Elucidation of Islamic drugs in Hui Hui Yao Fang: a linguistic and pharmaceutical approach

• Published in: Journal of ethnopharmacology Vol. 54; no. 2; pp. 85 - 102
• Main Authors: Kong, Y.C., Chen, D.S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 01.11.1996; Elsevier
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Chinese medicine; Cognitive problems, arts and sciences, folk traditions, folklore; drugs; ethnobotany; Ethnology; Formularies as Topic; General pharmacology; history; History of medicine; History, Medieval; Islam; Islamic drugs; Medical ethnobotany; Medical practices; Medical sciences; Medicine, Arabic; Medicine, Chinese Traditional; Mongolia; Pharmacognosy. Homeopathy. Health food; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Plants, Medicinal; Terminology as Topic; traditional medicine; Traditional sciences and medicine; transliteration; Asia; China; Mongolia; Medical ethnobotany; Islamic drugs; Chinese medicine; Folk medicine; Arab countries; Ethnobotany; Pharmacognosy; Plant origin; Medicinal plant
• ISSN: 0378-8741; 1872-7573
• DOI: 10.1016/S0378-8741(96)01452-3

Hui Hui Yao Fang, an Islamic formulary, was probably the official formulary of the Mongolian administration during the Yuan dynasty (13th – 14th century) in China. In the three chapters of prescriptions that remain extant today, there are 517 Islamic drugs carrying Arabic or Persian names, each with its Chinese transliteration. Chapter 12 deals with the ‘wind’ diseases, containing 199 Islamic drugs. In this research, 129 items were identified, and each of which was assigned to a definite taxon; these are the most frequently cited drugs in the formulary. Identifications were corroborated by botanical, pharmacological and phonetic considerations. This exercise demonstrates the inherent affinity between Islamic and Chinese medicines. The reciprocal influence between them greatly enriched the content of these two important bodies of drug science, thus, setting a pattern for the synthesis of drug knowledge and the regulation of therapeutic substances. Recognition of different bodies of ethnomedicine is necessary in view of the fact that there is an increasing mobility of people today, who tend to bring with them their drug knowledge.