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Al-Kimya Notes on Arabic Alchemy Chemical Heritage

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Al-Kimya Notes on Arabic Alchemy Chemical Heritage 18/05/2011 Al-Kimya: Notes on Arabic Alchemy | C… We Tell the Story of Chemistry Gabriele Ferrario Detail from a miniature from Ibn Butlan's Risalat dawat al-atibba. Courtesy of the L. Mayer Museum for Islamic rt, $erusalem. Note: Arabic words in this article are given in a simplified transliteration system: no graphical distinction is made among long and short vowels and emphatic and non-emphatic consonants. The expression —Arabic alchemy“ refers to the vast literature on alchemy written in the Arabic language. Among those defined as —Arabic alchemists“ we therefore find scholars of different ethnic origins many from Persia who produced their works in the Arabic language. ccording to the 10th-century scholar Ibn l-Nadim, the philosopher Muhammad ibn ,a-ariya l-Ra.i /0th century1 claimed that 2the study of philosophy could not be considered complete, and a learned man could not be called a philosopher, until he has succeeded in producing the alchemical transmutation.3 For many years Western scholars ignored l-Ra.i4s praise for alchemy, seeing alchemy chemheritage.org/…/25-3-al-kimya-not… 1/3 18/05/2011 Al-Kimya: Notes on Arabic Alchemy | C… instead as a pseudoscience, false in its purposes and fundamentally wrong in its methods, closer to magic and superstition than to the 2enlightened3 sciences. Only in recent years have pioneering studies conducted by historians of science, philologists, and historians of the boo- demonstrated the importance of alchemical practices and discoveries in creating the foundations of modern chemistry. new generation of scholarship is revealing not only the e7tent to which early modern chemistry was based on alchemical practice but also the depth to which European alchemists relied on rabic sources. 9et scholars are only beginning to scratch the surface of rabic alchemy: a general history based on direct sources still has to be written, and an enormous number of rabic alchemical manuscripts remain unread and unedited;sometimes not even cataloged;in Middle Eastern and European libraries. This brief survey is offered in hopes of giving Chemical Heritage4s readers a glimpse into this fascinating yet largely une7plored world. The Origins of rabic lchemy In the 7th century the rabs started a process of territorial e7pansion that quic-ly brought them empire and influence ranging from India to ndalusia. Fruitful contacts with ancient cultural traditions were a natural consequence of this territorial e7pansion, and rabic culture proved ready to absorb and reinterpret much of the technical and theoretical innovations of previous civili.ations. This was certainly the case with respect to alchemy, which had been practiced and studied in ancient Greece and Hellenistic Egypt. The rabs arrived in Egypt to find a substantial alchemical tradition; early written documents testify that Egyptian alchemists had developed advanced practical -nowledge in the fields of pharmacology and metal, stone, and glass wor-ing. The first translations of alchemical treatises from Gree- and Coptic sources into rabic were reportedly commissioned by Khalid ibn 9a.id, who died around the beginning of the Ath century. By the second part of that century rabic -nowledge of alchemy was already far enough advanced to produce the Corpus %abirianum; an impressively large body of alchemical wor-s attributed to $abir ibn Hayyan. The Corpus, together with the alchemical wor-s of l-Ra.i, mar-s the creative pea- of rabic alchemy. s is typical in the chain of transmission of ancient -nowledge, the origins of alchemy are steeped in legend, and the lin-s of this chain are either mythical or real chemheritage.org/…/25-3-al-kimya-not… 2/3 18/05/2011 Al-Kimya: Notes on Arabic Alchemy | C… authorities in the fields of ancient science and philosophy. The doctrines on which rabic alchemy relied derived from the multicultural milieu of Hellenistic Egypt and included a mi7ture of local, Hebrew, Christian, Gnostic, ancient Gree-, Indian, and Mesopotamian influences. The presence of the rabic definite article al in alchemy is a clear indication of the rabic roots of the word. Hypotheses about the etymology of the rabic term al- kimiya hint at the possible sources for early alchemical -nowledge in the rab world. One of the most plausible hypotheses traces the origin of the word bac- to the Egyptian word kam-it or kem-it, which indicated the color blac- and, by e7tension, the land of Egypt, -nown as the Blac- Land. nother hypothesis lin-s kimiya to a Syriac transliteration of the Gree- word khumeia or khemeia, meaning the art of melting metals and of producing alloys. Chemical Heritage Foundation 31C Chestnut Street Philadelphia, P 1010E 21C.02C.2222 Site by The Berndt Group G2010 Chemical Heritage Foundation chemheritage.org/…/25-3-al-kimya-not… 3/3 18/05/2011 Al-Kimya: Notes on Arabic Alchemy | C… We Tell the Story of Chemistry Gabriele Ferrario Detail from a miniature from Ibn Butlan's Risalat dawat al-atibba. Courtesy of the L. Mayer Museum for Islamic rt, $erusalem. third interesting but far-fetched etymology suggests that the word al-kimiya derives from the )ebrew kim Yah, meaning *divine science.+ The idea of a connection between the origins of alchemical ,nowledge and the $ews was widespread among medieval rabic alchemists, who saw in this etymology a possible confirmation of their belief. These alchemists tended to attribute the mythical origins of alchemy alternately to the angels who rose against God, to the patriarch .noch, to /ing Solomon, or to other biblical characters who taught human,ind the secrets of minerals and metals. This interpretive strategy dignified the origins of alchemy and attributed alchemical boo,s pseudepigraphically to authorities of the past, providing a safe mechanism for spreading alchemical ,nowledge, which could otherwise be persecuted for its pro0imity to magic. In contrast with the modern term alchemy, the word al-kimiya lac,s abstract meaning. Rather than designating the comple0 of practical and theoretical chemheritage.org/…/25-3-al-kimya-not… 1/3 18/05/2011 Al-Kimya: Notes on Arabic Alchemy | C… ,nowledge we now refer to as alchemy, it was used to describe the substance through which base metals could be transmuted into noble ones. In rabic alchemical boo,s al-,imiya tended to be a synonym of al-iksir 1eli0ir2 and was fre3uently used with the more general meaning of a *medium for obtaining something.+ .0pressions li,e kimiya al-sa”ada 1the way of obtaining happiness2, kimiya al-ghana 1the way of obtaining richness2, and kimiya alqulub 1the way of touching hearts2 testify to the broad meaning of this word. What we now call alchemy was called by other words4 san”at al-kimiya or san”at al-iksir 1the art or production of the eli0ir2, ”ilm al-sina”a 1the ,nowledge of the art or production2, al- hikma 1the wisdom2, al-”amal al-a”zam 1the great wor,2, or simply al-sana”a. rabic alchemists called themselves kimawi, kimi, kimiya‘i, san”awi, or iksiri. The contribution of rabic alchemists to the history of alchemy is profound. They e0celled in the field of practical laboratory e0perience and offered the first descriptions of some of the substances still used in modern chemistry. Muriatic 1hydrochloric2 acid, sulfuric acid, and nitric acid are discoveries of rabic alchemists, as are soda 1al-natrun2 and potassium 1al-qali2. The words used in rabic alchemical boo,s have left a deep mar, on the language of chemistry4 besides the word alchemy itself, we see rabic influence in alcohol 1al-kohl2, eli0ir 1al-iksir2, and alembic 1al-inbiq2. Moreover, rabic alchemists perfected the process of distillation, e3uipping their distilling apparatuses with thermometers in order to better regulate the heating during alchemical operations. Finally, the discovery of the solvent later ,nown as aqua regia5a mi0ture of nitric and muriatic acids5is reported to be one of their most important contributions to later alchemy and chemistry. rabic boo,s on alchemy stimulated theoretical reflections on the power and the limits of humans to change matter. Moreover, we have the rabic alchemical tradition to than, for transmitting the legacy of the ancient and )ellenistic worlds to the Latin West. Theoretical ssumptions The alchemical authorities most often 3uoted as sources in rabic alchemical te0ts were Gree, philosophers, such as Pythagoras, rchelaus, Socrates, and Plato. During the Middle ges, ristotle himself was considered the authentic author of the fourth boo, of Meteorologica, which deals e0tensively with the physical interactions of earthly phenomena, and of one letter on alchemy addressed to his pupil le0ander the Great. rabic language sources also 3uoted )ermes, the supposed repository of the ,nowledge God gave to man before the Deluge and to whom legend attributes the famous Tabula smaragdina 1.merald Tablet27 gathodaimon7 8stanes, the Persian chemheritage.org/…/25-3-al-kimya-not… 2/3 18/05/2011 Al-Kimya: Notes on Arabic Alchemy | C… magician7 Mary the $ewess 1probably 3rd century2, for whom the bain marie 1a,in to a double boiler2 is named7 and Aosimus of Panopolis 13rdBCth centuries2, believed to be the author of an alchemical encyclopedia in 28 boo,s. Indeed, Aosimus is said to have introduced religious and mystical elements into the alchemical discourse4 his boo,s meld .gyptian magic, Gree, philosophy, Eeoplatonism, Babylonian astrology, Christian theology, pagan mythology, and doctrines of )ebrew origin in a highly symbolic writing full of allusions to the interior transformations of the alchemistFs soul. Chemical )eritage Foundation 315 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, P 19106 215.925.2222 Site by The Berndt Group @2010 Chemical )eritage Foundation chemheritage.org/…/25-3-al-kimya-not… 3/3 18/05/2011 Al-Kimya: Notes on Arabic Alchemy | C… We Tell the Story of Chemistry Gabriele Ferrario Detail from a miniature from Ibn Butlan's Risalat dawat al-atibba.
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