Islam: alchemy

Hauck, Dennis William. Islamic alchemy the Sufi vision. rhttp //www.alchemylab.com/islamic.htm1. 

Hamarneh, Sami K. Arabic-Islamic alchemy three intertwined stages. Ambix 29, no. 2 (Jul 1982) 74-87. 

Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. Islamic alchemy and the birth of chemistry. J Hist Arabic Sci 3 (1979) 40-45. 

Ryding, Karin Christina. Islamic alchemy according to al-Khwarizmi. Ambix 41, no. 3 (Nov 1994) 121-134. 

Goldfarb, A.M. Alfonso-. "The establishment of Islamic alchemy in the Iberian peninsula." In Alchemy revisited, ed. Z.R.W.M. von Martels, 127-132. Leiden Brill,... 

Topics are Female alchemists Aelia Laelia Crispis Practical alchemy Historical alchemy related sites in the Czech Republic Image and Will in alchemy Gender in alchemy David Hudson - the White Powder Gold The use of blood in Alchemy The Symbolism of the Rose in Alchemy The Caduceus and Religion Relevance of Alchemy Islamic alchemy Armand Barbault The Golem Abraham the Jew and Flamel Alchemical fiction Animal alchemy Differences between Alchemy and Magic ... 

Mahdihassan, S. The origin and significance of the magic square in Islamic alchemy. Proc PakAcadSci 24, no. 3 (1987) 261-275. 

The English word alchemy comes from the Arabic word al-kimiya , and a wide range of alchemical and chemical ideas come from the work of Arabic and Islamic scholars. Islamic alchemy differs from that of China in a number of important ways. The first is historical. The roots of Chinese alchemy are lost in the mists of history, and the Chinese tradition of attribution to historical figures... 

Future themes for this journal will include alchemy of the kabballah, the Tarot, Paracelsus, spagyrics, Dee and Kelley, Egyptian alchemy, and Islamic alchemy. Please feel free to submit your articles or artwork on these topics. We are always looking for good material ... 

From the seventh through the thirteenth centuries, the study of alchemy flourished openly in the Islamic world. The first Muslim with an interest in alchemy may have been Khalid Ibn Yazid (d. 704), a Umayyad prince. He reputedly was tutored in alchemy by a student of Stephanos, Morienus of Alexandria (who is quoted by the author of the Splendor Solis). Whether or not this account is accurate, it is clear that Alexandria was the primary influence on Islamic alchemy The Islamic alchemists quoted Zosimos, Democritos, and Stephanos, as well as other Alexandrian alchemists such as Ostanes and Maria Prophetissa (second to third century often referred to as Mary the Jewess ). In addition, the Muslim alchemists also absorbed influences from Persia and Syria. 

Except where noted, the following discussion of Islamic alchemy is based on Holmyard, Alchemy, pp. 67-... 

Western alchemy was the prelude to modem chemistry, but alchemy was also practised in China from before 175 BC to around AD 1000. It is almost certain that Islamic alchemy incorporated some ideas that originated in China. 

It is well known that the Arabs had contacts with the Chinese via the Silk Road, the great trade route between China and the Mediterranean. It is notable that the concept of the elixir of lifey a medicine with the power to prolong life, is found in Islamic alchemy, but is entirely absent from its Alexandrian precursor. The transmission of this idea from China is highly likely. It is also possible that the word chemistry is derived from the Chinese word for gold. The best representation for the sound this word made in the early Chinese dialects is probably kimy from which the Arabs could have derived their word al-kimiyOy from which in turn the Europeans obtained the words alchemy and chemistry. An alternative theory is that the Arabs derived al-kimiya from Khemy which means Black Landy and is the ancient name for Egypt. 

We have seen how the idea of the elixir of life appeared in Islamic alchemy, probably by transmission from China. As well as prolonging human life, the elixir was deemed to have the power to cure sick metals, making them more goldlike. European alchemists used the terms elixir of life and philosopher s stone almost interchangeably. The discovery of aqua vitae, with its power of prevention of decay as well as its medicinal properties, must have seemed to be a step nearer to the discovery of the true elixir of life. 

Ronca, Italo. "Religious Symbolism in Medieval Islamic and Christian Alchemy." In Western esotericism and the science of religion, eds. Antoine Faivre and Wouter J. Hanegraaff Leuven Peeters, 1998. 

Sezgin, Fuat.Chemistry and alchemy texts and studies. Frankfurt am Main Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, 2002-. 

Bremyer, Jay. Review of al-Kimia the mystical Islamic essence of the sacred art of alchemy, by John Eberly. In Alchemy J 6, no. 2 (Summer 2005Yrhttp //www.alchemvlab.com/AJ6-2.htm New Releasesl. 

I would like to introduce some references to the term alchemy in Arabic and Latin texts which historians of alchemy seem to have overlooked up to now, but which would seem to have a bearing on the introduction of alchemy both into the Islamic and into the Christian world. ... 

Eberly, John. al-Kimia the mystical Islamic essence of the sacred art of alchemy. 

Holmyard, Eric John. Alchemy in medieval Islam. Endeavour 14, no. 55 (Jul 1955) 117-125. 

Encyclopaedia of Islam. Leyden London Brill Luzac, 1927. S.v. "al-Kimiya, alchemy," by E. Wiedemann. 

Classic study by noted scholar ranges over 2000 years of alchemical history ancient Greek and Chinese alchemy, alchemical apparatus, Islamic and early Western alchemy signs, symbols, and secret terms Paracelsus, English and Scottish alchemists, and more. Erudite, learned coverage of philosophical, religious, mystical overtones replacement of alchemy by scientific method, much more"... 

Mahdihassan, S. What a chemist should know of the early history of his art which is alchemy. Sci Tech Islamic World 3, no. 3 (1985) 128-133. 

Mahdihassan, S. Sufi as meaning philosopher, in the light of history of alchemy. Sci Tech Islamic World A, no. 2 (1986) 91-99. 

Mahdihassan, S. Symbolism in alchemy, Islamic others. Islamic Cult 36, no. 1 (1962) 20-23. 

Science and Civilization in Islam is the first one-volume work in English to deal with every branch of Islamic science and to approach it not from the Western viewpoint but as it is understood by the Muslims them selves. introduction surveys the religious, metaphysical, and philosophic conscepts of Islam. chapter cover the entire scientific spectrum from cosmography, mathematics, and medicine to alchemy and theology as well as how these fields interact with related schools of thought"... 

Hermetic and Neoplatonic tenets into their Islamic asceticism. Like all mystics, they strove for a personal experience of the divine, so it was natural that Jabir would be attracted to alchemy. Jabir developed a theory that became common to all subsequent alchemical texts. He said that all metals seemed to contain a balance of the four qualities that is, they are cold and dry externally, and hot and moist internally. This was due to the fact that they were formed in the earth by the union of a substance that he called sulphur or earthy smoke, and another, which he called mercury or moist vapor. Sulphur and mercury became a masculine and feminine polarity in alchemy. 

Alchemy did not enter mainstream Europe until the twelfth century. It is believed that the Knights Templar were among the first Westerners to be acquainted with alchemy. During the Crusades, the Knights Templar had adopted the teachings of the Druses, a mystical pagan sect within the Islamic world. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Islamic empire in Spain lost territory to Christian rulers. With the help of Jews, who were able to act as intermediaries between the two cultures, Spain became a cultural melting pot. 

Jewish and Islamic scholars were invited to the court of Frederick II in Sicily, and the Knights of St. John opened communication with the East on the island of Rhodes. Due to this influx, Sicily, Spain, and southern France rapidly became multicultural communities. In these areas Jewish and other scholars began to translate Arabic and Greek texts into Latin, which made them available to the rest of Europe. One of the first of these texts was the Book of the Composition of Alchemy, translated into Latin by the Englishman Robert of Chester in 1144. By the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the art of gold-making was integrated into Western mystical philosophy. 

---