Abu Musa Jābir ibn Hayyān (Arabic: جابر بن حيان), (Persian: جابر بن حيان) (born c. 721 in Tous–died c. 815 in Kufa)[2] was a prominent polymath: a chemist and alchemist, astronomer and astrologer, engineer, geologist, philosopher, physicist, and pharmacist and physician. He is considered by some to be the "father ofchemistry."[3] Born and educated in Tus, located in Iran's Persian heartland ofKhorasan, he later traveled to Kufa. His ethnic background have been under debate.[4] While mentioned as being of Persian ethnicity, other sources state that he was an Arab from Azd.[1][5] [6][7] Jābir is held to be the first practical alchemist.[8]
As early as the tenth century, the identity and exact corpus of works of Jābir was in dispute in Islamic circles.[9] His name was Latinised as "Geber" in the Christian West and in 13th century Europe an anonymous writer produced a non-trivial body of alchemical and metallurgical writings under the pen-name Geber. This person is usually referred to as Pseudo-Geber.
Biography:
Early references
Abu Musa (sometimes Abu AbdAllah) Jabir ibn Haiyan al-Azdl (al-Tusl, al-Artusl, al-Harram, al-Sufi, also al-Kufi or al-Tartusi)[10] In 987 Ibn al-Nadim compiled the Kitab al-Fihrist which mentions Jabir as a spiritual leader and a companion to Jafar al-Sadiq (as) (he is not listed among the students of Jafar but many of the writings of the Jabirian corpus are dedicated to Jafar). In an other reference al-Nadim reports that a group 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.[11] 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-Mantiqi claims the real author is one al-Hasan ibn al-Nakad al-Mawili. 14th century critic of Arabic literature, Jamal al-Din ibn Nubata al-Misri declares all the writings attributed to Jabir doubtful.[10]
Life and background
Jabir was a Natural Philosopher who lived mostly in the 8th century, he was born in Tus(Iran), Khorasan, in Iran (Persia),[2] then ruled by the Umayyad Caliphate. In some sources, he is reported to have been the son of Hayyan al-Azdi, a pharmacist of theArabian Azd tribe who emigrated from Yemen to Kufa (in present-day Iraq) during theUmayyad Caliphate.[12][13] Jābir became an alchemist at the court of Caliph Harun al-Rashid, for whom he wrote the Kitab al-Zuhra ("The Book of Venus", on "the noble art of alchemy").[citation needed] Hayyan had supported the Abbasid revolt against the Umayyads, and was sent by them to the province ofKhorasan (present days Afghanistan, Iran, and part of North western Pakistan) to gather support for their cause. He was eventually caught by the Ummayads and executed. His family fled to Yemen,[12][14] where Jābir grew up and studied the Quran, mathematics and other subjects.[12] Jābir's father's profession may have contributed greatly to his interest in alchemy.
After the Abbasids took power, Jābir 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.
Jābir may have been a student of the celebrated Islamic teacher and sixth Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (as) and Harbi al-Himyari.[15][9] His connections to the Barmakid cost him dearly in the end. When that family fell from grace in 803, Jābir was placed under house arrest in Kufa, where he remained until his death.
People:
Jābir's interest in alchemy was probably inspired by his teacher Ja'far al-Sadiq (as). Ibn Hayyan was deeply religious, and repeatedly emphasizes in his works that alchemy is possible only by subjugating oneself completely to the will of Allah and becoming a literal instrument of Allah on Earth, since the manipulation of reality is possible only for Allah. The Book of Stones prescribes long and elaborate sequences of specific prayers that must be performed without error alone in the desert before one can even consider alchemical experimentation.
Jābir professes to draw his inspiration from earlier writers, Legendary and historic, on the subject.[19] In his writings, Jābir pays tribute to Egyptian and Greek alchemists Zosimos, Democritus, Hermes Trismegistus, Agathodaimon, but also Plato, Aristotle, Galen,Pythagoras, and Socratesas well as the commentators Alexander of Aphrodisias Simplicius, Porphyry and others.[10] A huge pseudo-epigraphic literature of alchemical books was composed in Arabic, among which the names of Persian authors also appear likeJāmāsb, Ostanes, Mani, testifying that alchemy-like operations on metals and other substances were also practiced in Persia. The great number of Persian technical names (zaybaq = mercury, nošāder = sal-ammoniac) also corroborates the idea of an important Iranian roots of medieval alchemy.[20] Ibn al-Nadim reports a dialogue between Aristotle and Ostanes, the Persian alchemist ofAchaemenid era, which is in Jabirian corpus under the title of Kitab Musahhaha Aristutalis.[21] Ruska had suggested that the Sasanianmedical schools played an important role in the spread of interest in alchemy.[20] He emphasizes the long history of alchemy, "whose origin is Arius ... the first man who applied the first experiment on the [philosopher's] stone... and he declares that man possesses the ability to imitate the workings of Nature" (Nasr, Seyyed Hussein, Science and Civilization of Islam).
--
Read More on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C4%81bir_ibn_Hayy%C4%81n
Haider Ajaz
0 comments:
Post a Comment