About
Hikma was born from the desire to reintroduce personal and collective rituals into our daily lives. Our brand is imbued with heritage and botanical wisdom. This wisdom has led us to create products that enhance our wellbeing.
As herbalists, we understand the tradition and science of pure botanicals and how to formulate them for a better way of living. Inspired by both knowledge and legacy, our products are expertly developed in small batches with formulations that are backed by science and stripped back to the basics. This process allows our plants to shine through.
We create our products with the intention to empower you to reclaim your well-being. They are an invitation to slow down and are the opposite of a quick-fix, they are designed to be incorporated into your daily practices; they are luxurious reminders to reconnect with yourself in a busy world. Each product serves a true purpose and always has a holistic approach to wellness at its core.
Hikma is the preservation and celebration of rituals, the remembrance of our collective stories and traditions, and our return home: to ourselves and to our connection with the Earth.
OUR STORY
We founded hikma in Dubai after bonding over our mutual passion for plants and need to connect to our heritage through nature.
Our desire to feel empowered to better care for ourselves and for our families led us to explore regional options for holistic care. As we further connected with the region and its long history of using botanicals for their healing properties, we decided to put our formal training as herbalists to good use and thus hikma was born.
Everything we produce at hikma is built on the innate wisdom of plants. Our focus is primarily on plants that are indigenous to the region as that is where our ancestry lies. Through these native plants we aim to remember our collective wisdom, rituals, and ceremonies.
We created hikma based on our own needs and what we hoped to see in the world: a well-being solution that allows us to reconnect with ourselves, our traditions, and ultimately the Earth.
Growing up in Canada, plants have always played an integral role in Mahdiah’s life. Whether it was taking part in foraging, traditional hunting and fishing, growing food, whale watching, and camping, her childhood was spent immersed in Canadian nature. With a background indigenous to both Canada and North Africa, the indigenous perspective on the sacredness of the natural world acted as a bridge between the multiplicity of her cultures.
Having grown up in the Islamic Sufi tradition, the concept of seeking balance through the infinite wisdom of the natural world (hikma) profoundly shaped her understanding of health and wellbeing. Over time, she felt a calling to build something that honored that belief and that preserved the knowledge that was rooted in both nature and the traditions of her ancestry.
Combined with the family practices and teachings she picked up along the way, Mahdiah initiated her formal herbal studies a little over 15 years ago in Quebec, Canada, at FloraMedicina, and more recently through the Herbal Academy. After completing an M.Sc in Environmental Sciences, she has gone on to learn, work, and live in diverse habitats including Cuba, West Africa, and now the UAE. Her work has seen her specialise in the fields of sustainable food systems, climate change mitigation, and renewable energies for well over a decade. This expertise, fused with the knowledge she has developed as a certified herbalist, is incorporated in each of hikma’s thoughtfully-crafted formulas.
Shereen was born and raised in London to Iraqi parents and arrived to herbalism as a way to reconnect with the earth as well as her Iraqi and Kurdish ancestry. Her childhood was infused with folk remedies passed down from her Iraqi grandmothers, and although she grew up in an urban environment, she always felt drawn to wild nature.
Passionate about the unifying bond between humans and the earth, she is curious about therapies that encourage natural healing. She has always had a deep connection with music and sound.
Shereen is currently studying for a degree in Master Herbalism with the College of Naturopathic Medicine in London, under the teachings of Peter Jackson Maine. She has trained in sound healing with Cherub and Tim Wheater (a direct student of Don Conreaux) in the UK. After completing training in holding sacred circles, she moved on to study regenerative gardening with Rishi Kumar, Soil advocacy with Kiss the Ground and has completed “Wounded healer training” with Adriana Rizzolo and "Awaken: A sacred journey to the sacred feminine" with Kristen Appenrodt. Shereen is passionate about food and is a Cordon Bleu trained chef. All of these modalities have shaped her approach to creating formulas for hikma.
