Hakim Ajmal Khan is considered as one of the 100 great Muslim leaders of the 20th century. He was a visionary and was blessed with some extraordinary qualities which very few people can match. Hakim Ajmal Khan was born in Delhi in I868 in the family of renowned Hakims of Delhi famously known as Khandaan-i-Shareefi. He was the youngest of the three sons of The Great Hakim Ghulam Mahmood Khan, who himself was a legendary figure.
Hakim Ajmal Khan was a living legend, a person of inherent inner beauty, outer grace and dignity; he was a man of exceptional character. His medical works and treatments in different diseases and ailments are so strange that despite being true, at times they seem to be unbelievable.
Hakim Ajmal Khan memorized the Holy Quran (Hafiz) at a very young age and received his education from some of the most highly respected scholars of his time and soon became an authority on Arabic, Persian and Urdu. He later acquired command of the family profession of Tibbe Unani (Herbal Medicines), under expert guidance of his family elders.
History claims of very few multifaceted individuals who were illustrious physicians, theologist, great statesmen, educationists and poets, all woven together. Masih ul Mulk Hakim Ajmal Khan is one of them.
The great poet and philosopher, Allama Sir Mohammed Iqbal, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and other renowned personalities used to come to meet Hakim Ajmal Khan when ever they visited Delhi. Historians write that hardly a day passed, without there being one important gathering or another, at house of Hakim Ajmal Khan. His Political importance can be gauged by the fact that he was the only political leader of the sub- content who presided the meetings of both the rival parties – The Indian Congress and Muslim League.
He established Ayurvedic & Unani Tibbia College and Jamia Millia Islamia where he also introduced women education, and he launched a program to modernize Unani Medicine and brought about radical changes for the same. In later days to come, he practically gave away all that he earned either to Tibbia College or to Jamia Millia Islamia which were considered to be his two eyes.
As the president of the Khilafat committee he was in constant touch with all the leaders of the Muslim world. Ibn- e- Saud who later acceded the throne of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stayed in constant touch with Hakim sahib through correspondence concerning the movement.
He left many students in India and Pakistan. Hakim Hafiz Mohammod Saeed of Hamdrad Karachi and Hakim Sheikh Mohammod Ali Tayyebi of Tayyebi Dawakhana Karachi, were the shining memories of Great Hakim Ajmal Khan.
In short, Hakim Ajmal Khan was famous as the “Uncrowned King” of the Subcontinental.
