Hakim Muhammad Saeed was born in New Delhi, British India in 1920 to an educated and religious Urdu-speaking family.His forefathers and family had been associated with the herbal medicine business and had established the Hamdard Laboratories which today has emerged as one of the largest manufacturers of Unani (Greek) medicines in the world.
Saeed attended the local school where he learnt Arabic,Urdu,Persian English and studied the Holy Quran. At age 18, Saeed passed the university entrance test and went on to attend the University of Delhi in 1938. There, Saeed obtained a BPharm and BS in Medicinal chemistry in 1942. After his undergraduate education, Saeed joined Hamdard Waqf Laboratories as a junior researcher and participated in herbal quality control while formulating medicines. In 1945, Saeed attended the post-graduate course and obtained MPharm in Pharmacy from the same institution. After the independence of Pakistan from old India in 1947, Saeed left his hometown with his wife and daughter. The family settled in Karachi, Sindh Province of West Pakistan. He established Hamdard Laboratories and served as its first director until his death in 1998. In 1952, Saeed travelled to Turkey where he attended the Ankara University and was awarded a PhD in Pharmacy.Then he returned to Pakistan to devote his life to medicine research.
Following his settlement in Pakistan, Saeed began practicing medicine and continued to research Eastern medicines. Having established the Hamdard Laboratories in 1948, Saeed was one the driving force in Pakistan for engaging the research in medical biology and medicines. In 1953, after his doctorate,Saeed joined the Sindh University as the associate professor of Pharmacy and taught courses in organic chemistry.In 1963, Saeed resigned from his position due to amid differences with the Federal government. In 1964, Saeed came into public limelight when he gave rogue criticism to Lt-General Wajid Burkey, the then Surgeon General of Army medical crops. and then high profile officer leading the Ministry of Health under the government of Field Marshal Ayub Khan. Saeed criticised the General, saying, "General Wajid Burkie used to say that Eastern medicine and homeopathy were quackery". Saeed began to write articles organised conferences and lobbied hard for the ban of Eastern medicine, and Ayub Khan had to pass a law legalising Eastern medicine due to amid fear of his government's bad credibility.
In 1985, Hakim Muhammad Saeed founded Hamdard University where he served its first Vice-Chancellor and as a professor.
The crowning activity of his life is the establishment of Madinat-al-Hikmah. It comprises Hamdard University with such institutes as Hamdard College of Medicine and Dentistry, Hamdard Al-Majeed College of Eastern Medicine, Hafiz Muhammad Ilyas Institute of Herbal Sciences, Hamdard Institute of Education & Social Sciences, Hamdard Institute of Management Sciences, Hamdard Institute of Information Technology, Hamdard School of Law, Faculty of Engineering Science & Technology, Hamdard Public School and Hamdard Village School. Bait-al-Hikmah (the Library) is also a constituent part of Madinat-al-Hikmah. This is one of the biggest and best-stocked libraries of Pakistan.
Saeed wrote, edited or compiled over 200 books and journals in Urdu and English on Islam, Education, Pakistan, Science, Medicine and Health. Besides writing travelogues of countries he visited, he also wrote books especially for youth and children. He also edited some journals such as Hamdard Islamicus, Hamdard Medicus, Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society "Historicus", Hamdard Sehat and Hamdard Naunehal. For several years he was also editor of Payami, the Urdu edition of UNESCO'S journal Courier. Saeed participated in various international conferences on medicine, science, education and culture and travelled widely to many countries of the world. Saeed created two widely attended national forums: Hamdard Shura (for leaders of public opinion) and Naunehal Assmebly (for children). He held offices and memberships in dozens of national and international organisations related to education and health care. He launched two journals, Hamdard Medicus and Hamdard Islamicus. Hamdard-e-Sehat, which was already being published under his editorship since 1940, also appeared from Karachi in 1948. He launched a magazine for young readers, Hamdard Naunehal, and established a separate division, Naunehal Adab, for producing quality books for children.
Saeed was an exponent of Eastern Medicine who had treated patients from all over the world including Pakistan, Europe, Africa and the Middle East by the time of his death in October 1998. He helped get alternative medicine recognised by the WHO. After a fifty-year career as a practitioner of Greco-Arab medicine, he was posthumously awarded the Nishan-e-Imtiaz by the Pakistani Government in 2002.
Hakim Muhammad Saeed was murdered on 17 October 1998. His murderers were caught by DIG Farooq Amin Qureshi, CCPO Karachi at that time. He was highly appreciated. Several persons were arrested and subsequently sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court.On 26th April 2014, The Supreme Court upheld the verdict of Sindh High Court (SHC) regarding acquittal of MQM (Mutahida Qomi Movement, a political party of Pakistan) workers in Hakim Saeed murder case.
An anti-terrorism appellate bench of the SHC had acquitted all nine people accused of murdering famous philanthropist and physician Hakim Saeed in 2001.The verdict was challenged by the then provincial government.MQM workers, Mohammed Amirullah, Mohammed Shakir alias Shakir Langra and Abu Imran Pasha, were among those acquitted by the court.
