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The Doctrine of the Naturals
Wholeness and balance Tibb, the subject of Unani Healing, literally means nature, is a body of knowledge and practice which maintains health and endeavours to restore it whenever lost. Health is a purposeful condition of attidal (dynamic balance), in which all the functions are carried out in a correct and complete manner. The concept of wholeness and balance permeates the philosophy, principles and practices of Unani Healing. Once, the condition of wholeness and balance was a norm for most human beings. However, as people deviated from the natural patterns of life, disharmony and diseases increased. The Unani system is divided into two parts, theory and practice. There are three parts to the theory of Unani: (1) the theory of naturals, which establishes the standards of the human body, from which disease states are deduced by the deviation from these norms; (2) the theory of causes, which identifies and ex-plains the reasons for the deviations from the norms so that they may be cor-rected; and (3) the theory of signs, which presents the main diagnostic features for identifying the specific deviation that is causing the imbalance (disease). There are seven components of the naturals discussed in this section: (1) elements, (2) temperaments, (3) humors, (4) organs, (5) forces, (6) actions, and (7) spirits. By understanding each of these components of the naturals, we can begin to appreciate the view-point through which Unani evaluates human health and wellness.
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