1. Jabir Ibn Haiyan
(102-199H/721-815AD)

Jabir Ibn Haiyan, an outstanding personality and one amongst the greatest scholars of the Middle Ages(1). Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan, sometimes called al-Harrani or al-Sufi, was known in Europe in the Middle Ages under the name of Geber. He is thought to have belonged to the Sabian sect in Harran, which gave him the name of al-Harrani. He converted to Islam and showed a real zeal for his new religion(2). Father George Qanouati stated that after the death of his father at his early age, Jabir was sent to the Arabic Peninsula where he studied Koran and Mathematics. Ibn Nadim stated in his "al-Fahrest" that views were controversial concerning the classification of Jabir in a specific category, such the Shiites, Baramika or the philosophers. “Some people even denied his existence". Hence, reserve should persist as to his belonging to the Sabians. Though he originated from Khurassan, he spent the greatest part of his life in Kufa. Jabir was born in Taous around 721AD and died in 813 or 815AD, as historians differ as to the date of his death(3).

In his early days, Jabir practiced medicine under the patronage of the Vizir Jaafar al-Barmaki under the rule of the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid. In the aftermath of the downfall of the Barmakis, he was put in prison in Kufa, where he remained until his death in 803AD(4).

Scientific Contribution

The major contribution of Jabir Ibn Haiyan was in the field of chemistry. He introduced experimental investigation into alchemy and invented the alkalis, known in contemporary chemistry by their Arabic original terms alkali. He also discovered silver water and all credit goes to him for the later discovery by Europeans of ammonia, gold water, potassium, vitriol. He described in his books non precious metals and their oxides and salts, nitric and sulphuric acids, as well as distillation, percolation and sublimation processes.

Amongst Jabir's major scientific achievements was the introduction of experimentation and laboratory work in chemistry. He recommended accuracy in research and reliance on experimentation and patience. He was amongst the pioneers of applied science. His achievements in this field include the refining of various metals, steel preparation, cloth dyeing, leather tanning, water-proof cloth varnishing and the use of manganese dioxide in glass-making(5).

Jabir classified substances based on their characters into three distinct types :

1. Spirits, i.e. those which vaporize on heating, such as camphor and ammonium chloride;

2. Metals, such as gold, silver, lead, copper, iron;

3. Compounds which can be converted into powders(6).

In short, as rightly said by "Sarton", "the real value of Jabir's contribution can only be appraised if all his works are annotated, edited and published(7).

Major Works

The fame of Jabir Ibn Hayyan came from his numerous books, namely :

- Kitab Arrasel al-Sab'een (Book of the Seventh Treaties), translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona into Latin in 1187AD

- Kitab Ossoul -al-Kimya, (Basics of Chemistry);

- Soundouk al-Hikma (Wisdom Box);

- Kitab al-Moulk

- Kitab al-Mawazin Asaghir

- Kitab Arrahma

- Kitab al-Khawas

- Kitab Assomoum wa Dafu Madariha, (Poisons and their Antidotes).

Jabir's corpus includes a great number of books. Apart from chemistry, he compiled several treatises, such as commentaries on Aristotle and Platoon, philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, medicine and music. Zarkali stated in his "Eminent Figures and Personalities" that Jabir had a voluminous corpus, ranging between 232 and 500 books, but most of them were lost(8). Some of these books were translated from Latin to English in 1678AD. For several centuries, Europeans relied on his books which had an important impact in the development of modern chemistry. In this context, Max Mayerhaff says "the development of chemistry in Europe can be traced back directly to Jabir Ibn Haiyan. The great evidence can be found in the fact that several terms coined by Jabir, are still found in various European languages.”