Alchemy Arabic alchemists

It is not surprising that the word gibberish originally referred to texts written by the medieval Arabic alchemists Jabir, known in Latin as Geber. Many people find alchemy a daunting and confusing subject, and this impression is not entirely unfounded. Every alchemist explained his or her work in personal terms and symbols that were... 

Arabic alchemy was unknown in the west until the eleventh century when the first translations from Arabic into Latin were made. Two Arab alchemists were especially well known and widely read Jabir ibn Hayyan, known to Europeans as Geber, and Abu Bakr ibn Zakariyya al-Razi, known as Rhazes. Of more than 2,000 pieces of writing attributed to Jabir, most were compiled by a Muslim religious sect called the Faithful Brethren or Brethren of Purity after he died. The works are written in different styles, which would indicate that they were penned by different authors. The compilation was completed around the year 1000, more than a hundred years after Jabir died. However, it has been established that the work translated into Latin under the title Summa Perfectionis was based on translations of Jabir s writing. Thus, although little is known about his life, we know something about the role Jabir played in the evolution of alchemical theory. 

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in Emope, Greek and Arab texts were translated from Arabic into Latin, the literary language of Emope. The first translation of an alchemical book from Arabic, The Book of the Composition of Alchemy, was prepared by Robert of Chester in 1144 CE in Spain (31). To the Four Elements, air, water, fire, and earth, Arab alchemists added mercury and sulfur. Paracelsus considered mercury and strlfirr as principles along with salt... 

The Bergbiichlein, for example, discussed the sulfur-mercury theory of the composition of metals, which Arabic alchemists introduced into alchemy. 

The first great Islamic alchemist is Jabir ibn Hayyan, known in Latin as Geber, and he is often cited as the greatest of all Arab workers in the art. Jabir was born in the town of Tus in Khorassan (near the modern city of Meshed) around the year 721, and may have lived for some time in the city of Kufa, on the western banks of the Euphrates. The young Jabir was educated by Bedouin, and also seems to have been a member of the Sufis, the mystical branch of Islam that rejected the luxuries of court life for an austere life of prayer, contemplation and ecstasy. Many prominent Arab alchemists — such as Jabir and Ibn Arabi — were Sufis, and their influence on the development of alchemy and the dissemination of alchemical ideas cannot be overestimated. 

Arab alchemist who was active in Moorish Spain. His Book of Silvery Water and Starry Earth became highly influential when it was translated into Latin as Tabula Chemica. Its authorship was ascribed to one Senior Zadith, who became, along with Geber, an important name in mediaeval Western alchemy. 

Above Arab symboBc figures and diagrams of stills (on the right) from a 12th-century Arab text on alchemy. In gener the Arab alchemists were less secretive about their discoveries, and the Arab manuscripts are less shrouded in complicated symbolism than the later European chemical works. 

C.E., almost no chemistry was done in Europe. Instead, the study of chemistry, or alchemy, shifted to the Middle East. Probably the most influential Arab alchemist was Jabir ibn Hayyan (ca. 760-ca. 815). Jabir is best known for his studies of the transmutation of metals (converting one metal into another metal). Jabir thought mercury was the ideal metal because mercury is a liquid, it can be purified more completely... 

Coming." At this time eschatological discourse was co-opted into the service of the esoteric sciences, most especially into alchemical theory in the twelfth century Latin translation of the Turba philosophorum (Arabic original ca. 900 AD). Christian interpolations were added to this text referring to the death and resurrection of the chemicals in apocalyptic terms." The process of distillation in Christian alchemy symbolised death and resurrection, as well as the union of Macrocosm and Microcosm. To the alchemists the death and resurrection of the stone in the manner of a human being was the clearest indication that alchemy was a divine, not a human science. 

Burnett, Charles. The astrologers assay of the alchemist early references to alchemy in Arabic and Latin texts. Ambix 39, no. 3 (Nov 1992) 103-109. 

Mahdihassan, S. The beginning of alchemy, its first preparation and the earliest designation of the alchemist in Arabic as Sufi. Aligarh J Or Stud 4, no. 2 (1987) 123-DO. 

The appearance of Arabic alchemical works in Latin translation launched European alchemy during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Although the European alchemists never succeeded in making... 

Al-Razi (Rhazes, 854-925) was a Persian who studied in Baghdad. Al-Razi wrote extensively on medicine, philosophy, astronomy, and alchemy, but he was primarily a physician. Al-Razi was less mystical than his contemporary alchemists and classified chemicals by their origin. According to Al-Razi, chemicals came from either animals, plants, and minerals or were derived from other chemicals. Al-Razi wrote The Comprehensive Book, which was an enormous medical encyclopedia that synthesized medical practices of ancient Greeks, Syrians, Arabs, and Persians. Al-Razi was the first person known to describe the disease smallpox. Most of his alchemical writings have been lost, but Al-Razi believed in the atomic nature of matter. Al-Razi took a systematic approach to science and rejected the idea of divine intervention. His rational methods and descriptions were more consistent with modern science than most individuals of his time. Ali al Husayn ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980-1037) was another Persian physician whose voluminous works, including The... 

It seems that Chinese alchemy is the oldest of the Eastern branches, and may even predate Western alchemy. (The Chinese word for elixir, chin-je, may be the root of the Arabic imic i.)The Yellow Emperor EhiangTi (2704-2595 BCE) is the legendary first alchemist in China, who learnt the art from three immortal women, who also generously saw fit to instruct him in the arts of love. Chinese alchemy inherited a number of facets from folk belief, such as the idea of a plant that, when eaten, will grant immortality, together with the mystic quest for spiritual illumination. 

The genius ofWestern alchemy, and mercurial guide to all alchemists, is the legendary Hermes Trismegistus. Although considered one of the ancients and equated by the Arabs with the prophet Idris (Enoch), he combines the divine qualities of the Graeco-Roman Hermes-Mercury and the Egyptian deity Thoth. 

Right in a 14th-century woric on alchemy an Arab is shown unlocking the gate to a town, probably symbolizing knowledge. The Arab contribution to alchemy was fully recognized by European alchemists. 

The Arabs had preserved the writings of Greek philosophers such as Aristotle, and had carried on the beliefs and practices of the early alchemists. They had also added a great deal of their own to alchemy, mainly in terms of chemical discoveries and improvements in apparatus. It was not until the 12th century, with the translations made by Robert of Chester and his followers, that medieval Europe learned of the mysterious science of alchemy. 

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