Pakistan came into being in 1947. One of its earliest establishments was Hamdard Pakistan, set up in 1948 by Hakim Mohammed Said, starting in two rented rooms in old Karachi as a clinic of Traditional Eastern (also called Unani or Graeco Arab) Medicine. Today it has its own plants and buildings, and a presence all over Pakistan - and abroad.
Its manufacturing or 'earning' arm is Hamdard Laboratories (Waqf) Pakistan; its 'spending' arm is Hamdard Foundation Pakistan. After Shaheed Hakim Said's martyrdom in 1998, the Foundation's President and Laboratories' Chairperson is his quietly dignified daughter, Mrs Sadia Rashid. The Laboratories Managing Director Dr Navaid ul Zafar. Following its founder's belief in blending the best of tradition and modernity, Hamdard uses the latest equipment and techniques to not only make almost 600 traditional herbal medicines and other herbal products, but also scientifically prove their efficacy. It also implements the best manufacturing, quality-control and safety specification standards.
In 1953, Hakim Said was inspired to convert Hamdard into a waqf or irrevocable Islamic Trust. All its profits go towards charitable and nation-building activities, particularly in the field of health and education. These range from free clinics and free mobile dispensaries, to stipends for poor widows, a free village School, educational scholarships for the needy, patronage of intellectual activities such as translation of Islamic or medical treatises from Arabic or Persian into English or Urdu, thus making them accessible to the mainstream research scholar or historian. Hamdard also publishes internationally circulated medical, Islamic and historical journals, as well as a health magazine for the layman, plus perhaps the most popular magazine for children in all Pakistan. Children also benefit from the regularly held Naunehal Assemblies, where their voices get heard, while adults discuss important issues in the think tank called Shura Hamdard. Hamdard established the ever-growing Madinat - al Hikmah - City of Education, Science and Culture - having within it Hamdard Schools, College, and multi-faculty University which also has campuses elsewhere. It also houses one of the largest and best-stocked research libraries in the country - the Bait al-Hikmah.
The names 'Hamdard' and 'Rooh Afza' are inextricably bound together, not only because one is the organisation and the other its best known and best selling product, but also because of their history, philosophy, and the very meaning of their names. 'Hamdard' means 'co-sharer in suffering or pain' and 'Rooh Afza' means that which 'stirs and refreshes the very soul'. Needless to say, a sharer of any from of suffering wishes to relieve it - be it illness or thirst.
What is Rooh Afza? Sketchily speaking, it is a syrup-like concentrate which is mixed with water (or whatever the user wishes) to make a sweet drink. But nothing in that bare description can hope to convey just how well it lives up to its name. perhaps the closest anyone could come to putting it into words was that journalist of the 'Saveur' magazine of USA -a renowned authority on food and drink - who, in 2007, not only listed it among the top ten brands of the world in its list of 100, but called it an 'heavenly elixir'! Millions of diehard fans couldn't agree more.
The person who put together the formula was Hakim Said's father Hakim Hafiz Abdul Majeed, a young man who formulated and sold herbal medicines and their ingredients in Delhi. The year was 1907. he had started his little establishment the year before, calling it 'Hamdard' - a reflection of his sympathetic nature and strong leanings towards service to humanity. The formula of this drink, which has become legendary, consists of the extracts of a range of flowers, fruit, vegetables, and many herbs. This magical mixture was named 'Rooh Afza' by its formulator, after a character - fittingly enough, a fairy - in 'Masnavi Gulzar-e-Nasim' by Pandit Dia Shankar Nasim. And 'Rooh Afza' has been casting its spell on growing millions ever since.
It has been referred to as 'The Original Red Drink'. This description may mystify those not from the Indo-Pak Subcontinent, and therefore unaware of the myriad attempts by companies big and small to make a similar drink. What they have fully succeeded in copying is the red colour! Well, didn't someone say 'Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery'?
The fact that despite all this 'flattery', Rooh Afza stands alone is borne out by the fact that it has been receiving the Best Export Trophy for 13 consecutive years from the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) since 1997. In addition, it has also won the Consumers' Choice Award for 5 consecutive years from the Consumer Association of Pakistan (CAP) since 2005, as well as the Brands of the Year Award 3 years running since 2006-7, and the Brands Icon of Pakistan Award in 2008.
One of Rooh Afza's early evocatively descriptive slogans was Mashroob-e-Mashriq, meaning 'Drink of the East'. While it remains exotically eastern, its loyal customers now span the globe. Export destinations include the USA, UK, European countries, Australia, East African and Middle Eastern countries, as well Japan in the Far East.
In addition to its popularity as a drink mixed in water, Rooh Afza is also a strong favourite mixed in milk, fresh lime or yoghurt, plus it has a plethora of other uses, such as being the vital ingredient in home-made ice cream, sorbet, slush, smoothies and sundaes. The larger part of the population of Pakistan may not know all the many activities and products of Hamdard. But one can say with a fair amount of certainty, that they all know Rooh Afza!