Hamdard Laboratories is the largest herbal (Unani) pharmaceutical company operating in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan and managed by Islamic trust known as waqf board. Originated in India, this Islamic trust company’s top product is – Rooh Afza, a “halal drink” that enjoys massive demand during the month of Ramadan in South Asian nations as well as Middle East and the western countries. In India alone, the total sale of Rooh Afza in 2021 was INR 500 crore, which accounts for almost 95 percent of the total revenue of this Islamic waqf. Back in 2012, Hamdard was selling 20 million bottles of Rooh Afza in India, which witnesses substantial increase every year.
Hamdard Laboratories (Waqf) Bangladesh traces its origin to Hamdard India established in 1906 by Hakeem Hafiz Abdul Majeed. Majeed died in 1922 and his will mentioned the company be placed in Waqf management. The word “ham” means friend and “dard” means pain in Persian so the name means companion of pain. In 1948, after the partition of India, his youngest son, Hakeem Mohammad Said established Hamdard Pakistan. He established and expanded the company in erstwhile East Pakistan in 1953 and 1956 respectively. Following the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, Hamdard Pakistan became Hamdard Laboratories (Waqf) Bangladesh.
The English meaning of “Rooh Afza” stands for refreshment of the soul. Although Hamdard claims this rose-colored syrup contains herbs and extracts of fruits, flowers, roots and vegetable which was developed by Hakeem Hafiz Adbul Majeed in 1908 in Ghaziabad, British India, according to media report, such claims are totally false or at least Rooh Afza does not contain any of the basic ingredients such as claimed by Hamdard – herbs, extracts of fruits, flowers, roots and vegetable.
Detailing history of Rooh Afza, Indian news portal ThePrint in a report said:
The story begins on an unusually hot summer day in 1907 in Delhi — the loo and dry heat, much like today, took a toll on people. Hakeem Hafeez Abdul Majeed, a unani or traditional medicine practitioner, combined various fruits, medicinal herbs, flowers, and condiments to create a medicinal beverage to hydrate and cool the body. The original concoction included fruits such as orange, watermelon, pineapple and apple. Other ingredients included kewda, coriander, khus khus (poppy seeds), and flower extracts of rose and lotus. From the large cauldron containing the deep red syrup, Hakeem Majeed would serve his customers their portions, which they took in their own glass bottles and utensils.
Within a year, this concoction became so popular that Hakeem Majeed had to formalize his business. He named the drink ‘Rooh Afza’, meaning soul refresher. Choosing a simple glass bottle with five distinct rings around its tapering neck, the hakim hired a local printer from Old Delhi’s Hauz Qazi area to design an eye-catching red label for his brand. Rooh Afza was spelt in three languages – Hindi, English, and Urdu. And even today, nothing has changed.
Hamid Ahmed, the great-grandson of Hakeem Majeed and the current CEO of Hamdard Laboratories told ThePrint, “Hamdard means someone who has empathy — a companion in pain. The trust was committed to using 85 per cent of its profits for charity. We continue to follow that motto”.
Such claims shall surely get tainted once everyone knows what exactly Hamdard has been doing under the garb of being “a companion in pain”.
According to media reports, Hamdard Laboratories, a company which has been selling one of its products named ‘Rooh Afza’ for decades claiming it to be world’s healthiest halal drink made with 36 types of fresh fruit juices, valuable medicinal plants and fresh flower extracts has been accused of cheating millions of its customers in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and the Middle East through false claims.
Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), quoting health experts, told reporters, ingredients mentioned in ‘Rooh Afza’ product labels and advertisements do not exist. Consuming ‘Rooh Afza’ may cause serious health hazards to a large number of people, particularly those suffering from diabetes. It also may cause harm to children and pregnant women.
Meanwhile, it is reported that Managing Director of Hamdard in Bangladesh, Dr. Hakim Muhammad Yusuf Harun Bhuiyan has sought apology in writing for such false promotion of the product, while according to Dhaka-based vernacular daily Kalbela, Dr. Harun had offered bribe to authorities concerned for keeping the matter out of attention of the people.
Dhaka South City Corporation has submitted written complaints to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the Food Department seeking appropriate legal action against Hamdard Laboratories for such serious offense.
According to health experts, Hamdard Rooh Afza has a very high amount of sugar in it at 40 grams per 40 milliliter serving which is extremely high, even if accounted for the dilution with water before drinking it. Scientists have also found that, in children, consuming excessive amounts of fructose can harm the liver, lungs, and heart. As Muslims consume Rooh Afza during the entire month of Ramadan, this can result is serious health issues, as frequently drinking sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, kidney diseases, non-alcoholic liver disease, tooth decay and cavities, and gout, a type of arthritis.
Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health said, the effects of added sugar intake – higher blood pressure, inflammation, weight gain, diabetes, and fatty liver disease — are all linked to an increased risk for heart attack and stroke.
In a study published in 2014 in JAMA Internal Medicine, Dr. Frank Hu and his colleagues found an association between a high-sugar diet and a greater risk of dying from heart disease. Over the course of the 15-year study, people who got 17 percent to 21 percent of their calories from added sugar had a 38 percent higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared with those who consumed 8 percent of their calories as added sugar.
In March 2018, the NASDAQ screen in New York’s Time Square lit up with the colors of the Pakistan flag as an advertisement for Rooh Afza played. It was the first time the green and white flag had been displayed in Times Square, part of a campaign launched by Usama Qureshi, the 37-year-old old CEO of what was now Hamdard Laboratories Pakistan.
According to Al Jazeera, Hamdard met compliance criteria for exports to the West, and began stocking at supermarkets like Tesco in the United Kingdom, Walmart in the United States and Woolworths in Australia. Hamdard’s four factories in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar churn out up to 600 bottles of Rooh Afza a minute every day. And in 2022, it was expecting a 15 percent increase in export.
One of Hamdard Pakistan’s officials told Al Jazeera, “You want to know the business secret? Hamdard does two kinds of business: it sells to the public, and it does business with Allah. As an Islamic trust, profits are channeled into education, healthcare and charity. As Muslims, we believe that if we do business with Allah, He will multiply what we earn. It is Allah’s help that we receive. And what can beat that?”
Unfortunately, most of the people shall not know, what Hamdard is actually doing under the garb of this Islamic waqf’s self-proclaimed – doing “business with Allah”. Unless there is an international outcry against Hamdard Laboratories – exposing its rogue practice of deceiving millions of customers with Rooh Afza syrup that does not contain what its labels or promotional claim, such notoriety won’t stop.
