The founder of Hamdard, Hakim Hafiz Abdul Majeed, founded Rooh Afza. In 1906, he set out to make a herbal concoction that would keep Delhi residents cool during the summer. He made a drink that would aid in preventing dehydration in humans and fending off heat strokes using herbs and syrups from traditional Unani medicine.
In 1910, Mirza Noor Ahmad, an artist, created the colourful labels for Rooh Afza. Up until the creation of the finished drink, the original formula was continually developed and improved.
Following the partition of India in 1947, the younger son, Hakim Mohammad Said, immigrated to Pakistan on January 9, 1948, and established a separate Hamdard Company out of two rooms in Karachi’s historic Arambagh neighborhood, while the older son, Hakim Abdul Hameed, remained in India.
In 1953, Hamdard Pakistan started to turn a profit. In the old East Pakistan, Hakim Mohammad Said built a Hamdard branch. Sadia Rashid, the chairperson of Hamdard Pakistan in 2019 and the daughter of Hakim Mohammad Said, claims that after Bangladesh gained independence in 1971, her father gave the company to the country’s citizens.
