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Alchemy and chemistry in Islam refers to the study of both traditional
alchemy and early practical
chemistry (the early chemical investigation of nature in general) by
scientists in the
medieval Islamic world. The word
alchemy itself was derived from the
Arabic word الكيمياء
al-kimia, in turn derived from the
Persian word کيميا
kimia.
After the fall of the
Roman Empire, the focus of alchemical development moved to the
Arab Empire and the
Islamic civilization. Much more is known about
Islamic alchemy as it was better documented; indeed, most of the earlier writings that have come down through the years were preserved as Arabic translations.
[1]The study of alchemy and chemistry often overlapped in the early Islamic world, but later there were disputes between the traditional alchemists and the practical chemists who discredited alchemy.
Muslim chemists and alchemists were the first to employ the
experimental scientific method (as practised in modern chemistry), while Muslim alchemists also developed theories on the transmutation of
metals, the
philosopher's stone and the
Takwin (
artificial creation of life in the
laboratory), like in later
medieval European alchemy, though these alchemical theories were rejected by practical Muslim chemists from the 9th century onwards.
[edit]Contributions to alchemy
The Islamic world was a melting pot for
alchemy. Islamic philosophers made great contributions to alchemical
hermeticism. The most influential author in this regard was arguably
Jābir ibn Hayyān (جابر بن حيان, Latin Geberus; usually rendered in English as Geber). He analyzed each
Aristotelian element in terms of four basic qualities of
hotness,
coldness,
dryness, and
moistness.
[2] According to Jābir, in each metal two of these qualities were interior and two were exterior. For example, lead was externally cold and dry, while gold was hot and moist. Thus, Jabir theorized, by rearranging the qualities of one metal, a different metal would result.
[2] By this reasoning, the search for the
philosopher's stone was introduced to Western alchemy.
[3][4] Jabir developed an elaborate
numerology whereby the root letters of a substance's name in Arabic, when treated with various transformations, held correspondences to the element's physical properties.
The elemental system used in medieval
alchemy was developed by
Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber). His original system consisted of seven elements, which included the five
classical elements (
aether,
air,
earth,
fire and
water), in addition to two
chemical elements representing the
metals:
sulphur, ‘the stone which burns’, which characterized the principle of combustibility, and
mercury, which contained the idealized principle of metallic properties. Shortly thereafter, this evolved into eight elements, with the Arabic concept of the three metallic principles: sulphur giving flammability or combustion, mercury giving volatility and stability, and
salt giving solidity.
[5][verification needed]Muslim alchemists also developed theories on the transmutation of metals, the philosopher's stone and the
Takwin (
artificial creation of life in the laboratory), like in later medieval European alchemy, though these alchemical theories were rejected by practical Muslim chemists from the 9th century onwards.
[edit]Beginnings of chemistry
Early Islamic chemists such as
Jabir ibn Hayyan,
Al-Kindi (Latinized as Alkindus) and
Al-Razi(Latinized as Rasis or Rhazes) contributed key chemical discoveries, including:
- Distillation apparatus (such as the alembic, still, and retort) which were able to fully purifychemical substances.
- The words elixir, alembic and alcohol are of Arabic origin.
- The muriatic (hydrochloric), sulfuric, nitric and acetic acids.
- Soda and potash.
- Purified distilled alcohol.
- Perfumery
- Many more chemical substances and apparatus.
- From the Arabic names of al-natrun and al-qalīy, Latinized into Natrium and Kalium, come the modern symbols for sodium and potassium.
- The discovery that aqua regia, a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids, could dissolve the noblest metal, gold, was to fuel the imagination of alchemists for the next millennium.
An early experimental
scientific method for chemistry began emerging among early Muslim chemists. The first and most influential was the 9th century chemist,
Jābir ibn Hayyān, who is "considered by many to be the father of chemistry",
[6][7][8][9] for introducing:
Jabir clearly recognized and proclaimed the importance of experimentation:
The first essential in chemistry is that thou shouldest perform practical work and conduct experiments, for he who performs not practical work nor makes experiments will never attain to the least degree of mastery."
[11]
The historian of chemistry
E. J. Holmyard gives credit to Jabir for his part in the development of alchemy into an experimental science and he writes that Jabir's importance to the
history of chemistry is equal to that of
Robert Boyle and
Antoine Lavoisier.
[12] The historian Paul Kraus, who had studied most of Jabir's extant works in Arabic and Latin, summarized the importance of Jabir ibn Hayyan to the history of chemistry by comparing his experimental and systematic works in chemistry with that of the allegorical and unintelligble works of the
ancient Greekalchemists:
[13]"To form an idea of the historical place of Jabir's alchemy and to tackle the problem of its sources, it is advisable to compare it with what remains to us of the alchemical literature in the Greek language. One knows in which miserable state this literature reached us. Collected by
Byzantine scientists from the tenth century, the corpus of the Greek alchemists is a cluster of incoherent fragments, going back to all the times since the third century until the end of the Middle Ages."
"The efforts of Berthelot and Ruelle to put a little order in this mass of literature led only to poor results, and the later researchers, among them in particular Mrs. Hammer-Jensen, Tannery, Lagercrantz, von Lippmann, Reitzenstein, Ruska, Bidez, Festugiere and others, could make clear only few points of detail…"
The study of the Greek alchemists is not very encouraging. An even surface examination of the Greek texts shows that a very small part only was organized according to true experiments of laboratory: even the supposedly technical writings, in the state where we find them today, are unintelligible nonsense which refuses any interpretation.
It is different with Jabir's alchemy. The relatively clear description of the processes and the alchemical apparatuses, the methodical classification of the substances, mark an experimental spirit which is extremely far away from the weird and odd esotericism of the Greek texts. The theory on which Jabir supports his operations is one of clearness and of an impressive unity. More than with the other Arab authors, one notes with him a balance between theoretical teaching and practical teaching, between the
`ilm and the
`amal. In vain one would seek in the Greek texts a work as systematic as that which is presented for example in the
Book of Seventy.”
"I wonder how a man like Aristotle could say that in the world there are only four elements -
Earth,
Water,
Fire, and
Air. The Earth is not an element. It contains many elements. Each metal, which is in the earth, is an element."
[14]
"The universe was born out of a tiny particle, which had two opposite poles. That particle produced an
atom. In this way
matter came into being. Then the matter diversified. This diversification was caused by the
density or rarity of the atoms."
[14]
Al-Sadiq also wrote a theory on the
opacity and
transparency of
materials. He stated that materials which are
solid and
absorbent are opaque, and materials which are solid and repellent are more or less transparent. He also stated that opaque materials absorb
heat.
[14]Another influential Muslim chemist was
al-Razi (Rhazes), who in his
Doubts about Galen, was the first to prove both
Aristotle's theory of
classical elements and
Galen's theory of
humorism wrong using an experimental method. He carried out an experiment which would upset these theories by inserting a liquid with a different temperature into a body resulting in an increase or decrease of bodily heat, which resembled the temperature of that particular fluid. Al-Razi noted particularly that a warm drink would heat up the body to a degree much higher than its own natural temperature, thus the drink would trigger a response from the body, rather than transferring only its own warmth or coldness to it. Al-Razi's chemical experiments further suggested other qualities of matter, such as "
oiliness" and "
sulfurousness", or
inflammability and
salinity, which were not readily explained by the traditional fire, water, earth and air division of elements.
[citation needed] Al-Razi was also the first to:
[edit]The Alchemists
There are more Islamic figures within chemistry than is generally acknowledged in the literature on the subject.
"Chemistry as a science was almost created by the
Moslems; for in this field, where the
Greeks (so far as we know) were confined to industrial experience and vague
hypothesis, the
Saracens introduced precise
observation,
controlled experiment, and careful records. They invented and named the
alembic (al-anbiq), chemically analyzed innumerable
substances, composed
lapidaries, distinguished
alkalis and
acids, investigated their affinities, studied and manufactured hundreds of
drugs. Alchemy, which the Moslems inherited from Egypt, contributed to chemistry by a thousand incidental discoveries, and by its method, which was the most scientific of all medieval operations."
[22]
"The
Saracens themselves were the originators not only of
algebra,
chemistry, and
geology, but of many of the so-called improvements or refinements of civilization, such as
street lamps, window-
panes,
firework,
stringed instruments, cultivated fruits, perfumes,
spices, etc..."
[23]
"Chemistry, the rudiments of which arose in the processes employed by
Egyptian metallurgists and
jewellers—combining metals into various
alloys and '
tinting' them to resemble gold—processes long preserved as a secret monopoly of the priestly colleges, and clad in the usual mystic formulas, developed in the hands of the Arabs into a widespread, organized passion for research which led them to the invention of
distillation,
sublimation,
filtration, to the discovery of
alcohol, of
nitric and
sulfuric acids (the only
acid known to the ancients was
vinegar), of the
alkalis, of the
salts of
mercury, of
antimony and
bismuth, and laid the basis of all subsequent chemistry and physical research."
[10]
"We find in his (Jabir,
Geber) writings remarkably sound views on methods of chemical research, a theory on the geologic formation of metals (the six metals differ essentially because of different proportions of
sulfur and
mercury in them); preparation of various substances (e.g., basic
lead carbonatic,
arsenic and
antimony from their
sulfides)."
[24]
[edit]Chemical processes
Al-Razi invented the following chemical processes in the 9th century:
Other chemical processes introduced by Muslim chemists include:
[edit]Laboratory apparatus
[edit]Distillation apparatus
The
alembic was invented and named by the Muslim chemist
Geber. The
still was also invented by Geber as part of the alembic.
[22]The chemical
retort used for
distillation was invented by Geber as part of the alembic, and was widely used by later Muslim scientists. The retort was later introduced to the West by 1570.
[30][not in citation given][edit]Other chemistry equipment
In his
Secretum secretorum (Latinized title),
Al-Razi (Rhazes) described the following tools that were invented by him and his Muslim predecessors (
Calid,
Geber and
al-Kindi) for melting substances (
li-tadhwib):
hearth (
kur),
bellows (
minfakh aw ziqq),
crucible (
bawtaqa), the
but bar but (in Arabic) or
botus barbatus (in Latin),
tongs (
masik aq kalbatan),
scissors (
miqta),
hammer (
mukassir),
file (
mibrad).
[25]Al-Razi also described the following tools that were invented by him and his Muslim predecessors for the preparation of
drugs (
li-tadbir al-aqaqir): cucurbit and still with
evacuation tube (
qar aq anbiq dhu-khatm), receiving matras (
qabila), blind still (without evacuation tube) (
al-anbiq al-ama),
Alembic al-inbiq,
aludel (
al-uthal),
goblets (
qadah),
flasks (
qarura or
quwarir),
rosewater flasks (
ma wariyya),
cauldron(
marjal aw tanjir),
earthenware pots varnished on the inside with their lids (
qudur aq tanjir),
water bath or
sand bath (
qadr), oven (
al-tannurin Arabic,
athanor in Latin), small cylindirical oven for heating
aludel (
mustawqid),
funnels,
sieves,
filters, etc.
[25]From the list, more than twenty of these chemical apparatus were developed by Geber.
[33][edit]Physics apparatus
Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī invented the
conical measure,
[34] in order to find the ratio between the weight of a substance in air and the weight of water displaced, and to accurately measure the specific weights of the gemstones and their corresponding metals, which are very close to modern measurements.
[35] [edit]Chemical substances
The important
mineral acids—nitric, sulfuric and
hydrochloric acids—were all first produced by Geber. These have remained some of the most common products in the chemical industry for over a thousand years.
[26][edit]Chemical elements
Lead and
tin were also first purified and clearly differentiated from one another by Arabic alchemists.
[40] [edit]Derivative and artificial substances
In the 10th century
Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi wrote that he and his Muslim predecessors (
Calid,
Geber and
al-Kindi) invented the following
derivative and artificial
chemical substances:
lead(II) oxide (PbO),
red lead (Pb3O4),
tin(II) oxide (
Isfidaj),
copper acetate (
Zaniar),
copper(II) oxide (CuO),
lead sulfide,
zinc oxide,
bismuth oxide,
antimony oxide, iron
rust,
iron acetate,
Daws (a contituent of
steel),
cinnabar (HgS),
arsenic trioxide (As2O3),
alkali (
al-Qili),
sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), and
Qalimiya (anything that separates from metals during their
purification).
[41][edit]Distilled alcohol
The isolation of
ethanol (
alcohol) as a pure compound was first achieved by Muslim chemists who developed the art of
distillation during the
Abbasid caliphate, the most notable of whom were
Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber),
Al-Kindi (Alkindus) and
al-Razi (Rhazes). The writings attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan (721-815) mention the flammable vapors of boiled wine. Al-Kindi (801-873) unambiguously described the
distillation of wine.
[42] This may have been for the purpose of separating alcoholic content from drinks due to the Islamic prohibition of alcohol consumption.
Muslim chemists were the first to produce fully purified
distilled alcohol from the 8th century and manufactured them on a large scale from at least the 10th century, for use in
medicineand the
chemical and
pharmaceutical industries, though it was rarely used for drinking due to the Islamic prohibition of alcohol consumption.
[21][26] Alcohol was still consumed by non-Muslims in the Islamic world however.
"The distillation of wine and the properties of alcohol were known to Islamic chemists from the eighth century. The prohibition of wine in Islam did not mean that wine was not produced or consumed or that Arab alchemists did not subject it to their distillation processes. Jabir ibn Hayyan described a cooling technique which can be applied to the distillation of alcohol."
[42]
[edit]Medicinal substances
Ibn al-Wafid of
Toledo (Abenguefit), was among the most famous
pharmacists and chemists during the
Renaissance. His main work is
Kitab al-adwiya al-mufrada (translated into Latin as
De medicamentis simplicibus) was printed in Latin more than fifty times.
[edit]Natural substances
- Four spirits: mercury, sal ammoniac, arsenic, sulfur.
- Seven fusible metals: gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, mercury.
- Thirteen stones: marqashisha, maghnisiya, daws (a constituent of iron and steel), tutiya,lapis lazuli, malachite green, turquoise, hematite, arsenic oxide, lead sulfide, talq (micaand asbestos), gypsum, glass.
- Six vitriols: black vitriol, alum, qalqand, qalqadis, qalqatar, suri.
- Seven borates: borax, bread borax, natron, nitrate, sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate,sodium borate.
- Thirteen salts: lead(II) acetate (sweet), magnesium sulfate (bitter), andarani salt, tabarzad,potassium nitrate, naphthenate, black salt (Indian), salt of egg, alkali (al-qali), salt of urine, calcium hydroxide (slaked lime), salt ofoak ashes, natron.
[edit]Vegetable and animal substances
Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi writes that the only
vegetable substance used by Muslim alchemists are the ashes of the
Ushnan plant, from which they produced
alkali metals and
alkali salts. Razi also lists ten
animal substances that were used by him and his contemporary alchemists:
hair,
skulls,
brains,
bile,
blood,
milk,
urine,
eggs,
nacre (mother of pearl) and
horn. He writes that hair, brains, bile, eggs, skulls and blood were used to prepare
sal ammoniac.
[41] [edit]Other substances
- Arsenic, alkali, alkali salt, rice vinegar, boraxes, potassium nitrate, sulfur and purified sal ammoniac by Geber.[26]
- Aqua regia, alum, sal ammoniac, stones, sulfur, salts, and spirits of mercury, by Geber.[26]
- Sal nitrum and vitriol by al-Razi.[26]
- Ethanol, sulfuric acid, ammonia, mercury, camphor, pomades, and syrups.[29]
- Lead carbonatic, arsenic, and antimony.[24]
- Nitric and sulfuric acids, alkali, the salts of mercury, antimony, and bismuth.[10]
[edit]Chemical industries
A number of chemical substances and products were developed by Muslim chemists for use in the
chemical industries.
[edit]Ceramics and pottery
From the eighth to eighteenth centuries, the use of
glazed ceramics was prevalent in
Islamic art, usually assuming the form of elaborate
pottery.
[44] Tin-opacified glazing was one of the earliest new technologies developed by the Islamic potters. The first Islamic opaque glazes can be found as blue-painted ware in
Basra, dating to around the 8th century. Another significant contribution was the development of
stonepaste ceramics, originating from 9th century Iraq.
[45] The first industrial complex for
glass and
pottery production was built in
Ar-Raqqah,
Syria, in the 8th century.
[46] Other centers for innovative ceramic pottery in the Islamic world included
Fustat (from 975 to 1075), Damascus (from 1100 to around 1600) and
Tabriz (from 1470 to 1550).
[47]Another innovation was the
albarello, a type of
maiolica earthenware jar originally designed to hold
apothecaries' ointments and dry drugs. The development of this type of
pharmacy jar had its roots in the Islamic Middle East. Brought to Italy by
Hispano-Moresque traders, the earliest Italian examples were produced in Florence in the 15th century.
[edit]Cheese glue
[edit]Oil and petrolium products
Kerosene was produced from the distillation of
petroleum and was first described by
al-Razi (Rhazes) in 9th century
Baghdad. In his
Kitab al-Asrar (
Book of Secrets), he described two methods for the production of kerosene. One method involved using
clay as an
absorbent, while the other method involved using
ammonium chloride (
sal ammoniac).
[51][52] Al-Razi also described the first
kerosene lamps (
naffatah) used for heating and
lighting in his
Kitab al-Asrar (
Book of Secrets). These were used in the
oil lamp industry.
[52] [edit]Plated mail
[edit]Rosewater
Rosewater was first produced by Muslim chemists through the distillation of
roses, for use in the drinking and perfumery industries.
[26] [edit]Drinking industry
An
Arab named Khalid was tending his goats in the
Kaffa region of
Ethiopia, when he noticed his animals became livelier after eating a certain berry. He boiled the berries to make the first
coffee. Certainly the first record of the drink is of beans exported from Yemen to Ethiopia where
Sufis drank it to stay awake all night to pray on special occasions. By the late 15th century, it had arrived in
Makkah and Turkey from where it made its way to
Venice in 1645. It was brought to England in 1650 by a Greek named Pasqua Rosee who opened the first coffee house in
Lombard Street in the
City of London. The
Arabic qahwa became the Turkish
kahve, then the Italian
caffè, and then English
coffee.
[9][53][edit]Distilled and purified water
Al-Tughrai the
Seljuk Vizier also patronized new methods, techniques and processes used to distill water easily.
[edit]Soft drink
Sherbet, the first juiced and
carbonated soft drink, made of crushed fruit, herbs, or flowers, has long existed as one of the most popular beverages from and of the Muslim world, winning over Western figures such as
Lord Byron. Muslims developed a variety of juices to make their
sharab, an Arabic word from which the Italian sorbetto, French sorbet and English sherbet were derived. Today, this juice is known by a multitude of names, is associated with numerous cultural traditions, and is produced by countries ranging from India to the United States of America.
[55][56] The medieval Muslim sources contain many recipes for drink
syrups that can be kept outside the
refrigerator for weeks or months.
[56][edit]Glass industry
[edit]Glass factories
The first industrial complex for
glass and
pottery production was built in
Ar-Raqqah,
Syria, in the 8th century. Extensive experimentation was carried out at the complex, which was two
kilometres in length, and a variety of innovative high-purity glass were developed there. Two other similar complexes have also been discovered, and nearly three hundred new chemical recipes for glass are known to have been produced at all three sites.
[46]The first glass factories were thus built by Muslim craftsmen in the Islamic world. The first glass factories in Europe were later built in the 11th century by
Egyptian craftsmen in
Corinth, Greece.
[26][edit]Clear, colourless and high-purity glass
The earliest examples of clear, colourless and high-purity glass were produced by Muslims in the 9th century, such as the
quartz glassinvented by
Abbas Ibn Firnas. The Arab poet al-
Buhturi (820-897) describes the clarity of such glass as follows:
"Its colour hides the glass as if it is standing in it without a container."
[57]
[edit]Coloured and stained glass
Stained glass was first produced by
Muslim architects in Southwest Asia using coloured glass rather than stone. In the 8th century, the Arab chemist Jabir ibn Hayyan (Geber) scientifically described 46 original recipes for producing coloured glass in
Kitab al-Durra al-Maknuna (
The Book of the Hidden Pearl), in addition to 12 recipes inserted by al-Marrakishi in a later edition of the book.
[58] [edit]Gemstones and pearls
In his
Kitab al-Durra al-Maknuna (
The Book of the Hidden Pearl),
Jabir described the first recipes for the
manufacture of artificial
pearls and for the
purification of pearls that were discoloured from the sea or from
grease.
[49]In
The Book of the Hidden Pearl, Jabir described the first recipes for the
dyeing and artificial colouring of
gemstones and
pearls.
[49] Jabir also first described the production of high quality coloured glass cut into artificial
gemstones.
[57][edit]Mirrors
[edit]Silica and quartz glass
[edit]Hygiene industries
[edit]Cosmetics
Early forms of
cosmetics had been used since ancient times, but these were usually created primarily for the purpose of
beautificationand often used harmful substances. This changed with Muslim cosmetologists who emphasized
hygiene, due to religious requirements, and invented various healthy and hygienic cosmetics that are still used today.
[64]True
soaps made from
vegetable oils (such as
olive oil),
aromatic oils (such as
thyme oil) and
Sodium Lye (
al-Soda al-Kawia) were first produced by Muslim chemists in the
medieval Islamic world.
[26] Due to washing and bathing being religious requirements for Muslims, they invented the recipe for true soap, which is still in use today, and they invented the
soap bar.
[9] The formula for soap used since then hasn't changed and are identical to the current soap sold in modern times.
From the beginning of the 7th century soap was produced in
Nablus (
Palestine),
Kufa (
Iraq) and
Basra (Iraq). Soaps, as we know them today, are descendants of historical Arabian Soaps. Arabian Soap was
perfumed and colored, while some of the soaps were liquid and others were solid. They also had special
shaving soap for shaving. It was commercially sold for 3 Dirhams (0.3
Dinars) a piece in 981 AD. A manuscript of
Al-Razi (Rhazes) contains various modern recipes for soap. A recently discovered manuscript from the 13th century details more recipes for soap making, e.g. take some
sesame oil, a sprinkle of
potash,
alkali and some
lime, mix them all together, and boil. When cooked, they are poured into
molds and left to set, leaving hard soap (
soap bar).
[64][edit]Perfumery
Islamic cultures contributed significantly to the development of
perfumery in both perfecting the extraction of fragrances through
steam distillation and by introducing new raw ingredients. Both the raw ingredients and distillation technology significantly influenced western perfumery and
scientific developments, particularly chemistry.
As traders, Islamic cultures such as the Arabs and Persians had wider access to different spices, herbals, and other fragrance materials. In addition to trading them, many of these exotic materials were cultivated by the Muslims such that they could be successfully grown outside of their native climates. Two examples of this include jasmine, which is native to South and Southeast Asia, and various citrus fruits, which are native to East Asia. Both of these ingredients are still highly important in modern perfumery.
In Islamic culture, perfume usage has been documented as far back as the 7th century and its usage is considered a religious duty.
Muhammad said:
"The taking of a bath on Friday is compulsory for every male Muslim who has attained the age of puberty and (also) the cleaning of his teeth with
Siwak, and the using of perfume if it is available."
Such rituals gave incentives to scholars to search and develop a cheaper way to produce incenses and in mass production. Two talented chemists,
Jabir ibn Hayyan (born 722, Iraq), and
al-Kindi (born 801, Iraq) established the perfume industry. Jabir developed many techniques, including distillation, evaporation and filtration, which enabled the collection of the odour of plants into a vapour that could be collected in the form of water or oil.
[68] Al-Kindi, however, was the real founder of the perfume industry, as he carried out extensive research and experiments in combining various plants and other sources to produce a variety of scent products. He elaborated a vast number of ‘recipes’ for a wide range of perfumes, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. His work in the laboratory is reported by a witness who said:
"I received the following description, or recipe, from Abu Yusuf Ya'qub b. Ishaq al-Kindi, and I saw him making it and giving it an addition in my presence.
The writer goes on in the same section to speak of the preparation of a perfume called ghaliya, which contained musk, amber and other ingredients, and reveals a long list of technical names of drugs and apparatus.
Musk and floral perfumes were brought to Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries from Arabia, through trade with the Islamic world and with the returning Crusaders. Those who traded for these were most often also involved in trade for spices and dyestuffs. There are records of the Pepperers Guild of London, going back to 1179, which show them trading with Muslims in spices, perfume ingredients and dyes.
[69][edit]Shampoo
