Alchemy in the medieval Islamic world
Alchemy in the medieval Islamic world refers to both traditional
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the Islamic conquest of Roman Egypt, the focus of alchemical development moved to the Caliphate 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]
Definition and relationship with medieval western sciences
In considering Islamic sciences as a distinct, local practice, it is important to define words such as "Arabic," "Islamic," "alchemy," and "chemistry." In order to gain a better grasp on the concepts discussed in this article, it is important to come to an understanding of what these terms mean historically. This may also help to clear up any misconceptions regarding the possible differences between alchemy and early chemistry in the context of medieval times. As A.I. Sabra writes in his article entitled, "Situating Arabic Science: Location versus Essence," "the term Arabic (or Islamic) science denotes the scientific activities of individuals who lived in a region that roughly extended chronologically from the eighth century A.D. to the beginning of the modern era, and geographically from the Iberian Peninsula and
The transmission of these sciences throughout the Eastern and Western hemispheres is also important to understand when distinguishing the sciences of both regions. The beginnings of cultural, religious, and scientific diffusion of information between the Western and Eastern societies began with the successful conquests of
While this transmission of information and practices allowed for the further development of the field, and though both were inspired by Aristotelian logic and
Contributions of Islamic alchemists to mystical alchemy
Marie-Louise von Franz describes in her introduction to
Alchemists and works
Khālid ibn Yazīd
According to the bibliographer
Jābir ibn Ḥayyān
Abū Bakr al-Rāzī
Ibn Umayl
Al-Tughrai
whose work the Masabih al-hikma wa-mafatih al-rahma (The Lanterns of Wisdom and the Keys of Mercy) is one of the earliest works of material sciences.Al-Jildaki
Al-Jildaki was an Egyptian alchemist who urged in his book the need for experimental chemistry and mentioned many experiments Kanz al-ikhtisas fi ma'rifat al-khawas by Abu 'l-Qasim Aydamir al-Jildaki.
Alchemical and chemical theory
Hot | Cold | |
Dry | Fire | Earth |
Moist | Air | Water |
Jābir analyzed each
Thus, Jābir theorized, by rearranging the qualities of one metal, a different metal would result.[31] By this reasoning, the search for the philosopher's stone was introduced to Western alchemy.[32][33] 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.[27]
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.)[34] Some of these operations (calcination, solution, filtration, crystallization, sublimation and distillation) are also known to have been practiced by pre-Islamic Alexandrian alchemists.[35]
In his Secretum secretorum, Al-Rāzī mentions the following equipment:[36]
- Tools for melting substances (li-tadhwīb): (mibrad).
- Tools for the preparation of drugs (li-tadbīr al-ʿaqāqīr): cucurbit and still with evacuation tube (qarʿ or anbīq dhū khatm), receiving matras (qābila), blind still (without evacuation tube) (al-anbīq al-aʿmā), filters, etc.
See also
- Chinese alchemy
- Islamic science
References
- ISBN 0-19-861213-3.
- ^ ISBN 0-415-12412-3.
- ^ Burckhardt, Titus (1967). "Alchemy: science of the cosmos, science of the soul" (Document). Stuart & Watkins. p. 46.
- ^ Sabra 1996, P. 655
- ^ a b c Principe 2011, P. 306
- ^ Lindberg 2007, P. 163
- ^ Lindberg 2007, P. 164
- ^ Lindberg 2007, P. 166.
- ^ Marie-Louise von Franz (CALA IA) 2006, p. 26
- ^ Marie-Louise von Franz (CALA IA) 2006, p. 26-27.
- ^ Marie-Louise von Franz (CALA IA) 2006, p. 39.
- ^ ISBN 0-486-26298-7.
- ^ a b M. Ullmann, "Ḵh̲ālid b. Yazīd b. Muʿāwiya, abū hās̲h̲im.", in Encyclopedia of Islam, second edition, edited by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W.P. Heinrichs, Brill, 2011. Brill Online. Accessed 20 January 2011. <http://www.brillonline.nl/subscriber/entry?entry=islam_SIM-4151[permanent dead link]>
- ^ Anawati 1996, p. 864.
- ^ Delva, Thijs 2017. "The Abbasid Activist Ḥayyān al-ʿAṭṭār as the Father of Jābir b. Ḥayyān: An Influential Hypothesis Revisited" in: Journal of Abbasid Studies, 4(1), pp. 35–61, pp. 36−37, note 6.
- ^ Plessner, Martin 1981. “Jābir Ibn Hayyān” in: Gillispie, Charles C. (ed.). Dictionary of Scientific Biography. New York: Charles Scribners’s Sons, vol. 7, pp. 39–43; Forster, Regula 2018. “Jābir B. Ḥayyān” in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three.
- OCLC 468740510. vol. II, pp. 41–42.
- ^ Darmstaedter, Ernst. "Liber Misericordiae Geber: Eine lateinische Übersetzung des gröβeren Kitâb l-raḥma", Archiv für Geschichte der Medizin, 17/4, 1925, pp. 181–197; Berthelot, Marcellin. "Archéologie et Histoire des sciences", Mémoires de l’Académie des sciences de l’Institut de France, 49, 1906, pp. 308–363; see also Forster, Regula. "Jābir b. Ḥayyān", Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three.
- ^ Newman, William R. "New Light on the Identity of Geber", Sudhoffs Archiv, 1985, 69, pp. 76–90; Newman, William R. The Summa perfectionis of Pseudo-Geber: A critical edition, translation and study, Leiden: Brill, 1991, pp. 57–103. It has been argued by Ahmad Y. Al-Hassan that the pseudo-Geber works were actually translated into Latin from the Arabic (see Al-Hassan, Ahmad Y. "The Arabic Origin of the Summa and Geber Latin Works: A Refutation of Berthelot, Ruska, and Newman Based on Arabic Sources", in: Ahmad Y. Al-Hassan. Studies in al-Kimya': Critical Issues in Latin and Arabic Alchemy and Chemistry. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 2009, pp. 53–104; also available online).
- ^ pp. 867-879, Anawati 1996.
- ^ pp. 86-92, Holmyard 1990.
- ^ pp. 870-872, Anawati 1996.
- ^ Marie-Louise von Franz (CALA IA) 2006, chapter: "Life and Work of Muḥammad ibn Umail", p. 55
- ^ Julius Ruska, "Senior Zadith = Ibn Umail." Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 31, 1928, pp. 665-666
- ^ Theodor Abt: "The Transmission of Ibn Umail's Vision to the Occident" in: Book of the Explanation of the Symbols - Kitāb Hall ar-Rumūz by Muhammad ibn Umail. Psychological Commentary by Theodor Abt. Corpus Alchemicum Arabicum (CALA) IB, Living Human Heritage Publications, Zurich 2009, p. 59-64.
- .
- ^ a b c d pp. 74-82, Holmyard 1990.
- ^ Holmyard 1990, pp. 21-22.
- ^ Aristotle, On Generation and Corruption, II.3, 330a-330b.
- ^ Holmyard 1990, p. 88.
- ^ Burckhardt, Titus (1967). "Alchemy: science of the cosmos, science of the soul" (Document). Stuart & Watkins. p. 29.
- JSTOR 521636.
- S2CID 144175388.
- ^ p. 89, Holmyard 1990.
- ISBN 0-486-65977-1.
- ^ Anawati 1996, p. 868
Further reading
- Lindberg, David C. (2007). "Islamic Science". The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, Prehistory to A.D. 1450. Chicago: U of Chicago. pp. 163–92. ISBN 978-0-226-48205-7.
- Principe, Lawrence M. (2011). "Alchemy Restored". S2CID 23581980.
- Sabra, A. I. (1996). "Situating Arabic Science: Locality versus Essence". Isis. 87 (4): 654–70. S2CID 144596511.
- von Franz, Marie-Louise (2006). "Introduction". In Theodor Abt (ed.). Book of the Explanation of the Symbols. Kitāb Ḥall ar-Rumūz by Muḥammad ibn Umail. Psychological commentary by Marie-Louise von Franz. Corpus Alchemicum Arabicum (CALA) IA. Zurich: Living Human Heritage Publications. pp. 15–58. ISBN 978-3952260838.