Jabir ibn Hayyan

For other people known as Jabir, see Jabir.

Jabir ibn Hayyan
15th-century European portrait of "Geber", Codici Ashburnhamiani 1166, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence
Title	Father of Chemistry
Personal
Born	Abū Mūsā or Abū ‘Abd Allāh Jābir ibn Ḥayyān
Religion	Islam
Era	Islamic Golden Age
Region	Kufa, Tus
Denomination	Shia
Main interest(s)	Alchemy and Chemistry, Astronomy, Astrology, Medicine and Pharmacy, Philosophy, Physics, philanthropist
Notable work(s)	Kitab al-Kimya, Kitab al-Sab'een, Book of the Kingdom, Book of the Balances, Book of Eastern Mercury, etc.
Muslim leader
Influenced by Ja'far al-Sadiq, Alchemy, Harbi al-Himyari
Influenced Dhul-Nun al-Misri, Al-Kindi, Alchemy, Chemistry

Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Arabic/Persian جابر بن حيان, died c. early ninth century), known by the kunyas Abū Mūsā or Abū ‘Abd Allāh and the nisbas al-Azdī, al-Kūfī, al-Ṭūsī or al-Ṣūfī, is the supposed author of an enormous number and variety of works in Arabic often called the Jabirian corpus. The scope of the corpus is vast and diverse covering a wide range of topics, including alchemy, cosmology, numerology, astrology, medicine, magic, mysticism and philosophy.

Popularly known as the father of chemistry, Jabir's works 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.

As early as the 10th century, the identity and exact corpus of works of Jabir was in dispute in Islamic 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 seen more like a pseudonym to whom "underground writings" by various authors became ascribed.

Some Arabic Jabirian works (e.g., the "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.

Biography

Early references

In 988 Ibn al-Nadim compiled the Kitab al-Fihrist which mentions Jabir as having a master named Ja'far, which Shia sources have linked with Jafar as-Sadiq, the sixth Shia Imam who had an interest in alchemy. Others argued that it was Ja'far ibn Yahya of the Barmaki family. In another reference al-Nadim reports that a group of philosophers claimed Jabir was one of their own members. Another group, reported by al-Nadim, says only The Large Book of Mercy is genuine and that the rest are pseudographical. Their assertions are rejected by al-Nadim. Joining al-Nadim in asserting a real Jabir; Ibn-Wahshiyya ("Jaber ibn Hayyn al-Sufi ...book on poison is a great work...") Rejecting a real Jabir; (the philosopher c. 970) Abu Sulayman al-Sijistani claims the real author is one al-Hasan ibn al-Nakad al-Mawili. The 14th century critic of Arabic literature, Jamal al-Din ibn Nubata al-Misri declares all the writings attributed to Jabir doubtful.

Life and background

According to the philologist-historian Paul Kraus (1904–1944), Jabir cleverly mixed in his alchemical writings unambiguous references to the Ismaili or Qarmati movement. Kraus wrote: "Let us first notice that most of the names we find in this list have undeniable affinities with the doctrine of Shi'i Gnosis, especially with the Ismaili system." Henry Corbin believes that Jabir ibn Hayyan was an Ismaili. Jabir was a natural philosopher who lived mostly in the 8th century; he was born in Tus, Khorasan, in Persia, then ruled by the Umayyad Caliphate. Jabir in the classical sources has been variously attributed as al-Azdi, al-Kufi, al-Tusi, al-Sufi, al-Tartusi or al-Tarsusi, and al-Harrani. There is a difference of opinion as to whether he was an Arab from Kufa who lived in Khurasan, or a Persian from Khorasan who later went to Kufa or whether he was, as some have suggested, of Syrian Sabian origin and later lived in Persia and Iraq. In some sources, he is reported to have been the son of Hayyan al-Azdi, a pharmacist of the Arabian Azd tribe who emigrated from Yemen to Kufa (in present-day Iraq). while Henry Corbin believes Geber seems to have been a non-Arab client of the 'Azd tribe. Hayyan had supported the Abbasid revolt against the Umayyads, and was sent by them to the province of Khorasan to gather support for their cause. He was eventually caught by the Umayyads and executed. His family fled to Yemen, perhaps to some of their relatives in the Azd tribe, where Jabir grew up and studied the Quran, mathematics and other subjects. Jabir's father's profession may have contributed greatly to his interest in alchemy.

After the Abbasids took power, Jabir went back to Kufa. He began his career practicing medicine, under the patronage of a Vizir (from the noble Persian family Barmakids) of Caliph Harun al-Rashid. His connections to the Barmakid cost him dearly in the end. When that family fell from grace in 803, Jabir was placed under house arrest in Kufa, where he remained until his death.

It has been asserted that Jabir was a student of the sixth Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq and Harbi al-Himyari; however, other scholars have questioned this theory.

The Jabirian corpus

European depiction of "Geber".

There are about 600 Arabic works attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan that are known by name, approximately 215 of which are still extant today. Though some of these are full-length works (e.g., The Great Book on Specific Properties), 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 are rather more like chapters. When the individual chapters of full-length works are counted as separate treatises too, the total length of the corpus may be estimated at about 3000 treatises/chapters.

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). Nevertheless, there are also a few extant treatises which deal with magic, or to be more precise, 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). 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.

Alchemical writings

Note that Paul Kraus, who first catalogued the Jabirian writings and whose numbering will be followed here, conceived of his division of Jabir's alchemical writings (Kr. nos. 5–1149) as roughly chronological in order.

• The Great Book of Mercy (Kitāb al-Raḥma al-kabīr, Kr. no. 5): This was considered by Kraus to be the oldest work in the corpus, from which it may have been relatively independent. Some early (10th century) sceptics considered it to be the only authentic work written by Jabir himself. Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (c. 854–925) appears to have written a (lost) commentary on it. It was translated into Latin in the thirteenth century under the title Liber Misericordiae.

• The One Hundred and Twelve Books (al-Kutub al-miʾa wa-l-ithnā ʿashar, Kr. nos. 6–122): This collection consists of relatively independent treatises dealing with different practical aspects of alchemy, often framed as an explanation of the symbolic allusions of the 'ancients', and in which an important role is played by organic alchemy. Its theoretical foundations are similar to those of the Seventy Books (i.e., the reduction of bodies to the elements fire, air, water and earth, and of the elements to the 'natures' hot, cold, moist, and dry), though their exposition is less systematic than in the later Seventy Books. Just like in the The Seventy Books, the quantitative directions in The One Hundred and Twelve Books are of a practical and 'experimental' nature rather than of a theoretical and speculative nature, such as will be the case in the Books of Balances. The first four treatises in this collection, i.e., the three-part Book of the Element of the Foundation (Kitāb Usṭuqus al-uss, Kr. nos. 6–8, the second part of which contains an early version of the famous Emerald Tablet attributed to Hermes Trismegistus) and a commentary on it (Tafsīr kitāb al-usṭuqus, Kr. no. 9), have been translated into English.

• The Seventy Books (al-Kutub al-sabʿūn, Kr. nos. 123–192) (also called The Book of Seventy, Kitāb al-Sabʿīn): This contains a systematic exposition of Jabirian alchemy, in which the several treatises form a much more unified whole as compared to The One Hundred and Twelve Books. It is organized into seven parts, containing ten treatises each: three parts dealing with the preparation of the elixir from animal, vegetable, and mineral substances, respectively; two parts dealing with the four elements from a theoretical and practical point of view, respectively; one part focusing on the alchemical use of animal substances, and one part focusing on minerals and metals. It was translated into Latin by a certain Magister Renaldus Cremonensis under the title Liber de Septuaginta.

• Ten books added to the Seventy (ʿasharat kutub muḍāfa ilā l-sabʿīn, Kr. nos. 193–202): The sole surviving treatise from this small collection (The Book of Clarification, Kitāb al-Īḍāḥ, Kr. no. 195) briefly discusses the different methods for preparing the elixir, criticizing the philosophers who have only expounded the method of preparing the elixir starting from mineral substances, to the exclusion of vegetable and animal substances.

• The Ten Books of Rectifications (al-Muṣaḥḥaḥāt al-ʿashara, Kr. nos. 203–212): Relates the successive improvements ('rectifications', muṣaḥḥaḥāt) brought to the art by such 'alchemists' as 'Pythagoras' (Kr. no. 203), 'Socrates' (Kr. no. 204), 'Plato' (Kr. no. 205), 'Aristotle' (Kr. no. 206), 'Archigenes' (Kr. nos. 207–208), 'Homer' (Kr. no. 209), 'Democritus' (Kr. no. 210), Ḥarbī al-Ḥimyarī (Kr. no. 211), and Jabir himself (Kr. no. 212). The only surviving treatise from this small collection (The Book of the Rectifications of Plato, Kitāb Muṣaḥḥaḥāt Iflāṭūn, Kr. no. 205) is divided into 90 chapters: 20 chapters on processes using only mercury, 10 chapters on processes using mercury and one additional 'medicine' (dawāʾ), 30 chapters on processes using mercury and two additional 'medicines', and 30 chapters on processes using mercury and three additional 'medicines'. All of these are preceded by an introduction describing the laboratory equipment mentioned in the treatise.

• The Twenty Books (al-Kutub al-ʿishrūn, Kr. nos. 213–232): Only one treatise (The Book of the Crystal, Kitāb al-Billawra, Kr. no. 220) and a long extract from another one (The Book of the Inner Consciousness, Kitāb al-Ḍamīr, Kr. no. 230) survive. The Book of the Inner Consciousness appears to deal with the subject of specific properties (khawāṣṣ) and with talismans (ṭilasmāt).

• The Seventeen Books (Kr. nos. 233–249); three treatises added to the Seventeen Books (Kr. nos. 250–252); thirty unnamed books (Kr. nos. 253–282); The Four Treatises and some related treatises (Kr. nos. 283–286, 287–292); The Ten Books According to the Opinion of Balīnās, the Master of Talismans (Kr. nos. 293–302): Of these, only three treatises appear to be extant, i.e., the Kitāb al-Mawāzīn (Kr. no. 242), the Kitāb al-Istiqṣāʾ (Kr. no. 248), and the Kitāb al-Kāmil (Kr. no. 291).

• The Books of the Balances (Kutub al-Mawāzīn, Kr. nos. 303–446): This collection appears to have consisted of 144 treatises of medium length, 79 of which are known by name and 44 of which are still extant. Though relatively independent from each other and devoted to a very wide range of topics (cosmology, grammar, music theory, medicine, logic, metaphysics, mathematics, astronomy, astrology, etc.), they all approach their subject matter from the perspective of the "science of the balance" (ʿilm al-mīzān, a theory which aims at reducing all phenomena to a system of measures and quantitative proportions). The Books of the Balances are also an important source for Jabir's speculations regarding the apparition of the "two brothers" (al-akhawān), a doctrine which was later to become of great significance to the Egyptian alchemist Ibn Umayl (c. 900–960).

• The Five Hundred Books (al-Kutub al-Khamsumiʾa, Kr. nos. 447–946): Only 29 treatises in this collection are known by name, 15 of which are extant. Its contents appear to have been mainly religious in nature, with moral exhortations and alchemical allegories occupying an important place. Among the extant treatises, The Book of the Glorious (Kitāb al-Mājid, Kr. no. 706) and The Book of Explication (Kitāb al-Bayān, Kr. no. 785) are notable for containing some of the earliest preserved Shi'ite eschatological and imamological doctrines.

• The Books on the Seven Metals (Kr. nos. 947–956): Seven treatises which are closely related to The Books of the Balances, each one dealing with one of Jabir's seven metals (respectively gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, and khārṣīnī or "chinese metal"). In one manuscript, these are followed by the related three-part Book of Concision (Kitāb al-Ījāz, Kr. nos. 954–956).

• Diverse alchemical treatises (Kr. nos. 957–1149): In this category, Kraus placed a large number of named treatises which he could not with any confidence attribute to one of the alchemical collections of the corpus. According to Kraus, some of them may actually have been part of the The Five Hundred Books.

Writings on magic (talismans, specific properties)

Among the surviving Jabirian treatises, there are also a number of relatively independent treatises dealing with talismans and/or specific properties. 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.

• 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.

• 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. 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).

• The Book of the King (Kitāb al-Malik, kr. no. 1985): Short treatise on the effectiveness of talismans.

• The Book of Black Magic (Kitāb al-Jafr al-aswad, Kr. no. 1996): This treatise is not mentioned in any other Jabirian work.

Other writings

• 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.

• 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) and military engineering, both lost.

• 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).

• 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.

• 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).

• Religious writings (Kr. nos. 2900–3000): Apart from those known to belong to the 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).

Historical Background

Greco-Egyptian, Byzantine and Persian alchemy

Geber, Chimistes Celebres, Liebig's Extract of Meat Company Trading Card, 1929.

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 historical figures such as Moses and Jesus (to whom a number alchemical writings were also ascribed). However, these references may have been meant as an appeal to ancient authority rather than as an acknowledgement of any intellectual borrowing, 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, it made much less use of allegory and symbols, and a much more important place was occupied by philosophical speculations and their application to laboratory experiments. 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'.

Nevertheless, there are some important similarities between Jabirian alchemy and contemporary Byzantine alchemy, 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), it seems that they were at least partly drawing on a parallel tradition of Neoplatonizing alchemy. In any case, it appears that the Jabirian authors were mainly drawing upon alchemical works falsely attributed to Socrates, Plato, and Apollonius of Tyana, only some of which are still extant today.

One of the innovations of 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 (nūshādhir) 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.

Chemical philosophy

Elements and natures

By Jabir's time Aristotelian physics had become Neoplatonic. Each Aristotelian element was composed of these qualities: fire was both hot and dry, earth, cold and dry, water cold and moist, and air, hot and moist. In the Jabirian corpus, these qualities came to be called "natures" (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 cold and dry and gold was 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.

The sulfur-mercury theory of metals

The sulfur-mercury theory of metals, though first attested in pseudo-Apollonius of Tyana's Secret of Creation (Sirr al-khalīqa, early ninth century), was also adopted by the Jabirian authors. According to Jabirian version of this theory, metals form in the earth through the mixing of sulfur and mercury. Depending on the quality of the sulfur, different metals are formed, with gold being formed by the most subtle and well-balanced sulfur. This theory, which is ultimately based on ancient meteorological theories such as found in Aristotle's Meteorology, remained the standard theory of metallic composition until the eighteenth century.

In popular culture

• Geber is mentioned in Paulo Coelho's 1993 bestseller, The Alchemist.
• Geber is mentioned in H. P. Lovecraft's novel The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.
• Jabbir is said to be the creator of a (fictional) mystical chess set in Katherine Neville's novels The Eight and The Fire.
• In S.H.I.E.L.D, Jabir appears as the 8th century leader of the organization.
• Jabir is mentioned in the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory, in the episode "The Guitarist Amplification".
• Jabir Ibn Hayyan is mentioned in the graphic novel Habibi by Craig Thompson, pp. 253–254.
• In the DC comic book title Demon Knights, the 11th century engineer Al-Jabr appears to be based on Jabir Ibn Hayyan.
• Jabir Ibn Hayyan is mentioned in Satyajit Ray's short stories of Professor Shonku.

Bibliography

English translations of Arabic Jabirian texts

Nomanul Haq, Syed 1994. Names, Natures and Things: The Alchemist Jābir ibn Ḥayyān and his Kitāb al-Aḥjār (Book of Stones). Dordrecht: Kluwer. (preview) (contains a new edition of parts of the Kitāb al-Aḥjār with English translation)

O’Connor, Kathleen M. 1994. The Alchemical Creation of Life (Takwīn) and Other Concepts of Genesis in Medieval Islam. PhD diss., University of Pennsylvania. (preview) (contains translations of extensive passages from various Jābirian works, with discussion)

Zirnis, Peter 1979. The Kitāb Usṭuqus al-uss of Jābir ibn Ḥayyān. PhD diss., New York University. (contains an annotated copy of the Kitāb Usṭuqus al-uss with English translation)

Latin translations of Arabic Jabirian texts

Berthelot, Marcellin 1906. "Archéologie et Histoire des sciences" in: Mémoires de l’Académie des sciences de l’Institut de France, 49, pp. 308–363.

Darmstaedter, Ernst 1925. "Liber Misericordiae Geber: Eine lateinische Übersetzung des gröβeren Kitâb l-raḥma" in: Archiv für Geschichte der Medizin, 17(4), pp. 181–197.

Encyclopedic sources

De Smet, Daniel 2008–2012. “Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq iv. Esoteric Sciences” in: Encyclopaedia Iranica.

Forster, Regula 2018. “Jābir B. Ḥayyān” in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_32665

Kraus, Paul and Plessner, Martin 1960–2007. “Djābir B. Ḥayyān” in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_1898

Lory, Pierre 2008a. “Jābir Ibn Hayyān” in: Koertge, Noretta (ed.). New Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Detroit: Thomson Gale, vol. 4, pp. 19–20.

Lory, Pierre 2008b. “Kimiā” in: Encyclopaedia Iranica.

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.

Secondary sources

al-Hassan, Ahmad Y. 2009. Studies in al-Kimya': Critical Issues in Latin and Arabic Alchemy and Chemistry. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag. (the same content and more is also available online) (argues against the great majority of scholars that all of the Latin Geber works were translated from the Arabic and that nitric acid was known in early Arabic alchemy)

Capezzone, Leonardo 2020. “The Solitude of the Orphan: Ǧābir b. Ḥayyān and the Shiite Heterodox Milieu of the Third/Ninth–Fourth/Tenth Centuries” in: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 83 (1), pp. 51–73. (recent study of Jābirian Shi'ism, arguing that it was not of a form of Isma'ilism, but an independent sectarian current related to the late ninth-century Shi'ites known as ghulāt)

Corbin, Henry 1950. “Le livre du Glorieux de Jâbir ibn Hayyân” in: Eranos-Jahrbuch, 18, pp. 48–114.

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. doi:10.1163/22142371-12340030 (rejects Holmyard 1927’s hypothesis that Jābir 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 Jābir’s biography, listing a number of primary sources on this subject that were still unknown to Kraus 1942–1943)

El-eswed, Bassam I. 2006. “Spirits: The Reactive Substances in Jābir's Alchemy” in: Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 16(1), pp. 71-90. (the first study since the days of Berthelot, Stapleton, and Ruska to approach the Jābirian texts from a modern chemical point of view)

Holmyard, Eric J. 1923. “Jābir ibn Ḥayyān” in: Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 16, pp. 46–57. (pioneering paper first showing that Jābir knew the sulfur-mercury theory of metals)

Holmyard, Eric J. 1927. “An Essay on Jābir ibn Ḥayyān” in: Ruska, Julius (ed.). Studien zur Geschichte der Chemie: Festgabe Edmund O. v. Lippmann. Berlin: Springer, pp. 28–37. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-51355-8_5 (seminal paper first presenting the hypothesis that Jābir was the son of a proto-Shi'ite pharmacist called Ḥayyān al-ʿAṭṭār)

Kraus, Paul 1930. “Dschābir ibn Ḥajjān und die Ismāʿīlijja” in: Ruska, Julius (ed.). Dritter Jahresbericht des Forschungsinstituts für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften. Berlin: Springer, pp. 23–42. (seminal paper arguing that the Jābirian writings should be dated to ca. 850–950 CE; the first to point out the similarities between Jābirian Shi'ism and early Isma'ilism)

Kraus, Paul 1931. “Studien zu Jābir ibn Hayyān” in: Isis, 15(1), pp. 7–30. (contains further arguments for the late dating of the Jābirian writings; analyses Jābir’s accounts of his relations with the Barmakids, rejecting their historicity)

Kraus, Paul 1942. “Les dignitaires de la hiérarchie religieuse selon Ǧābir ibn Ḥayyān” in: Bulletin de l’institut francais d’archéologie orientale, 41, pp. 83–97. (pioneering paper on Jābirian proto-Shi'ism)

Kraus, Paul 1942-1943. 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. Cairo: Institut français d'archéologie orientale. (vol. 1 contains a pioneering analysis of the sources for Jābir’s biography, and a catalogue of all known Jābirian treatises and the larger collections they belong to; vol. 2 contains a seminal analysis of the Jābirian philosophical system and its relation to Greek philosophy; remains the standard reference work on Jābir today)

Lory, Pierre 1983. Jâbir ibn Hayyân: Dix traités d’alchimie. Les dix premiers Traités du Livre des Soixante-dix. Paris: Sindbad. (develops Kraus’s suggestion that the Jābirian writings may have developed from an earlier core, arguing that some of them, even though receiving their final redaction only in ca. 850–950 CE, may date back to the late eighth century CE)

Lory, Pierre 1989. Alchimie et mystique en terre d’Islam. Lagrasse: Verdier. (focuses upon Jābir's religious philosophy; contains an analysis of Jābirian Shi'ism, arguing that it is in some respects different from Isma'ilism and may have been relatively independent)

Lory, Pierre 2000. “Eschatologie alchimique chez jâbir ibn Hayyân” in: Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée, 91-94, pp. 73–92.

Lory, Pierre 2016. “Aspects de l’ésotérisme chiite dans le Corpus Ǧābirien: Les trois Livres de l’Elément de fondation” in: Al-Qantara, 37(2), pp. 279-298.

Nomanul Haq, Syed 1994. Names, Natures and Things: The Alchemist Jābir ibn Ḥayyān and his Kitāb al-Aḥjār (Book of Stones). Dordrecht: Kluwer. (preview) (follows Sezgin 1971 in arguing for an early date of the Jābirian writings)

Norris, John 2006. “The Mineral Exhalation Theory of Metallogenesis in Pre-Modern Mineral Science” in: Ambix, 53, pp. 43–65.

Ruska, Julius and Garbers, Karl 1939. “Vorschriften zur Herstellung von scharfen Wässern bei Gabir und Razi” in: Der Islam, 25, pp. 1–34. (contains a comparison of Jābir's and Abū Bakr al-Rāzī's knowledge of chemical apparatus, processes and substances)

Sezgin, Fuat 1971. Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums, Band IV: Alchimie, Chemie, Botanik, Agrikultur bis ca. 430 H. Leiden: Brill, pp. 132–269. (contains a penetrating critique of Kraus’ thesis on the late dating of the Jābirian works)

Starr, Peter 2009. “Towards a Context for Ibn Umayl, Known to Chaucer as the Alchemist Senior” in: Journal of Arts and Sciences, 11, pp. 61–77.

Ullmann, Manfred 1972. Die Natur- und Geheimwissenschaften im Islam. Leiden: Brill.

Weisser, Ursula 1980. Das Buch über das Geheimnis der Schöpfung von Pseudo-Apollonios von Tyana. Berlin: De Gruyter.

See also

• Alchemy
• Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam
• Chemistry
• List of Iranian scientists and scholars
• Muhammad ibn Zakariya ar-Razi
• Science in medieval Islam

External links

• Plessner, M. (2008) [1970–80]. "Jābir Ibn Hayyān". Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Encyclopedia.com.
• Britannica
• Encarta Encyclopedia (Archived 2009-10-31)
• Columbia Encyclopedia
• Article at Islam Online
• Article at Famous Muslims
• Article at Islam Online
• Article at Al Shindagah (includes an extract of Jabir's The Discovery of secrets)
• Online Galleries, History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries High resolution images of works by Jàbir ibn Hayyan in .jpg and .tiff format.