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For other people known as Geber, see Geber.
Jābir ibn Hayyān
15th-century European portrait of "Geber", Codici Ashburnhamiani 1166, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence
Title
Abu Musa Jābir ibn Hayyān
Born
722 AD Tus, Persia
Died
c. 804 AD
Ethnicity
Arab[1][2] or Persian[3]
Era
Islamic Golden Age
Creed
Shia[4][5]
Main interest(s)
Alchemy and Chemistry, Astronomy, Astrology, Medicine and Pharmacy, Philosophy, Physics, philanthropist
Notable work(s)
Kitab al-Kimya, Kitab al-Sab'een, Book of the Kingdom, Book of the Balances , Book of Eastern Mercury, etc.
Influenced by[show]
Influenced[show]
Abu Mūsā Jābir ibn Hayyān (al-Barigi / al-Azdi / al-Kufi / al-Tusi / al-Sufi), often known simply as Geber, (Arabic: جابر بن حیان) (Persian: جابرحیان) (c.721–c.815)[6] was a prominent polymath: a chemist and alchemist, astronomer and astrologer, engineer, geographer, philosopher, physicist, and pharmacist and physician. Born and educated in Tus, he later traveled to Kufa. Jābir is held to have been the first practical alchemist.[7]
As early as the 10th century, the identity and exact corpus of works of Jābir was in dispute in Islamic circles.[8] His name was Latinized as "Geber" in the Christian West and in 13th century Europe an anonymous writer, usually referred to as Pseudo-Geber, produced alchemical and metallurgical writings under the pen-name Geber.
Contents
[hide] 1 Biography 1.1 Early references
1.2 Life and background
2 The Jabirian corpus 2.1 People
2.2 Theories
2.3 Laboratory equipment and material 2.3.1 Alcohol and the mineral acids
2.4 Legacy
2.5 Quotation
3 The Geber problem 3.1 The Pseudo-Geber corpus
3.2 English translations of Jābir and the pseudo-Geber
4 Popular culture
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early references
In 988 Ibn al-Nadim compiled the Kitab al-Fihrist which mentions Jabir as a spiritual follower and as a companion to Jafar as-Sadiq (he is not listed among the students of Jafar as-Sadiq but many of the writings of the Jabirian corpus are dedicated to Jafar as-Sadiq). In another reference al-Nadim reports that a group of philosophers claimed Jabir was one of their own members. Another group, reported by al-Nadim, says only The Large Book of Mercy is genuine and that the rest are pseudographical. Their assertions are rejected by al-Nadim.[9] Joining al-Nadim in asserting a real Jabir; Ibn-Wahshiyya ("ibrahim alkindi ...book on poison is a great work..") Rejecting a real Jabir; (the philosopher c.970) Abu Sulayman al-Mantiqi claims the real author is one al-Hasan ibn al-Nakad al-Mawili. 14th century critic of Arabic literature, Jamal al-Din ibn Nubata al-Misri declares all the writings attributed to Jabir doubtful.[10]
[edit] Life and background
Ibrahim was an Omani Natural Philosopher who lived mostly in the 8th century; he was born in Tus, Khorasan, in Iran (Persia),[6] then ruled by the Umayyad Caliphate. Jabir in the classical sources has been entitled differently as al-Azdi al-Barigi or al-Kufi or al-Tusi or al-Sufi.[11] There is a difference of opinion[12] as to whether he was an Arab from Kufa who lived in Khurasan or a Persian from Khorasan who later went to Kufa or whether he was, as some have suggested, of Syrian origin and later lived in Persia and Iraq.[13] His ethnic background is not clear,[11] and sources reference him as an Arab or a Persian.[3] In some sources, he is reported to have been the son of Hayyan al-Azdi, a pharmacist of the Arabian Azd tribe who emigrated from Yemen to Kufa (in present-day Iraq) during the Umayyad Caliphate.[14][15] while Henry Corbin believes Geber seems to have been a client of the 'Azd tribe.[16] Jābir became an alchemist at the court of Caliph Harun al-Rashid, for whom he wrote the Kitab al-Zuhra ("The Book of Venus", on "the noble art of alchemy").[citation needed] Hayyan had supported the Abbasid revolt against the Umayyads, and was sent by them to the province of Khorasan (present day Afghanistan and Iran) to gather support for their cause. He was eventually caught by the Umayyads and executed. His family fled to Yemen,[14][17] where Jābir grew up and studied the Quran, mathematics and other subjects.[14] Jābir's father's profession may have contributed greatly to his interest in alchemy.
After the Abbasids took power, Jābir went back to Kufa. He began his career practicing medicine, under the patronage of a Vizir (from the noble Persian family Barmakids) of Caliph Harun al-Rashid. His connections to the Barmakid cost him dearly in the end. When that family fell from grace in 803, Jābir was placed under house arrest in Kufa, where he remained until his death.
It has been asserted that Jābir was a student of the sixth Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq and Harbi al-Himyari,[5][8] however other scholars have questioned this theory.[18]
[edit] The Jabirian corpus
An illustration of the various experiments and instruments used by Jabir Ibn Hayyan.
In total, nearly 3,000 treatises and articles are credited to Jabir ibn Hayyan.[19] Following the pioneering work of Paul Kraus, who demonstrated that a corpus of some several hundred works ascribed to Jābir were probably a medley from different hands,[10][20] mostly dating to the late 9th and early 10th centuries, many scholars believe that many of these works consist of commentaries and additions by his followers,[citation needed] particularly of an Ismaili persuasion.[21]
The scope of the corpus is vast: cosmology, music, medicine, magic, biology, chemical technology, geometry, grammar, metaphysics, logic, artificial generation of living beings, along with astrological predictions, and symbolic Imâmî myths.[10]
The 112 Books dedicated to the Barmakids, viziers of Caliph Harun al-Rashid. This group includes the Arabic version of the Emerald Tablet, an ancient work that proved a recurring foundation of and source for alchemical operations. In the Middle Ages it was translated into Latin (Tabula Smaragdina) and widely diffused among European alchemists.
The Seventy Books, most of which were translated into Latin during the Middle Ages. This group includes the Kitab al-Zuhra ("Book of Venus") and the Kitab Al-Ahjar ("Book of Stones").
The Ten Books on Rectification, containing descriptions of alchemists such as Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
The Books on Balance; this group includes his most famous 'Theory of the balance in Nature'.
Jābir states in his Book of Stones (4:12) that "The purpose is to baffle and lead into error everyone except those whom God loves and provides for". His works seem to have been deliberately written in highly esoteric code (see steganography), so that only those who had been initiated into his alchemical school could understand them. It is therefore difficult at best for the modern reader to discern which aspects of Jābir's work are to be read as symbols (and what those symbols mean), and what is to be taken literally. Because his works rarely made overt sense, the term gibberish is believed to have originally referred to his writings (Hauck, p. 19).
[edit] People
Jābir's interest in alchemy was probably inspired by his teacher Ja'far as-Sadiq. When he used to talk about alchemy, he would say "my master Ja'far as-Sadiq taught me about calcium, evaporation, distillation and crystallization and everything I learned in alchemy was from my master Ja'far as-Sadiq." Imam Jafar was famed for his depth and breadth of knowledge. In addition to his knowledge of Islamic sciences, Imam Jafar was well educated in natural sciences, mathematics, philosophy, astronomy, anatomy, chemistry (alchemy), and other subjects. The foremost Islamic alchemist Jabir bin Hayyan was his most prominent student. Other famous students of his were Imam Abu Hanifa and Imam Malik Ibn Anas, the founders of two Sunni schools of jurisprudence, and Wasil ibn Ata, the founder of the Mutazilite school of Islamic thought. Imam Jafar was known for his liberal views on learning, and was keen to debate with scholars of different faiths and of different beliefs. Imam Abu Hanifa is quoted by many souces as having said "My knowledge extends to only two years. The two I spent with Imam Jafar Sadiq", some Islamic scholars have gone so far as to call Imam Jafar Saddiq as the root of most of Islamic jurisprudence, having a massive influence on Hanafi, Maliki and Shia schools of thought extending well into mainstream Hanbali and Shafi'i thought. Imam Jafar also attained a surpassing knowledge in astronomy and in the science of medicine. it is said that he wrote more than five hundred books on health care which were compiled and annotated by another great scholar and scientist of Islam, Jabir bin Hayyan
Jābir professes to draw his inspiration from earlier writers, legendary and historic, on the subject.[22] In his writings, Jābir pays tribute to Egyptian and Greek alchemists Zosimos, Democritus, Hermes Trismegistus, Agathodaimon, but also Plato, Aristotle, Galen, Pythagoras, and Socrates as well as the commentators Alexander of Aphrodisias Simplicius, Porphyry and others.[10] A huge pseudo-epigraphic literature of alchemical books was composed in Arabic, among which the names of Persian authors also appear like Jāmāsb, Ostanes, Mani, testifying that alchemy-like operations on metals and other substances were also practiced in Persia. The great number of Persian technical names (zaybaq = mercury, nošāder = sal-ammoniac) also corroborates the idea of an important Iranian root of medieval alchemy.[23] Ibn al-Nadim reports a dialogue between Aristotle and Ostanes, the Persian alchemist of Achaemenid era, which is in Jabirian corpus under the title of Kitab Musahhaha Aristutalis.[24] Ruska had suggested that the Sasanian medical schools played an important role in the spread of interest in alchemy.[23] He emphasizes the long history of alchemy, "whose origin is Arius ... the first man who applied the first experiment on the [philosopher's] stone... and he declares that man possesses the ability to imitate the workings of Nature" (Nasr, Seyyed Hussein, Science and Civilization of Islam).
[edit] Theories
Jābir's alchemical investigations ostensibly revolved around the ultimate goal of takwin — the artificial creation of life. The Book of Stones includes several recipes for creating creatures such as scorpions, snakes, and even humans in a laboratory environment, which are subject to the control of their creator. What Jābir meant by these recipes is unknown.
Jābir's alchemical investigations were theoretically grounded in an elaborate numerology related to Pythagorean and Neoplatonic systems. The nature and properties of elements was defined through numeric values assigned the Arabic consonants present in their name, ultimately culminating in the number 17.
By Jabirs' time Aristotelian physics, had become Neoplatonic. Each Aristotelian element was composed of these qualities: fire was both hot and dry, earth, cold and dry, water cold and moist, and air, hot and moist. This came from the elementary qualities which are theoretical in nature plus substance. In metals two of these qualities were interior and two were exterior. For example, lead was cold and dry and gold was hot and moist. Thus, Jābir theorized, by rearranging the qualities of one metal, a different metal would result. Like Zosimos, Jabir believed this would require a catalyst, an al-iksir, the elusive elixir that would make this transformation possible — which in European alchemy became known as the philosopher's stone.[10]
According to Jabir's mercury-sulfur theory, metals differ from each in so far as they contain different proportions of the sulfur and mercury. These are not the elements that we know by those names, but certain principles to which those elements are the closest approximation in nature.[25] Based on Aristotle's "exhalation" theory the dry and moist exhalations become sulfur and mercury (sometimes called "sophic" or "philosophic" mercury and sulfur). The sulfur-mercury theory is first recorded in a 7th century work Secret of Creation credited (falsely) to Balinus (Apollonius of Tyana). This view becomes wide spread.[26] In the Book of Explanation Jabir says
the metals are all, in essence, composed of mercury combined and coagulated with sulphur [that has risen to it in earthy, smoke-like vapors]. They differ from one another only because of the difference of their accidental qualities, and this difference is due to the difference of their sulphur, which again is caused by a variation in the soils and in their positions with respect to the heat of the sun
Holmyard says that Jabir proves by experiment that these are not ordinary sulfur and mercury.[14]
The seeds of the modern classification of elements into metals and non-metals could be seen in his chemical nomenclature. He proposed three categories:[27]
"Spirits" which vaporise on heating, like arsenic (realgar, orpiment), camphor, mercury, sulfur, sal ammoniac, and ammonium chloride.
"Metals", like gold, silver, lead, tin, copper, iron, and khar-sini
Non-malleable substances, that can be converted into powders, such as stones.
The origins of the idea of chemical equivalents might be traced back to Jabir, in whose time it was recognized that "a certain quantity of acid is necessary in order to neutralize a given amount of base."[28][verification needed] Jābir also made important contributions to medicine, astronomy/astrology, and other sciences. Only a few of his books have been edited and published, and fewer still are available in translation.
[edit] Laboratory equipment and material
Ambix, cucurbit and retort of Zosimus, from Marcelin Berthelot, Collection of ancient greek alchemists (3 vol., Paris, 1887–1888).
Jabirian corpus is renowned for its contributions to alchemy. It shows a clear recognition of the importance of experimentation, "The first essential in chemistry is that thou shouldest perform practical work and conduct experiments, for he who performs not practical work nor makes experiments will never attain to the least degree of mastery."[29] He is credited with the use of over twenty types of now-basic chemical laboratory equipment,[30] such as the alembic[31] and retort, and with the description of many now-commonplace chemical processes – such as crystallisation, various forms of alchemical "distillation", and substances citric acid (the sour component of lemons and other unripe fruits), acetic acid (from vinegar) and tartaric acid (from wine-making residues), arsenic, antimony and bismuth, sulfur, and mercury[29][30] that have become the foundation of today's chemistry.[32]
The works in Latin under the name of Geber include these important chemical processes (Von Meyer, 1906): The manufacture of nitric and sulfuric acids; The separation of gold from other metals through the agency of lead and saltpeter (potassium nitrate). The concept of a chemical compound; the mineral cinnabar, for example, as being composed of sulfur and mercury The purification of mercury. The classification of salts as water soluble, under the generic title "sal." The introduction of the word "alkali" to designate substances such as lye and other bases. The production of nitric acid by distilling a mixture of saltpeter (potassium nitrate), copper vitriol (copper sulfate), and alum (naturally occurring sulfate of iron, potassium, sodium or aluminum). The production of sulfuric acid through the heating of alum . The production of aqua regia, a solvent capable of dissolving gold, by mixing salmiac (ammonium chloride) and nitric acid. The production of alum from alum shale by recrystallizing it from water. The purification of substances through crystallization The precipitation of silver nitrate crystals from a solution by the addition of common salt, thus establishing a test for the presence of both silver and salt. The preparation of mercuric oxide from mercury by heating it with a metallic oxide, and mercuric chloride by heating mercury with common salt, alum and saltpeter. The preparation of arsenious acid. The dissolving of sulfur in solutions of alkalies, and its transformation when it interacts with aqua regia. The theory that the different metals are composed of varying degrees of sulfur and mercury. The production of saltpeter by mixing potash (potassium carbonate) and nitric acid. [33]
According to Ismail al-Faruqi and Lois Lamya al-Faruqi, "In response to Jafar al-Sadik's wishes, [Jabir ibn Hayyan] invented a kind of paper that resisted fire, and an ink that could be read at night[disambiguation needed]. He invented an additive which, when applied to an iron surface, inhibited rust and when applied to a textile, would make it water repellent."[34]
[edit] Alcohol and the mineral acids
According to Forbes "no proof was ever found that the Arabs knew alcohol or any mineral acid in a period before they were discovered in Italy, whatever the opinion of some modern authors may be on this point."[35] However this claim is due to Forbes (and others) lack of knowledge of Arabic texts, and a number of instances of distillation of wine have been found by Ahmad Y. Al-Hassan.[36] Fractional distillation of alcohol first occurs about 1100 probably in Salerno. Magister Salernus (died 1167) provides one of the earliest direct recipes.[35] Directions to make sulfuric acid, nitric acid and aqua regis appear in Liber Fornacum, De inventione perfectionis, and the Summa.[35]
[edit] Legacy
An artistic depiction of "Geber"
Whether there was a real Jabir in the 8th century or not, his name would become the most famous in alchemy.[18] He paved the way for most of the later alchemists, including al-Kindi, al-Razi, al-Tughrai and al-Iraqi[disambiguation needed], who lived in the 9th–13th centuries. His books strongly influenced the medieval European alchemists[32] and justified their search for the philosopher's stone.[37][38] In the Middle Ages, Jabir's treatises on alchemy were translated into Latin and became standard texts for European alchemists. These include the Kitab al-Kimya (titled Book of the Composition of Alchemy in Europe), translated by Robert of Chester (1144); and the Kitab al-Sab'een (Book of Seventy) by Gerard of Cremona (before 1187). Marcelin Berthelot translated some of his books under the fanciful titles Book of the Kingdom, Book of the Balances, and Book of Eastern Mercury. Several technical Arabic terms introduced by Jabir, such as alkali, have found their way into various European languages and have become part of scientific vocabulary.
Max Meyerhoff states the following on Jabir ibn Hayyan: "His influence may be traced throughout the whole historic course of European alchemy and chemistry."[32]
The historian of chemistry Erick John Holmyard gives credit to Jābir for developing alchemy into an experimental science and he writes that Jābir's importance to the history of chemistry is equal to that of Robert Boyle and Antoine Lavoisier. The historian Paul Kraus, who had studied most of Jābir's extant works in Arabic and Latin, summarized the importance of Jābir to the history of chemistry by comparing his experimental and systematic works in chemistry with that of the allegorical and unintelligible works of the ancient Greek alchemists.[39] The word gibberish is theorized to be derived from the Latinised version off Jābir's name,[40] in reference to the incomprehensible technical jargon often used by alchemists, the most famous of whom was Jābir.[41] Other sources such as the Oxford English Dictionary suggest the term stems from gibber; however, the first known recorded use of the term "gibberish" was before the first known recorded use of the word "gibber" (see Gibberish).
[edit] Quotation
"My wealth let sons and brethren part. Some things they cannot share: my work well done, my noble heart — these are mine own to wear."[42]
[edit] The Geber problem
The identity of the author of works attributed to Jabir has long been discussed.[8] According to a famous controversy,[43] pseudo-Geber has been considered as the unknown author of several books in Alchemy.[44] This was first independently suggested, on textual and other grounds, by the 19th-century historians Hermann Kopp and Marcellin Berthelot.[45] Jabir, by reputation the greatest chemist of Islam, has long been familiar to western readers under the name of Geber, which is the medieval rendering of the Arabic Jabir, the Geber of the Middle Ages.[46] The works in Latin corpus were considered to be translations until the studies of Kopp, Hoefer, Berthelot, and Lippman. Although they reflect earlier Arabic alchemy they are not direct translations of "Jabir" but are the work of a 13th century Latin alchemist.[47] Eric Holmyard says in his book Makers of Chemistry Clarendon press.(1931).[48]
There are, however, certain other Latin works, entitled The Sum of Perfection, The Investigation of Perfection, The Invention of Verity, The Book of Furnaces, and The Testament, which pass under his name but of which no Arabic original is known. A problem which historians of chemistry have not yet succeeded in solving is whether these works are genuine or not.
However by 1957 AD when he (Holmyard) wrote Alchemy. Courier Dover Publications. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-486-26298-7. Holmyard had abandoned the idea of an Arabic original. (although they are based on "Islamic" alchemical theories)
The question at once arises whether the Latin works are genuine translations from the Arabic, or written by a Latin author and, according to common practice, ascribed to Jabir in order to heighten their authority. That they are based on Muslim alchemical theory and practice is not questioned, but the same may be said of most Latin treatises on alchemy of that period; and from various turns of phrase it seems likely that their author could read Arabic. But the general style of the works is too clear and systematic to find a close parallel in any of the known writings of the Jabirian corpus, and we look in vain in them for any references to the characteristically Jabirian ideas of "balance" and the alphabetic numerology. Indeed for their age they have a remarkably matter of fact air about them, theory being stated with a minimum of prolixity and much precise practical detail being given. The general impression they convey is that they are the product of an occidental rather than an oriental mind, and a likely guess would be that they were written by a European scholar, possibly in Moorish Spain. Whatever their origin, they became the principal authorities in early Western alchemy and held that position for two or three centuries.
The question of Geber's identity, whether he is the original Jābir or a "pseudo-Geber" adopting his name, is still in dispute(1962).[49] It is said that Geber, the Latinized form of "Jābir," was adopted presumably because of the great reputation of a supposed 8th-century alchemist by the name of Jābir ibn Hayyān.[50] About this historical figure, however, there was considerable uncertainty a century ago,[51] and the uncertainty continues today.[52] This is sometimes called the "Geber-Jābir problem".[53] It is possible that some of the facts mentioned in the Latin works, ascribed to Geber and dating from the 12th century and later, must also be placed to Jabir's credit. It is important to consider that it is impossible to reach definite conclusions until all the Arabic writings ascribed to Jābir have been properly edited and discussed.[46]
[edit] The Pseudo-Geber corpus
The Latin corpus consists of books with an author named "Geber" for which researchers have failed to find a text in Arabic. Although these books are heavily influenced by Arabic books written by Jābir, the "real" Geber, and by Al Razi and others, they were never written in Arabic. They are in Latin only, they date from about the year 1310, and their author is called Pseudo-Geber:
Summa perfectionis magisterii ("The Height of the Perfection of Mastery").[54]
Liber fornacum ("Book of Stills"),
De investigatione perfectionis ("On the Investigation of Perfection"), and
De inventione veritatis ("On the Discovery of Truth").
Testamentum gerberi
The 2nd, 3rd and 4th books listed above "are merely extracts from or summaries of the Summa Perfectionis Magisterii with later additions."[55]
[edit] English translations of Jābir and the pseudo-Geber
Syed Nomanul Haq, Names, Natures and Things: The Alchemists Jabir ibn Hayyan and his Kitab al-Ahjar (Book of Stones), [Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science p. 158] (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1994), ISBN 0-7923-3254-7.
Donald Routledge Hill, 'The Literature of Arabic Alchemy' in Religion: Learning and Science in the Abbasid Period, ed. by M.J.L. Young, J.D. Latham and R.B. Serjeant (Cambridge University Press, 1990) pp. 328–341, esp. pp 333–5.
E. J. Holmyard (ed.) The Arabic Works of Jabir ibn Hayyan, translated by Richard Russel in 1678. New York, E. P. Dutton (1928); Also Paris, P. Geuther.
Geber and William R. Newman, The Summa Perfectionis of Pseudo-Geber: A Critical Edition, Translation and Study ISBN 90-04-09466-4.
William R. Newman, New Light on the Identity of Geber, Sudhoffs Archiv, 1985, Vol.69, pp. 76–90.
[edit] Popular culture
Geber is mentioned in Paulo Coelho's 1993 bestseller, The Alchemist.[56]
Jabbir is said to be the creator of a (fictional) mystical chess set in Katherine Neville's novels The Eight and The Fire.
In S.H.I.E.L.D, Jabir appears as the 8th century leader of the organization.
Jabir is mentioned in the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory, in the episode "The Guitarist Amplification".
Jabir Ibn Hayyan is mentioned in the graphic novel Habibi by Craig Thompson, p. 253-254.
In the DC comic book title Demon Knights, the 11th century engineer Al-Jabr appears to be based on Jabir Ibn Hayyan.
[edit] See also
Alchemy
Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam
Chemistry
Al-Kindi
List of Arab scientists and scholars
List of Iranian scientists and scholars
List of Shi'a Muslims
Muhammad ibn Zakariya ar-Razi
Science in medieval Islam
[edit] References
1.^ Kraus, P. (1962). "Djābir B. Ḥayyān". Encyclopaedia of Islam 2 (2nd ed.). Brill Academic Publishers. pp. 357–359. "As for Djābir's historic personality, Holmyard has suggested that his father was "a certain Azdī called Hayyan, druggist of Kufa...mentioned...in connection with the political machinations that were used by many people, in the eighth century, finally resulted in the overthrow of the Umayyad dynasty."
2.^ Holmyard, Eric John, "Introduction" to The Works of Geber, Englished by Richard Russell (London: Dent, 1928), p. vii: "Abu Musa Jabir ibn Hayyan, generally known merely as Jabir, was the son of a druggist belonging to the famous South Arabian tribe of Al-Azd. Members of this tribe had settled at the town of Kufa, in Iraq, shortly after the Muhammadan conquest in the seventh century A.D., and it was in Kufa that Hayyan the druggist lived."
3.^ a b William R. Newman, Gehennical Fire: The Lives of George Starkey, an American Alchemist in the Scientific Revolution, Harvard University Press, 1994. p.94: "According to traditional bio-bibliography of Muslims, Jabir ibn Hayyan was a Persian alchemist who lived at some time in the eighth century and wrote a wealth of books on virtually every aspect of natural philosophy"
William R. Newman, The Occult and Manifest Among the Alchemist, in F. J. Ragep, Sally P Ragep, Steven John Livesey, Tradition, Transmission, Transformation: Proceedings of Two Conferences on pre-Modern science held at University of Oklahoma, Brill, 1996/1997, p.178: "This language of extracting the hidden nature formed an important lemma for the extensive corpus associated with the Persian alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan"
Henry Corbin, "The Voyage and the Messenger: Iran and Philosophy", Translated by Joseph H. Rowe, North Atlantic Books, 1998. p.45: "The Nisba al-Azdin certainly does not necessarily indicate Arab origin. Geber seems to have been a client (mawla) of the Azd tribe established in Kufa"
Tamara M. Green, "The City of the Moon God: Religious Traditions of Harran (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World)", Brill, 1992. p.177: "His most famous student was the Persian *Jabir ibn Hayyan (b. circa 721 C.E.), under whose name the vast corpus of alchemical writing circulated in the medieval period in both the east and west, although many of the works attributed to Jabir have been demonstrated to be likely product of later Ismaili' tradition."
David Gordon White, "The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India", University of Chicago Press, 1996. p.447
William R. Newman, Promethean Ambitions: Alchemy and the Quest to Perfect Nature, University of Chicago Press, 2004. p.181: "The corpus ascribed to the eighth-century Persian sage Jabir ibn Hayyan.."
Wilbur Applebaum, The Scientific revolution and the foundation of modern science, Greenwood Press, 1995. p.44: "The chief source of Arabic alchemy was associated with the name, in its Latinized form, of Geber, an eighth-century Persian."
Neil Kamil, Fortress of the Soul: Violence, Metaphysics, and Material Life in the Huguenots New World, 1517–1751 (Early America: History, Context, Culture), JHU Press, 2005. p.182: "The ninth-century Persian alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan, also known as Geber, is accurately called pseudo-Geber since most of the works published under this name in the West were forgeries"
Aleksandr Sergeevich Povarennykh, Crystal Chemical Classification of Minerals, Plenum Press, 1972, v.1, ISBN 0-306-30348-5, p.4: "The first to give separate consideration to minerals and other inorganic substances were the following: The Persian alchemist Jabir (721–815)..."
George Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science, Pub. for the Carnegie Institution of Washington, by the Williams & Wilkins Company, 1931, vol.2 pt.1, page 1044: "Was Geber, as the name would imply, the Persian alchemist Jabir ibn Haiyan?"
Dan Merkur, in The psychoanalytic study of society (eds. Bryce Boyer, et al.), vol. 18, Routledge, ISBN 0-88163-161-2, page 352: "I would note that the Persian alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan developed the theory that all metals consist of different 'balances' ..."
Anthony Gross, The Dissolution of the Lancastrian Kingship: Sir John Fortescue and the Crisis of Monarchy in Fifteenth-century England, Paul Watkins, 1996, ISBN 1-871615-90-9, p.19: "Ever since the Seventy Books attributed to the Persian alchemist Jabir Ibn Hayyan had been translated into Latin ...."
4.^ Henderson, Joseph L.; Dyane N. Sherwood (2003). Transformation of the Psyche: The Symbolic Alchemy of the Splendor Solis. East Sussex, UK: Psychology Press. p. 11. ISBN 1-58391-950-3.
5.^ a b Haq, Syed N. (1994). Names, Natures and Things. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Volume 158/ Kluwar Academic Publishers. pp. 14–20. ISBN 0-7923-3254-7.
6.^ a b "Abu Musa Jabir ibn Hayyan". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 11 February 2008.
7.^ Julian, Franklyn, Dictionary of the Occult, Kessinger Publishing, 2003, ISBN 0-7661-2816-4, ISBN 978-0-7661-2816-3, p. 8.
8.^ a b c Glick, Thomas; Eds (2005). Medieval science, technology, and medicine: an encyclopedia. New York: Routledge. p. 279. ISBN 0-415-96930-1
9.^ Glick, Thomas F.; Livesey, Steven John; Wallis, Faith (2005). Medieval science, technology, and medicine: an encyclopedia. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-96930-7. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
10.^ a b c d e Haq, Syed Nomanul (28 February 1995). Names, Natures and Things: The Alchemist Jabir Ibn Hayyan and His Kitab Al-Ahjar (Book of Stones). Springer. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-7923-3254-1. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
11.^ a b S.N. Nasr, "Life Sciences, Alchemy and Medicine", The Cambridge History of Iran, Cambridge, Volume 4, 1975, p. 412: "Jabir is entitled in the traditional sources as al-Azdi, al-Kufi, al-Tusi, al-Sufi. There is a debate as to whether he was an Arab from Kufa who lived in Khurasan or a Persian from Khorasan who later went to Kufa or whether he was, as some have suggested, of Syrian origin and later lived in Persia and Iraq".
12.^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named moohanad; see the help page.
13.^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named kalfan; see the help page.
14.^ a b c d Holmyard, Eric John (1931). Makers of chemistry. The Clarendon press. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
15.^ Richard Russell (1928). In Holmyard, E.J. The Works of Geber. ISBN 0-7661-0015-4.
16.^ Henry Corbin, "The Voyage and the Messenger: Iran and Philosophy", Translated by Joseph H. Rowe, North Atlantic Books, 1998. p.45: "The Nisba al-Azdin certainly does not necessarily indicate Arab origin. Geber seems to have been a client of the Azd tribe established in Kufa"
17.^ E. J. Holmyard (ed.) The Arabic Works of Jabir ibn Hayyan, translated by Richard Russell in 1678. New York, E. P. Dutton (1928); Also Paris, P. Geuther.
18.^ a b "Iranica JAʿFAR AL-ṢĀDEQ iv. And Esoteric sciences". Retrieved 11 June 2011 The historical relations between Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq and Jāber b. Ḥayyān remain very controversial, as they are linked to still unresolved questions about dating, composition, and authorship of the texts attributed to Jāber. Scholars such as Julius Ruska, Paul Kraus, and Pierre Lory consider Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq’s involvement in the transmission of alchemical knowledge as a literary fiction, whereas Fuat Sezgin, Toufic Fahd, and Nomanul Haq are rather inclined to accept the existence of alchemical activity in Medina in Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq’s time, although they remain cautious regarding the authenticity of the attribution of the Jaberian corpus to Jāber b. Ḥayyān and of the alchemical works to Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq (Ruska, 1924, pp. 40–52; idem, 1927, pp. 264–66; Kraus, I, pp. LV-LVII; Lory, pp. 14–21, 57–59, 101–7; Sezgin, I, p. 529, IV, pp. 128–31; Fahd, 1970, pp. 139–41; Nomanul Haq, pp. 3–47)..
19.^ Josef W. Meri, Jere L. Bacharach (2006). Medieval Islamic Civilization. Taylor and Francis. p. 25. ISBN 0-415-96691-4
20.^ Jabir Ibn Hayyan. Vol. 1. Le corpus des ecrits jabiriens. George Olms Verlag, 1989
21.^ Paul Kraus, Jabir ibn Hayyan: Contribution à l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam, cited Robert Irwin, 'The long siesta' in Times Literary Supllement, 25/1/2008 p.8
22.^ Julian, Franklyn, Dictionary of the Occult, Kessinger Publishing, 2003, ISBN 0-7661-2816-4, ISBN 978-0-7661-2816-3, p. 9.
23.^ a b KIMIĀ (“Alchemy”), encyclopedia Iranica, Retrieved on 14 February 2009.
24.^ "History of Islamic Science". University of Southern California.
25.^ Holmyard, E. J. (1931). Makers of Chemistry. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 57–8.
26.^ Norris, John (March 2006). "The Mineral Exhalation Theory of Metallogenesis in Pre-Modern Mineral Science". Ambix (Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry) 53: 43–65. doi:10.1179/174582306X93183.
27.^ Georges C. Anawati, "Arabic alchemy", in R. Rashed (1996), The Encyclopaedia of the History of Arabic Science, Vol. 3, p. 853-902 [866].
28.^ Schufle, J. A.; Thomas, George (Winter 1971). "Equivalent Weights from Bergman's Data on Phlogiston Content of Metals". Isis 62 (4): 500. doi:10.1086/350792
29.^ a b Holmyard, E. J. (1931). Makers of Chemistry. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 60.
30.^ a b Ansari, Farzana Latif; Qureshi, Rumana; Qureshi, Masood Latif (1998). Electrocyclic reactions: from fundamentals to research. Wiley-VCH. p. 2. ISBN 3-527-29755-3
31.^ Will Durant (1980). The Age of Faith (The Story of Civilization, Volume 4), p. 162-186. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-01200-2.
32.^ a b c Ḥusain, Muẓaffar. Islam's Contribution to Science. Page 94.
33.^ Asimov, Isaac. 1982. Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-17771-2
34.^ Ismail al-Faruqi and Lois Lamya al-Faruqi (1986), The Cultural Atlas of Islam, p. 328, New York
35.^ a b c Forbes, Robert James (1970). A short history of the art of distillation: from the beginnings up to the death of Cellier Blumenthal. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-00617-1. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
36.^ "Studies in al-Kimya - critical issues in Latin and Arabic Alchemy" by Ahmad Y. al-Hassan, published by Georg Olms Verlag 2009. Chapter 9 "Alcohol and the distillation of wine in Arabic Sources from the 8th century."
37.^ Ragai, Jehane (1992). "The Philosopher's Stone: Alchemy and Chemistry". Journal of Comparative Poetics 12 (Metaphor and Allegory in the Middle Ages): 58–77
38.^ Holmyard, E. J. (1924). "Maslama al-Majriti and the Rutbatu'l-Hakim". Isis 6 (3): 293–305
39.^ Kraus, Paul, Jâbir ibn Hayyân, Contribution à l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam. I. Le corpus des écrits jâbiriens. II. Jâbir et la science grecque,. Cairo (1942–1943). Repr. By Fuat Sezgin, (Natural Sciences in Islam. 67–68), Frankfurt. 2002
40.^ gibberish, Grose 1811 Dictionary
41.^ Seaborg, Glenn T. (March 1980). "Our heritage of the elements". Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B (Springer Boston) 11 (1): 5–19
42.^ Holmyard, Eric John. Alchemy. Page 82
43.^ Arthur John Hopkins, Alchemy Child of Greek Philosophy, Published by Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2007, ISBN 0-548-13547-9, p. 140
44.^ "Geber". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 9 December 2008.
45.^ Openness, Secrecy, Authorship: Technical Arts and the Culture of Knowledge from Antiquity to the Renaissance By Pamela O. Long Edition: illustrated Published by JHU Press, 2001 ISBN 0-8018-6606-5, ISBN 978-0-8018-6606-7
46.^ a b Alchemy on Islamic Times, Retrieved on 14 February 2009.
47.^ Ihde, Aaron John (1 April 1984). The development of modern chemistry. Courier Dover Publications. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-486-64235-2. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
48.^ Makers of Chemistry, by Eric John Holmyard,... - Eric John Holmyard - Google Boeken. Books.google.com. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
49.^ P. Crosland, Maurice, Historical Studies in the Language of Chemistry, Courier Dover Publications, 2004 1962 , ISBN 0-486-43802-3, ISBN 978-0-486-43802-3, p. 15
50.^ Long, Pamela O. (2001). Openness, secrecy, authorship: technical arts and the culture of knowledge from antiquity to the Renaissance. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-6606-5.
51.^ Hugh Chisholm, ed. (1910). "Geber". Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (11th ed.). pp. 545–546.
52.^ An authoritative summary and analysis of current scholarship on this question may be found in Lawrence M. Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy, University of Chicago Press, 2013, pp. 33-45 and 54-58.
53.^ Thomas F. Glick, Steven John Livesey, Faith Wallis, Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia, Routledge, 2005, ISBN 0-415-96930-1, ISBN 978-0-415-96930-7, p. 279-300
54.^ William R. Newman, The Summa Perfectionis of Pseudo-Geber. A Critical Edition, Translation and Study, Leyde: E. J. Brill, 1991 (Collection de travaux de l'Académie Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences, 35).
55.^ Quote from Marcellin Berthelot at 1911encyclopedia.org.
56.^ Coelho, Paulo. The Alchemist. ISBN 006112416, p. 82.
[edit] External links
Plessner, M. (2008) [1970–80]. "Jābir Ibn Hayyān". Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Encyclopedia.com.
Britannica
Encarta Encyclopedia (Archived 2009-10-31)
Columbia Encyclopedia
Article at Islam Online
Article at Famous Muslims
Article at Islam Online
Article at Al Shindagah (includes an extract of Jabir's The Discovery of secrets)
Online Galleries, History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries High resolution images of works by Jàbir ibn Hayyan in .jpg and .tiff format.
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Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam
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Medicine in the medieval Islamic world
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Alchemy and chemistry in Islam refers to the study of both traditional alchemy and early practical chemistry (the early chemical investigation of nature in general) by scholars in the medieval Islamic world. The word alchemy was derived from the Arabic word كيمياء or kīmīāʾ. [1][2] and may ultimately derive from the ancient Egyptian word kemi, meaning black.[2]
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the focus of alchemical development moved to the Arab Empire and the Islamic civilization. Much more is known about Islamic alchemy as it was better documented; most of the earlier writings that have come down through the years were preserved as Arabic translations.[3]
Contents
[hide] 1 Origins
2 Alchemists and works
3 Alchemical and chemical theory
4 Processes and equipment
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
[edit] Origins
Medieval Islamic alchemy was based on previous alchemical writers, firstly those writing in Greek, but also using Indian, Jewish, and Christian sources. According to Anawati, the alchemy practiced in Egypt around the second century BCE was a mixture of Hermetic or gnostic elements and Greek philosophy. Later, with Zosimos of Panopolis, alchemy acquired mystical and religious elements.[4]
The sources of Islamic alchemy were transmitted to the Muslim world mainly in Egypt, especially in Alexandria, but also in the cities of Harran, Nisibin, and Edessa in western Mesopotamia.[5]
[edit] Alchemists and works
[edit] Khālid ibn Yazīd
According to the biographer Ibn al-Nadīm, the first Muslim alchemist was Khālid ibn Yazīd, who is said to have studied alchemy under the Christian Marianos of Alexandria. The historicity of this story is not clear; according to M. Ullmann, it is a legend.[6][7] According to Ibn al-Nadīm and Ḥajji Khalīfa, he is the author of the alchemical works Kitāb al-kharazāt (The Book of Pearls), Kitāb al-ṣaḥīfa al-kabīr (The Big Book of the Roll), Kitāb al-ṣaḥīfa al-saghīr (The Small Book of the Roll), Kitāb Waṣiyyatihi ilā bnihi fī-l-ṣanʿa (The Book of his Testament to his Son about Alchemy), and Firdaws al-ḥikma (The Paradise of Wisdom), but again, these works may be pseudepigraphical.[8][7][6]
[edit] Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (a.s.)
Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (a.s.), the son of Imam Muḥammad al-Bāqir (a.s.), lived in Medina. He is said to have been the teacher of Jābir ibn Ḥayyān. A number of pseudepigraphical works have been attributed to him.[8]
[edit] Jābir ibn Ḥayyān
15th century European impression of "Geber"
Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Persian: جابر بن حیان, Latin Geberus; usually rendered in English as Geber) may have been born in 721 or 722, in Tus, and have been the son of Ḥayyan, a druggist from the tribe of al-Azd who originally lived in Kufa. When young Jābir studied in Arabia under Harbi al-Himyari. Later, he lived in Kufa, and eventually became a court alchemist for Hārūn al-Rashīd, in Baghdad. Jābir was friendly with the Barmecides and became caught up in their disgrace in 803. As a result, he returned to Kufa. According to some sources, he died in Tus in 815.
A large corpus of works is ascribed to Jābir, so large that it's difficult to believe he wrote them all himself. According to the theory of Kraus, many of these works should be ascribed to later Ismaili authors. It includes the following groups of works: The Hundred and Twelve Books; The Seventy Books; The Ten Books of Rectifications; and The Books of the Balances. This article will not distinguish between Jābir and the authors of works attributed to him.[9]
[edit] Abū Bakr al-Rāzī
Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (Latin: Rhazes), born around 864 in Rey, was mainly known as a doctor. He wrote a number of alchemical works, including Sirr al-asrār (Latin: Secretum secretorum.)[10][11]
[edit] Ibn Umayl
Muḥammad ibn Umayl al-Tamīmī was an 11th-century alchemist. One of his surviving works is Kitāb al-māʿ al-waraqī wa-l-arḍ al-najmiyya (The Book on Silvered Water and Starry Earth.) This work is a commentary on his poem Risālat al-shams wa-t-hilāl (The Epistle on the Sun and the Crescent) and contains numerous quotations from ancient authors.[12]
[edit] Alchemical and chemical theory
Elemental scheme used by Jābir[13]
Hot
Cold
Dry
Fire
Earth
Moist
Air
Water
Jābir analyzed each Aristotelian element in terms of four basic qualities of hotness, coldness, dryness, and moistness. For example, fire is a substance that is hot and dry, as shown in the table.[13] (This scheme was also used by Aristotle.)[14][15] According to Jābir, in each metal two of these qualities were interior and two were exterior. For example, lead was externally cold and dry but internally hot and moist; gold, on the other hand, was externally hot and moist but internally cold and dry. He believed that metals were formed in the Earth by fusion of sulfur (giving the hot and dry qualities) with mercury (giving the cold and moist.) These elements, mercury and sulfur, should be thought of as not the ordinary elements but ideal, hypothetical substances. Which metal is formed depends on the purity of the mercury and sulfur and the proportion in which they come together.[13] The later alchemist al-Rāzī followed Jābir's mercury-sulfur theory, but added a third, salty, component.[16]
Thus, Jābir theorized, by rearranging the qualities of one metal, a different metal would result.[17] By this reasoning, the search for the philosopher's stone was introduced to Western alchemy.[18][19] Jābir developed an elaborate numerology whereby the root letters of a substance's name in Arabic, when treated with various transformations, held correspondences to the element's physical properties.[13]
[edit] Processes and equipment
Al-Rāzī mentions the following chemical processes:
distillation,
calcination,
solution,
evaporation,
crystallization,
sublimation,
filtration,
amalgamation,
and ceration (a process for making solids pasty or fusible.)[20]
Some of these operations (calcination, solution, filtration, crystallization, sublimation and distillation) are also known to have been practiced by pre-Islamic Alexandrian alchemists.[21]
In his Secretum secretorum, Al-Rāzī mentions the following equipment:[22]
Tools for melting substances (li-tadhwīb): hearth (kūr), bellows (minfākh aw ziqq), crucible (bawtaqa), the būt bar būt (in Arabic) or botus barbatus (in Latin), ladle (mighrafa aw milʿaqa), tongs (māsik aw kalbatān), scissors (miqṭaʿ), hammer (mukassir), file (mibrad).
Tools for the preparation of drugs (li-tadbīr al-ʿaqāqīr): cucurbit and still with evacuation tube (qarʿ aw anbīq dhū-khatm), receiving matras (qābila), blind still (without evacuation tube) (al-anbīq al-aʿmā), aludel (al-uthāl), goblets (qadaḥ), flasks (qārūra, plural quwārīr), rosewater flasks (māʿ wariyya), cauldron (marjal aw tanjīr), earthenware pots varnished on the inside with their lids (qudūr wa makabbāt), water bath or sand bath (qadr), oven (al-tannūr in Arabic, athanor in Latin), small cylindirical oven for heating aludel (mustawqid), funnels, sieves, filters, etc.
alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan, from a 15th c. European portrait of "Geber", Codici Ashburnhamiani 1166, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence, public domain {{PD-art}}
http://www.plutonium-239.com/visual/pages/alchemist/alc_antimony.html
Scholars of Khorasan
%C4%81bir_ibn_Hayy%C4%81n
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