Hamdard Rooh Afza 800ml

Product Information

Abdul Majeed’s eldest son chose to remain in India, while his younger brother traveled to Karachi to start a new Rooh Afza plant where he started producing Rooh Afza in a two-room rented house. As a child, I thought both – the date and the Rooh Afza – were Sunnah because no one broke their fast without them.” An advertisement for one of Rooh Afza’s competitors, Naurus. It references Hakim Said’s tagline of ‘drink of the East’, declaring Naurus the ‘drink of the times’, ‘the superior drink’ and the final word in taste. It appeared in Akhbar-e-Khawateen newspaper in May 1979 [Al Jazeera]

Originally created by a Unani hakim or doctor as a herbal concoction to beat the heat, it has gone on to become a staple across India and Pakistan. The version is made with milk, crushed ice and chunks of ruby watermelons and is sold by vendors in and around the grand mosque. Jameela Khatoon, 35, had come to Jama Masjid, a Mughal-era mosque in Old Delhi, along with her family members to have her iftar there. Upon seeing Rooh Afza being sold outside the grand mosque, she immediately bought four bottles. Rabia Begum’s younger son, Mohammed Said, was inspired by the Muslim League, a political party advocating for the separate Muslim state of Pakistan and freedom from British colonial rule. He wanted to become a journalist, but his older brother Abdul Hameed convinced him to study medicine. In 1940, as the Muslim League was passing a resolution demanding independence, Mohammed Said graduated with a degree in eastern medicine. By 1948, while his brother remained at the helm of the company in India, Said migrated to Pakistan, with the plan to set up Hamdard there too. He brought with him his father’s formula for Rooh Afza. Two advertisements for Rooh Afza from the Illustrated Weekly of India, from 1977 (left) and 1980. Both seem to refer to competitors and stress that there is ‘nothing like’ Rooh Afza [Al Jazeera] While some may argue that sharbat isn’t supposed to be nutritious—and some might even agree—but it also doesn’t have to be unhealthy.

What is Ramzan without Rooh Afza?

The production capacity of Rooh Afza is around 15 million liters per year, with the majority of the production taking place in India. In general, 88% of the drink is made up of sugar, while the remaining 12% comprises other ingredients such as herbs, vegetable, fruits, preservatives, colors and flavors. 4 Reasons Rooh Afza is not good for health 1. Extremely high in sugar Rooh Afza is a must for iftar,” said Shaista. “It has been a tradition for decades to have the drink mixed with water or milk. Everyone loves breaking their fast with it.” Bringing Rooh Afza into the home was important, and advertisements featuring hand-drawn illustrations of wedding invitations and musicians encouraged families to welcome their guests with glasses of Rooh Afza to deepen “friendship and feelings of attachment”. In another, a woman cooking in her overheated kitchen pauses to mop her brow while bold advertising copy advised her to refresh herself with a glass of Rooh Afza. A woman cooking in a hot kitchen is advised to cool off with Rooh Afza in the advertisement on the left, while the one on the right advertises a competing drink, Shezan’s Samarqand. Both ran in Pakistan’s Akhbar-e-Khawateen in 1979 [Al Jazeera]

During Ramzan, the value of this drink rises to a new level for all of us. After a long day of fasting, this syrup in cold water is precisely what you need. During Ramzan in 2019, India was running out of Rooh Afza. People from Pakistan aided in the transport of this history-infused drink to India at the time. Some regular or intermittent drinkers of the syrup claim the taste of the drink has changed over the decades. "The old taste is lost, and the overall quality has fallen", said Rezaul Karim, who works at a newspaper. Mansoor Ali, chief sales and marketing officer at Hamdard Laboratories (India), reiterated the drink’s popularity. He said: “If you look at its [Rooh Afza] growth, it is 20 per cent year-on-year, which is pretty phenomenal when you consider that the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry itself is growing in single digits.” Remember that sugar-free Rooh Afza still contains notable calories and may not provide the same energy level as the regular version.

Change or die

The people in those lanes did not know what was in the sweet, ruby-red concentrate, but those first customers to try the hakim’s creation passed down stories of its taste and smell. It was unmistakable: roses. A bottle of Rooh Afza, the soul refresher. Currently, Rooh Afza is manufactured by Hamdard Laboratories, India, Hamdard Laboratories (Waqf) Pakistan and Hamdard Laboratories (WAQF) Bangladesh [Khaula Jamil/Al Jazeera] Old Delhi is also known for a special, popular Rooh Afza preparation called Sharbat-e-Mohabbat, or the drink of love. It's a pink beverage made with Rooh Afza mixed in milk and watermelon juice, served with ice. Add this watermelon puree into your desired ice lolly mold and freeze for approximately four hours before serving. Histroy: Rooh Afza was founded by Hamdard's founder, Hakim Hafiz Abdul Majeed an Unani doctor who worked from a small laboratory in old Delhi, India. In 1906, he wanted to create an herbal mix that would help Delhi's people stay cool in the summer. He selected herbs and syrups from traditional Unani medicine and created a drink that would help counter heat strokes and prevent water loss in people. After Majeed's death 15 years later, his wife Rabea Begum established a charitable trust in the name of herself and their two sons, where all the profits would go to public welfare. We start fasting early in the morning and end in the evening. My grandfather, father have been ending their fast with the drink. It truly quenches the thirst,” Ms Begum said.

According to the American Heart Association, the daily recommended sugar intake is 36g for men and 24g for women. Consuming just 2 tablespoons of Rooh Afza exceeds 85% of the limit for men and 100% for women. Despite the introduction of colas and carbonated drinks, Rooh Afza’s popularity has not been shaken. Partition posed no threat to the brand. However, everything had to be started from scratch in Pakistan, so it took great effort to establish the brand. Initially, the sold quantity of Rooh Afza was in a few hundreds, which increased ... to millions at present,” she added. Hakim Abdul Majeed named this drink Rooh Afza – the soul refresher. He used distillates of herbs, fruits, flowers and vegetables to make a concentrate that was mixed with water or another liquid and consumed. It is believed to have had up to 21 ingredients known for their cooling properties, including sandalwood, vetiver, purslane, screw pine, mint, spinach, and the heady rose.Several distributors and wholesale dealers confirmed to Al Jazeera that there was a shortage of Rooh Afza in the Indian market.

Herbs: European white lily (Nymphaea alba), lotus (Nelumbo), purslane/tukhm-e-khurfa (Portulaca oleracea seeds), Blue star water lily ( Nymphaea nouchali), chicory (Vitis vinifera), borage and coriander. Thirteen years later, Hakim Said served as governor of Sindh for a year, speaking out against corruption. In 1998, he was shot by members of a rival political party. He was 78. One of the most popular drinks in the Indian subcontinent is Rooh Afza. The translation of the name is "to nourish the soul" and the ingredients in the syrup seem to do just that!It was originally developed in India in 1906. Rooh Afza is typically used as a drink syrup or in traditional indian desserts and is very popular in the eastern part of the world.The taste of the syrup is very unique and is said to have a cooling effect on the body which is why it is such a popular summer drink. He understood that if you create a habit in them, they’ll carry it for life. Rooh Afza would become their brand.” But above all, for Muslims from the subcontinent, Rooh Afza had an unbreakable connection with Ramadan. After a long day of fasting, the drink quenches the thirst and gives a much-needed hit of sugar. “The adults broke their fast with a date, as is prescribed by the Sunnah, the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, and then they would have a glass of Rooh Afza right after,” Dr Hannan says.Dozens of stalls in the old city have cropped up in recent years, selling varieties of the popular drink. Rooh Afza has won several awards for its taste and quality, including the Monde Selection Gold Award in 2018 and the International Quality Award in 2019. The magic of Rooh Afza worked and in no time, Hamdard Pakistan became very successful. Meanwhile, Hakim Mohammad Said had expanded the company's reach to East Pakistan, opening sales centres in Chattogram and Dhaka. Finally, with the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971, Hamdard Bangladesh came into being. You want to know the business secret? Hamdard does two kinds of business: it sells to the public, and it does business with Allah,” he says. As an Islamic trust, profits are channelled into education, healthcare and charity. At first, Said was making every bottle of the cordial himself at his clinic in Karachi’s Arambagh neighbourhood. On the first day, he sold 12 bottles. Demand steadily grew and by 1953, he opened a manufacturing unit in Nazimabad – a neighbourhood so sparsely populated at the time, Rashid recalls, people joked only mice scurried around there. Rooh Afza bottles displayed in a large superstore. Such a display only appears during Ramadan when this is the drink of choice at iftar [Khaula Jamil/Al Jazeera]