Chapter 3
Sabir Multani and the Reform of Humoral Medicine in Pakistan
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Abstract
This chapter deals with a reformed school of Unani Medicine that was founded in Lahore by the hakim and pharmacist Sabir Multani (d. 1972) and which can be seen as a response to the challenges of Western medicine and an example of medical pluralism in Pakistan. Multani gained many adherents, and a large number of the Pakistani hakims of today are followers of his theories and therapeutical approaches. His medical theory is based on a revision of the basic concepts of Humoral Medicine, bringing them into a triadic system of corresponding elements of the human body, including tissues and humors, psychic and emotional qualities, and relating them to an equally triadic concept of nature and the cosmos. Although building their system in expressed distance to Western medicine, Multani and his followers have made use of a wide range of biomedical concepts as well as diagnostic and therapeutic devices, thus integrating them into their own theory and practice. Their system equally includes a strong religious dimension, culminating in a triad of mystical haqiqa in partnership with tariqa and shariʿa. This apparently unique attempt at a synthesis of science and mystical religiosity can be seen as a revival of the Sufi dimension of the Indo-Persian and Islamic medical tradition in the Subcontinent, which is pursued with remarkable success in the context of contemporary Pakistan.