It also introduces methods for improving the quality of a multitude of manufactured products such as the production of steel and other metals (and the passivation of their oxidation) the dyeing and waterproofing of cotton and leather the chemical analysis of pigments and other natural substances the purification of gold and the production of pure mercury from cinnabar. In addition, it details many techniques of chemistry such as precipitation, crystallisation and distillation, and provides instructions for making the apparatus and equipment necessary to carry them out. Source: Wikimedia.Įven more significant is the knowledge contained in the Latin Geber texts (also known as the Pseudo-Gerber Corpus), which includes the systematic description of numerous chemical processes and reactions, from the synthesis of acids such as nitric and sulphuric to aqua regia, oxides and salts. Drawing and description of Alembic, by Jabir Ibn Hayyan in 8th century. Also of significance is the study of matter and its classification into animal, vegetable and mineral the introduction of intrinsic properties of different substances such as warm, moist and dry and the possibility of artificially reproducing many naturally occurring phenomena and materials. the adoption of the experimental method in the Islamic world, much earlier than in Europe. The experimental method in the Islamic worldĪmong the most important contributions present in the Arabic writings attributed to Jabir is the importance of practical knowledge acquired through experience and experimentation, i.e. 925) stands out, is the main argument for questioning whether Jabir was the founder and inspiration behind this group or whether it is simply the name chosen to divinise the origin of these teachings and thereby confer on them a higher (almost supernatural) authority. The existence of a recognised collective to whom the authorship of the texts could be assigned, and among whom Abu Barkr al-Razi ( c. Likewise, this hypothesis also suggests that the so-called Jabirian Corpus is in fact the combined work of some of his pupils and followers of the so-called Brethren of Purity -a secret confraternity whose philosophical-religious teachings enjoyed wide influence and acceptance.
Today, the most widely held hypothesis is that Jabir could not have written the entire body of work attributed to him, but only a very limited part, both because of the titanic task that would have been required for an individual to compose more than a thousand works, and also because of the obvious and notable stylistic and thematic differences among the texts of the supposed Jabirian works. On the other hand, another biography written at about the same time, Notes of Abu Sulayman al-Mantiqi al-Sijistani, questions whether Jabir was the author of such a volume of texts and even raises doubts about his actual existence. It seems possible that the Kitab-al-Fihrist, a catalogue made by Ibn Al-Nadim and dated around AD 987 that compiles all the literature written in Arabic at that time, contributed to the myth surrounding Jabir by attributing to him a huge number of writings. He died in Kufa in AD 815 at the venerable age of 94.
He became the court alchemist and physician during the reign of Caliph Haroun Al-Rashid. The son of a pharmacist, he is said to have studied first in Yemen, under the tutelage of the sage Harbi Al-Himyari, and later in Kufa, as a student of Imam Jafar Al-Sadiq, where he learned alchemy (chemistry), pharmacy, philosophy, medicine and astronomy. However, doubts and controversy arise from the first two (known) biographical references to him, dating from as early as the 10th century.Īccording to tradition, Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan Al-Azdi was born in AD 721 in what is now Iran and spent most of his life in the city of Kufa (Iraq). Legend attributes to him the authorship of between 300 and more than 1000 works on philosophy, alchemy and chemistry. His figure and even his name are shrouded in mist and uncertainty, which fuel his myth. Who really was Jabir ibn Hayyan? Known in Europe as Geber, this Islamic scholar of the Middle Ages is considered the father of alchemy and one of the founders or pioneers of pharmacology and modern chemistry.
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