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Top 10 Amazing Facts about Jabir ibn Hayyan

Jabir ibn Hayyann is said to be the author of many Arabic works often referred to as Jabirian Corpus. The work that still exists to date mainly deals with chemistry, alchemy, magic and Shiite religious philosophy. It is believed that the original scope of the written pieces covered a wide range of topics that include, zoology, cosmology, pharmacology, metaphysics, astronomy, logic, botany and grammar.

Therefore, this article will explore some amazing facts about the author to give the reader a deeper insight into what he did. Furthermore, the article is critical in uncovering how he was able to write texts about different topics.

1 His father was a druggist

Jabir ibn Hayyan commonly known as Geber in Europe was the son of a druggist who spent the majority of his life in Kufa Iraq. He devised and perfected the process of sublimation, liquefaction, crystallisation, oxidation, evaporation and filtration. He also researched how chemicals could be combined without losing their character and forming a union of elements.

2 Historicity

It’s unclear whether Jabir ibn Hayyan existed as a historical figure. He is said to have lived in the eighth century and was a disciple of Shi’ite Imam Jafar al-diq, who died in 765. However, he is not mentioned in any historical source before around 900, and the Baghdadi bibliographer Ibn al-Nadim was the first known author to write about Jabir from a biographical standpoint.

Ibn al-Nadim compiled a list of Jabir’s works in his Fihrist, written in 987, and included a short notice on the various claims that were then circulating about Jabir. Even during Ibn al-Nadim’s some people explicitly claimed that Jabir never existed, though Ibn al-Nadim himself disagreed with this claim.

3 His writings are disputed to be his

Apart from outright denying his existence, some questioned whether the writings attributed to Jabir were written by him as early as Ibn al-time. Nadim’s The authenticity of these writings was explicitly denied by Bagdhadi philosopher Ab Sulaymn al-Sijistn and his pupil Ab ayyn al-Tawd, though this may have been due to both thinkers’ hostility to alchemy in general. The inauthenticity of the writings attributed to Jabir has been confirmed by modern scholarly analysis.

4 His father was executed

Jabir ibn Hayyan’s father Hayyan al-Azdi lived in Iran during the reign of the Ummayads. During the Abbasid revolt who were against the Umayyad’s rule, he supported the Abbasid and moved to Iran. However, the druggist was caught and executed forcing the family to flee to Yemen for fear of their lives.

5 It said that he was a prolific writer

Some authors claim that he was a prolific writer, having written 300 books on philosophy, 1300 books on mechanical devices, and hundreds of books on alchemy. This massive collection of Arabic writings, many of which are highly enticing, is known as Jabir Ibn Hayyan. Other authors suspected that this “corpus Jabirianum” with over 500 titles was not written by Jabir himself, but rather additions by his students or followers and considered products of the Jabir school of alchemy.

6 He started practising as a pharmacist after his studies

After Jabir ibn Hayyan completed his studies, he started practising as a pharmacist. This was made possible by Caliphare who backed him up. The author revealed in one of his treatises that there was a time when he formulated a concoction for a maidservant that had been employed by a Barmecide known as Ibn Khalid.

Furthermore, he had authored a book known as ‘The Book of the Blossom’ which was an alchemical handbook for the Caliph known as al-Rashid. The book had information and instructions on experimental techniques that concerned alchemy. This is such an achievement as it means that he was one of the pioneers in the field of alchemy in Iran.

7 He was sentenced to death

His proximity to the Bermecides came with a hefty price in that he was sentenced to death in 803 BC after falling out with the Abbasid Caliph known as Harun al-Rashid. He escaped and fled to Kufa but he was later apprehended and was then kept under detention for the rest of his life.

One traditional source reveals that Jabir ibn Hayyan put forward a proposal to the reigning Caliph known as al-Ma’mun to designate a successor that he chooses. The traditional source further revealed that the alchemist may not have breathed his last until the heir was chosen.

8 His most creative piece was on numerology

It is believed that of all the treatises that are attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan, his most creative piece was on numerology called the method of balance. The primary idea of this treatise was centred on working out the magnitude of coldness, hotness, dryness, and wetness in an object based on its name.

Each Arabic alphabetic letter was assigned an arithmetic value, and the various “natures” were assigned a numeral based on the letters’ ordering. Jabirian treatises also emphasize that every element in nature has two realities, one ‘obvious’ and one ‘intangible’.

9 His works

The work of the author is normally categorised into three wide groups. They include, ‘The 112 Volumes’ that are devoted to the Barmecides who were ministers under the ruler Abbasid Caliph. The second category is ‘The Seventy Books’ which are Latin translations of most of the works that were available in the Middle Ages. There are the ‘Ten Books on Rectification ‘ where Jabir talks about the Greek alchemists of yore like Plato, Aristotle and Socrates.

10 His contributions to alchemy

The drawing and desription of alembic. picture by Mouad Bonaparte-

Most of the author’s work on alchemy was filled with esoteric phraseology that made it hard for modern scientific researchers to decipher the texts written. It is even said that the word ‘gibberish’ originated from his writings. Nevertheless, his alchemical works had unique features when compared to others.

His alchemical adventures appear to have revolved around the hallowed goal of creating life through artificial means known as ‘takwin.’ His main alchemical work, ‘Book of Stones,’ contains details for breathing life into creatures and even humans in a controlled environment like a laboratory.