Bhikha and Abdul Haq in “Tibb – Traditional Roots of Medicine in Modern Routes to Health” state, “whenever the body undergoes fasting, enzymes normally assigned by the body to digest food are freed to conduct healing functions, such as dissolving latent tumours. Fasting is regarded as a major technique of health enhancement by practitioners of Tibb.”
Latin: Crataegus oxycanthoides
Arabic: Zaaroor
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): Shan Zha
A “cardiac muscle tonic” (Menzies-Trull in "The Herbalist's Prescriber").
“Hawthorn berries provide us with one of the best tonic remedies for the heart and circulatory system. They act in a normalising way upon the heart by either stimulating or depressing its activity depending on the need. In other words, hawthorn berries will move the heart to normal function in a gentle way. As a long-term treatment, they may safely be used in heart failure and weakness.” (David Hoffman in “The New Holistic Herbal”).
Dan Bensky and Andrew Gamble, in “Chinese Herbal Medicine Materia Medica” say hawthorn berries are, “sour, sweet, slightly warm” and are used for food stagnation, blood statis, diarrhoea and, “used recently for hypertension, coronary heart disease, and elevated serum cholesterol.”
Latin: verbascum thapsus
Chinese Traditional Medicine (TCM): Jia Yan Ye
“A demulcent expectorant” (Menzies-Trull in "The Herbalist's Prescriber").
“A very beneficial respiratory remedy useful in most conditions that affect this vital system.” (David Hoffman in “The New Holistic Herbal”).
Unani Tibb: For, amongst other things, coughs, colds, chest and haemorrhoids (Robert Thomson, in “The Grosset Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine” (1980).
Agathosma betulina
A “stimulating urinary tonic” (Menzies-Trull in "The Herbalist's Prescriber").
“Buchu may be used in any infection of the genito-urinary system, such as cystisis, urethritis and prostatisis. It’s healing and soothing properties indicate its use together with other relevant remedies in any condition of this system.” (David Hoffman in “The New Holistic Herbal”).
We have mentioned rice before.
Ibn Sina in “The Canon of Medicine” says, “The temperament of rice is hot and dry; the dryness being more pronounced than hotness. Some physicians, however, hold it to be hotter than wheat …Rice gives good nourishment but also causes dryness. When cooked with milk and almond oil, it gives more and better nutrition. Its properties of causing constipation and desiccation are lost when it is soaked in bran water and left over night. This process endows rice with a property to cool and cleanse … Rice produces some constipation when cooked with water. If cooked with milk, it increases the production of semen. It does not cause constipation except when boiled with its husk and an attempt is made to remove the moisture of the milk. The dryness may be removed by soaking the rice in bran-water.”
Ibn Sina is quoted as saying in “Avicenna’s Medicine” that “The best way to eat full meals is to eat only one a day and two the day after (morning and evening). The schedule should be strongly followed since a person who gets used to two meals will become weak and lose strength. A person with weak digestion should eat two meals and reduce the amount of food each time.”
Paul Robin and Paul Brecher in, “Practical TCM”, say, “To keep the liver strong we eat wheat, chicken and peaches. Then in spring when it is windy our liver can stay balanced.”
The Prophet (pbuh) said eat this [raisins], it is a healthy meal, removes tiredness, cools the anger, gives strength, makes food sweet smelling, reduces phlegm and brightens the face. (Dr Mohammed Shakeel Shamsi in, “Tibb-e-Nabawi, Medical Guidance & Teachings of Prophet Muhammed (pbuh)”)
Paul Robin and Paul Brecher in, “Practical TCM”, say, “To keep the kidneys strong we eat beans … and dates. Then in winter when it is cold our kidneys can stay balanced … instead of saying a food is healthy, we say it is either appropriate or inappropriate. For example, in winter we would choose to eat more foods with warm and hot properties …”
Ibn Sina is quoted as saying in “Avicenna’s Medicine” that “One who is seeking health preservation should endeavour not to have the essence of their food as medicinal foods such as green, leafy vegetables and fruits, and alike.
"The attenuant food [that which thins or dilutes the fluids] chars blood (i.e. oxidizes), and heavy food causes phlegm and weightiness of the body.
"Food should be composed of meat, especially that of the young goat, young beef, and young lamb; wheat that has been cleaned and is free from contamination … sweets that are suitable to [the individual’s] temperament [mijaaz]; and good drinks made of fragrant herbs.
Other than that is used for treatment and preservation.”
“The correction of disease occurs from the top of the body downward and from the inside outward. Thus, the first sign of crisis often is headache, lastly diarrhoea.” (Robert Thomson, in “The Grosset Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine” (1980))
Detoxification
“Detoxification can reduce the toxic overload. Detoxifcation cleansing by fasting, dietary changes, enema, hydrotherapy: sauna/steam, supports immune function.” (Menzies-Trull in "The Herbalist's Prescriber")
David Hoffman in his introduction to “The New Holistic Herbal” states, “Herbs can be used freely and safely as part of one’s lifestyle without thinking of them as ‘medicines’. For specific health needs, their best use would be preventative … There are specific herbs which strengthen and tone specific organs and systems … the following may be safely used over extended periods of time:
Circulatory system: Hawthorn Berries (Crataegus oxyacanthoides) (Shan Zha)
Respiratory system: Mullein (Verbascum Thapsus) (Jia Yan Ye)
Digestive system: Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) (Xuan Gao Wen Zi Cao)
Nervous system: Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora -Labiatae) (Not Baical Skullcap Root which is Huang Qin - Radix Scutellariae Baicalensis - Labiatae)
Skin: Nettles (Urtica) (Xun Ma)
Muscular and skeletal system: Celery Seed (Apium Graveolens) (Qin Cai)
Reproductive system: Raspberry Leaves (Rubus idaeus) (Fu Pen Zi)
Urinary system: Buchu** (Agathosma betulina) …”
(We’ve added in italics the Latin and, where known, the Chinese Medicine name.)
**Contraindicated in pregnancy
The healing crisis. In Arabic: al-bahraan. It is, "the sudden change in the condition of the patient suffering from acute fever, which is usually accompanied by excessive sweating and rapid decrease in temperature. The abnormal heat of fever acts on the maturing of the superfluous matters so that they can be dealt with by the body. It is also described as a detoxification process.” Ibn Sina, as quoted in “Avicenna’s Medicine”.
“Crisis in terms of substance repulsed, has five modes: vomiting, diarrhoea, nosebleeding, urination, and perspiration. Crisis by urine or perspiration is incomplete because a thin substance is thrown out and a thick one remains. Crisis by vomiting, nosebleeding, or diarrhoea is complete.” (Robert Thomson, in “The Grosset Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine” (1980))
It is, as they say, a Good Thing.
Peganum harmala, commonly called esfand, wild rue, Syrian rue, African rue, spilani, harmel, or aspand.
Not related to rue (ruta graveolens).
Cited by Robert Thomson, in “Natural Medicine” (Wildwood House, London, 1981) as one of the top herbs for a natural medicine herbalist to stock.
It is said to have antioxidant and antimutagenic properties and has been used as an emmenagogue and abortifacient agent. Also as an anthelmintic.
Image: By Lazaregagnidze (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Robert Thomson, in “The Grosset Encyclopaedia of Natural Medicine” says, “…it is used in the treatment of malignant ulcers, scrofula, indolent sores, burns, whooping cough and various spasms, and bronchial and renal conditions. The warm tea is very soothing to the nerves.”
In latin it is called trifolium pratense.
In TCM it is Mu.
Wormwood, also known as sweet wormwood, sweet annie, sweet sagewort, annual mugwort or annual wormwood. In TCM it is Qing Hao. The latin name is artemisia annua.
A December 2016 study found that, “A centuries-old herbal medicine, discovered by Chinese scientists and used to effectively treat malaria, has been found to potentially aid in the treatment of tuberculosis and may slow the evolution of drug resistance.”
In fact, wormwood is well known not just within the TCM system but also in western natural medicine and Unani Tibb.
Menzies-Trull, in "The Herbalist's Prescriber" says it is an anti-infective with cautions for diarrhoea, headache and tinnitus.
Robert Thomson, in “The Grosset Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine” (1980), says, of wormwood (artemisia absinthium), “The tops and leaves are used as a tonic, a stomachic, a stimulant febriluge, an anthelmintic, and a narcotic … it is a first-rate treatment of enfeebled digestion and debility … It is also treated for [amongst other things] loss of appetite … diabetes … obstinate diarrhoea.”
Image
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMing_herbal%3B_(painting)%3B_Sweet_wormwood_Wellcome_L0039414.jpg
Bhikha and Abdul Haq in “Tibb – Traditional Roots of Medicine in Modern Routes to Health” state,
“In spring, the warmer weather brings the formerly latent or dormant humoral excesses of winter up to the surface. Biologically, nature supports cleansing of the body in spring. In Winter, the digestive fire is high and people eat more sweet and heavy food. Most of the time, they aren’t able to assimilate these hard to digest food, and so the phlegmatic humour starts accumulating…"
"In Spring, the hardened phlegmatic humour begins to melt and the volume becomes great in the circulatory channels. As a result of the increased circulating phlegmatic humour, the digestive activity weakens, causing diseases. If you don’t assist these toxins moving out of the body, you become prone to many illness conditions e.g. allergies. Spring is the best time for detoxification because nature is already trying to clear out these toxins. A diet rich in light meals like soup with heating herbs and spices is encouraged to assist the body in the elimination of accumulated phlegmatic humour.”
Chishti in "The Traditional Healers Handbook" provides an excellent detox programme.
Robert Thomson, in “Natural Medicine” (Wildwood House, London, 1981) refers to it on several occasions including as part of a formula for roughness of the lungs from smoke or dust, or loud shouting.
In TCM marshmallow root is Yao Shu Kui and is classified as sweet, neutral, and pungent.
Robert Thomson, in “The Grosset Encyclopaedia of Natural Medicine” says, “… prescribed for a variety of ailments, including dropsy, coughs, sore throats, and catarrhal conditions of the urinary tract. The dosage of the powdered root is ½ to 1 teaspoon, as a tea.”
In Tibb (Islamic Medicine), it is classified as hot and moist: food qualities.
It is Gan Cao in TCM.
In Arabic it is called al-Sus and also Urq al-Suws
