Muslims' Contributions to Chemistry

Chemistry in Ancient Egypt VS. in Ancient Greek

Chemistry appeared, grew, and flourished in ancient Egypt; where the Egyptians skillfully mastered this science. And perhaps it is one of the remarkable ironies that this science did not achieve in the hands of the ancient Greeks what it achieved in the hands of the Egyptians of growth and prosperity. Rather, on the contrary, this science declined in Greek civilization in a tangible way, and they were not known to have engaged in this science seriously except in the Roman era.

However, it is certain that the ancient Greeks did not transmit this science among what they transmitted from the sciences of ancient Egypt as the Egyptians knew it. Moreover, they did not succeed in the experimental sciences; and therefore they failed in this science and left no useful scientific impact worth mentioning. For chemistry, in their hands, became one of the sciences of magic and obscure illusions, closely linked with astrology, and work in this field became restricted to the idea of transforming cheap metals such as lead and tin into precious metals such as gold and silver, through a mysterious stone called the Philosopher’s Stone.

Therefore, chemistry gradually drifted away from experimental research to become superstition and illusion, and a means of deception and fraud.

Perhaps even what remains of the chemistry of ancient Egypt indicates the extent of the decline of this science among the Greeks.

It is truly unfortunate that a large portion of the Egyptians’ chemical research was lost; for the Roman Emperor Diocletian issued, in the year 290 CE, a decree to destroy all chemical research throughout the empire.

Muslim Arabs Revives Chemistry

Then came the Muslim Arabs, who inherited both the truths of this science and its myths. It thus fell upon them to purify the scientific truth from myth, then develop and enrich it.

Although the beginning of Arabs’ interest and engagement in this science is ambiguous, it is likely that Khalid ibn Yazid ibn Mu`awiyah was the first among the Arabs to engage in chemistry. Sources mention that he became passionate about this science, and it is attributed to him the translation of books of astrology, medicine, chemistry, and others.

Holmyard says: It is mentioned that Khalid ibn Yazid was passionately in love with sciences in general, but he placed chemistry in the first rank. He ordered the summoning of Greek philosophers from Egypt and requested them to translate the sciences—especially books of chemistry—from Greek and Coptic into the Arabic language.

Said Al-Andalusi confirmed in his book Tabaqat Al-Umam that Khalid ibn Yazid had remarkable treatises and poems in chemistry indicating his knowledge and excellence in it. Ibn Al-Nadim attributes to him, among the books he saw in this science, Al-Hararat, Al-Sahifah al-Kabir, Al-Sahifah Al-Saghir, and his will to his son in the art of chemistry. Among his works also, As-Sirrul-Badi` fi Ramz Al-Mani`, and Firdaws Al-Ḥikmah fi `Ilm Al-Kimiya’, which is a poem in various rhymes numbering two thousand three hundred and fifteen verses. He had, in addition, other works in this science.

However, no clear creative scientific traces of Khalid’s writings and efforts in chemistry have reached us, although Khalid provided the opportunity for later scholars to absorb the ancient theories in chemistry and prepared the conditions for the emergence of the stage of authorship and creativity at the hands of the geniuses of chemistry among the Muslims, who added to this science their magnificent achievements.

Inventions and Discoveries by Muslim Chemists

It was not long before chemistry took the form of an experimental science, as a result of the great efforts made by a group of Muslim scholars, who were the first to apply scientific methods to chemical phenomena.

They then achieved their most important accomplishments in this field by introducing objective experimentation into the study of chemistry and the natural sciences. This was a decisive step forward from the vague assumptions the Greeks had in this subject. And although the Arabs continued to believe in the science of transmuting cheap metals into gold, the science of chemistry was born through the efforts of the Muslim Arabs and at their hands. The basic principles established by the early Arab scholars were confined to the fact that they did not accept anything as a truth unless it was confirmed by observation or verified through scientific experimentation.

Thus, chemistry in its scientific form was an achievement realized by the Muslims; for they introduced precise observations and rigorous scientific experimentation, invented the alembic and gave it its name (Inbiq / Alembic), distinguished between acids and alkalis, discovered the relationship between them, and studied and described hundreds of drugs.

Among the important achievements realized by the Arab chemists is that they were the first to apply chemistry to medicine. They are the ones who gave this science its name by which it became known, from which it passed into English as “Chemistry,” and into French as “Chimie.”

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Taken from the official website of Dr. Abdul Halim Owais.

Read the Article in Arabic