Known by a multitude of names across the world: shilajeet, shilajit, salajeet, mumijo, mumiyo, mumiya, mum, mumio, momia, moomiyo, mountain tar, rock-tar, mineral pitch, mineral wax, black asphaltum, asphaltum punjabianum, shargai, dorobi, barahshin, baragshun mummenayyee, tasmayi, chao-tong, wu ling zhi*, badha-naghay, baad-a-ghee, arkhar-tash, mumiyo.
It is a blackish brown organic mass from the Himalayas used in indigenous India medicine in the ayurveda and unani tibb medical systems.
Al-Himaidi and Umar in, “Safe Use of Salajeet During the Pregnancy of Female Mice.” in the Journal of Biological Sciences (2003) “It has been used for ages in traditional medicines in the treatment of bronchial asthma, diabetes, genito-urinary infection, wound healing and nerve disorder (citing Chopra, et al 1976)”
Notes
*Listed, based on a Wikipedia entry. However, in Chinese Medicine the name Wu Ling Zhi is flying squirrel excrement – not halal – and Bensky and Gamble cite a different latin name, exrementum trogopteri seu pteroma, so it is probably not shilajeet.
Image
Valentin [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons