By Syed Aslam

Abu Musa Jabir ibn Hayyan, known in Europe as Geber was born in Tus, Iran in 721 CE during the rule of Umayyad Khalifa. His father Hayyan al Azdi was a pharmacist who supported the Abbasid revolt against the Umayyad. The Abbasid sent him to Tus, Iran to gather support for their cause. He was eventually caught by ruling Khalifa and was executed, so his family moved from Tus to Yemen, where Jabir grew up. He went back to Kufa, Iraq after the fall of the Umayyad dynasty, where he lived and received his education. In Kufa he became the student of Imam Jafer al Sadiq. After completing his education he started his career as physician under the patronage of Vizier of Khalifa Harun al Rashid. His connection to the Vizier later on cost him dearly, when the Vizier fell from grace of the Khalifa. In 803 CE he was arrested and spent rest of his life under house arrest, till he died in year 815 CE.

Jabir’s interest in alchemy was probably inspired by his teacher Jafar al-Sadiq. He was a deeply religious man, 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. In the Book of Stones he prescribes long and elaborate sequences of specific prayers that must be performed without error alone in the desert before one can even consider alchemical experimentations.

Jabir ibn Hayyan is widely considered as the father of Chemistry, but he was also an astronomer, pharmacist, physician, philosopher and engineer. His works in the science of chemistry are as important as those of eighteenth century scientists like Priestly and Lavoisier. He is credited for the discovery of nineteen different substances which we call element in modern chemistry. He was the first person to introduce the experimental method in chemistry. Jabir perfected the use of various chemical processes used in the modern chemistry laboratory, such as distillation, crystallization and sublimation etc. Using some of those methods he produced concentrated acetic acid from vinegar. He synthesized hydrochloric acid by heating salt and sulfuric acid and nitric acid by heating saltpeter with sulfuric acid. By mixing hydrochloric acid with nitric acid he invented a supper acid called aqua regia which could dissolve even gold. He also isolated citric acid from lemon and tartaric acid from the residue left after wine making. The discoveries of these acids especially aqua regia helped the chemists to extract and purify gold and other metals for the next thousand years. This can be considered as a land- mark achievement in the field of chemistry more than thousand year ago.

Jabir divided the substance into three categories; first group he called Spirits substance which vaporize on heating, like sulfur, ammonium chloride, camphor and arsenic etc, second group he called Metals like copper, silver, gold, iron and lead etc the third group he called Non-malleable like rocks, charcoal . The categorizations of substance finally lead to divide the elements into the modern classification of elements into metals and non-metals.

According to “The Cultural Atlas of Islam” by Ismail al-Faruqi Jabir invented a kind of paper that resisted fire, and an ink that could be read at night. He invented an additive which, when applied to an iron surface, inhabited rust and when applied to a textile, would make it water repellent. He applied his knowledge of chemistry to improve the manufacturing processes of steel and other metals. Several instruments which he designed a thousand years ago are still being used in modern chemical laboratory such as retort, pipette and test tube. Jabir bin Hayyan defined chemical combination as union of the elements together in small particles too small for the naked eyes to see without loss of their characteristics. This idea was not very far from idea of John Dalton (d 1844) about the atoms, the English chemist and physicist who discovered it ten centuries later.

Jabir’s works seem to have been deliberately written in highly esoteric code so that only those who had been initiated into his alchemical school could understand them. It is therefore difficult at best for the modern reader to discern which aspects of Jabir’s work are to be read as symbols and what is to be taken literally. Because of his writing, which sometime became incomprehensible, the term gibberish is believed to have evolved in Europe.

To Aristotelian physics, Jabir added the four properties of hotness, coldness, dryness, and moistness. Each Aristotelian element was characterized by these qualities: Fire was both hot and dry, earth cold and dry, water cold and moist, and air hot and moist. Jabir also made important contributions to medicine, astronomy and other sciences too numerous to mention here.

The writings of Jabir Ibn Hayyan can be divided into several categories. The 112 books dedicated to vizier of Khalifa Harun al-Rashid include the Arabic version of the Emerald Tablet, an ancient work that is the foundation of the “spiritual” alchemy. In the middle Ages it was translated into Latin and widely used among European alchemists. The seventy books, most of which were translated into Latin during the Middle Ages includes the Kitab al-Zuhra (“Book of Venus”) and the Kitab al-Ahjar (“Book of Stones”). Ten books deals on rectification, containing descriptions of “alchemists” such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. The books on balance describes his famous theory of the balance in nature. One of his books Chemical Composition remained the authoritative textbook in the European universities until the eighteenth century. Several technical terms introduced by Jabir, such as alkali has become part of scientific vocabulary.

This man was one of the greatest geniuses ever born, but we Muslims totally ignored him. On the other hand the Europeans translated his work into their languages and five hundred books and essays can be found in the national libraries of France, Germany and UK. There is no doubt that his writing and inventions strongly stimulated the development of modern chemistry in Europe. I completed my Master in Chemistry in India but knew nothing about Jabir, the father of chemistry.

Syed Aslam
Aslamsyed1@yahoo.com

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By Geoffrey Cook, MMNS

After over a month, the major predicament in the ummah still resides in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the 98% Muslim country in the Western regions of the Indian Subcontinent.

Through his State of Emergency, Musharraf was able to concoct a Supreme Court in his own image. By observer accounts, he did win the popular vote, but without the leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party (Benazir Bhutto) and the Muslim League (Nawaz Sharif), there is some question whether the voters lacked choice. The Constitutional question was whether he could remain President will holding on to his Commander-in-Chief of the Army. He has allowed Benazir to come back home with her convictions — in absentia — forgiven. During the regimes of the last two civilian Prime Ministers (Bhutto and Sharif), Pakistan was rated as the second most corrupt country in the world in which to do business. Things have changed. Now, it is time to open up the system democratically!

With the bad history between the former General and Nawaz Sharif, although Sharif has shown up in Lahore with Pervez’ blessings, they may have worked out a power sharing agreement in Saudi Arabia. That Kingdom, additionally, allowed Nawaz to go–obviously with Mushraff’s blessing!

Pakistan had the ability, but did not wish to go nuclear (in 1998) before the Chief Executive (CE is the name Musharraf employed to describe his new-found position until he was “elected” President), but the “fascist” Indian BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party) shot off their bombs to solidify their coalition in 1998 during Nawaz Sharif’s Prime Ministership when Musharraf was still solely the COAS. Pakistan had to respond in kind although it hurt them greatly, for India was self-sufficient, and Islamabad was an economic “basket case” dependent upon foreign aid at the time.

After 9/11, the U.S. Under-Secretary of State Richard Armitage was sent to Karachi, and threatened Musharraf with blowing the Islamic Republic “back to the Stone Age” if they did not join America in supporting Washington’s War on Pakistan’s ally, the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan and their unwelcomed Al’Quaida guests.

The Musharraf Constitution (which replaced the 1973 document by executive decree) gave the Army a place with limits much like that which had previously been unstated — similar to the Turkish Constitution. This has proved to be highly unpopular with the people. When the most recent protestors demand a reinstatement of the National Charter, it is the restoration of the1973 text they are specifying. At the same time there is an elected two-chamber legislature fully functioning even under the present Administration. He has a fully functional Cabinet with a Prime Minister, also. His one great innovation was to establish a mixed Parliamentary/ Presidential system – comparable to the French arrangement. The elections being argued over at the moment are those forthcoming Parliamentary contests.

Our forcing the Pakistanis to invade the tribal areas has broken an unwritten part of the Constitution that goes back to the British period granting the Pushtuns (the people of the Hindu Kush Mountains) autonomy. The United States has been critical of Rawalpindi for not being aggressive enough in their pursuit of the Taliban and Al’Quaida there and forcing Islamabad to interfere against the long-standing self-rule of the communities on the Pakistani side of the Durand Line (the border in the area established during the English period). Yet over 1,000 jawans have died in the tribal regions, and, further, the Taliban are beheading their 700 Pak captives three per day! Pervez is a creature of George W. that the electorate in the south – nearer the ocean – also resent!

Benazir Bhutto was invited back two months ago, to establish a Government of National Unity. The hope was to create a power-sharing arrangement, but she has made this impossible through her un-stateswoman-like actions! She has created a mess of the country’s security, though, and now there is talk of Nawaz Sharif for such a ruling partnership! That rumor is hard to believe considering the history between the two! Bhutto has announced her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) will contest the polls while Sharif’s Muslim League will not.

The Commonwealth has suspended Pakistan from their august but powerless body. Now, that he has taken off his khaki (uniform – as the opposition has been demanding), and his hand-picked Court has ruled in his favor, and he has taken the oath as a civilian President, it will be interesting to see if this will be enough to placate the “Queen’s [mock] Empire.” He has released over 500 political prisoners – including the third most important democratic politician — Imran Khan (who could become a counterweight within Pakistani politics) — by order of his Court. The now citizen President has promised to end his State of Emergency the middle of this month, for presently he claims the threat of terrorism is under control (sic!). Therefore, the promise of upcoming legislative elections is proceeding. The former General despite the anarchy between the Taliban in the North (which we forced onto his nation) and the middle class parties in the urban South, great stress has been put upon the country, and the Body Politic is in great disarray!

Unlike the American Right-wing Neo-Conservatives (Neo-Cons), the only democracy is not Jeffersonian Democracy. Musharraf has done much to make innovations in the Pakistani system, but it is time to open up voter participation to their own rule, and to place the military firmly under civilian control! If President Musharraf would step down after this term of office, he would have done much good, if not he would merely become another vulgar autocrat – (as Lord Acton’s axiom states: “absolute power corrupts absolutely!”) I sincerely deemed that he was hoping to prepare Ms. Bhutto to eventually to step into his shoes. Unfortunately, because of her lack of diplomatic ability, it will be hard to avoid a power vacuum, and she may only force Pervez to hold onto further power (see Benazir niece’s article that appeared in this publication two weeks ago) until he can find a competent politician to succeed him who must be acceptable by the majority of the citizens. (Personally, I would suggest a hard look at Imran Khan. He is the leader of the third largest party in the Republic, and he is well known having been one of the nation’s best cricketers before entering politics. Further, he has not actively held political office. This lifts a lot of personal baggage off his name.) Unfortunately, the lingering failure of a power-sharing situation only continues the crisis. The lessons of post-Tito’s Yugoslavia should firmly be held in our minds: apres moi le deluge!

I believe President Musharraf has made significant compromises for Pakistan to be re-admitted into the Commonwealth as well as that all other embargos be lifted after timely independent elections.

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