The History of Hijama: From the Prophet ﷺ to Modern Practice

Cupping is one of the oldest documented medical practices in human history, and Hijama — its Islamic form — carries a lineage that stretches back not just centuries but well over a thousand years, directly through Prophetic tradition into the way it's practiced today. Understanding that history helps explain why Hijama looks the way it does now, and why so many practitioners treat it as something closer to a preserved tradition than a modern wellness trend.

Cupping Before Islam

Cupping therapy predates Islam by a considerable margin. Archaeological and textual evidence points to cupping being practiced in ancient Africa, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China, with some of the earliest known references appearing in Egyptian medical texts thousands of years ago. By the time of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in seventh-century Arabia, cupping was already an established practice across the region, used by various healers for a wide range of ailments. What Islam did wasn't invent cupping — it elevated, refined, and specifically endorsed it within a body of religious and medical teaching.

The Prophet ﷺ and Hijama

Hijama holds a distinct place in Islamic tradition because of how directly and repeatedly the Prophet ﷺ spoke about it. The most cited narration comes from Sahih al-Bukhari, one of the two most authenticated Hadith collections in Islam. The Prophet ﷺ, peace be upon him, said:

Multiple authentic narrations also describe the Prophet ﷺ personally undergoing cupping, including reports of it being performed on his head and shoulder area — points that closely correspond to Al-Yafookh and Al-Kahil, still used by practitioners today. This distinction matters in Islamic scholarship: Hijama isn't simply something the Prophet ﷺ spoke about in the abstract, it's something he practiced himself, which carries additional weight in how the Sunnah is understood.

The Golden Age of Islamic Medicine

Following the Prophet's ﷺ time, cupping was carried forward and further developed by physicians during the Islamic Golden Age, roughly the 8th through 13th centuries. Scholars and physicians such as Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Al-Zahrawi documented cupping techniques in major medical texts of the era, integrating it alongside the broader medical knowledge being compiled, translated, and expanded across the Islamic world at the time. This period is a significant reason cupping techniques and terminology spread so widely — Islamic medical scholarship was, for centuries, among the most advanced in the world, and cupping was a documented, standard part of it.

Cupping Traditions Beyond the Islamic World

It's worth noting that other cultures developed and preserved their own cupping traditions independently and in parallel — Traditional Chinese Medicine has its own long-standing cupping practice, as do various European folk medicine traditions dating back centuries. Hijama is distinct from these in its specific grounding in Islamic religious teaching and its inclusion of controlled, superficial incisions (wet cupping) as part of the traditional method, rather than suction alone.

A Timeline of Key Points

1. Ancient civilisations — early cupping practices documented in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China.
2. 7th century — the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ speaks extensively about Hijama and undergoes it himself, cementing its place in Islamic practice.
3. 8th–13th centuries — physicians of the Islamic Golden Age document and refine cupping technique within broader medical scholarship.
4. Centuries following — Hijama continues as an ongoing practice across Muslim communities worldwide, passed down largely through direct practitioner-to-practitioner training.
5. Recent decades — renewed global interest in cupping generally, alongside a specific revival of interest in sports cupping and authentic, Sunnah-based Hijama practice among Muslim communities in the West, including here in Montréal.

Why This History Still Matters Today

Knowing this background changes how a session should actually be approached. It's part of why traditional Hijama practice emphasizes specific Sunnah points rather than cupping wherever happens to be convenient, why the lunar calendar dates come up in scheduling, and why so many practitioners — including us — treat this as a preserved tradition to be practiced carefully and respectfully, not simply a trending therapy borrowed from elsewhere.

If you'd like to understand more about what the Hadith specifically say, our companion article on the Sunnah of Hijama goes deeper into the narrations themselves.