FATHER OF CHEMISTRY - 9 minutes read


Story form explanationJabir Ibn Hayyan specialized in Chemistry, his job in formulating drugs, and his knowledge of Herbalismin his early years, made him work as a doctor for a period of time. Good! I can see that your condition has improved, O Soldier! Yes! I don’t feel exhausted anymore. Don’t skip your meals again! You can take this herbal formula for another week, until you completely regain your health. - Peace be upon you!- May Allah’s peace, and mercy be upon you! Jafar Al-Barmaki Minister! - How are you today, O Jabir?- I'm fine, O Minister! Do you feel better after you’ve been treated by Dr.Jabir? Yes, Sir! Praise be to Allah! And now I can return to the military post. Great! Go ahead then! So, I was right to assign you as a doctor, O Jabir. Thank you, your Majesty! - But...- What is it, O Jabir? You now that I am disinclined to the medical profession, If you hadn't assigned me, I wouldn’t have accepted this job. So, what do you want? I want to have more time tostudy the secrets of Alchemy, as I think that scientists are stillfalling short in this science, and I think that I will be able to achieve good results in it. OK! - You got it!- Really! Not only that, but also, I will send you to a teacher who will teach you what you want, He is Al-Imam Al-Sadiq! Al-Imam Jafar Al-Sadiq?! OK, O Jabir! Tell me exactly what you want to learn in Alchemy Everything, O Imam! I want to learn everything which is related to this science. Do you really think that thereis someone who knows everything about aspecific science?! If any scientist managed to finish a science then, What’s the point of having others come after him to do researches in this science?! That’s true! I meant that I want you to teach me what you know and what you have discovered by yourself. Then, answer this question! Alchemy, is still considered a new science, and we don’t know much about its secrets, So, how can we study it thoroughly?! It’s a science which is based on experiments.


The more experiments we do, the more results we get. Well said! This is the gist of it Experimenting! Do experiments as much as you can! Mix substances with other substance, that you haven’t tried to mix before! Increase the ingredients or decrease them! Coincidence, will lead you to unexpected results! And, at the same time, you will be able to understand many laws, and you will arrive at conclusions that we haven’t thought of before. I'll give you a simple example man must have discovered at some p7oint, that he can extract colored dyes from some plants. But... How did he know that fabric can be dyed? Maybe it happened by coincidence! Or, maybe someone tried to place his cloths in the color that he extracted, and he waited for the result. OK! On the other hand, man has discovered, maybe by coincidence as well, that mixing two colors togethergives a third one. I understand now! Dyeing experiment, and color mixing experiment, are two separated experiments.


However, the rational result that we get without doing any experiment, is that when dipping a cloth in a dye that was created by mixing two colors together, it will result in coloring the cloth with the color that wascreated from the mixing process. Well said! Of course, this a simple example, Alchemy is more complicated than that. Of course! But it’s a valuable lesson, O Imam! Indeed a valuable one! Al-Imam Jafar Al-Sadiq taught Jabir science of Religion, and chemistry. Jabir started to do his experiments, knowing that he might face those myths that were spread in the society, and that were ascribedto Alchemy at that time. I want to work for you as a laboratory assistant, Mr. Jabir. Ok, Young Man! But tell me the reason, that makes you want to work as an assistant in an Alchemy scientist’s laboratory. I’m not going to lie to you Sir, I aspire to discover one of thetwo biggest secrets,


The elixir of Life,and the creation of gold. And why do you want to discover those things? If I discover the Elixir of Life, then I can guarantee that I will live forever, and I will make a fortune from this discovery. And if I discover the way of manufacture of gold, then I will also make a huge fortune. What’s the matter, Sir? Why are you looking at me like that? Because all what you said are at odds with science, you talk as if you were a dealer or seller. My Son, science isn’t a way to earn money, But Alchemy transmutes base metals into noble metals.This is what people think, however, the truth of this science, is that it deals with the substance’s properties, and how they affect and are affected by each other. For example, - Do you see this piece of copper?- Yes! - I can see that it is covered in rust- Exactly! And now, look at what will happen! First, we need to mix some ingredients together, this is some vinegar, and this is some salt - What is this?!- What do you see?! The rust is gone, and the copper piece is now shiny! This is what Alchemy is all about, substances interact with each other! Vinegar and salt interact with each other, to produce a powerful substance which interacts with the rust covering copper and removes it. This is how Alchemy can serve people, rather than promising them to achieve the fantasies of eternal life or the rapid wealth.


what I've just seen is definitely amazing! Can you teach me more experiments, Sir? I will check if you really want to work in the field of Alchemy because you’re interested in it, or you still want to achieve those dreams that you’re having? I have many experiments to do, I will let you help me with them Jabir started to do his experiments In order to achieve more accurate results, he started to invent some tools, that will help him in these experiments.And now, Hand me some mercury! Here you go, Sir! While I heat up the mercury, can you weigh quarter of a gram of sulfur? OK! May I ask you something? Why did you quantify it to quarter of a gram? I did a lot of experiments, and I think this is the right amount, that will help me to achieve the expected result this time. Does the amount of the substances used in experiments have such a significant effect? - I mean, can they change the result?- Yes! I have learnt from my father, may Allah have mercy on his soul, the importance of ingredients in mixtures. Alchemy, isn’t much different from pharmaceutics in this respect. In fact, pharmaceutics is just a branch of alchemy. - Have you prepared the sulfur?- Yes! Here you go, Sir! This scale is so accurate! Where did you get it? - I made it myself!- You did?! Yes, Scientific experiments require a very accurate scale. Not only this one, but also I invented lots of instrumentsthat you are seeing in this laboratory, to facilitate my scientific experiments.


Do you know, Mr. Jabir? I've started to realize the importance of this science, and I no longer have those thoughts abouttransmuting dirt into gold, or discovering the Elixir of Life. I know!And after I became persuadedof your intention, I've decided to make you my first assistant in my laboratory. Thank you for this great opportunity, O Sir! Thank you! Jabir reached amazing results in Alchemy, and he decided to inform his teacher, Jafar Al-Sadiq, about these results. Here you go, O Imam! This is a description of the experiments that I did, in which I explain the steps of each experiment in details, and the results that I have reached. It’s good! I hope that you will give me your honest opinion about everything you read, O Imam. What is this?! What’s the matter?! You mentioned here that you discovered the structure of Cinnabar Yes! Cinnabar! What is this substance? It’s a substance which I succeeded to make using a specific percentage of mercury and sulphur, as explained here. And this is a matter, that I want to discuss with you, O Imam.


Go ahead! Say what you have! O Imam, I think that all the substances which we know, are made of a combination of mercury and sulphur, and the substance changes depending on the percentageof each one of these two substances. Did you do any experiments that will prove this assumption? Of course! Like you taught me, O Imam! I've also discovered that the percentage of mercury and sulphur, by changing the surrounding factors, such as heat or cold, affects the type of the substance. You have read Aristotle's theory of matter, haven’t you?! Yes! in which he says that there are four elements thatconstitutes any substance: water, earth, air, and fire.Did you know that with these experiments of yours, you have added two new elements to them? I’m so proud of you, O Jabir! Day after day, you are proving that Alchemy is an important science, and that it’s not just delusions or a way to earn money fast, as people think. I hope that Allah will grant me success, in spreading this awareness among people. Jabir has come a long way in Alchemy, So, how will people respond, when they find out about Jabir’s experiments and the results that he has reached


To read more inventions visit my website

https://muslimsinventor.blogspot.com/