:Jabir ibn Hayyan

{{Short description|Islamic alchemist and polymath}}

{{For|other people known as Jabir|Jabir}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}

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{{Infobox philosopher

| death_date = {{circa}} 806−816

| era = Islamic Golden Age

| image = Al-Jaahith - African Arab Naturalist - Basra - al jahiz.jpg

| caption = 15th-century depiction of Jabir

| name = Jābir ibn Ḥayyān

| native_name = {{lang|ar|جابِر بِن حَيّان}}

| language= Arabic

| region = {{nowrap|Kufa (Iraq) / Tus (Iran) / unknown}}

| main_interests = Alchemy and chemistry, magic, Shi'ite religious philosophy

| notable_ideas= Use of organic substances in chemistry, sulfur-mercury theory of metals, science of the balance, science of artificial generation

}}

Abū Mūsā Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Arabic: {{lang|ar|أَبو موسى جابِر بِن حَيّان}}, variously called al-Ṣūfī, al-Azdī, al-Kūfī, or al-Ṭūsī), died {{circa}} 806−816, is the purported author of a large number of works in Arabic, often called the Jabirian corpus. The {{circa|215}} treatises that survive today mainly deal with alchemy and chemistry, magic, and Shi'ite religious philosophy. However, the original scope of the corpus was vast, covering a wide range of topics ranging from cosmology, astronomy and astrology, over medicine, pharmacology, zoology and botany, to metaphysics, logic, and grammar.

The works attributed to Jabir, which are tentatively dated to {{circa|850|950}}, contain the oldest known systematic classification of chemical substances, and the oldest known instructions for deriving an inorganic compound (sal ammoniac or ammonium chloride) from organic substances (such as plants, blood, and hair) by chemical means.{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. II, pp. 41–42}} (referring to {{harvnb|Stapleton|1905}}; {{harvnb|Ruska|1923a}}; {{harvnb|Ruska|1928}}). See also {{harvnb|Stapleton|Azo|Hidayat Husain|1927|pp=338–340}}. His works also contain one of the earliest known versions of the sulfur-mercury theory of metals, a mineralogical theory that would remain dominant until the 18th century.{{harvnb|Norris|2006}}.

A significant part of Jabir's writings deal with a philosophical theory known as "the science of the balance" (Arabic: ʿilm al-mīzān), which was aimed at reducing all phenomena (including material substances and their elements) to a system of measures and quantitative proportions. The Jabirian works also contain some of the earliest preserved Shi'ite imamological doctrines, which Jabir presented as deriving from his purported master, the Shi'ite Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (died 765).

As early as the 10th century, the identity and exact corpus of works of Jabir was in dispute in Islamic scholarly circles. The authorship of all these works by a single figure, and even the existence of a historical Jabir, are also doubted by modern scholars. Instead, Jabir ibn Hayyan is generally thought to have been a pseudonym used by an anonymous school of Shi'ite alchemists writing in the late 9th and early 10th centuries.

Some Arabic Jabirian works (e.g., The Great Book of Mercy, and The Book of Seventy) were translated into Latin under the Latinized name Geber, and in 13th-century Europe an anonymous writer, usually referred to as pseudo-Geber, started to produce alchemical and metallurgical writings under this name.{{harvnb|Newman|1985}}; {{harvnb|Newman|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: {{harvnb|al-Hassan|2009|pp=53–104}}; also available [http://www.history-science-technology.com/geber/geber%2004.html online]).

Biography

= Historicity =

It is not clear whether Jabir ibn Hayyan ever existed as a historical person. He is purported to have lived in the 8th century, and to have been a disciple of the Shi'ite Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (died 765).References to Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq occur throughout the Jabirian corpus (see {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. xxxvi–xxxvii}}). See also below. However, he is not mentioned in any historical source before c. 900, and the first known author to write about Jabir from a biographical point of view was the Baghdadi bibliographer Ibn al-Nadīm (c. 932–995).{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. xvii, 189}}; {{harvnb|Delva|2017|loc=p. 38, note 15}}. In his Fihrist ("The Book Catalogue", written in 987), Ibn al-Nadīm compiled a list of Jabir's works, adding a short notice on the various claims that were then circulating about Jabir.{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. xvii, xix–xxi, xliii–xlv}}; {{harvnb|Fück|1951|p=124}}. An annotated English translation of this notice and the list of Jabir's works may be found in {{harvnb|Fück|1951|pp=95–104}}. Already in Ibn al-Nadīm's time, there were some people who explicitly asserted that Jabir had never existed, although Ibn al-Nadīm himself disagreed with this claim.{{harvnb|Fück|1951|pp=124–125}}. Jabir was often ignored by later medieval Islamic biographers and historians, but even early Shi'ite biographers such as Aḥmad al-Barqī (died c. 893), Abū ʿAmr al-Kashshī (first half of the 10th century), Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Najāshī (983–1058), and Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭūsī (995–1067), who wrote long volumes on the companions of the Shi'ite Imams (including the many companions of Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq), did not mention Jabir at all.{{harvnb|Delva|2017|p=39}}. However, as also noted by Delva 2017, pp. 39–40, note 19, Jabir does occur in two possibly early Shi'ite hadith collections, which are in need of further investigation.

= Dating of the Jabirian corpus =

Apart from outright denying his existence, there were also some who, already in Ibn al-Nadīm's time, questioned whether the writings attributed to Jabir were really written by him.{{harvnb|Fück|1951|p=124}}. The authenticity of these writings was expressly denied by the Baghdadi philosopher Abū Sulaymān al-Sijistānī (c. 912–985) and his pupil Abū Ḥayyān al-Tawḥīdī (c. 932–1023), though this may have been related to the hostility of both these thinkers to alchemy in general.{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. lxiii–lxv}}; {{harvnb|Delva|2017|loc=p. 39, note 17}}. Modern scholarly analysis has tended to confirm the inauthenticity of the writings attributed to Jabir. Much of the philosophical terminology used in the Jabirian treatises was only coined around the middle of the 9th century,See already {{harvnb|Kraus|1930}} and {{harvnb|Kraus|1931}}. This was denied by {{harvnb|Sezgin|1971}}. and some of the Greek philosophical texts cited in the Jabirian writings are known to have been translated into Arabic towards the end of the 9th century.{{harvnb|Nomanul Haq|1994|pp=230–242}} has argued that one of these translations of Greek philosophical texts cited by Jabir actually dates to the 8th century, but this was contradicted by {{harvnb|Gannagé|1998|pp=427–449}} (cf. {{harvnb|Delva|2017|loc=p. 38, note 14}}). Moreover, an important part of the corpus deals with early Shi'ite religious philosophy that is elsewhere only attested in late 9th-century and early 10th-century sources.Kraus regarded Jabirian Shi'ism as an early form of Isma'ilism (see {{harvnb|Kraus|1930}}, {{harvnb|Kraus|1942}}; see also {{harvnb|Corbin|1950}}), but it has since been shown that it significantly differs from Isma'ilism (see {{harvnb|Lory|1989|pp=47–125}}; {{harvnb|Lory|2000}}), and may have been an independent sectarian Shi'ite current related to the late 9th-century ghulāt (see {{harvnb|Capezzone|2020}}). As a result, the dating of the Jabirian corpus to c. 850–950 has been widely accepted in modern scholarship.This is the dating put forward by {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, p. lxv}}. For its acceptance by other scholars, see the references in {{harvnb|Delva|2017|loc=p. 38, note 14}}. Notable critics of Kraus' dating are {{harvnb|Sezgin|1971}} and {{harvnb|Nomanul Haq|1994|pp=3–47}} (cf. {{harvnb|Forster|2018}}). However, it has also been noted that many Jabirian treatises show clear signs of having been redacted multiple times, and the writings as we now have them may well have been based on an earlier 8th-century core.{{harvnb|Lory|1983|pp=62–79}}. For other observations of the existence of different editorial layers in Jabirian treatises, see {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. xxxxiii-xxxvi}}; {{harvnb|Gannagé|1998|pp=409–410}}. Despite the obscurity involved, it is not impossible that some of these writings, in their earliest form, were written by a real Jabir ibn Hayyan.{{harvnb|Delva|2017|loc=p. 53, note 87}}. In any case, it is clear that Jabir's name was used as a pseudonym by one or more anonymous Shi'ite alchemists writing in the late 9th and early 10th centuries, who also redacted the corpus as we now know it.{{harvnb|Capezzone|2020}}; cf. {{harvnb|Lory|2008b}}.

= Biographical clues and legend =

Jabir was generally known by the kunya Abū Mūsā ("Father of Mūsā"), or sometimes Abū ʿAbd Allāh ("Father of ʿAbd Allāh"), and by the nisbas (attributive names) al-Ṣūfī, al-Azdī, al-Kūfī, or al-Ṭūsī.{{harvnb|Nomanul Haq|1994|loc=p. 33, note 1}}. The kunya Abū ʿAbd Allāh only occurs in Ibn al-Nadīm (see {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, p. xliii, note 5}}). Ibn Khallikān (1211–1282) gives Jabir's nisba as al-Ṭarsūsī, or in some manuscripts as al-Tarṭūsī, but these are most likely scribal errors for al-Ṭūsī (see Kraus 1942–1943, vol. I, p. xli, note 3). His grandfather's name is mentioned by Ibn al-Nadim as ʿAbd Allāh.{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, p. xli, note 9}}. Kraus adds that ʿAbd Allāh as the name of Jabir's grandfather is also mentioned in Jabir's Kitāb al-Najīb (Kr. no. 977). If the attribution of the name al-Azdī to Jabir is authentic,{{harvnb|Ruska|1923b|p=57}} still thought the attribution to Jabir of the name al-Azdī to be false. Later sources assume its authenticity. this would point to his affiliation with the Southern-Arabian (Yemenite) tribe of the Azd. However, it is not clear whether Jabir was an Arab belonging to the Azd tribe, or a non-Arab Muslim client (mawlā) of the Azd.{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, p. xli, note 1}}; {{harvnb|Delva|2017|p=36}}. In the 8th century, it was still necessary for non-Arabs to secure an affiliation with an Arab tribe in order to be allowed to convert to Islam. If he was a non-Arab Muslim client of the Azd, he is most likely to have been Persian, given his ties with eastern Iran (his nisba al-Ṭūsī also points to Tus, a city in Khurasan).{{harvnb|Delva|2017|p=36}}. According to a copyist of one of the manuscripts containing Jabir's works, he also died in Tus (see Delva 2017, p. 36, note 6). Jabir was held to be an Arab by {{harvnb|Holmyard|1927|pp=29–32}}, a view still taken by {{harvnb|Forster|2018}}. He was regarded as Persian by {{harvnb|Ruska|1923b|p=57}} (cf. {{harvnb|Holmyard|1927|p=29}}), who was echoed by such scholars as {{harvnb|Sarton|1927–1948|loc=vol. II.2, p. 1044}} and {{harvnb|Newman|1996|p=178}}. According to Ibn al-Nadīm, Jabir hailed from Khurasan (eastern Iran), but spent most of his life in Kufa (Iraq),{{harvnb|Delva|2017|pp=36–37}}. both regions where the Azd tribe was well-settled.{{harvnb|Holmyard|1927|p=29}}; {{harvnb|Delva|2017|p=49}}. Various late reports put his date of death between 806 (190 AH) and 816 (200 AH).{{harvnb|Delva|2017|loc=pp. 36−37, note 6}}.

Given the lack of independent biographical sources, most of the biographical information about Jabir can be traced back to the Jabirian writings themselves.This even holds for most of what was written by Ibn al-Nadīm; see {{harvnb|Delva|2017|pp=38–39}}. There are references throughout the Jabirian corpus to the Shi'ite Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (died 765), whom Jabir generally calls "my master" (Arabic: sayyidī), and whom he represents as the original source of all his knowledge.{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. xxxvi-xxxvii}}. That the references are indeed to Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq is made clear by the Shi'ite context in which they occur, and by the fact that Jaʿfar's patronymic "ibn Muḥammad" is sometimes included (see {{harvnb|Holmyard|1927|pp=34–35}}; {{harvnb|Ruska|1927|p=42}}). Ibn al-Nadīm's isolated statement that some claimed "my master" to refer to Jaʿfar ibn Yaḥyā al-Barmakī was called "arbitrary" by Kraus 1942–1943, vol. I, p. xliv, note 2. In one work, Jabir is also represented as an associate of the Bactrian vizier family of the Barmakids, whereas Ibn al-Nadīm reports that some claimed Jabir to have been especially devoted to Jaʿfar ibn Yaḥyā al-Barmakī (767–803), the Abbasid vizier of One Thousand and One Nights fame.{{harvnb|Kraus|1931|pp=28–29}}; cf. {{harvnb|Delva|2017|loc=p. 36, note 3}}. Kraus expressly compared the seemingly legendary tales about Jabir and the Barmakids with those of the One Thousand and One Nights. Jabir's links with the Abbasids were stressed even more by later tradition, which turned him into a favorite of the Abbasid caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd (c. 763–809, also appearing in One Thousand and One Nights), for whom Jabir would have composed a treatise on alchemy, and who is supposed to have commanded the translation of Greek works into Arabic on Jabir's instigation.This is first related by the 14th century alchemist al-Jildakī (see {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. xli–xliii}}; cf. {{harvnb|Delva|2017|loc=p. 36, note 4}}).

Given Jabir's purported ties with both the Shi'ite Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and the Barmakid family (who served the Abbasids as viziers), or with the Abbasid caliphs themselves, it has sometimes been thought plausible that Ḥayyān al-ʿAṭṭār ("Hayyan the Druggist"), a proto-Shi'ite activist who was fighting for the Abbasid cause in the early 8th century, may have been Jabir's father (Jabir's name "Ibn Hayyan" literally means "The Son of Hayyan").{{harvnb|Holmyard|1927|pp=29–32, 35}}. Although there is no direct evidence supporting this hypothesis, it fits very well in the historical context, and it allows one to think of Jabir, however obscure, as a historical figure.{{harvnb|Delva|2017|pp=41–42, 52}}. Because Ḥayyān al-ʿAṭṭār was supposedly executed not long after 721, the hypothesis even made it possible to estimate Jabir's date of birth at {{circa|721}}.{{harvnb|Delva|2017|p=42}}; cf. {{harvnb|Holmyard|1927|p=32}}. However, it has recently been argued that Ḥayyān al-ʿAṭṭār probably lived at least until {{circa|744}},{{harvnb|Delva|2017|pp=46–47}}. and that as a client (mawlā) of the Nakhaʿ tribe he is highly unlikely to have been the father of Jabir (who is supposed to have been a client/member of the Azd).{{harvnb|Delva|2017|p=49, 52}}.

The Jabirian corpus

There are about 600 Arabic works attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan that are known by name,These are listed in {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. 203–210}}. approximately 215 of which are still extant today.{{harvnb|Lory|1983|p=51}}. Though some of these are full-length works (e.g., The Great Book on Specific Properties),{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. 148–152, 205}} (counted as one of the c. 600 works there). most of them are relatively short treatises and belong to larger collections (The One Hundred and Twelve Books, The Five Hundred Books, etc.) in which they function rather more like chapters.{{harvnb|Lory|1983|pp=51–52}}; {{harvnb|Delva|2017|loc=p. 37, note n. 9}}. When the individual chapters of some full-length works are counted as separate treatises too,See, e.g., The Great Book on Specific Properties, whose 71 chapters are counted by {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. 148–152}} as nos. 1900–1970. Note, however, that this procedure is not always followed: e.g., even though The Book of the Rectifications of Plato consists of 90 chapters, it is still counted as only one treatise (Kr. no. 205, see {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. 64–67}}). the total length of the corpus may be estimated at 3000 treatises/chapters.This is the number arrived at by {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I}}. Kraus' method of counting has been criticized by {{harvnb|Nomanul Haq|1994|pp=11–12}}, who warns that "we should view with a great deal of suspicion any arguments for a plurality of authors which is based on Kraus' inflated estimate of the volume of the Jabirian corpus".

The overwhelming majority of Jabirian treatises that are still extant today deal with alchemy or chemistry (though these may also contain religious speculations, and discuss a wide range of other topics ranging from cosmology to grammar).See the section 'Alchemical writings' below. Religious speculations occur throughout the corpus (see, e.g., {{harvnb|Lory|2016a}}), but are especially prominent in The Five Hundred Books (see below). The Books of the Balances deal with alchemy from a philosophical and theoretical point of view, and contain treatises devoted to a wide range of topics (see below). Nevertheless, there are also a few extant treatises which deal with magic, i.e., "the science of talismans" (ʿilm al-ṭilasmāt, a form of theurgy) and "the science of specific properties" (ʿilm al-khawāṣṣ, the science dealing with the hidden powers of mineral, vegetable and animal substances, and with their practical applications in medical and various other pursuits).See the section 'Writings on magic (talismans, specific properties)' below. Kraus refers to ʿilm al-ṭilasmāt as "théurgie" (theurgy) throughout; see, e.g., {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. 75, 143, et pass.}} On "the science of specific properties" (ʿilm al-khawāṣṣ), see {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. II, pp. 61–95}}. Other writings dealing with a great variety of subjects were also attributed to Jabir (this includes such subjects as engineering, medicine, pharmacology, zoology, botany, logic, metaphysics, mathematics, astronomy and astrology), but almost all of these are lost today.Only one full work (The Book on Poisons and on the Repelling of their Harmful Effects, Kitāb al-Sumūm wa-dafʿ maḍārrihā, Kr. no. 2145, medical/pharmacological) and a long extract of another one (The Book of Comprehensiveness, Kitāb al-Ishtimāl, Kr. no. 2715, philosophical) are still extant today; see the section 'Other writings' below, with {{harvnb|Sezgin|1971|pp=264–265}}. {{harvnb|Sezgin|1971|pp=268–269}} also lists 30 extant works which were not known to Kraus, and whose subject matter and place in the corpus has not yet been determined.

= Writings on magic (talismans, specific properties) =

Among the surviving Jabirian treatises, there are also a number of relatively independent treatises dealing with "the science of talismans" (ʿilm al-ṭilasmāt, a form of theurgy) and with "the science of specific properties" (ʿilm al-khawāṣṣ, i.e., the science dealing with the hidden powers of mineral, vegetable and animal substances, and with their practical applications in medical and various other pursuits).A number of non-extant treatises (Kr. nos. 1750, 1778, 1795, 1981, 1987, 1992, 1994) are also discussed by {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. 142–154}}. Kraus refers to ʿilm al-ṭilasmāt as "théurgie" (theurgy) throughout; see, e.g., {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. 75, 143, et pass.}} On "the science of specific properties" (ʿilm al-khawāṣṣ), see {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. II, pp. 61–95}}. These are:

  • The Book of the Search (Kitāb al-Baḥth, also known as The Book of Extracts, Kitāb al-Nukhab, Kr. no. 1800): This long work deals with the philosophical foundations of theurgy or "the science of talismans" (ʿilm al-ṭilasmāt). It is also notable for citing a significant number of Greek authors: there are references to (the works of) Plato, Aristotle, Archimedes, Galen, Alexander of Aphrodisias, Porphyry, Themistius, (pseudo-)Apollonius of Tyana, and others.{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. 142–143}}.
  • The Book of Fifty (Kitāb al-Khamsīn, perhaps identical to The Great Book on Talismans, Kitāb al-Ṭilasmāt al-kabīr, Kr. nos. 1825–1874): This work, only extracts of which are extant, deals with subjects such as the theoretical basis of theurgy, specific properties, astrology, and demonology.{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. 146–147}}.
  • The Great Book on Specific Properties (Kitāb al-Khawāṣṣ al-kabīr, Kr. nos. 1900–1970): This is Jabir's main work on "the science of specific properties" (ʿilm al-khawāṣṣ), i.e., the science dealing with the hidden powers of mineral, vegetable and animal substances, and with their practical applications in medical and various other pursuits.On "the science of specific properties" (ʿilm al-khawāṣṣ), see {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. II, pp. 61–95}}. However, it also contains a number of chapters on "the science of the balance" (ʿilm al-mīzān, a theory which aims at reducing all phenomena to a system of measures and quantitative proportions).{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. 148–152}}. The theory of the balance, which is mainly expounded in The Books of the Balances (Kr. nos. 303–446, see above), is extensively discussed by {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. II, pp. 187–303}}; see also {{harvnb|Lory|1989|pp=130–150}}.
  • The Book of the King (Kitāb al-Malik, kr. no. 1985): Short treatise on the effectiveness of talismans.{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, p. 153}}.
  • The Book of Black Magic (Kitāb al-Jafr al-aswad, Kr. no. 1996): This treatise is not mentioned in any other Jabirian work.{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, p. 154}}.

= Other extant writings =

Writings on a wide variety of other topics were also attributed to Jabir. Most of these are lost (see below), except for:

  • The Book on Poisons and on the Repelling of their Harmful Effects (Kitāb al-Sumūm wa-dafʿ maḍārrihā, Kr. no. 2145): on pharmacology.{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. 156–159}}; facsimile in {{harvnb|Siggel|1958}}.
  • The Book of Comprehensiveness (Kitāb al-Ishtimāl, Kr. no. 2715): a long extract of this philosophical treatise is preserved by the poet and alchemist al-Ṭughrāʾī (1061–c. 1121).{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, p. 165}}.

= Lost writings =

Although a significant number of the Jabirian treatises on alchemy and magic do survive, many of them are also lost. Apart from two surviving treatises (see immediately above), Jabir's many writings on other topics are all lost:

  • Catalogues (Kr. nos. 1–4): There are three catalogues which Jabir is said to have written of his own works (Kr. nos. 1–3), and one Book on the Order of Reading our Books (Kitāb Tartīb qirāʾat kutubinā, Kr. no. 4). They are all lost.All of the preceding in {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. 3–4}}.
  • The Books on Stratagems (Kutub al-Ḥiyal, Kr. nos. 1150–1449) and The Books on Military Stratagems and Tricks (Kutub al-Ḥiyal al-ḥurūbiyya wa-l-makāyid, Kr. nos. 1450–1749): Two large collections on 'mechanical tricks' (the Arabic word ḥiyal translates Greek μηχαναί, mēchanai){{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, p. 141, note 1}}. and military engineering, both lost.{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. 141–142}}.
  • Medical and pharmacological writings (Kr. nos. 2000–2499): Seven treatises are known by name, the only one extant being The Book on Poisons and on the Repelling of their Harmful Effects (Kitāb al-Sumūm wa-dafʿ maḍārrihā, Kr. no. 2145). Kraus also included into this category a lost treatise on zoology (The Book of Animals, Kitāb al-Ḥayawān, Kr. no. 2458) and a lost treatise on botany (The Book of Plants or The Book of Herbs, Kitāb al-Nabāt or Kitāb al-Ḥashāʾish, Kr. no. 2459).All of the preceding in {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. 155–160}}.
  • Philosophical writings (Kutub al-falsafa, Kr. nos. 2500–2799): Under this heading, Kraus mentioned 23 works, most of which appear to deal with Aristotelian philosophy (titles include, e.g., The Books of Logic According to the Opinion of Aristotle, Kr. no. 2580; The Book of Categories, Kr. no. 2582; The Book on Interpretation, Kr. no. 2583; The Book of Metaphysics, Kr. no. 2681; The Book of the Refutation of Aristotle in his Book On the Soul, Kr. no. 2734). Of one treatise (The Book of Comprehensiveness, Kitāb al-Ishtimāl, Kr. no. 2715) a long extract is preserved by the poet and alchemist al-Ṭughrāʾī (1061–c. 1121), but all other treatises in this group are lost.All of the preceding in {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. 161–166}}.
  • Mathematical, astronomical and astrological writings (Kr. nos. 2800–2899): Thirteen treatises in this category are known by name, all of which are lost. Notable titles include a Book of Commentary on Euclid (Kitāb Sharḥ Uqlīdiyas, Kr. no. 2813), a Commentary on the Book of the Weight of the Crown by Archimedes (Sharḥ kitāb wazn al-tāj li-Arshamīdas, Kr. no. 2821), a Book of Commentary on the Almagest (Kitāb Sharḥ al-Majisṭī, Kr. no. 2834), a Subtle Book on Astronomical Tables (Kitāb al-Zāj al-laṭīf, Kr. no. 2839), a Compendium on the Astrolabe from a Theoretical and Practical Point of View (Kitāb al-jāmiʿ fī l-asṭurlāb ʿilman wa-ʿamalan, Kr. no. 2845), and a Book of the Explanation of the Figures of the Zodiac and Their Activities (Kitāb Sharḥ ṣuwar al-burūj wa-afʿālihā, Kr. no. 2856).All of the preceding in {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. 167–169}}.
  • Religious writings (Kr. nos. 2900–3000): Apart from those known to belong to The Five Hundred Books (see above), there are a number of religious treatises whose exact place in the corpus is uncertain, all of which are lost. Notable titles include Books on the Shi'ite Schools of Thought (Kutub fī madhāhib al-shīʿa, Kr. no. 2914), Our Books on the Transmigration of the Soul (Kutubunā fī l-tanāsukh, Kr. no. 2947), The Book of the Imamate (Kitāb al-Imāma, Kr. no. 2958), and The Book in Which I Explained the Torah (Kitābī alladhī fassartu fīhi al-tawrāt, Kr. no. 2982).All of the preceding in {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. 170–171}}.

Historical background

= Greco-Egyptian, Byzantine and Persian alchemy =

File:Jabir ibn Hayyan Geber, Arabian alchemist Wellcome L0005558.jpg

The Jabirian writings contain a number of references to Greco-Egyptian alchemists such as pseudo-Democritus (fl. c. 60), Mary the Jewess (fl. c. 0–300), Agathodaemon (fl. c. 300), and Zosimos of Panopolis (fl. c. 300), as well as to legendary figures such as Hermes Trismegistus and Ostanes, and to scriptural figures such as Moses and Jesus (to whom a number of alchemical writings were also ascribed).{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. II, pp. 42–45}}. However, these references may have been meant as an appeal to ancient authority rather than as an acknowledgement of any intellectual borrowing,{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. II, p. 35}}. and in any case Jabirian alchemy was very different from what is found in the extant Greek alchemical treatises: it was much more systematic and coherent,{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. II, pp. 31–32}}. it made much less use of allegory and symbols,{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. II, pp. 32–33}}. and a much more important place was occupied by philosophical speculations and their application to laboratory experiments.{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. II, p. 40}}. Furthermore, whereas Greek alchemical texts had been almost exclusively focused on the use of mineral substances (i.e., on 'inorganic chemistry'), Jabirian alchemy pioneered the use of vegetable and animal substances, and so represented an innovative shift towards 'organic chemistry'.{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. II, p. 41}}.

Nevertheless, there are some important theoretical similarities between Jabirian alchemy and contemporary Byzantine alchemy,{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. II, pp. 35–40}}. and even though the Jabirian authors do not seem to have known Byzantine works that are extant today such as the alchemical works attributed to the Neoplatonic philosophers Olympiodorus (c. 495–570) and Stephanus of Alexandria (fl. c. 580–640),{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. II, p. 40}}. Kraus also notes that this is rather remarkable given the existence of works attributed to Stephanus of Alexandria in the Arabic tradition. it seems that they were at least partly drawing on a parallel tradition of theoretical and philosophical alchemy.{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. II, pp. 40–41}}. In any case, the writings actually used by the Jabirian authors appear to have mainly consisted of alchemical works falsely attributed to ancient philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Apollonius of Tyana, only some of which are still extant today, and whose philosophical content still needs to be determined.Manuscripts of extant works are listed by {{harvnb|Sezgin|1971}} and {{harvnb|Ullmann|1972}}.

One of the innovations in Jabirian alchemy was the addition of sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride) to the category of chemical substances known as 'spirits' (i.e., strongly volatile substances). This included both naturally occurring sal ammoniac and synthetic ammonium chloride as produced from organic substances, and so the addition of sal ammoniac to the list of 'spirits' is likely a product of the new focus on organic chemistry. Since the word for sal ammoniac used in the Jabirian corpus (nošāder) is Iranian in origin, it has been suggested that the direct precursors of Jabirian alchemy may have been active in the Hellenizing and Syriacizing schools of the Sassanid Empire.All of the preceding in {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. II, pp. 41–42}}; cf. {{harvnb|Lory|2008b}}. On the etymology of the word nošāder, see {{harvnb|Laufer|1919|pp=504–506}} (arguing that it is a Persian word derived from Sogdian); {{harvnb|Ruska|1923a|p=7}} (arguing for a Persian origin).

Chemical philosophy

= Elements and natures =

According to Aristotelian physics, each element is composed of two qualities: fire is hot and dry, earth is cold and dry, water is cold and moist, and air is hot and moist. In the Jabirian corpus, these qualities came to be called "natures" (Arabic: ṭabāʾiʿ), and elements are said to be composed of these 'natures', plus an underlying "substance" (jawhar). In metals two of these 'natures' were interior and two were exterior. For example, lead was predominantly cold and dry and gold was predominantly hot and moist. Thus, Jabir theorized, by rearranging the natures of one metal, a different metal would result. Like Zosimos, Jabir believed this would require a catalyst, an al-iksir, the elusive elixir that would make this transformation possible – which in European alchemy became known as the philosopher's stone.{{harvnb|Nomanul Haq|1994}}.

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

Bibliography

= Tertiary sources =

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  • {{cite encyclopedia|last1=Forster|first1=Regula|year=2018|title=Jābir b. Ḥayyān|editor1-last=Fleet|editor1-first=Kate|editor2-last=Krämer|editor2-first=Gudrun|editor2-link=Gudrun Krämer|editor3-last=Matringe|editor3-first=Denis|editor4-last=Nawas|editor4-first=John|editor5-last=Rowson|editor5-first=Everett|editor5-link=Everett K. Rowson|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three|doi=10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_32665}}
  • {{cite encyclopedia|last1=Kraus|first1=Paul|author1-link=Paul Kraus (Arabist)|last2=Plessner|first2=Martin|year=1960–2007|title=Djābir B. Ḥayyān|editor1-last=Bearman|editor1-first=P.|editor1-link=Peri Bearman|editor2-last=Bianquis|editor2-first=Th.|editor2-link=Thierry Bianquis|editor3-last=Bosworth|editor3-first=C.E.|editor3-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth|editor4-last=van Donzel|editor4-first=E.|editor4-link=Emeri Johannes van Donzel|editor5-last=Heinrichs|editor5-first=W.P.|editor5-link=Wolfhart Heinrichs|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition|doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_1898}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Lory|first1=Pierre|author-link=Pierre Lory|year=2008a|chapter=Jābir Ibn Hayyān|editor1-last=Koertge|editor1-first=Noretta|title=New Dictionary of Scientific Biography|location=Detroit|publisher=Thomson Gale|volume=4|pages=19–20|isbn=978-0-684-31320-7}}
  • {{cite encyclopedia|last1=Lory|first1=Pierre|author-link=Pierre Lory|year=2008b|title=Kimiā|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/kimia}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Plessner|first1=Martin|year=1981|chapter=Jābir Ibn Hayyān|editor1-last=Gillispie|editor1-first=Charles C.|title=Dictionary of Scientific Biography|location=New York|publisher=Charles Scribners’s Sons|volume=7|pages=39–43|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/science-and-technology/chemistry-biographies/jabir}}

= Secondary sources =

  • {{cite book|last1=al-Hassan|first1=Ahmad Y.|author-link=Ahmad Y. al-Hassan|year=2009|title=Studies in al-Kimya': Critical Issues in Latin and Arabic Alchemy and Chemistry|location=Hildesheim|publisher=Georg Olms Verlag|isbn=978-3-487-14273-9}} (the same content and more is also available [http://www.history-science-technology.com/ online]) (argues against the great majority of scholars that the Latin Geber works were translated from the Arabic and that ethanol and mineral acids were known in early Arabic alchemy)
  • {{cite journal|last1=Burnett|first1=Charles|year=2001|title=The Coherence of the Arabic-Latin Translation Program in Toledo in the Twelfth Century|journal=Science in Context|volume=14|issue=1–2|pages=249–288|doi=10.1017/S0269889701000096|s2cid=143006568}}
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  • {{cite journal|last1=Capezzone|first1=Leonardo|year=2020|title=The Solitude of the Orphan: Ǧābir b. Ḥayyān and the Shiite Heterodox Milieu of the Third/Ninth–Fourth/Tenth Centuries|journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies|volume=83|issue=1|pages=51–73|doi=10.1017/S0041977X20000014|s2cid=214044897|doi-access=free}} (recent study of Jabirian Shi'ism, arguing that it was not of a form of Isma'ilism, but an independent sectarian current related to the late 9th-century Shi'ites known as ghulāt)
  • {{cite journal|last1=Corbin|first1=Henry|author-link=Henry Corbin|year=1950|title=Le livre du Glorieux de Jâbir ibn Hayyân|journal=Eranos-Jahrbuch|volume=18|issue=|pages=48–114}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Corbin|first1=Henry|author-link=Henry Corbin|year=1986|title=Alchimie comme art hiératique|location=Paris|publisher=L’Herne|isbn=9782851971029}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Coulon|first1=Jean-Charles|year=2017|title=La Magie en terre d'Islam au Moyen Âge|location=Paris|publisher=CTHS|isbn=9782735508525}}
  • {{cite journal |last1=Delva |first1=Thijs |year=2017 |title=The Abbasid Activist Ḥayyān al-ʿAṭṭār as the Father of Jābir b. Ḥayyān: An Influential Hypothesis Revisited |journal=Journal of Abbasid Studies |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=35–61 |doi=10.1163/22142371-12340030}} (rejects Holmyard 1927's hypothesis that Jabir was the son of a proto-Shi'ite pharmacist called Ḥayyān al-ʿAṭṭār on the basis of newly available evidence; contains the most recent status quaestionis on Jabir's biography, listing a number of primary sources on this subject that were still unknown to Kraus 1942–1943)
  • {{cite journal|last1=El-Eswed|first1=Bassam I.|year=2006|title=Spirits: The Reactive Substances in Jābir's Alchemy|journal=Arabic Sciences and Philosophy|volume=16|issue=1|pages=71–90|doi=10.1017/S0957423906000270|s2cid=170880312}} (the first study since the days of Berthelot, Stapleton, and Ruska to approach the Jabirian texts from a modern chemical point of view)
  • {{cite journal|last1=Fück|first1=Johann W.|author-link=Johann Fück|year=1951|title=The Arabic Literature on Alchemy According to An-Nadīm (A.D. 987)|journal=Ambix|volume=4|issue=3–4|pages=81–144|doi=10.1179/amb.1951.4.3-4.81}}
  • {{cite thesis|last1=Gannagé|first1=Emma|year=1998|title=Le commentaire d'Alexandre d'Aphrodise In de generatione et corruptione perdu en grec, retrouvé en arabe dans Ǧābir ibn Ḥayyān, Kitāb al-Taṣrīf|type=Unpublished PhD diss.|publisher=Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne}}
  • {{cite journal|last1=Holmyard|first1=Eric J.|author-link=Eric John Holmyard|year=1923|title=Jābir ibn Ḥayyān|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine|volume=16|issue=|pages=46–57|doi=10.1177/003591572301601606|doi-access=free|pmid=19983239 }} (pioneering paper first showing that a great deal of Jabir's non-religious alchemical treatises are still extant, that some of these treatises contain a sophisticated system of natural philosophy, and that Jabir knew the sulfur-mercury theory of metals)
  • {{cite book|last1=Holmyard|first1=Eric J.|author-link=Eric John Holmyard|year=1927|chapter=An Essay on Jābir ibn Ḥayyān|editor1-last=Ruska|editor1-first=Julius|editor1-link=Julius Ruska|title=Studien zur Geschichte der Chemie: Festgabe Edmund O. v. Lippmann|location=Berlin|publisher=Springer|pages=28–37|doi=10.1007/978-3-642-51355-8_5|isbn=978-3-642-51236-0 }} (seminal paper first presenting the hypothesis that Jabir was the son of a proto-Shi'ite pharmacist called Ḥayyān al-ʿAṭṭār)
  • {{cite book|last1=Kraus|first1=Paul|author-link=Paul Kraus (Arabist)|year=1930|chapter=Dschābir ibn Ḥajjān und die Ismāʿīlijja|editor1-last=Ruska|editor1-first=Julius|editor1-link=Julius Ruska|title=Dritter Jahresbericht des Forschungsinstituts für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften. Mit einer Wissenschaftlichen Beilage: Der Zusammenbruch der Dschābir-Legende|location=Berlin|publisher=Springer|pages=23–42|oclc=913815541}} (seminal paper arguing that the Jabirian writings should be dated to ca. 850–950; the first to point out the similarities between Jabirian Shi'ism and early Isma'ilism)
  • {{cite journal|last1=Kraus|first1=Paul|author-link=Paul Kraus (Arabist)|year=1931|title=Studien zu Jābir ibn Hayyān|journal=Isis|volume=15|issue=1|pages=7–30|doi=10.1086/346536|jstor=224568|s2cid=143876602|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/224568.pdf}} (contains further arguments for the late dating of the Jabirian writings; analyses Jabir's accounts of his relations with the Barmakids, rejecting their historicity)
  • {{cite journal|last1=Kraus|first1=Paul|author-link=Paul Kraus (Arabist)|year=1942|title=Les dignitaires de la hiérarchie religieuse selon Ǧābir ibn Ḥayyān|journal=Bulletin de l'institut français d'archéologie orientale|volume=41|issue=|pages=83–97|doi=10.3406/bifao.1942.2022 |url=https://www.ifao.egnet.net/bifao/41/8/}} (pioneering paper on Jabirian proto-Shi'ism)
  • {{Cite book|last=Kraus|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Kraus (Arabist)|year=1942–1943|title=Jâbir ibn Hayyân: Contribution à l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam. I. Le corpus des écrits jâbiriens. II. Jâbir et la science grecque|publisher=Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale|location=Cairo|oclc=468740510|isbn=978-3-487-09115-0}} (vol. 1 contains a pioneering analysis of the sources for Jabir's biography, and a catalogue of all known Jabirian treatises and the larger collections they belong to; vol. 2 contains a seminal analysis of the Jabirian philosophical system and its relation to Greek philosophy; remains the standard reference work on Jabir even today)
  • {{cite book|last1=Laufer|first1=Berthold|author1-link=Berthold Laufer|date=1919|title=Sino-Iranica: Chinese Contributions to the History of Civilization in Ancient Iran|series=Fieldiana, Anthropological series|volume=15|issue=3|location=Chicago|publisher=Field Museum of Natural History|oclc=1084859541|url=https://archive.org/details/sinoiranicachine153lauf/page/504/mode/2up}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Lory|first1=Pierre|author-link=Pierre Lory|year=1983|title=Jâbir ibn Hayyân: Dix traités d'alchimie. Les dix premiers Traités du Livre des Soixante-dix|location=Paris|publisher=Sindbad|isbn=9782742710614}} (elaborates Kraus's suggestion that the Jabirian writings may have developed from an earlier core, arguing that some of them, even though receiving their final redaction only in ca. 850–950, may date back to the late 8th century)
  • {{cite book|last1=Lory|first1=Pierre|author-link=Pierre Lory|year=1989|title=Alchimie et mystique en terre d'Islam|location=Lagrasse|publisher=Verdier|isbn=9782864320913}} (focuses on Jabir's religious philosophy; contains an analysis of Jabirian Shi'ism, arguing that it is in some respects different from Isma'ilism and may have been relatively independent)
  • {{cite book|last1=Lory|first1=Pierre|author-link=Pierre Lory|date=1994|chapter=Mots d'alchimie, alchimie des mots|editor1-last=Jacquart|editor1-first=D.|title=La formation du vocabulaire scientifique et intellectuel dans le monde arabe|series=Civicima |volume=7 |location=Turnhout|publisher=Brepols|pages=91–106|doi=10.1484/M.CIVI-EB.4.00077|isbn=978-2-503-37007-1}}
  • {{cite journal|last1=Lory|first1=Pierre|author-link=Pierre Lory|year=2000|title=Eschatologie alchimique chez jâbir ibn Hayyân|journal=Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée|volume=91–94|issue=91–94|pages=73–92|doi=10.4000/remmm.249|doi-access=free}}
  • {{cite journal|last1=Lory|first1=Pierre|author-link=Pierre Lory|year=2016a|title=Aspects de l'ésotérisme chiite dans le Corpus Ǧābirien: Les trois Livres de l'Elément de fondation|journal=Al-Qantara|volume=37|issue=2|pages=279–298|doi=10.3989/alqantara.2016.009|doi-access=free}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Lory|first1=Pierre|author-link=Pierre Lory|date=2016b|chapter=Esotérisme shi’ite et alchimie. Quelques remarques sur la doctrine de l’initiation dans le Corpus Jābirien|editor1-last=Amir-Moezzi|editor1-first=Mohammad Ali|editor1-link=Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi|editor2-last=De Cillis|editor2-first=Maria|editor3-last=De Smet|editor3-first=Daniel|editor4-last=Mir-Kasimov|editor4-first=Orkhan|title=L'Ésotérisme shi'ite, ses racines et ses prolongements – Shi'i Esotericism: Its Roots and Developments|series=Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Sciences Religieuses|volume=177|location=Turnhout|publisher=Brepols|pages=411–422|doi=10.1484/M.BEHE-EB.4.01179|isbn=978-2-503-56874-4}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Marquet|first1=Yves|year=1988|title=La philosophie des alchimistes et l'alchimie des philosophes — Jâbir ibn Hayyân et les « Frères de la Pureté »|location=Paris|publisher=Maisonneuve et Larose|isbn=9782706809545}}
  • {{cite journal|last1=Moureau|first1=Sébastien|year=2020|title=Min al-kīmiyāʾ ad alchimiam. The Transmission of Alchemy from the Arab-Muslim World to the Latin West in the Middle Ages|journal=Micrologus|volume=28|issue=|pages=87–141|hdl=2078.1/211340|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/211340}} (a survey of all Latin alchemical texts known to have been translated from the Arabic)
  • {{cite journal|last1=Newman|first1=William R.|author-link=William R. Newman|year=1985|title=New Light on the Identity of Geber|journal=Sudhoffs Archiv|volume=69|issue=1|pages=76–90|jstor=20776956|pmid=2932819|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20776956}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Newman|first1=William R.|author-link=William R. Newman|year=1991|title=The Summa perfectionis of Pseudo-Geber: A Critical Edition, Translation and Study|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-09464-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tZ-WXuo84ioC}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Newman|first1=William R.|author-link=William R. Newman|year=1996|chapter=The Occult and the Manifest among the Alchemists|editor1-last=Ragep|editor1-first= F. Jamil|editor2-last=Ragep|editor2-first=Sally P.|editor3-last=Livesey|editor3-first=Steven|title=Tradition, Transmission, Transformation: Proceedings of Two Conferences on Pre-Modern Science held at the University of Oklahoma|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|pages=173–198|isbn=978-90-04-10119-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kl1COWj9ubAC&q=Tradition,+Transmission,+Transformation:+Proceedings+of+Two+Conferences+on+Pre-Modern+Science+held+at+the+University}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Nomanul Haq|first1=Syed|author-link=Syed Nomanul Haq|year=1994|title=Names, Natures and Things: The Alchemist Jābir ibn Ḥayyān and his Kitāb al-Aḥjār (Book of Stones)|location=Dordrecht|publisher=Kluwer|isbn=9789401118989|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rydrCQAAQBAJ}} (signalled some new sources on Jabir's biography; followed Sezgin 1971 in arguing for an early date for the Jabirian writings)
  • {{Cite journal|last=Norris|first=John|year=2006|title=The Mineral Exhalation Theory of Metallogenesis in Pre-Modern Mineral Science|journal=Ambix|volume=53|issue=1|pages=43–65|doi=10.1179/174582306X93183|s2cid=97109455}} (important overview of the sulfur-mercury theory of metals from its conceptual origins in ancient Greek philosophy to the 18th century; discussion of the Arabic texts is brief and dependent on secondary sources)
  • {{cite journal|last1=Ruska|first1=Julius|author1-link=Julius Ruska|year=1923a|title=Sal ammoniacus, Nušādir und Salmiak|journal=Sitzungsberichte der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse|volume=14|issue=5|doi=10.11588/diglit.38046}}
  • {{cite journal|last1=Ruska|first1=Julius|author1-link=Julius Ruska|year=1923b|title=Über das Schriftenverzeichnis des Ǧābir ibn Ḥajjān und die Unechtheit einiger ihm zugeschriebenen Abhandlungen|journal=Archiv für Geschichte der Medizin|volume=15|pages=53–67|jstor=20773292|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20773292}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Ruska|first1=Julius|author1-link=Julius Ruska|year=1927|chapter=Die siebzig Bücher des Ǵābir ibn Ḥajjān|editor1-last=Ruska|editor1-first=Julius|editor1-link=Julius Ruska|title=Studien zur Geschichte der Chemie: Festgabe Edmund O. v. Lippmann|location=Berlin|publisher=Springer|pages=38–47|doi=10.1007/978-3-642-51355-8_6|isbn=978-3-642-51236-0 }}
  • {{cite journal|last1=Ruska|first1=Julius|author1-link=Julius Ruska|year=1928|title=Der Salmiak in der Geschichte der Alchemie|journal=Zeitschrift für angewandte Chemie|volume=41|issue=50|pages=1321–1324|doi=10.1002/ange.19280415006|bibcode=1928AngCh..41.1321R }}
  • {{cite journal|last1=Ruska|first1=Julius|author1-link=Julius Ruska|last2=Garbers|first2=Karl|year=1939|title=Vorschriften zur Herstellung von scharfen Wässern bei Gabir und Razi|journal=Der Islam|volume=25|issue=|pages=1–34|doi=10.1515/islm.1938.25.1.1|s2cid=161055255}} (contains a comparison of Jabir's and Abū Bakr al-Rāzī's knowledge of chemical apparatus, processes and substances)
  • {{cite book|last1=Sarton|first1=George|author-link=George Sarton|year=1927–1948|title=Introduction to the History of Science|volume=I–III|location=Baltimore|publisher=Williams & Wilkins|oclc=476555889}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Sezgin|first1=Fuat|author-link=Fuat Sezgin|year=1971|title=Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums, Band IV: Alchimie, Chemie, Botanik, Agrikultur bis ca. 430 H.|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|pages=132–269|isbn=9789004020092}} (contains a penetrating critique of Kraus’ thesis on the late dating of the Jabirian works)
  • {{cite journal|last1=Stapleton|first1=Henry E.|author1-link=Henry Ernest Stapleton|year=1905|title=Sal Ammoniac: A Study in Primitive Chemistry|journal=Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal|volume=I|issue=2|pages=25–40|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.228305/page/n35/mode/2up}}
  • {{cite journal |last1=Stapleton|first1=Henry E.|author1-link=Henry Ernest Stapleton|last2=Azo|first2=R.F.|last3=Hidayat Husain|first3=M.|year=1927|title=Chemistry in Iraq and Persia in the Tenth Century A.D.|journal=Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal|volume=VIII|issue=6|pages=317–418|oclc=706947607|url=http://www.southasiaarchive.com/Content/sarf.100203/231270}}
  • {{cite journal|last1=Starr|first1=Peter|year=2009|title=Towards a Context for Ibn Umayl, Known to Chaucer as the Alchemist Senior|journal=Journal of Arts and Sciences|volume=11|issue=|pages=61–77|url=http://jas.cankaya.edu.tr/gecmisYayinlar/yayinlar/jas11/05%20Peter%20STARR.pdf|access-date=28 November 2020|archive-date=25 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925055537/http://jas.cankaya.edu.tr/gecmisYayinlar/yayinlar/jas11/05%20Peter%20STARR.pdf|url-status=dead}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Ullmann|first1=Manfred|year=1972|title=Die Natur- und Geheimwissenschaften im Islam|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-03423-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FosEtQEACAAJ}}
  • {{cite thesis|last1=Watanabe|first1=Masayo|date=2023|title=Nature in the Books of Seven Metals – Ǧābirian Corpus in Dialogue with Ancient Greek Philosophy and Byzantine Alchemy|type=PhD thesis|publisher=University of Bologna|url=http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/10571}}
  • {{Cite book|last=Weisser|first=Ursula|editor1-first=|editor1-last=|title=Das "Buch über das Geheimnis der Schöpfung" von Pseudo-Apollonios von Tyana|publisher=De Gruyter|year=1980|isbn=978-3-11-086693-3|location=Berlin|doi=10.1515/9783110866933|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DZFZzxgiUqAC}}

= Primary sources =

==Editions of Arabic Jabirian texts==

  • {{cite journal|last1=Abū Rīda|first1=Muḥammad A.|date=1984|title=Thalāth rasāʾil falsafiyya li-Jābir b. Ḥayyān|journal=Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften|volume=1|pages=50–67}}
  • {{cite journal|last1=Abū Rīda|first1=Muḥammad A.|date=1985|title=Risālatān falsafiyyatān li-Jābir b. Ḥayyān|journal=Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften|volume=2|pages=75–84}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Berthelot|first1=Marcellin|author1-link=Marcellin Berthelot|last2=Houdas|first2=Octave V.|date=1893|title=La Chimie au Moyen Âge|volume=III|location=Paris|publisher=Imprimerie nationale}}
  • {{cite book|last1=al-Mazyadī|first1=Aḥmad Farīd|year=2006|title=Rasāʾil Jābir ibn Ḥayyān|location=Beirut|publisher=Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya}} (pirated edition of {{harvnb|Berthelot|Houdas|1893}}, {{harvnb|Holmyard|1928}} and {{harvnb|Kraus|1935}})
  • {{cite thesis|last1=Gannagé|first1=Emma|year=1998|title=Le commentaire d'Alexandre d'Aphrodise In de generatione et corruptione perdu en grec, retrouvé en arabe dans Ǧābir ibn Ḥayyān, Kitāb al-Taṣrīf|type=Unpublished PhD diss.|publisher=Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne|ref=none}} (edition of the {{transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-Taṣrīf}})
  • {{cite book|last1=Holmyard|first1=E. John|author1-link=Eric John Holmyard|year=1928|title=The Arabic Works of Jâbir ibn Hayyân|location=Paris|publisher=Paul Geuthner}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Kraus|first1=Paul|author1-link=Paul Kraus (Arabist)|year=1935|title=Essai sur l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam / Mukhtār Rasāʾil Jābir b. Ḥayyān|location=Paris/Cairo|publisher=G.P. Maisonneuve/Maktabat al-Khānjī}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Nomanul Haq|first1=Syed|author-link=Syed Nomanul Haq|year=1994|title=Names, Natures and Things: The Alchemist Jābir ibn Ḥayyān and his Kitāb al-Aḥjār (Book of Stones)|location=Dordrecht|publisher=Kluwer|isbn=9789401118989|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rydrCQAAQBAJ|ref=none}} (contains a new edition of parts of the Kitāb al-Aḥjār with English translation)
  • {{cite book|last1=Lory|first1=Pierre|author-link=Pierre Lory|year=1988|title=Tadbīr al-iksīr al-aʿẓam. Arbaʿ ʿashara risāla fī ṣanʿat al-kīmiyāʾ / L'élaboration de l'élixir suprême. Quatorze traités de Gâbir ibn Ḥayyân sur le grand oeuvre alchimique|location=Damascus|publisher=Institut français de Damas}}
  • {{cite journal|last1=Ruska|first1=Julius|author1-link=Julius Ruska|last2=Garbers|first2=Karl|year=1939|title=Vorschriften zur Herstellung von scharfen Wässern bei Gabir und Razi|journal=Der Islam|volume=25|issue=|pages=1–34|doi=10.1515/islm.1938.25.1.1|s2cid=161055255|ref=none}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Sezgin|first1=Fuat|author-link=Fuat Sezgin|date=1986|title=The Book of Seventy|location=Frankfurt am Main|publisher=Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science}} (facsimile of the {{transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-Sabʿīn}})
  • {{cite book|last1=Siggel|first1=Alfred|date=1958|title=Das Buch der Gifte des Ǧābir ibn Ḥayyān|location=Wiesbaden|publisher=Steiner}} (facsimile of the {{transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-Sumūm wa-dafʿ maḍārrihā}})
  • {{cite thesis|last=Zirnis|first=Peter|year=1979|title=The Kitāb Usṭuqus al-uss of Jābir ibn Ḥayyān|type=Unpublished PhD diss.|location=New York University|ref=none}} (contains an annotated copy of the Kitāb Usṭuqus al-uss with English translation)
  • {{cite thesis|last1=Watanabe|first1=Masayo|date=2023|title=Nature in the Books of Seven Metals – Ǧābirian Corpus in Dialogue with Ancient Greek Philosophy and Byzantine Alchemy|type=PhD thesis|publisher=University of Bologna|url=http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/10571|ref=no}} (edition of excerpts from the first six Books on the Seven Metals ({{transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-Dhahab}}, Kr. no. 947; {{transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-Fiḍḍa}}, Kr. no. 948; {{transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-Nuḥās}}, Kr. no. 949; {{transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-Ḥadīd}}, Kr. no. 950; {{transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-Raṣāṣ al-qalaʿī}}, Kr. no. 951; {{transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-Usrub}}, Kr. no. 952), the full text of the {{transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-Khārṣīnī}}, Kr. no. 953, and an excerpt from the {{transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-Ṭabīʿa al-khāmisa}}, Kr. no. 396)

== Modern translations of Arabic Jabirian texts ==

  • {{cite book|last1=Berthelot|first1=Marcellin|author1-link=Marcellin Berthelot|last2=Houdas|first2=Octave V.|date=1893|title=La Chimie au Moyen Âge|volume=III|location=Paris|publisher=Imprimerie nationale|ref=none}} (French translations of the edited Arabic texts)
  • {{cite journal|last1=Corbin|first1=Henry|author-link=Henry Corbin|year=1950|title=Le livre du Glorieux de Jâbir ibn Hayyân|journal=Eranos-Jahrbuch|volume=18|issue=|pages=48–114|ref=none}} (French translation of the {{transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-Mājid}})
  • {{cite thesis|last1=Gannagé|first1=Emma|year=1998|title=Le commentaire d'Alexandre d'Aphrodise In de generatione et corruptione perdu en grec, retrouvé en arabe dans Ǧābir ibn Ḥayyān, Kitāb al-Taṣrīf|type=Unpublished PhD diss.|publisher=Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne|ref=none}} (French translation of the {{transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-Taṣrīf}})
  • {{cite book|last1=Lory|first1=Pierre|author-link=Pierre Lory|year=1983|title=Jâbir ibn Hayyân: Dix traités d'alchimie. Les dix premiers Traités du Livre des Soixante-dix|location=Paris|publisher=Sindbad|isbn=9782742710614|ref=none}} (French translations of the first ten books of the {{transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-Sabʿīn}})
  • {{cite journal|last1=Lory|first1=Pierre|author-link=Pierre Lory|year=2000|title=Eschatologie alchimique chez jâbir ibn Hayyân|journal=Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée|volume=91–94|issue=91–94|pages=73–92|doi=10.4000/remmm.249|doi-access=free|ref=none}} (French translation of the {{transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-Bayān}})
  • {{cite book|last1=Nomanul Haq|first1=Syed|author-link=Syed Nomanul Haq|year=1994|title=Names, Natures and Things: The Alchemist Jābir ibn Ḥayyān and his Kitāb al-Aḥjār (Book of Stones)|location=Dordrecht|publisher=Kluwer|isbn=9789401118989|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rydrCQAAQBAJ|ref=none}} (contains a new edition of parts of the Kitāb al-Aḥjār with English translation)
  • {{cite thesis|last1=O’Connor|first1=Kathleen M.|year=1994|title=The Alchemical Creation of Life (Takwīn) and Other Concepts of Genesis in Medieval Islam|type=PhD diss.|publisher=University of Pennsylvania|url=http://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI9503804}} (contains translations of extensive passages from various Jabirian works, with discussion)
  • {{cite book|last1=Rex|first1=Friedemann|date=1975|title=Zur Theorie der Naturprozesse in der früharabischen Wissenschaft|location=Wiesbaden|publisher=Steiner}} (German translation of the {{transliteration|ar|Kitāb Ikhrāj mā fī al-quwwa ilā al-fiʿl}})
  • {{cite journal|last1=Ruska|first1=Julius|author1-link=Julius Ruska|last2=Garbers|first2=Karl|year=1939|title=Vorschriften zur Herstellung von scharfen Wässern bei Gabir und Razi|journal=Der Islam|volume=25|issue=|pages=1–34|doi=10.1515/islm.1938.25.1.1|s2cid=161055255|ref=none}} (German translations of edited Arabic fragments)
  • {{cite book|last1=Siggel|first1=Alfred|date=1958|title=Das Buch der Gifte des Ǧābir ibn Ḥayyān|location=Wiesbaden|publisher=Steiner|ref=none}} (German translation of the facsimile of {{transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-Sumūm wa-dafʿ maḍārrihā}})
  • {{cite thesis|last=Zirnis|first=Peter|year=1979|title=The Kitāb Usṭuqus al-uss of Jābir ibn Ḥayyān|type=Unpublished PhD diss.|location=New York University}} (contains an annotated copy of the Kitāb Usṭuqus al-uss with English translation)

== Medieval translations of Arabic Jabirian texts (Latin) ==

  • {{cite journal|last1=Berthelot|first1=Marcellin|author-link=Marcellin Berthelot|year=1906|title=Archéologie et Histoire des sciences|journal=Mémoires de l'Académie des sciences de l'Institut de France|volume=49}} (pp. 310–363 contain an edition of the Latin translation of Jabir's Seventy Books under the title Liber de Septuaginta)
  • {{cite book|last1=Colinet|first1=Andrée|year=2000|chapter=Le Travail des quatre éléments ou lorsqu’un alchimiste byzantin s’inspire de Jabir|editor1-last=Draelants|editor1-first=Isabelle|editor2-last=Tihon|editor2-first=Anne|editor3-last=Van den Abeele|editor3-first=Baudouin|title=Occident et Proche-Orient: Contacts scientifiques au temps des Croisades. Actes du colloque de Louvain-la-Neuve, 24 et 25 mars 1997|series=Reminisciences|volume=5|location=Turnhout|publisher=Brepols|pages=165–190|doi=10.1484/M.REM-EB.6.09070802050003050101010600|isbn=978-2-503-51116-0}} (pp. 179–187 contain an edition of the Latin translation of a separate treatise belonging to Jabir's Seventy Books, i.e., The Book of the Thirty Words, Kitāb al-Thalāthīn kalima, Kr. no. 125, translated as Liber XXX verborum)
  • {{cite journal|last1=Darmstaedter|first1=Ernst|year=1925|title=Liber Misericordiae Geber: Eine lateinische Übersetzung des gröβeren Kitâb l-raḥma|journal=Archiv für Geschichte der Medizin|volume=17|issue=4|pages=181–197}} (edition of the Latin translation of Jabir's The Great Book of Mercy, Kitāb al-Raḥma al-kabīr, Kr. no. 5, under the title Liber Misericordiae)
  • {{cite book|last1=Newman|first1=William R.|author-link=William R. Newman|year=1994|chapter=Arabo-Latin Forgeries: The Case of the Summa Perfectionis (with the text of Jābir ibn Ḥayyān's Liber Regni)|editor1-last=Russell|editor1-first=G. A.|title=The 'Arabick' Interest of the Natural Philosophers in Seventeenth-Century England|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|pages=278–296|isbn=978-90-04-09888-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4H2fESItCVIC}} (pp. 288–291 contain a Latin translation of intermittent extracts of Jabir's Book of Kingship, Kitāb al-Mulk, Kr. no. 454, under the title Liber regni, with an English translation on pp. 291–293)

Note that some other Latin works attributed to Jabir/Geber (Summa perfectionis, De inventione veritatis, De investigatione perfectionis, Liber fornacum, Testamentum Geberi, and Alchemia Geberi) are widely considered to be pseudepigraphs which, though largely drawing on Arabic sources, were originally written by Latin authors in the 13th–14th centuries (see pseudo-Geber); see {{harvnb|Moureau|2020|p=112}}; cf. {{harvnb|Forster|2018}}.

{{Islamic alchemy and chemistry|state=expanded}}

{{Alchemy|state=expanded}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayyan, Jabir ibn}}

Category:8th-century scientists

Category:9th-century scientists

Category:Alchemists of the medieval Islamic world

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Category:9th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate

Category:8th-century philosophers

Category:9th-century philosophers

Category:Medieval occultists

Category:People from Tus, Iran

Category:Asian people whose existence is disputed