Identity: physician, Sufi healer, author (18th century)

Shah Mohammad Arzani Dehlavi, whose original name was Muhammad Akbar ibn Mir Hajji Muhammad Muqim Arzani, was a distinguished Persian physician and Sufi practitioner in 18th-century Mughal India. From the late 17th to the early 18th century he was regarded in Delhi and its surroundings as a respected authority in Unani (Greco-Arabic) medicine.

He authored several important medical works. His most famous book is Qarabadin-i Qadiri, a pharmacopoeia of compound medicines, which he dedicated to the founder of the Qadiri Sufi order, Sayyid Abd al-Qadir Jilani, as Arzani himself was affiliated with the same Sufi tradition.

For beginners he wrote a simple and practical medical handbook titled Mofarrah al-Quloob. He also composed a commentary on Jaghmini’s Qanunchah, which is an abridged version of Avicenna’s celebrated Canon of Medicine.

Another major work of his is Tibb-i Akbari (1700 CE), an expanded Persian adaptation of the Arabic treatise Sharh al-Asbab wa al-‘Alamat by Burhan al-Din Nafis ibn ‘Iwad al-Kirmani.

In addition, he wrote a separate Persian treatise on illnesses related to pregnancy and breastfeeding, as well as diseases of infants, and compiled Mujarrabat-i Akbari, a collection of tried and tested compound remedies. Shah Mohammad Arzani Dehlavi represents a fine synthesis of medical scholarship and Sufi spirituality.

Death: Shah Mohammad Arzani Dehlavi passed away in 1133 AH / 1721 CE.