Bull.lnd.lnst.Hist.Med. Vol.XXVII. 1997. pp. 47 to 52 HAKEEM ALl GILANI A COMMENTATOR OF CANON OF AVICENNA S.A. HUSAIN* ABSTRACT Hakim Ali Gilani was a native of Gilan. He was a distinguished physician and medical writer. He wrote commentary on canon of Avicenna. He came to India during Akbar's time and served two Mughal rulers, Akbar and Jahangir. He was praised very much by the medical historians for his vast knowledge, curiosity and intelligence. A brief account of his achievements has been given in this article. Gilan is a tract of Iraq from where many eminent personalities spread over the different parts of the world. Among such persons we have come across many eminent physicians who came to India during Mughal period to gain the royal patronage and settled here. Ali Gilani was one of the such physicians who cameto India during Akbar's reign, settled here and lived upto the period of Jahangir. He was born in the year 1554 A.D. and died in 1609 A.D. He got medical education from Hakim Fathulla Shirazi. He belonged to Shia sect. He became a personal physician of Em- peror Akbar, who liked him due to his vast knowledge. It is a sign of Akbar's faith on Ali Gilani that he selected him to treat his close friend, Faizi. Ali Gilani used to accompany Akbar when ever he' was on tour. He was made the commander of 700 horsemen. Akbar had granted him the title of "Jalinoos - a - Zamani" also in 40th year of his reign. Ali Gilani was sent as an Ambas- sador to the court of Ali Adil Shah of Bijapur in the year 1580 AD. Ali Gilani was very much generous. He used to spend about 6000 rupees per annum towards charity for the treatment of poors. Shah Nawaz Khan writes in his book "Maasirul Umera" about Ali that he had a great subtility in arts and sciences specially in medicine and was a skillful physician. According to O.P. Jaggi The author of "medicine in medieval India", Badayuni, the author of "Muntakhabal Tawarikh" did not have a high opinion aboutAIi. He referred Badayuni's state- ment as "His excellence in acquired knowledge and especially in the sci- ence of medicine, is extreme and he is passionately devoted to the practice of the healing art, but he is but a youth, self opinionated and of limited experi- ence. It sometimes happens that a patient, after taking one of his draughts speedly, has a taste of the draught of extinction,and not withstanding the fact that he was the pupil of Fathhulla of Shiraz, he ordered him when he was in an ardent fever, a diet of thick pottage, thereby handing him over to death." O.P. Jaggi contradicted the Badayuni's view explaining that "Badayuni seems to have formed that .• Assistant Research Officer (Unani) 1.1.H.M .., O.M.C., PutH BowH, Hyderabad - 500 195 (India) . •
Transcript
Bull.lnd.lnst.Hist.Med. Vol.XXVII. 1997. pp. 47 to 52
HAKEEM ALl GILANI A COMMENTATOR OFCANON OF AVICENNA
S.A. HUSAIN*
ABSTRACT
Hakim Ali Gilani was a native of Gilan. He was a distinguished physician andmedical writer. He wrote commentary on canon of Avicenna. He came to Indiaduring Akbar's time and served two Mughal rulers, Akbar and Jahangir. He waspraised very much by the medical historians for his vast knowledge, curiosity andintelligence. A brief account of his achievements has been given in this article.
Gilan is a tract of Iraq from wheremany eminent personalities spread overthe different parts of the world. Amongsuch persons we have come acrossmany eminent physicians who came toIndia during Mughal period to gain theroyal patronage and settled here. AliGilani was one of the such physicianswho cameto India during Akbar's reign,settled here and lived upto the period ofJahangir. He was born in the year 1554A.D. and died in 1609 A.D. He gotmedical education from Hakim FathullaShirazi. He belonged to Shia sect. Hebecame a personal physician of Em-peror Akbar, who liked him due to hisvast knowledge. It is a sign of Akbar'sfaith on Ali Gilani that he selected him totreat his close friend, Faizi. Ali Gilaniused to accompany Akbar when everhe' was on tour. He was made thecommander of 700 horsemen. Akbarhad granted him the title of "Jalinoos -a - Zamani" also in 40th year of hisreign. Ali Gilani was sent as an Ambas-sador to the court of Ali Adil Shah ofBijapur in the year 1580 AD. Ali Gilaniwas very much generous. He used tospend about 6000 rupees per annum
towards charity for the treatment ofpoors.
Shah Nawaz Khan writes in his book"Maasirul Umera" about Ali that he hada great subtility in arts and sciencesspecially in medicine and was a skillfulphysician.
According to O.P. Jaggi The authorof "medicine in medieval India",Badayuni, the author of "MuntakhabalTawarikh" did not have a high opinionaboutAIi. He referred Badayuni's state-ment as "His excellence in acquiredknowledge and especially in the sci-ence of medicine, is extreme and he ispassionately devoted to the practice ofthe healing art, but he is but a youth,self opinionated and of limited experi-ence. It sometimes happens that apatient, after taking one of his draughtsspeedly, has a taste of the draught ofextinction,and not withstanding the factthat he was the pupil of Fathhulla ofShiraz, he ordered him when he was inan ardent fever, a diet of thick pottage,thereby handing him over to death."
O.P. Jaggi contradicted theBadayuni's view explaining that"Badayuni seems to have formed that
opinion regarding Gilani when he wasnot yet a matured physician"
Rehbar Farooqui in his book IslamiTibb writes about Ali that "he was highlyefficient Hakim with a unique and won-derful wisdom."
Ali's vast knowledge, curiosity andintelligence were praised by historians.They counted Ali as a scientist andmedical writer. Some anecdotes foundin history books are being submittedhere to assess the vastness of AIi'swisdom and his knowledge.
It is historical truth that Mughal Kingsused to test the talented persons. Aliwas also subjected to such test. He wasnot yet reached to the Akbar's court.Akbar ordered that when Ali comes tome produce before him the urines of ahealthy person, a patient, a cow and adonkey at the same time. Hence theorder was complied with. Ali, the intel-ligent fellow identified all the urinescorrectly by his naked eyes.
There is another anecdote. Thoughit is not concerned with his medicalability but shows his wisdom and vastknowledge. It is in several history booksthat Ali had constructed a miraculousroom inside a cistern which was cov-ered with water from all sides. Even toenter the room one had to dive into thewater. This miraculous room was wit-nessed by Emperor Akbar himself. Thisroom had sufficient light, adorned withfurniture. Bookswere arranged in orderand another side a dinner mat was laidout with dishes of foods. It was a greatwonderthatthe door of room was openedinto the water and not even a singledrop of water could enter the roomthrough it. According to Beal the roominside the cistern was constructed in39th year of Akbar's reign which mayprobably in 1594 A.D. that was con-structed at lahore. On account of thisdeed Akbar bestowed on Ali the rank of
HakeemAli Gilani - Husain
high degree.According to Islami Tibb with refer-
ence to Tuzak-a-Jahangiri a similarroom inside a cistern was also con-structed at Agra while Ali was postedthere in complience of Jahangir's de-mand. It was constructed in 1609 A.D.Jahangir appreciated it and conferedAli "Do Hazari Mansab" as a reward ofhis special deed.
According to KausarChand Puri it ismore than probable that Ali"s medicalequipage went along with him. How-ever, he, in one of his articles revealssome points regarding two preparationsof Ali. He describes one of the prepara-tions was "Sharbat-i-kaifnak' or the"Ecstatlc syrup", which may simply becalled wine. Whatever it might be, butit was some thing so special that theHakim himself must have attended toits preparation. Writes Jahangir in hisTuzak, "when the imperial army wasstationed at the fort of attock with a viewto chastise the yusufzais, one day Iwenton hunting and was very tired. Ustad AliQuli Khan proposed me to take a cup ofwine; for if I took one, all the wearinessshould wear away; I asked MohammadAbdar to fetch "Sharbat-i- Kaifnak fromHakim Ali. The Hakim sent me cup anda half of the sweet yellow wine" (TuzakJahangiri p.152). Wine is not generallysweet it must have been some sort ofsyrup which was so designed to replacewine as to be deliciously intoxicating.May be it after all was, a kind of sweet-ened wine only as Jahangir himself haswritten.
The another one Itri Jahangiri wasprepared in Jahangir's reign. It is theAttar or otto of Roses. The credit of itsdiscovery goes to Noor Jahan's mother,Azizunnisa Begum. If roses are put inwater and then taken out after sometime, there can be seen something oilyfloating on the surface. "It was col-
Bull.lnd.lnst.Hist.Med. Vol. XXVII. 1997
lected and found to smell so sweet thatone drop rubbed in the palm of handcould make the whole company ladenwith fragrance. It looked as if manyroses had opened all at once. SalimaSultana Begum gave it the name ItriJahangiri.
a.p. Jaggi revealed Ali's anotherpreparation which was an oil and namedDeodar. He writes "Akbar, when on hisway to Kabul fell from elephant, sus-taining much discomfort and pain in thelimbs, on using the medicated deodaroil he was much relieved within threedays."
According to Rehbar FarooquiHakim had medical formula which wasused for treating Akbar. The said for-mula had the capability to congeal wa-ter at once.
Ali's literary works bear an eloquenttestimony to the intellectual curiosityand vigour. The names of the followingbooks compiled by Ali found in historybooks are:1. Mujerribat-e-Jamali2. Sharh-e-Qanoon3. Sharh-e-Kulliyat Amili4. Sharh-e-Mualejat5. Tareekh-e-ulfi
Though all the five have their ownvalue, yet the medical scholars havegiven, more importance to the com-mentary of Canon of Avicenna (Sharh-e-Qanoon). According to them afterAllama Alauddin Qurshi, he was thesecond who wrote complete commen-tary on Canon of Avicenna. Medicalwriters counted this as an authoritativework next tothe work of Allama Qarshi.His commentary is in Arabic and com-prises of five volumes. The details offour of them mentioned by a.p. Jaggiare as follows:
The first volume has 608 pages, Itdeals with the body, causes and compli-cations of the diseases, hygienic, signs
49
and symptoms, pulse, urine diseases ofthe new born and children, physicalexercise, foods, drinks, health ofthe oldpeople and materia medica. The sec-ond volume has 796 pages. It beginswith the principles relating to simpleherbs and drugs, their temperamentsand their different categories. Botani-cal herbs, animal and mineral sub-stances are also mentioned in the al-phabetical order. Under each herb anddrug, its properties and uses in differentdisease are described.
The third volume, a continuation ofthe second, is about simple drugs. Thefourth volume contains a full account offevers, skin diseases and antidotes.o.P. Jaggi did not give any details ofthe fifth volume.
o.P. Jaggi might have studied thecommentary thoroughly. He referred aparagraph from the commentary whichdescribed the process of digestion i.e.
"It is also essential for the digestionof food that food should be encircled bythe stomach and it should churn (thefood constitutents) in such a mannerthat the rotary movement (inside thestomach) may be caused. With thehelp of its gastric juice and generatedanimal heat, it should cook the foodconstituents and convert them intominute particles of food as to form ahomogenous substance so that thedigestive action may continuesimultaniously within the whole of thefood particles.
It is also said that Gilani seems tohave pondored over the function of theheart muscle and of its valves in theinflow and outflow of the blood throughthem".
Thus many scholars and theirworksprove the eminence of Hakim Ali andincreased a zeal to go through Ali'scommentary and other works.
50 HakeemAli Gilani - Husain
REFERENCES1. Beal, John 1971 A.D. An oriental biographical dictionary,
P. 151 Manohar reprints, Delhi.
2. Hasson, S.M. 1989 AD. Tareekh-a-Tibb (Urdu) P.No. 404,405 Published by Urdu promotionbureau.
3. Jaggi, o.r. 1981 AD. Medicine in Medeivallndia P.No.156 Atma Ram and sons, N.Delhi
4. Khan, Shah Newaz 1888 A.D. Maasirul Umera (persian) Vol. IP.No. 568 Asiatic Society Bengal,Calcutta'.
5. Kauser Chand Puri 1959 A.D. Medical Development inthe Mughalperiod, Hamdard Medical Digest III1+2, 1959 P.No. 179-184-188
6. Rehbar Farooqui 1356 AH. Islami Tibb (Urdu) P.No. 98-100(1937 AD.) Azam steam press, Hyderabad.
