Did you know that there is a seed mentioned in the Bible, Islamic prophetic sayings and over 406 modern scientific studies? Did you know that Queen Nefertiti and Tutankhamun of Ancient Egypt even used this seed?!
Why do millions of people around the world take this seed daily and swear by it as a natural remedy for many conditions?
Most herbal remedies using black seed include mixing it with honey in one form or another.
What Is Black Seed?
“Black seed” is the seed of a plant named Nigella sativa which native to the Indian Subcontinent and West Asia. It is a small black seed which is also known as nigella, black cumin, kalonji (Urdu), habbatus-sawdaa’ (Arabic and Malay) and kalojeera (Bengali).
The seeds are used as a spice in Indian and Middle Eastern cuisine. They have a bitter, pungent taste and odour.
What Is So Special About Black Seed?
The earliest written reference to the black seed is in the Book of Isaiah of the Bible, in which it is referred to as “Ketzah” in Hebrew, a spice for bread and cakes:
“For the black cumin is beaten out with a stick and the cumin with a rod.” (Isaiah 28:27)
But it is its use in Islamic medicine that has made black seed famous in traditional remedies all over the world. The origin of its use in traditional medicine can be traced back to a saying of the Prophet Muhammad (s):
“In the black seed is a cure for every illness except death.” (Sahih Al-Bukhari 7:71:592)
For this reason, another common name for the black seed in the Arab world is habbatul-barakah (the blessed seed).
It is also reported that Queen Nefertiti of Ancient Egypt used black seeds and there are even reports that black seeds were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun himself.
The Properties Of Black Seeds
The black seed has been extensively researched over several centuries by scientists all over the world.
Traditional herbalists Avicenna and Ibn Al-Qayyim made extensive use of black seeds in their remedies to heal a range of ailments from fevers and common colds to high blood pressure, asthma and respiratory illnesses.
Many of the traditional remedies involving black seed involve taking it with honey in some form or another.
The principal bioactive compound in the black seed is thymoquinone. Since 1960 at least 406 research papers on thymoquinone have been published in the PubMed database.
A 2014 study led by the University of Salzburg, Austria, documented extensively the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and hepatoprotective effects of thymoquinone and the black seed.
Interestingly, since President Donald Trump’s recent announcement that anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine is a cure for coronavirus, rumours have been abound on social media that hydroxychloroquine is derived from the black seed.
There is no truth to the rumours that anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine is derived from the black seed.
That said, the bioactive properties of the black seed in its own right are well documented and it continues to be used in traditional herbal remedies all over the world, not just in the Muslim world.
