Hakim Muhammad Abdullah
Ustadh al-Hukama Hakim Muhammad Abdullah (1904–1974) needs no introduction in the medical world of the Indian subcontinent. For generations, the practice of medicine, religious scholarship, and authorship have been the distinguishing legacy of his family. He belonged to the town of Rori, District Sirsa, in United Punjab (now Haryana, India). His respected father, Maulana Muhammad Suleiman (رحمہ اللہ), was well known as a physician and a preacher of Islam. Undoubtedly, Maulana Suleiman (رحمہ اللہ) was a saintly personality and a steadfast supporter of Islamic movements in India. He authored more than twenty books.
Hakim Muhammad Abdullah (رحمہ اللہ) was a distinguished disciple of Maulana Khairuddin Sarsawi (رحمہ اللہ). For some time, he also studied under Hakim Abdul Wahab Ansari, popularly known as Nabina Sahib, who was the teacher of the late Masih-ul-Mulk Hakim Ajmal Khan.
In 1923, at only nineteen years of age, he authored his first book, Khawas Phitkari (Properties of Alum), describing the treatment of various diseases with the inexpensive medicine alum. When publishers in Lahore refused to print the work of a novice author, he established his own publishing house, Dar-ul-Kutub Sulaymani, in the remote town of Rori.
By 1946, nearly 60 medical books had been published from his pen and had gained widespread popularity among both scholars and the general public. The total number of his published and unpublished works (many of which remained in India due to the Partition) is approximately 140.
In 1934, the All India Unani and Ayurvedic Medical Conference, founded by Masih-ul-Mulk Hakim Ajmal Khan (رحمہ اللہ) and comprising the most distinguished physicians of the time, declared these books to be an invaluable and monumental contribution to Unani Medicine. In recognition, the conference awarded the distinguished author a First-Class Certificate and a Gold Medal. He was the first medical author to receive this unique and prestigious honor.
After the Partition of the Indian subcontinent, he migrated from his ancestral homeland and settled in Jahanian, District Khanewal, Pakistan. There, under the name Maktaba Sulaymani, six books of the Khawas Series were published. However, due to difficult financial circumstances, he temporarily transferred the publishing rights of his books to Sheikh Muhammad Ashraf, a bookseller in Kashmiri Bazaar, Lahore.
His clinic in Jahanian became a place frequented by people from all walks of life. Until the end of his life, he remained devoted to writing and publishing and dedicated himself wholeheartedly to the promotion of knowledge and medicine. As a public speaker, his speeches were exceptionally engaging and influential. He maintained personal relationships with many of Pakistan’s leading religious scholars and intellectuals.
His love for books was an inherited passion. In Rori, his personal library contained more than 10,000 rare and valuable books, making it one of the finest private libraries in India. Such was his devotion to books that, despite the hardships following the establishment of Pakistan, within only a few years he rebuilt another collection of 8,000–10,000 books, known as the Sulaymani Library, Jahanian.
Among Hakim Muhammad Abdullah’s works, Kanz al-Mujarrabat occupies the foremost position. By the grace of Allah, it is one of the most popular and widely beneficial medical books of the twentieth century. Since the publication of its first volume in 1925, nearly 100,000 copies have been sold. It is difficult to find another medical book with a comparable record of sales.
There is hardly any need to explain what this book contains or how effective and reliable its prescriptions are. Since its compilation, literally millions of people have benefited from it. It is rare to find a medical clinic anywhere in the Indian subcontinent where some prescription from Kanz al-Mujarrabat has not been used.
Thousands of people have expressed, both through letters and in personal meetings, that this book inspired them to develop an interest in medicine and ultimately adopt Hikmat (Unani Medicine) as their profession.
In 1968, the Pakistan Tibbi Board, under the leadership of the late Hakim Muhammad Hasan Qureshi, toured both East and West Pakistan to register practitioners of Unani medicine. Upon completing the tour, the members of the Medical Board visited Jahanian and conferred upon Hakim Muhammad Abdullah (رحمہ اللہ) the title of Ustadh al-Hukama (Teacher of Physicians). They informed him:
“Throughout Pakistan, during our interviews, we asked physicians which medical books they benefited from most. Ninety percent replied: Hakim Muhammad Abdullah’s Kanz al-Mujarrabat!“
Besides this masterpiece, Kanz al-Murakkabat, Kanz al-Mufradat, and his famous series of simple household treatment books—Khawas al-Ashya, Muft Ilaj (Free Treatment), Ghar Ka Ilaj (Home Treatment), Treatment Through Fruits, and Treatment Through Flowers—remain highly popular and are eagerly sought after.
His writings are easy to understand and notably free from the complicated Arabic and Persian medical terminology commonly found in traditional medical literature. His wealth of knowledge is remarkable, while his style of writing is exceptionally simple, engaging, and appealing. For this reason, not only practicing physicians but also ordinary educated readers and homemakers can benefit greatly from his works. Several of his books have been translated into English, Hindi, Marathi, and Gujarati.
Hakim Muhammad Abdullah’s greatest distinction in the scholarly world was his extraordinary generosity in sharing knowledge. He published thousands of rupees’ worth of rare, highly effective, and closely guarded prescriptions in his books for the benefit of future generations, declaring:
“Allah Almighty is the True Provider, and to consider one’s knowledge or prescriptions as the source of sustenance is tantamount to shirk (associating partners with Allah).”
Regarding his series of publications, Hakim Sahib wrote:
“Before the establishment of Pakistan, although my primary objective in writing books was to serve humanity, I also regarded them as a source of livelihood. Now, however, the principal purpose of writing books is to serve Allah’s creation and thereby earn His pleasure. Consequently, the element of profit is limited only to the extent necessary to spend the remaining days of my life without being dependent upon others.”
Request to Physicians
Physicians are requested to send us their verification, observations, or personal experiences regarding the prescriptions found in Hakim Muhammad Abdullah’s books and in the journals published under his supervision, namely Al-Ilaj, Payam-e-Sehat, Luqman, and Aab-e-Hayat, so that additions may be made to future editions and the most thoroughly proven prescriptions may be compiled and presented separately in book form.
Required Information:
- Name of the book or journal.
- Prescription number or page number.
- How many times it was tested.
- To what extent it proved successful.
- For which diseases it was found beneficial.
- Whether it is part of your regular clinical practice.