Al-Azhar University and Ottoman medical madrasa. Physiology and pathology integrate anatomical observations from commentators like Ibn al-Nafis and theoretical constructs paralleling medieval treatises by Avicenna and pharmacopoeial lists compiled by botanists such as Ibn al-Baitar and later naturalists like Pierre Boyle in colonial botany. Concepts of temperament and mizaj inform dietary, regimen, and pharmacological prescriptions used in clinical manuals authored in Persia, Mughal Empire, and Ottoman Empire.

Diagnostic and therapeutic practices

Diagnosis emphasizes pulse examination, urine analysis, inspection, and case history traditions similar to protocols described by Galen and chronicled by physicians in the libraries of Baghdad and Cairo. Practitioners trained in colleges such as the Tibbia College, Delhi and Unani Medical College, Karachi employ methods including cupping (hijama), leeching, phlebotomy, topical poultices, and regime therapy (dietary and sleep guidance) influenced by treatises from Al-Razi, Ibn Sina, Ibn al-Nafis, and Ottoman court physicians. Therapeutic frameworks extend to surgical interventions informed by surgical manuals of Al-Zahrawi and post-classical surgical figures transmitted through Istanbul and Lucknow surgical ateliers.

Medicines and materials

Materia medica draws on herbs, minerals, and animal products cataloged by medieval authors Ibn al-Baitar, Dioscorides, Dioscorides translations, and later compendia produced in Mughal gardens and colonial botanical gardens like Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Common pharmacopoeial items include preparations of rose, saffron, camphor, olive oil, honey, myrrh, and various barks and resins referenced in texts circulating between Samarkand and Lahore. Commercial supply chains historically connected trading hubs such as Aleppo, Constantinople, Bombay, and Surat and engaged merchants who likewise supplied materia medica to bazaars and apothecaries in Cairo and Tehran.

Education, institutions, and regulation

Education historically occurred in madrasas, bimaristans, imperial hospitals, and later in colonial colleges established by reformers and colonial administrators in cities like Delhi, Lahore, Karachi, Hyderabad (India), Kolkata, Mumbai, and Dhaka. Modern regulation involves councils, universities, and ministries including institutions such as National Institute of Unani Medicine, Tibbia College, State Unani Medical Board, and governmental agencies modeled after regulatory frameworks in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Turkey. Licensure, curricula, and examinations interface with national higher-education bodies like University Grants Commission (India) and public-health agencies shaped by policy debates involving actors such as World Health Organization and national health ministries.

Contemporary practice and global presence

Practitioners and clinics operate across South Asia, the Middle East, Central Asia, East Africa, and diaspora communities in London, New York City, Toronto, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, and Sydney, with professional associations, journals, and conferences linking networks in Islamabad, Tehran, Istanbul, Cairo, and Dhaka. Contemporary research collaborations involve universities and institutes such as Jamia Hamdard, Aligarh Muslim University, University of Karachi, University of Tehran, Istanbul University, and partnerships with global organizations including WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia and national ministries that seek to integrate traditional modalities within public-health frameworks, clinical trials, and pharmacopoeial standardization initiatives.

Category:Traditional medicine