Cupping in the Middle East and the Muslim World
cupping therapy in the Middle East and the Muslim World
Cupping is known as ‘Hajama’ in the Arabic world which translates ‘to restore to basic size’ or ‘to
diminish in volume’. The Prophet Muhammed PBUH is reported to have been a user and advocate of
cupping therapy. It has been reported that the Prophet PBUH said:
Cupping and puncturing the veins are your best remedies.
The author of Al-Qunun, Ibn Sina, said: ‘cupping is not preferred in the beginning nor the end of the
month. It is preferred in the middle of the month when the substances (of the constitution or the
condition) accumulate and become agitated. In a different Hadith: ‘ The Prophet PBUH use to have
cupping done on the 17th, 19th and 21st day of the lunar month’, the most beneficial time was reported to
be 2-3 hours after taking a bath. Fasting a day before the cupping was also recommended.
Early Cupping Instruments
It is believed that cupping was first used in the ancient practice to suck
blood from poisonous wounds. The earliest cupping instruments were
hollowed horns with a small hole at the top through which the cupper
would suck up the blood from the scarification previously made with a
blade.
In time, various natural resources began to be used to create suction. For
example, natives along the west coast of North America, in the vicinity
of Vancouver Island, used shells. In Europe, Asia, Africa and North
America, hollow animal horns were fashioned to provide an effective cupping device.
In North America, the natives made their cupping implements by slicing off the point of a buffalo horn.
They would then place the base of the horn on the body and suck the air out through the opening at the tip. When a vacuum was achieved, the opening of the horn would be closed off by the practitioners tongue. During the Babylon - Assyrian Empire (stretching from Iraq to the Mediterranean) massage was practiced as well as 'cupping by sucking, with the mouth or by using a buffalo horn. The source of this information was presumably found inscribed on clay tablets, written in one of the earliest written languages, i.e. cuneiform script
around 700BC.
VOTIVE TABLET represents cupping and bleeding instruments from Temple of Asclepius at Athens. In the centre,
a representation of a folding case containing scalpels of various forms is depicted. On either side are cupping
vessels.
The decline of cupping from the mid to late 1800s
By the mid to late 1800s, cupping was sharply criticized by the medical fraternity and had fallen away as
a popular method. There were a few speculations as to why this happened.
- It was during this period that the newly established scientific model of medicine began
discrediting all other previously established traditional therapies in order to gain medical
dominance.
Opposition to cupping was therefore not based on a lack of effectiveness, but because of its lack of ''fit''
with the growing interests and authority of the medical fraternity. This was relayed onto a set of social
processes that stigmatized cupping and changed people's attitude to many traditional practices. However
over the past couple of decades the tide has turned and people are rediscovering that some practices have
plenty of merit, hence the re-awakening of cupping as therapeutic option.
Cupping is known as ‘Hajama’ in the Arabic world which translates ‘to restore to basic size’ or ‘to
diminish in volume’. The Prophet Muhammed PBUH is reported to have been a user and advocate of
cupping therapy. It has been reported that the Prophet PBUH said:
Cupping and puncturing the veins are your best remedies.
The author of Al-Qunun, Ibn Sina, said: ‘cupping is not preferred in the beginning nor the end of the
month. It is preferred in the middle of the month when the substances (of the constitution or the
condition) accumulate and become agitated. In a different Hadith: ‘ The Prophet PBUH use to have
cupping done on the 17th, 19th and 21st day of the lunar month’, the most beneficial time was reported to
be 2-3 hours after taking a bath. Fasting a day before the cupping was also recommended.
Early Cupping Instruments
It is believed that cupping was first used in the ancient practice to suck
blood from poisonous wounds. The earliest cupping instruments were
hollowed horns with a small hole at the top through which the cupper
would suck up the blood from the scarification previously made with a
blade.
In time, various natural resources began to be used to create suction. For
example, natives along the west coast of North America, in the vicinity
of Vancouver Island, used shells. In Europe, Asia, Africa and North
America, hollow animal horns were fashioned to provide an effective cupping device.
In North America, the natives made their cupping implements by slicing off the point of a buffalo horn.
They would then place the base of the horn on the body and suck the air out through the opening at the tip. When a vacuum was achieved, the opening of the horn would be closed off by the practitioners tongue. During the Babylon - Assyrian Empire (stretching from Iraq to the Mediterranean) massage was practiced as well as 'cupping by sucking, with the mouth or by using a buffalo horn. The source of this information was presumably found inscribed on clay tablets, written in one of the earliest written languages, i.e. cuneiform script
around 700BC.VOTIVE TABLET represents cupping and bleeding instruments from Temple of Asclepius at Athens. In the centre,
a representation of a folding case containing scalpels of various forms is depicted. On either side are cupping
vessels.
The decline of cupping from the mid to late 1800s
By the mid to late 1800s, cupping was sharply criticized by the medical fraternity and had fallen away as
a popular method. There were a few speculations as to why this happened.
- It was during this period that the newly established scientific model of medicine began
discrediting all other previously established traditional therapies in order to gain medical
dominance.
Opposition to cupping was therefore not based on a lack of effectiveness, but because of its lack of ''fit''
with the growing interests and authority of the medical fraternity. This was relayed onto a set of social
processes that stigmatized cupping and changed people's attitude to many traditional practices. However
over the past couple of decades the tide has turned and people are rediscovering that some practices have
plenty of merit, hence the re-awakening of cupping as therapeutic option.
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